New Delhi, March 14 -- For retirement planning, an individual needs to build a diversified portfolio spread across various asset classes, such as equities, fixed income, gold, REITs, etc. The next step is to identify the financial products within each selected asset class. The individual needs to decide the starting portfolio allocation towards each asset class. Every year, the portfolio allocation needs to be reviewed and rebalanced. Every rebalance involves selling a portion of one asset class and reinvesting the proceeds in another, which has capital gains tax implications.

Retirement planning is just one of the financial goals. An individual can have multiple financial goals, such as funding a child's higher education and marriage, b...