A 62-year-old client has just lost her husband. She has Rs 3.5 crore, no pension, and needs Rs 1.5 lakh a month. How do you approach the first 90 days, the income plan and the allocation, and how long does the money last?

Make no irreversible decisions for 90 days, then build three buckets; on these assumptions the money lasts about 21 years, to around age 83. The first quarter is paperwork, cash on hand and listening. The plan then puts two years of spending in liquid funds, five years in short bonds and the rest in growth assets. To last to 95 she would need to spend about Rs 1.02 lakh a month, so the gap has to be discussed, gently.

Think of a family after a house fire. Nobody sensible rebuilds in the first week; they find somewhere safe to stay, gather the documents and wait until they can think. A recently bereaved client should make no irreversible financial decision in the first 90 days, and the adviser's job is to keep her safe and liquid while she grieves. In practice: put six months of spending, about Rs 9 lakh, in her own savings account; park the insurance money in a liquid fund in her name; list every account, deposit, policy and loan; and help with the transmission of the joint deposits and any demat holdings to her name, the claim paperwork and her own will and nominations.

Listen more than you speak. She may be making money decisions for the first time, and her daughter abroad may have views. Ask what she wants her life to look like, whether she will stay in the flat, and what she worries about most. Decline to sell anything in this period, including insurance or long lock-in products; a client who later feels she was sold to at her worst moment will not stay, and should not.

The withdrawal is 5.1% of the corpus in the first year, which sounds modest against a 7% return. But her spending rises 6% a year, so what matters is the return above inflation, about 1%. On these assumptions the money covers 21 full years of spending and runs out during year 22, around age 83. A woman of 62 can reasonably plan for her 90s. To last 33 years, to 95, the same assumptions support about Rs 12.3 lakh a year, Rs 1.02 lakh a month; even at an 8% return the money lasts about 24 years at her current spending.

Use buckets, because they match how a grieving client thinks: money for now, money for soon, money for later. Two years of spending, Rs 37.1 lakh, in liquid funds; years three to seven, Rs 114.0 lakh, in short-term bonds and deposits; and the remaining Rs 198.9 lakh in growth assets, mainly a diversified equity and hybrid mix. The buckets buy time twice over: time for her to grieve without watching markets, and time for the growth bucket to recover from a bad year before anything has to be sold from it. Government savings schemes aimed at senior citizens may suit part of bucket two; confirm the current limits, rates and tax treatment.

Put the options to her plainly, not all at once. Spending of about Rs 1.02 lakh a month lasts to 95; Rs 1.5 lakh lasts to about 83. The gap can be closed by spending less, by turning part of the corpus into a lifetime income through an annuity so that she cannot outlive it, or by accepting more growth assets and the swings that come with them. Annuity rates and their tax treatment change, so confirm current quotes before sizing one. Review the plan every year; the numbers here are assumptions, and a good year or a smaller budget changes them quickly.