Where to invest when goals are close

Our financial plans revolve around our goals. Goals can be childrens education, marriage, retirement , any goals around big buying decisions like house and car or vacations.

We plan , ensure the right asset allocation and monitor our progress as we go ahead.

So as our goals date come nearer , does our asset allocation need to change ? Does our methods require a shift?

if there is anything that covid and the debt fiasco in India has taught us is that planning is required and one should not wait for changing the plan as the time of goals closing comes near.

imagine if one had plans for school fees and the march mayhem happened in the market and  you were still invested in the market at that time. your funds would have dropped by 40% of their value! imagine taking out the required money but then having that drop come back up and your portfolio now has at least a 10% hole from Before. 

Having seen the panic .. panic for life and money happening at the same time, I believe that we need to be extra careful as the time for our goals comes near. 

The Debt crisis last year also did not help. People's faith in debt underwent a beating when the debt market in India froze due to DHFL and ILFS crisis. Even the debt market wouldn't have been safe.

Corporation banks had a big downfall with PMC and LVB  . People are still stuck trying to get their money out of PMC. 

so .. what is the option left ? where can we invest to at least get some returns and be careful enough to not lose the money .

Maybe the answer lies in fixed deposits . This too with the largest banks or Public Sector Banks . Banks like HDFC and Kotak will not fail due to governance issues... they are rock solid. or invest in PSBs like SBI which cannot fail since they are part of the GOI and have a sovereign guarantee.  

what other ideas can their be ? would be good to hear from you