I am aged 58 and my wife is 56. I retired from Government service a few months back. I am getting offers from various consultancy services that are offering me Rs 3 lakh per annum. But I am not interested in working any further. My wife, a home-maker, inherited some properties from her parents and gets some business income, though she is not an active partner there.

What is your opinion?Are our deposits sufficient for comfortable living? Taking into consideration my parents' average age, I may live up to 80.

Investments: I have two sons who work outside my home town. My monthly expenses amount to Rs 20,000. I live in my own house, a part of which I have let out for a rent Rs 5,000. My monthly pension is Rs 35,000 and my wife's business income is Rs 3 lakh per annum.

Investments: Bank deposits of Rs 40 lakh, with an average interest of 9.5 per cent; postal MIS of Rs 8 lakh carrying 8 per cent interest; combined PPF of Rs 40 lakh, private advances of Rs 6 lakh carrying 12 per cent interest, mutual funds (tax saving schemes) of Rs 1 lakh, equity shares of Rs 3 lakh.

We have LIC policy and Mediclaim policy for Rs 10 lakh and Rs 2 lakh respectively.

Real estate: I own plots at various places and its present market value is Rs 2 crore.

— Ramachandran

Solution: Having adequate savings and social security for monthly expenses will ensure a relaxed life for an individual. What should be ensured is that there is sufficient money left for the surviving partners.

Meeting your monthly expenses of Rs 20,000 for 22 years will not be a major concern. Assuming your pension of Rs 35,000 (Rs 4.2 lakh), an increase by 2 per cent every year and inflation of 7 per cent, you will face a shortfall of Rs 10 lakh only after 14 years. If your investment in debt is allowed to grow at a more conservative return, you can still leave an estate for your sons. Create an emergency fund with the rental income to meet medial expenses. Your savings are enough for you to stay home and relax.

But your health insurance needs to be increased to Rs 5 lakh. If you are covered by any government scheme, try to cover your health risk accordingly. To create wealth you can even consider building a portfolio with equity oriented mutual funds of 20-30 per cent of your assets.

I am 57 years and would be retiring in 2014. I have a son, who is an engineer working in the US.I don't want to take any financial help from my son after retirement.

I have approximately Rs 2 crore investments in equities (Sensex around 18,000), Rs 50 lakh as fixed income instruments and Rs 40 lakh in mutual funds. After retirement I will get approximately Rs 1 crore from PF fund. I get approximately Rs 2 lakh per year in dividend from my stocks portfolio.

I have an apartment in Mumbai where I live with my wife and another in Kolkata that is our vacation home. I don't have any debt and want approximately Rs 1 lakh a month for our routine expenditure after retirement till 85. Please give me guidance on how to reallocate my finances to have a comfortable living after retirement.

— Pintu Ghosh

Solution: Asset allocation should be based on the life stage of any individual. Risky asset class such as equity should be higher in the early part of the life cycle. It should be balanced in the mid-stage of your life and closer to retirement. It is advisable to restrict equity exposure to 20-30 of the assets. But currently your exposure is beyond 60 per cent of the assets. If you wish to have stable income after retirement, it is mandatory to allocate higher corpus towards debt. For instance, if you wish to have Rs 1 lakh a month as expenses, you should have a retirement corpus of Rs 2.4 crore and it should earn a return of 2 per cent higher than inflation.

With retirement round the corner, it is better to book profit and bring down exposure to equity . We recommend that you restrict your exposure to 20-30 per cent. The rest can be in debt instruments such as company deposits, FDs and debt based MFs. We recommended this because with investments of Rs 3 crore, even if you just manage returns that match inflation, your requirements till your life expectancy can be fulfilled.

After retirement it is mandatory to have adequate health insurance to meet any health related emergencies.

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