Thanks to advancements in medical science people are living longer than ever before, but quite worryingly that means retirement is becoming more expensive. Sinha’s message, therefore, is simple: Start early, and retire peacefully. Because, by starting to save at a later date when you are older, you would have to save much more every month and also for a much longer duration to accumulate the required corpus.

“If you are 30 and your expenses are Rs 20,000 a month, and if inflation is a steady 6 per cent, then when you retire at 60, your expenses will be about Rs 1,20,451 a month just to maintain your current standard of living,” reads a numerical example. “Although a person needs only 50-75 per cent of the last spend (before retirement) after retirement, it depends on the individual. Some people do not wish to compromise on their standard of living.”

Retirement planning is a specialist job, the author observes. After developing a financial plan with the help of an expert, monitor the plan at regular intervals to make sure you are on the right path. “For instance, as you approach retirement age you should consider transferring money from equity to debt.” An important caution that the book highlights is that you should desist dipping into your retirement savings.

Recommended read for those who want to start planning their finances.

Generally, awards of excellence to businesses are a happy idea for recipients, what with the razzmatazz invariably accompanying the occasion. But are there deeper benefits in adopting a business excellence approach? An early study to explore this question was that of the US GAO. It reviewed 20 companies that were among the highest-scoring applicants in the 1988 and 1989 Balridge Award process and came up with interesting findings, as one learns in Assessing B usiness Excellence, second edition by L. J. Porter and S. J. Tanner ( www.elsevier.com ).

“Companies that adopted business excellence practices experienced an overall improvement in corporate performance. In most cases companies achieved better employee relations, higher productivity, greater customer satisfaction, increased market share, and improved profitability,” the survey found.

A key insight was that none of the companies reaped the benefits of their approach immediately. Allowing, therefore, sufficient time for results to be achieved is as important as initiating a business excellence programme.

Important addition to the excellence-seekers’ shelf.

Reserves accumulate, but at what cost, wonders Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2008 ( www.academicfoundation.com). “By October 2007, developing economies in the Asia-Pacific region had accumulated $3.4 trillion in foreign reserves, up from $2.7 trillion at the end of 2006.”