ChartMyFunds — How We Help Mariners
How We Help Mariners

Your income doesn’t run on a shore-based calendar. Neither does our investing approach.

Most advisors think in monthly salaries and fixed working years. We think in contracts, sign-offs, sea-time, and the long gaps in between — because that’s the world we’ve lived in.

Why generic investing advice doesn’t fit a mariner’s life

A typical advisor will ask for your “monthly income” and build a plan around it — SIPs on the 5th of every month, an emergency fund sized at six months of salary, a retirement age of 60. None of that maps cleanly onto a mariner’s life. Income arrives in blocks, not monthly. Tax residency depends on days spent at sea, not where you live. And “retirement” often starts far earlier than 60 — if your body, your rank, or your choices take you there sooner. Advice built for a 9-to-5 life doesn’t just miss the mark for mariners — it can actively work against you.

What’s actually different

The realities we plan around

Lumpy, contract-based income

Money arrives in blocks during a contract, then stops during sign-off. SIP timing, emergency fund sizing, and cash flow planning all need to work differently than a monthly-salary model.

Sea-time linked tax residency

Your NRE/NRO status and tax residency can shift based on the number of days spent outside India in a financial year — a detail most advisors never ask about, let alone plan around.

No employer pension or PF

There’s usually no employer quietly building a retirement corpus for you in the background. Whatever corpus you retire with is one you built deliberately.

An earlier, less certain “retirement”

Rank, medical fitness, and personal choice can all shorten a sailing career well before conventional retirement age — the corpus has to be ready earlier, not later.

The transition ashore

Moving to a shore job changes almost everything financially

Your tax residency can flip overnight

Once you’re no longer clocking sea-time, your NRI status often ends. Income that was tax-free or taxed differently as an NRI may now be fully taxable as a resident — and this catches people off guard mid-year.

Income usually drops, and changes shape

Shore salaries are rarely equal to sea-going pay, and they arrive monthly instead of in lump contract blocks. Spending habits built around contract income often don’t survive the switch.

You may get EPF for the first time

Many mariners encounter employer PF, gratuity, and structured retirement benefits for the first time ashore — after years of building their own corpus independently. That shift needs a plan, not just a payroll deduction.

Insurance and health cover need a second look

Cover that made sense for a seafarer’s risk profile and time abroad often needs revisiting once you’re shore-based — family floater needs, employer cover overlap, and term cover amounts can all shift.

How we actually help

A process built around your sailing life, not against it

1

Talk it through

We start with a conversation about your rank, contract pattern, and goals — not a generic form.

2

Understand your risk profile

Before any recommendation, we assess your goals, time horizon, and comfort with risk.

3

Choose the right funds

We help you select mutual fund schemes suited to your profile — timed around your sign-off cycle.

4

Stay in touch, contract after contract

Your situation changes with every promotion and posting. We check in as your career evolves.

As an AMFI-registered Mutual Fund Distributor (ARN 185676), our recommendations are limited to mutual fund schemes and made only after understanding your risk profile. See our Disclosures page for full details.

Let’s talk about your situation specifically

No generic pitch — just a conversation about mutual-fund options that may be suitable for your goals and risk profile.

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