In this post, we bring you the full conversation from our latest podcast with Girish Ajgaonkar, now in an easy-to-read written format.
Dive in to explore insights on money, retirement, and financial peace of mind.

Host (Sanjay):
Hello, everyone, and welcome to one more episode of What If You Live to Be 100. In a previous episode, I have spoken about an interesting topic: money. Money plays a very important role at this age.
One is the concern: do I have enough? But beyond that, what does the word “money” mean to me? What is the meaning of money? And to everyone, it may have a different meaning at this age. For some, it may be just about peace of mind. For others, it may be about freedom, dignity, and even the opportunity to give back in a meaningful way.
So today, we’re going to deep dive into the subject of money. And for that, I have the absolutely perfect guest on the show: Girish Ajgaonkar. Thank you.

Girish:Thank you.

Host (Sanjay):
Girish is the Chief Operating Officer of Happiness Factory. Interesting name, isn’t it? And we’re going to talk about the name in just a bit. But we are also doing this episode in the beautiful new office of Happiness Factory.
It’s an office which is themed around a coffee shop, and we’ll show you a few glimpses of the same as well. Happiness Factory is a wealth-tech firm focused on helping people balance money with the kind of life they really want to live, aligning their goals toward meaningful aspirations and dreams.
And Girish, in particular, has helped hundreds of families find balance in life, become financially independent, while balancing today’s life as well as tomorrow’s security. Particularly, Girish focuses on the emotional and behavioral side of money—the kind which helps people get dignity, freedom, and peace of mind. So welcome to the show.

Girish:
Thank you. Thank you for sparing the time today.

Host (Sanjay):
Of course.
So, to start, I want to take up this subject of the name Happiness Factory. It’s a very interesting name.

Girish:
Yeah.

Host (Sanjay):
Would you like to tell us a little bit about Happiness Factory and also the “Happy Rich” philosophy that we have?

Girish:
Certainly. Certainly. First of all, thank you for this opportunity, Sanjay. I really appreciate it. And you actually captured the essence of Happiness Factory really nicely. I’ll add a few more things to it.
As Sanjay said, we are all about helping people live the lifestyle that they’ve envisioned for themselves and their loved ones. Finally, we feel like the use of money is that people, using money the right way, can achieve their dreams, their goals, and so on.
So everything that you see in Happiness Factory—be it in this office, our website, or any other content—you’ll always see us talking about goals. You will never see us talking about products or returns, because we feel like in the larger context of things, products, returns, and all, everything is secondary. The first step is: let us first help the client understand his or her goals.
And then, let’s create a path to achieve those goals using the right products. So that’s exactly what we do. We are a goal-based investing platform.
We have about 12,000 odd clients who are planning their goals through us as we speak. And goals can be anything. It can be making sure that you’re ready for your retirement so that you can live the retired life on your terms. It can be about funding your child’s education. It can be about buying your new home. The goal can be anything.
How do you make sure that you understand how much money you need to achieve those goals and create the path to that? We also have a Pan-India presence. So we’ve got about 40 odd partners who are on our platform, who use our philosophy, our conversation, and our platform to have the same conversation with their clients.
Coming back to the “Happy Rich” philosophy, the idea behind it is that when you connect money with purpose, one can avoid being in a blind pursuit of money.
So you’re creating wealth for the heck of it. That’s a blind pursuit of money. But when you connect the purpose as to why you’re earning money, why you’re accumulating that wealth—to achieve your goals—
So money and purpose, they get connected. That’s when we believe that you are happy. You’re not just rich, you’re happy and rich.
That’s a little bit of it.

