New Delhi, Aug. 28 -- There is no single retirement corpus that can work for everyone. A Rs.1 crore retirement fund may be sufficient for someone with modest expenses and a paid-off home, but could fall short for another person facing rent, healthcare costs and family responsibilities.

For this reason, retirement planning should begin with how much you are likely to spend, rather than choosing an arbitrary corpus target.

The first step is to assess your current spending and divide it into essential and discretionary expenses.

Costs such as groceries, utilities, rent, healthcare, travel and financial support for family members may continue even after regular employment income stops.

The next consideration is inflation. Today's expenses...