A founder receives Rs 45 crore in a secondary sale and spends Rs 1.2 crore a year. Build the first-year plan: tax provision, a two-year cash reserve, and a staged deployment of the rest.

Provision first, reserve second, then deploy: set aside about Rs 6.67 crore for tax and Rs 2.4 crore for two years of spending, leaving Rs 35.92 crore to invest. Put 40% into a debt ladder at once, stage the 50% equity over 12 months at about Rs 1.50 crore a month, and commit the 10% for alternatives over three years. Her spending is about 3.3% of the pool, which the debt ladder can refill.

A shopkeeper who spends the GST he has collected before paying it has spent money that was never his. Part of the Rs 45 crore belongs to the tax authority, and investing it in equity risks having to sell after a fall to pay a fixed bill. On a Rs 44.5 crore gain at an illustrative 15%, that is about Rs 6.67 crore, held in a liquid fund or short deposits timed to the advance taxTax paid in instalments during the year in which income or gains arise, rather than all at once after the year ends. dates her adviser confirms.

Two years of spending, Rs 2.4 crore, in short debt and deposits. The reserve lets her live through a two-year equity slump without selling anything, which is what keeps the rest of the plan intact. It also buys time. People who come into sudden money often make their worst decisions in the first months, so a rule of no large commitments for three to six months belongs in the plan too.

Nisha still has about Rs 60 crore on paper in one unlisted software company, which is already a large, risky, illiquid bet. So the liquid pool should diversify away from that bet: a meaningful debt share, listed equity spread across sectors rather than tilted to technology, and a small alternatives sleeve with a hard cap on new startup investments. A 40/50/10 split does that: Rs 14.37 crore in a laddered bond and deposit book maturing over one to five years, Rs 17.96 crore in diversified equity, and Rs 3.59 crore for alternatives.

Each sleeve at its own pace. The debt ladder goes in during the first month, since there is little to gain by waiting; equity goes in through 12 monthly transfers of about Rs 1.50 crore; alternatives are committed across three yearly vintages and drawn by the funds over time. Her yearly spending of Rs 1.2 crore is about 3.3% of the pool, and each year's maturing rung of the ladder refills the reserve, so she never has to sell equity to live.

Close with the limit. The split and the pace are judgements for this client, not rules; a founder with no remaining stake could hold more equity. What does not change is the order: provision, reserve, then deploy. Every other choice can be adjusted later without harm; getting the order wrong can force a sale at the worst time.