Host (Sanjay):
Absolutely. Very, very interesting.
So while, you know, to be candid—which I’m always on this show—it might have sounded like a commercial of Happiness Factory. But I think it’s important to understand, because this show itself, What If You Live to Be 100, is about finding that balance.
We’ve come to a stage in life today that just a certain number in our bank account doesn’t make any difference. It’s about living the right life. And indeed, what Girish just mentioned is what we all aspire for. So thank you for that introduction.
Coming back to the show, as you know, this is what we call What If You Live to Be 100. And it is aimed—or rather, addressed—to people in their 50s and early 60s.
And we’re talking of a point of time in life where a lot of times we have maybe reached a point where we are, on the financial side, sorted—potentially till the age of 80 or 85. Because that’s what we always thought, you know, 80–85 is a good kind of number, age-wise, where we should plan for our money, our wealth, etc.
And suddenly we discover there’s this whole idea of longevity. Already in 2025, we see people living up to 85, 90. And if we are in the region of 55, 60, another 25–30 years ahead, when we get to 85, there’s every chance that people are living much longer—at 90, 100, etc.
In that case, if at this stage we discover that 80–85 may be too soon and we need to plan for longer, what can we still do? And what is the adjustment that may be possible?

Guest (Girish):
Yeah, absolutely.
So first of all, I’m so glad, Sanjay, that you are actually having a discussion on this topic—What If You Live to Be 100. I really like that.
People understand intellectually what longevity means, right? Everyone knows that we’re living longer. But what does that truly mean? And what are the implications of that to you as an individual? People are not able to conceptualize that.
Even in the US, which is a far more developed market as far as wealth and money aspects are concerned, that discourse is not yet happening. I mean, there are some universities like Stanford and MIT which have something called longevity labs. So that’s where they’re doing all of that research.
So the discussion that you started is an extremely important discussion. You are right.
I think some of the biggest mistakes that people make, first of all, is not going into this lifespan with an appropriate amount of planning. And I’m not just talking about finance, but even the non-financial aspects that you’ve been talking about.
For example, how do I live a meaningful life? What is the purpose now that I’m not working anymore? So all of those things need to happen.
In terms of finance, the biggest mistake that I’ve seen people make is that they underestimate the power of inflation and what inflation can do to them.
And see, as human beings, we have a lot of heuristic biases. One of them is something called present bias. For example, it’s easier for us to say, “Hey, I want to buy this car a year from now.” And it’s relatively easier for us to estimate the price of that car a year from now.
When we talk about five years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now—and now we’re talking about a 30-year lifespan—people just can’t wrap their brains around it.
So number one, understand the implications of it. Get clarity. Create certain scenarios—what if you live to 100? What will your finances be? Will you run out of money, or will your money outlive you?
Do that analysis first. Get the clarity. And then think about what you have to do. If I’m 50 right now and I’ve got maybe another 10 years of active earning, what should my portfolio look like from a financial standpoint? Is it oriented towards growth plus capital preservation?
Now let’s say I’m retiring and I’m 60. My income is going to go away. Another mistake that people make is that suddenly they jump from growth to complete capital preservation. That’s not how it works, because again, you’re not taking care of inflation.
So how do you design a portfolio that will last for 100 years? It’s an art and a science.
Even if somebody is 55 or 60, there are ways—if they haven’t got it right—there’s still a way to fix things and correct course. And there is enough time to get it right.

Host (Sanjay):
Absolutely. I think it’s the clarity that is important. Once you have the clarity, the implementation becomes easier.
I have met and talked to a lot of people in this age group. And I know for sure, when I talk to them, that they actually have enough money. But it doesn’t matter how much money they have—somehow there is this anxiety.
Like you rightly mentioned, what if I outlive my money? And that anxiety, according to me, comes from two factors.
One, you don’t know how long you’re going to live—90, 100, or more. So you don’t know how much money you should have.
And second, we don’t know the variables of life going forward. Inflation is one large factor, but others are very personal—like sudden health issues that crop up and drain a lot of money which you had not planned for.
So health is a critical area. How healthy you are, what you can do—how is it connected to your financial planning? How do you factor that into your framework?

