Fee-only income plans that make a retirement lump sum last into the 90s
TL;DR Retirewell is a SEBI-registered, fee-only advice desk for people within five years of retirement or just retired. It turns a one-time pile of PF, gratuity and NPS money into a year-by-year income plan built to last into the person's 90s, and reviews it every year. Clients pay a flat annual fee and there are no commissions.
Most Indians reach retirement with less than they think they need and no plan for spending it. In a 2026 survey of 1,218 people, mostly aged 40 to 60, the median retirement corpus was ₹28 lakh against a ₹1 crore goal, 75.5% had no detailed plan and 58.5% expected their money to run out before age 80[1]. About 77% had never taken professional financial advice[1].
The real risk is living long. India had 149 million people over 60 in 2022, and 18.7% of older people have no income of their own[2]. Women tend to live longer and are more often widowed[2], so if a lump sum is spent too fast or parked badly at 60 then it's the surviving spouse who pays for it.
What it does, in regulatory terms: personalised investment advice from a SEBI-registered investment adviser, paid by fee only. Retirewell does not sell products, take commissions or hold client money. It has to register under SEBI's Investment Advisers Regulations, which set qualification, fee and net-worth conditions[3].
Here's how it works. A client brings everything in one go - PF and gratuity statements, NPS balance, fixed deposits, mutual funds, the house, expected pension and known expenses. Retirewell builds an income plan that assumes the client or spouse lives to 95 or beyond, with money for the next few years in safe, simple instruments and money for later years in growth assets, and the plan shows how much can be drawn each year without running dry. It covers the NPS annuity choice, tax on each withdrawal and what changes for the surviving spouse.
Every year the adviser updates the plan with actual returns, spending and health costs, and resets the safe draw. Clients follow it through their own bank and fund accounts.
The user is a salaried employee nearing 60 or a new retiree with a lump sum, often with adult children helping decide. The client pays a flat annual fee within SEBI's limits[3]. The alternative today is a bank relationship manager or distributor who earns on product commissions. For a US benchmark, one planning firm charges US$3,200 (about ₹3.1 L) for a one-off adviser retirement plan check, and US$168 (about ₹16,300) a year for its self-service planner[4].
SEBI amended the adviser regulations again in November 2025[3], and the register now lists 1,057 investment advisers[5], which is tiny for a country this size. NPS has about 2.35 crore subscribers and ₹17,39,011 Cr in assets as of October 2026[6], so more and more retirees will face the NPS exit and annuity decision with no neutral adviser in sight.
Nobody publishes a figure for retirement income advice in India. The narrowest signal is behaviour. In the 2026 survey, about 77% of people near retirement had never paid for advice and three in four had no detailed plan[1]. The adjacent base is NPS with 2.35 crore subscribers[6], though many are years away from retiring.
One US firm sells retirement planning to more than 250,000 users, from a free planner to a paid adviser review[4], which shows people will pay for a withdrawal plan that's separate from products. In India there are 1,057 SEBI-registered advisers[5], and most serve wealth-building clients across all life stages. Banks and distributors serve retirees too, but they're paid by product. I didn't find an Indian fee-only firm built only around spending down a retirement corpus.
| Difficulty | Moderate (42/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹60–110 L |
| Time to launch | 6–9 months |
Registration and compliance take time but the steps are clear. Trust and acquisition are the harder part, because people near 60 rarely pay for advice and they'll only hand over a life's savings to someone they believe. Each plan also eats a qualified adviser's hours, so margins depend on keeping that time tight.
Yes, this needs a licence before you give a single plan, because personalised advice is regulated.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
The advice itself stays with the registered adviser. AI shouldn't decide how much a 60-year-old can spend, because the adviser is responsible for every automated output.
Want to work out the AI layer for Retirewell? Talk to Yash →
Here's what can go south -
I think this suits a qualified adviser with retail experience who can explain trade-offs to a 60-year-old and their kids. If you want to scale on software alone or earn on product sales then pick something else. Prove one thing first - 30 people near retirement will pay a flat annual fee after one free conversation.
Plan for roughly ₹60–110 L, covering SEBI registration and compliance, qualified advisers and client acquisition.
Yes. Personalised investment advice needs SEBI investment adviser registration, with fee limits and disclosure duties. Selling annuities or insurance would need separate licensing.
Yes, retirement advice is regulated almost everywhere, so you'd need the local adviser licence first. Pension and annuity rules differ by country.
The free Retirewell validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the SEBI adviser and data-protection checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for people near retirement, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Retirewell or something close to it? The make-or-break bit is finding retirees at the right moment and getting them to pay for advice, and that's exactly the kind of thing I help founders with. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.