₹20 crore and still not enough? Rethinking retirement planning

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Retirement planning has always been about one deceptively simple question: how much is enough? Yet in today’s world of rising lifestyles, volatile markets and longer life spans, that question feels more intimidating than ever. At the Mint Money Festival in Mumbai, Aarati Krishnan, head of advisory at PrimeInvestor, unpacked the numbers and the anxieties around retiring comfortably.

For most people, retirement is not a distant milestone but a looming uncertainty. Krishnan pointed out that anxiety stems from four structural shifts. First, pensions are no longer guaranteed.

“Our parents often had government or secure jobs where the employer paid a pension. Today, most of us have to build our own retirement income," she said. The safety net has disappeared, replaced by self-reliance.

Second, lifestyles have changed. Earlier generations were comfortable scaling down after retirement. Giving up conveniences such as house help, cabs or eating out did not feel like deprivation.

Today, the expectation is continuity—maintaining the same standard of living for 25 or 30 years after stopping work. Third, financial media and retirement calculators often circulate intimidating projections. “ ₹5 crore may not be enough, or ₹10 crore may fall short.

For someone who hasn’t yet accumulated even one crore, projections of ₹20 crore or more feel paralysing," she said. Finally, there is confusion about execution—how to reach such large targets while managing present expenses. In an audience poll during the session, the dominant concern was simple: will I have enough? Krishnan addressed one of the most common retirement yardsticks: accumulating 25 times annual expenses.