Guest (Girish):
Yeah, absolutely.
Health is one of the most important aspects—not just of a financial plan, but of life itself. Without this body, there is no life and no financial plan. So you’re spot on, Sanjay.
I came across a Fidelity study in the US that said a couple retiring at the age of 60 will need to set aside close to $400,000 for health-related aspects. That’s more than three crores.
The second aspect that people underestimate is long-term care. We are living in smaller families. Our children are mostly elsewhere. We have to take care of ourselves. And long-term care can be a huge drain on finances.
So yes, health needs to be a part of this plan and the portfolio restructuring that I’m talking about.
You made an interesting point about anxiety. Just because someone has a lot of money doesn’t mean they will be peaceful about it. Money invokes emotions. And when we dig deeper, it often traces back to experiences people have had with money earlier in life.
Clarity helps. Planning till 90 or 100 gives a picture. It’s not static—you revisit it every year. What variables have changed? What expenses are coming up? That constant dialogue can help reduce anxiety.

Host (Sanjay):
I want to pick up on the word you used—peace of mind.
When I introduced you, I mentioned that you help families find peace of mind. Is there a formula of sorts? What does one need to do? Because after working hard all your life, what you really want is peace of mind. If not now, then when?

Guest (Girish):
I’ll answer that in two parts.
First, what does money mean to you? Can money lead to peace of mind? Everyone needs to define what financial peace means to them.
For me, financial peace means having full control over my time—the freedom and flexibility to spend it the way I want. That’s peace for me. Everyone needs to find their own definition.
Second, get clarity, put a plan together, and review it regularly.
I’ll digress a bit here, Sanjay. I’m a spiritual person. I’ve been practicing breathing and meditation techniques through the Art of Living Foundation for the last 15 years. And what I’ve realized is that it has created an abundance mindset in me.
That mindset makes you grateful for what you have. And the combination of that mindset and financial planning—that works for me. Different people will find different paths.

Host (Sanjay):
That’s amazing. So much of it is about the mind. You can have all the money in the world and still be anxious. And sometimes, you find peace with much less. It’s deeply personal.

Guest (Girish):
Absolutely.
We’ve seen people with 10 crores or 100 crores who are still anxious. But I look at my parents—they worked in banks all their lives and have a portfolio of less than two crores. They’re content. Their needs are less. Their desires are fewer.
So it’s very relative. It’s all about the mind and how comfortable you are.

Host (Sanjay):
You mentioned experiences shaping how people view money. I know someone who is doing very well professionally, but when he was in college, his father lost a lot of money in the stock market.
That scar is so deep that today he has zero exposure to equity. I worry about that, especially with inflation. How do you address cases like this?

Guest (Girish):
Yeah, it’s difficult.
You can intellectually explain that the past was different, that mistakes were made, and there are better ways today. But translating that into experience is hard.
The only solution I see is taking baby steps. No one is saying put 100% of your money into equity. Start with 10% or 15%. See how it feels. Build confidence over time.
Without action, confidence will never come.

Host (Sanjay):
Absolutely. And personally, I believe that wealth building today—equity is the way.

Guest (Girish):
I mean, if you look at the richest people in the world, their fortunes are a consequence of the equity they have—typically in their own businesses, of course. Whether it’s Jeff Bezos or Zuckerberg or whoever you call it.
But even at an individual level, I think—how much can debt products really enable us to grow? And India being where it is today, with very, very positive trends, the biggest opportunity is to actually ride the equity boom.
Of course, doing it with care, having the right kind of guidance—even if you don’t get it yourself. So I would really advise people to look at their portfolio in that manner. It doesn’t matter if you’re 55 or 60 or 65—whatever it is.
Coming back to one other factor—you mentioned that periodically we need to keep seeing what’s the right mix and all that. Now sometimes when I hear that, I feel it can be overwhelming.
Today, I might still be in a position to do it. But as you grow older—65, 70, 75—do we have the mental faculties to keep looking at these numbers in detail all the time?
So is there also a theory or philosophy—can we simplify things and still manage without having to look at everything constantly?

