Are you actually ready for retirement, or just hoping you are?

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• Retirement confidence drops due to inflation, rising costs, and market volatility.
• Retirement readiness depends on cash flow, not just a single savings number
• Healthcare costs and debt can deplete retirement savings without proper planning.

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Most people think of retirement as a distant milestone, something to be dealt with later, when salaries are higher and life feels more settled. The problem is that “later” arrives faster than expected. And for a growing number of people, the numbers don’t quite add up when they finally pause to look.

Across countries and income levels, surveys over the past year have pointed to the same uncomfortable truth: confidence about retirement is falling, even among people who have been saving for years. Inflation has eaten into household budgets, healthcare costs are rising faster than expected, and market volatility has shaken the belief that investments will simply “work out” over time. Many people now say they feel less prepared than they did even a few years ago.

No single magic number

A common mistake is assuming there is a single magic number that guarantees a comfortable retirement. In reality, retirement readiness has far more to do with cash flow than with a headline corpus figure. What matters is whether your savings, pensions and other income sources can reliably cover your expenses for 25 to 30 years after you stop working. When people do this exercise honestly, many realise they are saving for a lifestyle they may not actually be able to afford.

Is your money working for a long life?

Another harsh reality check comes from how savings are structured. A large share of retirement money sits in conservative assets that feel “safe” but may not keep pace with inflation over long periods. At the same time, many people underestimate how long retirement lasts. Living into your late eighties or nineties is no longer unusual, which means your money has to work for decades after your last pay cheque.

Don’t rely only on insurance

Healthcare is often the biggest blind spot. Even those with insurance tend to underestimate out-of-pocket costs in later life, especially for long-term care, chronic conditions and frequent medical needs. These expenses rarely arrive all at once. Instead, they build gradually, quietly eroding savings year after year.

Don’t take your debt into old age

Debt is another factor that complicates retirement plans. Carrying home loans, personal loans or high credit-card balances into your 60s can dramatically reduce financial flexibility. Every rupee used to service debt is a rupee that cannot be spent on living expenses or emergencies. Many people only realise this when they start planning withdrawals, not while they are still earning.

Make withdrawals sustainable

Then there is the question of withdrawals themselves. Saving is only half the job. Drawing down money in a tax-efficient, sustainable way is just as important. Poor withdrawal planning can lead to higher taxes, penalties or running out of money sooner than expected, even with a reasonably sized corpus.

What actually works

So what does a real retirement reality check look like? It starts with mapping your current expenses and thinking carefully about how they might change. Some costs will fall, others will rise. It also means stress-testing your plan for uncomfortable scenarios: lower returns, higher medical costs, or needing to support family members later in life.

For those who feel behind, the answer is not panic, but adjustment. Working a few years longer, increasing savings gradually, or resetting lifestyle expectations can make a meaningful difference. Retirement is not a pass-fail exam. It is a moving target that benefits from regular review and course correction.

The most important step is simply this: stop assuming you are “probably fine.” Sit down, run the numbers, and question your assumptions. A clear-eyed reality check today is far less painful than discovering the gaps when your working years are already behind you.