Dheeraj Sahani, 55 years, is a self-made businessman. He built the entire business of today from a small stationery shop, inherited from his father. He lost his father when he was 25. His mother had no clue how to run the shop or the family. Dheeraj faced it with a lot of courage. He could save the family from uncertainty and arrange for her sister’s wedding in a few years. It was a long story since then.

Dheeraj never looked back. He never thought of himself. His success story is the brand that he could build for the business and the honour he could earn for the family. He could never give priority to building family assets, rather creating a significant cash reserve for the business. The days he faced after his father’s death still haunt him at times. He never wanted his children to face them under any circumstances

Dheeraj could fulfil all the wishes of his mother and wife. He could send his children to their dream institutes for their studies. Dheeraj never thought about his business continuity plan. Last year, Animesh, his son got an offer from a multinational through a campus recruitment program. The starting salary offered to Animesh was such that Dheeraj could never imagine drawing from his own company. No one thought of stopping him from joining the job, rather congratulatory messages flooded social media showering on the family!

Animesh had a posting in Dubai to start and the job can demand him to live anywhere in the world. Neha, his sister is in the final year of her studies and she is keen to follow her brother’s footsteps.

Asha, Dheeraj’s wife had always been an encouraging mother and a responsible homemaker. Her role as a supporting wife has so far been restricted to executing domestic responsibilities. On the eve of Dheeraj’s 55th birthday, Asha asks him, ‘We are ageing too. How long will you continue working like this?”

Dheeraj never thought of this! His business is a one-man show. Will there be a day, he will have to wrap up his work?

Asha called a few close relatives home for a late dinner on Dheeraj’s birthday. It is a working day, and Dheeraj comes home late as usual. Satish, Asha’s younger brother arrived directly from work before Dheeraj. When his family was yet to arrive, Asha opened her heart to Satish to express her concern.

Satish is quite younger to Dheeraj, but they have shared a good relationship since Asha is married. Satish asks his elder brother-in-law when they were alone:

“Jijaji, I thought of asking you, did you build a retirement corpus for yourself?”

Dheeraj never thought he could retire from work someday! Satish advised, “It’s time for you to set strategies. I believe you should have an exit route. No one can, and nobody should work till the end of life!”

“I can understand, you are right, Satish! I do not ever want to depend on my children for my or your Didi’s living. I have earned enough. But my finances and assets are all unmanaged. I earn and I spend for whatever comes my way. I am confident to do well in my business. So, I have not bothered about this so far.”

“I think, you should have now set a target – till what age you will work like this. Later you may work or may not, it should be your pastime and your living should not be from the business and rather from your investments. You should reduce risks after a certain age and relax your body and mind.”

“What you are talking about now, that makes sense, Satish!”

“We, who are in service, compulsorily built a corpus in form of EPF, NPS etc. But I do not think you even deposit your tax-saving investments regularly.”

“True! I am more serious about the accounting of the company, rather than myself!”

“I think you should seriously restructure some part of it!”

“Satish! How is Rahul doing now? I think I should calculate and set strategies to save something in the form of personal assets. If something goes wrong in my health or in the business, your Didi should not be in trouble!”

“Yes, you are absolutely right, Jijaji. Why Didi alone? You should think of yourself too! You have thought enough about everyone and everything. It is a time to think about yourself. I hope you are not too late!”

Rahul is an investment advisor and he is the younger brother of Rachana, Satish’s wife. Dheeraj takes his contact from Satish and promises himself to gain some knowledge on personal finance and to aim for building a retirement corpus in the next 5 years, till he reaches 60. He can very well work till 65, still, a significant corpus should give him a peaceful night’s sleep!

Rahul calculates how much Dheeraj and Asha could require till their expected life. Dheeraj wants to keep his funds for his son and daughter’s marriage separately. He also wishes to assign some funds for the grandchildren in the future. Dheeraj has his own house. Rahul makes him realise the importance of medical insurance for the couple. Asha expresses that they should have enough funds to visit their children wherever they will be living.

Dheeraj wishes to create a philanthropic fund from the business when he will not depend on it for his living. He wants his employees to continue earning from the business and learn how to run the show. His drawings will go to a trust, 10 years from now.

Rahul promises to make a retirement plan for Dheeraj in a few days. Dheeraj thanks Satish for alerting him about this hardcore reality that never came to his mind before.