Guest (Girish):
Absolutely.
I think the industry across the globe—in the US, India, everywhere—tends to complicate things through products. And more innovation of that kind doesn’t really help the end user.
The single biggest factor for wealth creation is, as you rightly said, how much of your portfolio is exposed to equity. That is the single biggest factor.
So if we can reduce the number of decisions one needs to make over a period of time, that automatically introduces simplicity.
There are just a few key decisions:
Number one, what are your goals?
Number two, can I create a portfolio to help achieve those goals?
Number three, automate that process.
Once that is done, just relax.
Every year, the review should not be about products or returns. The only question should be: am I on track to meet my goals?
As long as we do that review and take corrective action if required, the entire thing becomes simple.

Host (Sanjay):
Absolutely. Absolutely.
And also, the way I see it today is that if our main source of income—which, let’s say, over the years was salary or profits from a business we were running—if that is slowing down or stops because you are at a point…

Host (Sanjay):
And where you maybe have retired from that main work. And now you have this corpus, which is what’s going to support you for the rest of your life.
The way I see it is that it’s important that the corpus remains the same—or even grows—even while we are using money from it to manage our day-to-day life.
Now, if that’s the case, I’ve heard situations where somebody says, “I have a 25 crore corpus.” But when you get into the details, maybe they have two real estate properties, some land somewhere worth five crores, and a flat in some place which is actually doing nothing—in the sense of growth. There’s no compounding happening there.
And you live in the hope that when I want, I’ll get huge growth on that—which may or may not happen.
Secondly, it’s illiquid. The day you suddenly have a medical emergency and you need money, do you think there’s going to be a ready taker for that plot of land somewhere?
Correct.
So how do you deal with these kinds of situations? Because this is a fallacy that I feel a lot of people have.

Guest (Girish):
Spot on. Especially the love for real estate is very strong here. So you’re absolutely right.
We’ve also seen investors with such huge portfolios—at least in theory. But there is a term for that: asset-rich but cash-poor.
In real estate portfolios, we’ve seen investors with five properties, children settled abroad. And the children are telling them, “We want nothing to do with these properties.” And the parents are left dealing with all of this mess.
So this is an important realization people need to have.
When someone thinks about retirement, there are four L’s of retirement that I talk about. If your retirement planning takes care of these four L’s, you’re sorted.
The first L is Longevity. Whatever essential expenses you have on a monthly basis—assuming you live to 90 or 100—can you budget for those expenses over that entire period? That’s longevity.
The second L is Lifestyle. What kind of life do you want to live, and how are you going to fund that lifestyle?
The third L is Legacy. Especially in India, parents want to leave something behind for the next generation. That also needs planning.
And the fourth L is Liquidity. If there is an untoward incident or a health-related issue, do you have money readily available to take care of it?
You have to look at your entire portfolio—real estate, FDs, everything—in the context of these four L’s. These four L’s are essentially liabilities. How are you going to fund them?
Once you start connecting assets to these liabilities, you get clarity. Real estate, for example, is not going to take care of liquidity. It’s not going to fund your lifestyle—except for the home you live in.
That clarity is what changes people’s thinking.

Host (Sanjay):
That was actually a tremendous insight—the four L framework.
I think it’s something we all need to internalize. And once you analyze it for yourself, if you realize that the money you have may not support the lifestyle you want, then either you invest better, grow it better—or the only option is to re-look at your lifestyle.
Liquidity is a big one. If your money is locked into illiquid assets and you suddenly need funds, how do you deal with that?
So thank you for that framework, Girish.
Coming back to the legacy aspect—in the Indian context, there is often guilt attached to it. The feeling that I must leave behind something for my children.
You work hard all your life, you’re frugal to save for retirement. You reach retirement, and now you’re hit with two things: one, anxiety about uncertainty; and second, the feeling that you must leave something behind for your kids.
So you continue living frugally even in retirement. When do you actually live for yourself?
How do you factor this guilt? Do you need to have this guilt at all? How do you balance this, because ultimately, you’ve worked hard all your life to build this wealth?

