How should I allocate my money to meet retirement goals?

Name withheld on request

You are in a very good position financially at a really early stage of your life. You would need to think about the split between investing in your local market versus the Indian market and the splits in each of these markets. At the outset, you should decide to be deliberate about these allocations, and maintain them over the course of upcoming years.

In general, you can assume a steady currency depreciation of INR vis a vis Euro as is natural for a growth currency to do. That means your investments in the Indian debt market or deposits) needs to be kept lower than in growth assets such as equities. The European market’s advantages are general stability and relative strength of its currency. However, Indian markets have the potential for higher returns, even though some of that return would be eroded by currency depreciation.

Separately, just because your financial goals are India-centric, does not necessarily mean that you need to invest in India. You can send yourself money at appropriate times to take care of needs such as home or other purchases.

You can consider dividing your investments 50% each between Indian and overseas investments. You can take the help of an advisor on your portfolios either in India or in France, or in both markets.

Srikanth Meenakshi is a co-founder at PrimeInvestor.