Step one
Separate the shop's money from the home's money
When the business account and the family account are the same account, nobody can say what the business earned this year or what the family can safely invest. Every planning question gets harder.
Open a separate savings account for the family
Keep the current account for the business only. Sales, supplier payments, GST and staff salaries stay there.
Pay yourself a fixed monthly draw
Pick an amount the business can afford even in a weak month, say ₹60,000, and transfer it on the same date every month. Treat it as your salary.
Move extra profit once a quarter, not daily
Leave the working buffer in the business. Whatever is left above it at quarter end can be shifted to the personal side and invested on purpose.
Run the family budget on the draw alone
Household spending, school fees, insurance premiums and the base SIP all come from the fixed draw, so they never depend on whether this month was good.
Irregular income
A SIP that bends with your income, without breaking
Salaried people pick one SIP amount and forget it. With seasonal income that either feels too small in a good year or too heavy in a slow one. We split it into two parts.
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Base SIP
A fixed monthly amount from your draw, low enough that you never pause it. For many owners that is ₹5,000 to ₹15,000.
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Top-up lumpsum
After a strong quarter or the festive season, a one-time amount goes into the same funds. If the money is large, we park it in a liquid fund and move it in slowly through an STP.
| Quarter | Business mood | Base SIP | Top-up | Total invested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr to Jun | Slow | ₹30,000 | Nil | ₹30,000 |
| Jul to Sep | Average | ₹30,000 | ₹20,000 | ₹50,000 |
| Oct to Dec | Festive peak | ₹30,000 | ₹1,50,000 | ₹1,80,000 |
| Jan to Mar | Year-end dues | ₹30,000 | Nil | ₹30,000 |
| Year | ₹1,20,000 | ₹1,70,000 | ₹2,90,000 | |
Base SIP of ₹10,000 a month. The top-up is decided at each quarter end, after GST and advance tax are set aside. Mutual fund investments are subject to market risks, read all scheme related documents carefully.
Retirement without employer PF
Nobody deducts 24% of your basic. So you have to.
A salaried person with ₹50,000 basic pay has ₹12,000 a month going into EPF (their 12% plus the employer's share), whether they think about it or not. You can build the same habit on your own.
| What a salaried person gets | What you can use instead | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| EPF deducted every month | Equity mutual fund SIP | A standing instruction from your personal account on the day after your draw. Flexi cap or index fund categories for the long-term core. |
| Fixed-rate retirement savings | PPF | Up to ₹1.5 lakh a year, 15-year term, government-backed. Works well for the safe part of the plan. |
| Pension scheme through employer | NPS, opened on your own | Market-linked pension account. Extra deduction of up to ₹50,000 under section 80CCD(1B) in the old tax regime. |
| Gratuity on leaving | A separate "exit" goal | Some owners plan to sell or hand over the business. We plan as if that sale value is zero, and treat anything you get as a bonus. |
| Group health cover | Your own family floater | Bought while you are young and healthy, so waiting periods are over long before you need it. |
Tax limits shown are rules as of 2026, check current rules before you invest.
Start at 35
₹1.61 crore ₹12,000 a month for 25 years. You put in ₹36 lakh.Start at 45
₹50.2 lakh The same ₹12,000 a month for 15 years. You put in ₹21.6 lakh.At 10% a year, an assumed rate for illustration, retiring at 60. Real returns vary and can be negative in some years. Mutual fund investments are subject to market risks, read all scheme related documents carefully. Try your own numbers in the retirement calculator.
Before the first rupee goes into a fund
If the business stops for three months, does the family still run?
For most owners the business is the only income. A hospital stay, an accident or worse can stop both the shop and the SIP at once. That is why we sort cover first.
- Term cover of 10 to 15 times your yearly draw, so the family is not forced to sell stock or the shop. How term cover works
- Family health cover of ₹10 lakh or more, since no employer policy sits behind you. Health insurance
- Critical illness cover for owners whose income stops the day they stop working. Critical illness
Insurance is the subject matter of solicitation.
Two buffers, not one
Keep a business buffer and a family buffer apart
Owners often say "the business is my emergency fund". Then a slow season and a medical bill arrive in the same month, and the SIP is the first thing to go.
We set up two separate pots so one problem never eats into the other. See the emergency fund page for how we size it.
Business buffer
Two to three months of fixed costs: rent, salaries, power. Stays in the business current account or a sweep facility.
Family buffer
Six to twelve months of household spending, longer if income swings a lot. Usually in a liquid fund or bank deposit, in your personal name.
Common questions
What owners ask us first
Did not find yours? Ask in the form below and we reply on WhatsApp.
My income changes every month. Can I still start a SIP?
Yes. Start a base SIP you can pay in your slowest month, even ₹2,000 or ₹5,000. Add lumpsum top-ups after good quarters. A SIP can be paused or changed later, but the habit matters more than the amount.
Should I invest through the business or in my own name?
For personal goals like retirement and children's education, we invest in your own name from your personal account, after you have drawn the money from the business. Investing business surplus in the firm's name is possible but is a separate discussion with your chartered accountant.
Is it better to put money back into the business instead?
Often part of it should go back. But if every rupee goes back into one business, your whole future depends on one shop or one practice. We suggest keeping at least a fixed share outside, so the family has something that does not move with your industry.
I am 45 and have saved nothing outside the business. Is it too late?
No, but the monthly amount has to be higher, and the plan has to be honest about it. We work out what the business can spare, add PPF and NPS for the stable part, and show you what that could add up to at an assumed rate for illustration.
Do you file my business taxes or GST?
No. We are a mutual fund distributor and help with insurance. We work alongside your CA, and can share a yearly statement of your investments for your return.
Plan it with us
Tell us how your income moves. We send back a plan.
Four details are enough to start. We reply on WhatsApp with a suggested monthly draw, base SIP, top-up rule and the cover you are missing.
- No charge for the first plan
- Categories explained in plain words, no scheme pushing
- Reviewed with you once a year, or after a big business change
Related
Pages owners read next
Each one goes deeper on a single piece of the plan above.
SIP
Monthly investing from ₹500, step-up and lumpsum explained
Retirement planning
How big the corpus needs to be and how to draw from it
NPS
A pension account you open and run yourself
STP
Moving a big festive-season surplus into equity in steps
Portfolio review
Check what you already hold before adding more