Guest (Girish):
Yeah. You’ve actually hit upon the crux of financial planning.
There are essentially two individuals. One is your present self, and the other is your future self—which can also mean your family and children. Striking a balance between the two is what financial planning is all about.
If you’ve lived your entire life frugally, even if you have money, suddenly changing that mindset is not easy. Habits don’t change overnight.
So the key question is—are you happy with the lifestyle you’re living? If yes, then more power to you. Live frugally because you’re happy, and leave whatever legacy you want.
But if you’re not happy, if there’s guilt, then you need clarity and awareness. Ask yourself: if there were no constraints, what would I want to do with my money?
If I assume my children are sorted and don’t need anything, how would I live differently? What would I do with my money?
Once people start thinking like this, they realize what truly matters to them. And once you have that realization, you can put a plan in place.
Legacy is important—it’s one of the four L’s. But if you plan it properly, you can live a guilt-free life while still taking care of it.

Host (Sanjay):
So when you say there’s a way, do you have frameworks of some kind?
Suppose today I’m at a certain stage in life with a certain amount of money. How do I know if it’s enough? Are there any ballpark ways to do it?
If my current lifestyle costs so many rupees a year, is there a way to figure this out?
I’ve seen people who’ve been in corporate jobs or some other form of employment. Let’s say, just as a ballpark example, at the time of retirement they were earning around ₹25 lakhs per annum—which, frankly, is not a lot in today’s context.
Earlier, they were earning even less. And suddenly, they see that they have a balance of ₹5 crores—a number they’ve never really seen as a full number before.
So they think, “I’m set.” It feels like a huge number.
But in reality, it might not be enough. It’s a big number relative to where they came from, but it may not be sufficient.
So how do you really get a sense of what is enough? Is there a way? Is there a framework?

Guest (Girish):
Certainly.
I think the four L’s that I spoke about is one framework. At Happiness Factory, we also have a process through which we try to answer exactly these questions.
We look at where you are today, what assets you have, what your expected spending pattern could look like in the future. Our system and financial planning framework pulls all of that together and creates a picture for you—this is what your life could look like financially.
So yes, there is a way. Of course, it requires deeper analysis.
People often talk about thumb rules. For example, some say you need 25 times your annual expenses. Another popular one is the 4% rule, proposed by William Bengen, which says you can withdraw 4% of your corpus every year and keep pace with inflation.
But rather than relying on these thumb rules—which don’t account for individual situations—I would say start from scratch.
Think about the lifestyle you want to live. Understand your expenses in detail.
Just to give you a high-level ballpark—you’re absolutely right. If someone has a monthly requirement of ₹1 to ₹1.5 lakhs, a ₹5 crore corpus may not be enough.
You’re probably looking at something closer to ₹8 crores, plus a separate health corpus.
And that health corpus is extremely important. Healthcare costs are only going up.

Host (Sanjay):
And sometimes you feel that, “Oh, I have a five-lakh medical insurance policy,” or a ten-lakh one. But the way healthcare costs are spiraling up, if you have a big surgery or something serious, it can easily cost much more than that.
And at that point in time, you don’t want money to come in the way of saving lives—whether it’s for yourself or someone close to you.
So generally speaking, the idea is: what’s the maximum health insurance that you can buy? And beyond that, keep a separate health corpus—another pool of money, like a goal—kept aside so that you’re reasonably sorted on the health front.

Guest (Girish):
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Host (Sanjay):
Right.
So going beyond that, once you do this planning for yourself—and as you mentioned, things keep changing—what is the frequency and the kind of periodic reviews you think are required?
Factoring in that as we grow older, we may not be as sharp in analyzing deep, complex spreadsheets.

