I am 40 year old & wish to retire at 55-60. I was NRI & shifted to India a year & half ago. I have almost 50 lac Rs in UK pension funds. When & how can I get the money to India legitimately with no or least amount of tax impact?

Ans: Hi Madhumohite,

The funds mentioned and selected by you are not recommended due to their concentrated nature, these will underperform for quite a while more and will take a good time to recover.
Markets are quite volatile and you should ideally wait for some more time.

In the meantime, avoid investing in new funds. Also please share how you selected these funds - your own research or someone's recommendation?
In either case, avoid doing that. Instead connect with a professional and he/ she will guide you appropriately.

HDFC Balanced fund is a good fund, rest all funds need reallocation.

Hence do consult a professional Certified Financial Planner - a CFP who can guide you with exact funds to invest in keeping in mind your age, requirements, financial goals and risk profile. A CFP periodically reviews your portfolio and suggest any amendments to be made, if required.

Let me know if you need more help.

Best Regards,
Reetika Sharma, Certified Financial Planner
https://www.instagram.com/cfpreetika/

Ans: Hi,

Based on your portfolio size (14 crore in India + $1.5M USD in Ireland), you are actually above the threshold where professional estate planning is highly recommended. Your goal to avoid probate for your wife and kids is achievable through proper structuring.

A private family trust is ideal for this level of wealth to ensure a seamless transition, avoid court-involved probate, and manage assets for beneficiaries.

- For Indian assets: Can set up a revocable/irrevocable private family trust in India. Upon your demise, the Trustee changes automatically (e.g., your wife) without needing a probate court's intervention. Please note that, while setting up a trust, FEMA compliance is crucial
- For International Assets, create a separate Will for these assets, compliant with the laws of the country where you reside, to avoid complex cross-border probate issues.

Or you may choose to draft two separate wills, one for Indian assets and one for foreign assets.

For law firm, please connect with your family or your CA here in India and choose a known reputed firm to proceed with the above.

Best Regards,
Reetika Sharma, Certified Financial Planner
https://www.instagram.com/cfpreetika/

Ans: Gemini said
It is wonderful to see that you have built a corpus of Rs. 5-6 crore in financial assets while also having a large portion of your wealth in real estate. Having such a strong base at age 50 is a great achievement. It shows you have been very disciplined with your savings and investments over the years. You have ten years left before you retire, which is a good amount of time to make your money work better for you.

» Understanding the real estate weight in your portfolio

When real estate makes up 75% of what you own, your wealth is mostly stuck in things that are hard to sell quickly. Most financial tools do not talk about real estate because it is not easy to track like stocks or gold. Having too much in one place can be risky if that market goes slow. For a retirement plan, you need money that you can take out easily when you need to pay for your daily life. Since your goal is to have a 360-degree plan, we must look at how much cash you can get from these assets later.

» The need for liquidity and rebalancing

Many people suggest selling real estate because it does not give a regular monthly income that grows with inflation. If your property is not giving you good rent, it might be just sitting there without helping your retirement. By moving some of that money into financial assets, you can create a better mix. You should check which properties are giving you the best returns. If some are not doing well, selling them and putting that money into actively managed mutual funds can help your wealth grow faster.

» Benefits of actively managed funds over other options

When you rebalance, it is better to choose actively managed funds. These funds have smart fund managers who pick the best companies to invest in. They try to do better than the general market. This is very important for someone who is ten years away from retirement. These managers can change their plans when the market changes, which helps in protecting your money and growing it at the same time.

» Why working with a MFD and a Certified Financial Planner helps

It is always better to invest through a Mutual Fund Distributor (MFD) who has a Certified Financial Planner credential. Some people think about direct funds to save a little bit of cost, but that can be a mistake. In direct funds, you have to do all the research, paperwork, and monitoring yourself. A professional helps you choose the right funds, manages your taxes, and ensures you do not make emotional choices when the market goes up or down. This expert guidance is worth much more than the small cost difference.

» Planning for the next ten years

You should aim to bring your financial assets and real estate to a more balanced level. Instead of 75% in real estate, you could try to bring it down slowly. This will help you have enough money in debt and equity to take care of your needs after you stop working. You can use the next ten years to slowly shift money from property sales into a well-diversified portfolio of regular mutual funds. This way, you will have peace of mind knowing your money is available whenever you need it.

» Final Insights

Rebalancing is not about hating real estate, but about making sure you have enough cash for your senior years. You have done a great job building wealth, and now is the time to make it more efficient. Talking to a Certified Financial Planner will help you decide which properties to keep and how to spread the rest of the money across equity and debt. This will ensure you have a comfortable and happy retirement.

Best Regards,

K. Ramalingam, MBA, CFP,

Chief Financial Planner,

www.holisticinvestment.in
https://www.youtube.com/@HolisticInvestment

Ans: Rank may be below 10 K, and you have a strong chance of securing a seat in newer NITs (like NIT Meghalaya or NIT Agartala), IIITs (like IIIT Una or IIIT Bhagalpur), and various GFTIs or state government colleges through the home state quota. For more accurate results, visit to:https://www.careermantrana.com/rank-predictor

Good luck.
Follow me if you receive this reply.
Radheshyam

Ans: This is Investment Plan & not a Life Insurance Policy. Any income generated from this investment would be taxable under Income Tax Act. Any Long Term Capital Gain (LTCG) generated at the time of surrender of policy, would be subject to income tax. Even the company may deduct TDS, while making payment of surrendered policy.
Most Welcome for further clarifications, if any. Thanks.

Ans: Normally when CIBIL score is low then there are Entities which analyse your past cash flows and earnings as well as stability of your income and then can sanction loans. The interest rates charged by these entities may be much higher. These entities include NBFCs, Micro Finance Companies and Digital Lenders etc. Rest you can search on the internet.

All the Best.

Ans: I don't feel there is any problem, if you add her name (a foreign national) as Co-owner of your property. Her presence with PAN card may be required at the time of Sale or Purchase of any property. In case she is not present at that point of time, she can give Power of Attorney, to execute such transactions.
Most Welcome for further clarifications, if any. Thanks.

Ans: You have purchased a Flat for Rs.72.00 (L) in 2019-20 & paid the Registration Charges for Rs.77.09 (L). Your bank transaction should support these facts. There should not be any problem for you. Please reply to the notice, based on facts of the case only. You don't have to pay any tax further.
However, it could be questionable for the seller of the Flat. He should have paid tax on Rs.77.09 (L).
Most Welcome for further clarifications, if any. Thanks.

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