The common advice of saving 25 times one\u2019s annual expenses for retirement doesn\u2019t hold true today<\/a>, especially for people planning to retire early.<\/p>\n\u201cIf you’re 40, you need 35 to 40x minimum. Life expectancy is 85+. Do the math,\u201d Kumar explained.<\/p>\n
Start small instead of saving half your salary<\/p>\n
Many young professionals push themselves to save 40\u201350% of their income, only to burn out within a year.<\/p>\n
\u201cStart with 10%. Increase 5% yearly. Your income will grow. If you control lifestyle creep, savings automatically compound,\u201d he advised.<\/p>\n
LIFESTYLE INFLATION IS THE BIGGEST DANGER<\/p>\n
As income rises, spending quietly balloons. Kumar said this is where most early retirement plans fall apart.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen your salary jumps from 12L to 24L, that 800 coffee feels normal. Track every “lifestyle upgrade. Brutal? Yes. Effective? Absolutely,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
EMERGENCY FUNDS MUST COME BEFORE RETIREMENT PLANNING<\/p>\n
One of the most common mistakes he sees is people investing everything in equity without building a safety net.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew someone who lost his job and had to sell investments at a 30% loss. First build a year\u2019s expenses, then insurance, then retirement. The order matters,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n
REAL ESTATE IS NOT THE PASSIVE INCOME PEOPLE IMAGINE<\/p>\n
Many buyers expect stress-free rental income, but the reality is often different.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople spend months chasing tenants, managing repairs, and losing money to maintenance. REITs are better for those who want passive income without stress,\u201d Kumar said.<\/p>\n
Simply put, Kumar believes the FIRE movement still has value, but only when treated as a system that adapts over time rather than a rigid formula.<\/p>\n
– Ends<\/p>\n
Published By: <\/p>\n
Jasmine anand<\/p>\n
Published On: <\/p>\n
Dec 1, 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many young earners today are chasing FIRE, i.e., Financial Independence, Retire Early, but Abhishek Kumar, Sebi-registered investment adviser…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170588,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[72,40559,176,7059,61,94296,60,174,175,1544,94297],"class_list":{"0":"post-170587","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-early-retirement","10":"tag-finance","11":"tag-how-to-save-money","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-investment-tips","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-personal-finance","16":"tag-personalfinance","17":"tag-retirement-planning","18":"tag-saving-tips"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}