Guest (Girish):
Correct. You’re right.
And that deep analysis is not even necessary.
If you structure your portfolio in a certain way—where you create what we call a ladder for yourself for the short term, and the rest of your portfolio is focused on longevity and growth—once that structure is in place, a once-a-year review with your financial advisor is good enough.
The only caveat is if something significant changes in your life, or if the assumptions based on which the plan was made change. Then, of course, it’s prudent to reach out to the advisor.
Once you automate it, you really don’t need to oversee it on a day-to-day basis. It does its job on its own.

Host (Sanjay):
Okay.
Especially at this age, I’ve seen people who, as soon as something changes—interest rates move, markets fall or crash—they keep going back to spreadsheets, checking where they stand, how much the portfolio has gone up or down.
You don’t think that’s necessary, right?

Guest (Girish):
No, it’s not necessary.
There are certain variables you simply can’t control—interest rates, market returns, all of that is beyond anyone’s control.
So the key is to create a portfolio in such a way that even if the market does whatever it does, you still have a ladder for the next five or six years. That gives you the buffer for the market to go down and come up again.
So you focus on what you can control.

Host (Sanjay):
Got it. Create a portfolio. Right.
Another aspect I want to talk about is that in many families, one spouse—could be the husband or the wife—takes the lead in financial planning. They know where everything is invested, how the portfolio is structured.
And sometimes, that person has spread money across many different instruments—direct stocks, PMS, AIFs, and so on. The other spouse is not familiar at all because they were never involved.
Given how fragile life is, something can happen any day. And then you’re left with money spread all over the place, and the other person doesn’t even know where things are.
So in spite of having wealth, there is huge anxiety if one partner passes away.
What’s your advice on this? How should families plan for this, especially at this age?

Guest (Girish):
You’re spot on. This is one of the biggest problems we see.
One person has taken the lead, and the other person is completely in the dark—and is left helter-skelter when, unfortunately, that person is no longer there.
Number one—simplification. People think that if they have 50 different mutual funds or 50 different products, they are better off. That’s really not the case.
Some people think going to multiple advisors automatically gives diversification. That’s also not how it works.
Simplify your life as much as possible. Document things wherever you can.
At Happiness Factory, at every review, we encourage the spouse to join. From the onboarding stage itself, we insist that the spouse is present in the conversation. And at every review thereafter, we insist on it.
Documentation, planning—we also have a separate initiative called My Life, Happily Documented, where we help people document their financial and life details.
All of this is absolutely critical. Otherwise, the anxiety will always be there.
As you said, life is fragile and uncertain.

Host (Sanjay):
Yes, yes. You never know.
This is actually an amazing thing that Happiness Factory does. And it’s something all of us need to appreciate—that with the fragility of life, if one person is handling everything and the other person isn’t aware, it can cause a big problem. And not just in the event of death.

Host (Sanjay):
I mean, there’s disability, right?
There’s a lot of reading I’ve been doing lately around this—situations where someone is in a coma or some condition where they’re alive but can’t sign papers or make decisions.
Are there best practices around this? Typically, what we suggest is joint accounts, nominees, and in some cases creating a power of attorney, having a will, doing proper estate planning.
When you start putting these things in place, they can actually take care of many of these situations.
Earlier, when Girish mentioned simplifying and not having 50 funds and all that—I’ve personally come to that conclusion over time.
Like most people, I’ve gone through experimentation, burnt my fingers, tried different things, and finally realized something. There are always people who will tell you, “Let me analyze your mutual fund portfolio and see if you’re in the right fund. Should you change?”
But the answer is always the same: sell this, buy that. And you end up constantly churning your portfolio for no real reason.
Every time you do that, there’s capital gains tax, paperwork, effort—and at the end of the day, for what? Because that fund looks good today? In the next six-month review, some other fund will come up as the best performer.
So personally—and Girish is the expert here, but I’ll share my perspective—when I think about my money and my investments, my first goal is very simple: it should beat inflation.
That’s a low benchmark. As long as it beats inflation, I’m ahead of the game.
Beyond that, if it puts me in a certain zone—say, a mutual fund giving me an annualized return of 12 to 15 percent—I’m okay. Over the long run, compounding works beautifully.
If something does better—markets do well, the fund is well-managed, maybe it gives me 20 percent—I’m happier.
But if something is giving me 14 percent and there’s another fund showing 15 percent, there is zero value for me in churning my portfolio just to chase that one percent.

