Started Late? Build Retirement Corpus in 5 Steps

If you are 48 and haven't saved for retirement, don't panic. You still have time. Starting now with discipline, tax-smart instruments, and higher savings rate can build a solid retirement corpus before you hit 65.

Here's what happened: Millions of Indian middle-class workers in their late 40s have little to no dedicated retirement savings despite having stable incomes.. At 48, assuming retirement at 65, you still have 17 years — enough for compounding to meaningfully grow a monthly SIP or lump sum.. Inflation at 6% means ₹50,000 monthly expenses today will require nearly ₹1.35 lakh/month by the time you turn 65 — planning for this is urgent..

What you should do: Calculate your retirement gap today: estimate monthly expenses post-retirement, multiply by 300 (the 25x rule uses annual, so 25 x 12), then subtract existing PF, PPF, and any assets.. Boost your SIP immediately — redirect at least 30-40% of your monthly take-home into equity mutual funds via SIP to maximise compounding in the remaining years.. Max out tax-saving instruments right now: PPF (₹1.5 lakh/year), NPS (extra ₹50,000 deduction under 80CCD(1B)), and EPFO voluntary PF contributions to accelerate corpus growth..

At 48, use the NPS Tier-1 account aggressively — the extra ₹50,000 tax deduction under Section 80CCD(1B) saves you ₹15,600/year in taxes (at 30% bracket), which you can reinvest.