Breaking the silence on death and money

Rekha and Rahul, both in their early forties, were batchmates at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM). They married soon after graduating and enjoyed successful careers in Bengaluru.

- HARSH ROONGTA

Rahul worked at a startup, while Rekha was with a large consultancy firm. After their second child was born three years ago, Rekha took a career break and was now considering her next move.

They live in a rented flat but had always dreamt of retiring to their hometown and spending their retirement in a home they would build there.

While Rahul's salary covered their family expenses and allowed them to invest for their children's college education, it was not enough to build their retirement corpus. No funds were available for their dream home. Rahul's Employee Stock Ownership Plans (Esops) from his startup could bridge this gap. But it was risky to depend on Esops for such an important goal.

They considered compromising on their children's education goal or reducing their lifestyle expenses to invest more, but neither option was acceptable to them.