Guest (Girish):
That’s very nicely said, Sanjay. You’re spot on again.
That 15 percent return—there are multiple aspects to it. Let’s say today you’re getting 13 percent and someone shows you a fund that claims it will give 15 percent.
Number one: no one really knows what the market is going to do or what a fund is going to do. If someone is confidently telling you that this fund will give you this return, you should run away from that person.
Number two: that incremental two percent—what is it actually going to do to your life and your happiness?

Host (Sanjay):
If at all you get that increment.

Guest (Girish):
Exactly. If at all you get it. There’s no guarantee.

Host (Sanjay):
Super.
I think we’ve had a really good discussion around a very important subject—money. We’ve covered a lot of ground.
Any summary thoughts for our viewers? Any best practices or things they should start thinking about doing tomorrow?

Guest (Girish):
Yeah.
The first thing is to be very clear about the risks you face. When we talk about longevity, what are the risks involved?
Number one, inflation is a big risk, and we have to take care of it.
If I broadly think about risks associated with money, there are three main buckets—and honestly, I feel this is one of the most important frameworks.
Bucket one is the risk of losing your money. We call this capital loss.

Guest (Girish):
There is a risk of volatility, right?
When people say the market is risky, they’re usually referring to volatility. And the third risk, of course, is inflation.
It’s very important to distinguish clearly between these three risks. When someone says, “I had a bad experience with equity,” or “I might lose my money in the equity market,” they’re typically talking about volatility—not capital loss.

Host (Sanjay):
Yeah, right.

Guest (Girish):
So get that clarity first, through discussions and understanding. Also recognize that inflation is an equally important risk—it’s just a hidden one.
That’s point number one.
Point number two is this: first figure out the lifestyle you want to live. Even if you’re 40, 50, or 60—wherever you are—figure out what you want your money to do for you.
Once that’s done, everything else follows.

Host (Sanjay):
Absolutely. Absolutely.
I think those were really great closing words. And I’m reminded of a quote from Charlie Munger, longtime partner of Warren Buffett. He once said, “I want to know where I’m going to die, so I’ll never go there.”
That’s really the idea—recognizing risk and staying away from it.
And that’s exactly what Girish mentioned. Capital preservation becomes extremely important at this stage of life. Of course, as Girish said earlier, not to the extreme where you completely avoid equity—it’s a fine balance.
But protecting the downside is critical. Which is why, especially at this stage, one should be very cautious about getting into experimental areas—bitcoins and other new, fancy things that keep coming up.
Let me share a personal example. I’ve done some angel investing over the years. Angel investing means putting money into startups at an early stage. I’ve been doing this for several years now.
I realized that angel investing works on a 7 to 10-year cycle. Nothing meaningful happens before that. I had allocated a fixed budget for it, and I never exceeded that exposure.
But even beyond that, I realized something else. If it’s a 7 to 10-year cycle, and today I’m 62—if I invest today, and something may happen when I’m 72—what’s the point?
What am I going to do with that money then? And will I even want to track it?
So whatever investments I made in my 50s—whether they work out or don’t, however they play out—I’m comfortable with that.
In the same way, identifying the right avenues, understanding the downside risk in each, and figuring out the right portfolio for this stage of life is a very important decision.
We’ve received some amazing insights and guidance from Girish today.
Thank you so much, Girish. It’s been a real pleasure talking to you, and I’m sure our viewers will find this extremely valuable.

Guest (Girish):
Thank you so much for the opportunity, Sanjay. I really appreciate it. Thank you.