New Delhi, June 4 -- For M. Pattabiraman, retirement planning was never about chasing a magic corpus number or beating the market. Instead, it's been about staying consistent, keeping things simple, and sticking to what works.

A professor at IIT Madras and the founder of personal finance platform Freefincal, Pattabiraman-affectionately known as "Pattu Sir" in India's investing circles-achieved financial independence and early retirement (FIRE) at the age of 45.

Since 2008, he has invested steadily through multiple market cycles, building a portfolio that delivered a 13.9% XIRR (extended internal rate of return)-without juggling multiple asset classes or experimenting with complex strategies.

In this edition of Mint's 'Guru Portfolio' s...