The investment portfolio you create determines how successfully you finance your post-retirement lifestyle. A well-balanced portfolio with the right options lets you build wealth and at the same time ensures that you save funds for emergencies and difficult times.
In order to do this, there are several investment options available in the market. Be it senior citizen’s FDs, SIPs, Post Office Monthly Income Schemes for Senior Citizens Savings Scheme, knowing about their features helps you select the safest investment options for yourself. You can then create your portfolio wisely.
Read further to have a look at some of the safe investment options you can choose.
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Company FDs
As compared to your normal savings accounts or bank FDs, company fixed deposits provide 1-2% higher interest return on your investment. Also, as per RBI guidelines you can fetch approximately 0.35% higher interest on a senior citizen’s FD. So, keeping these points in mind you can choose to invest in the Bajaj Finance Senior Citizen Fixed Deposit scheme with ICRA’s MAAA (stable) rating and CRISIL’s FAAA/Stable rating.
With this FD your money is parked to safety earning higher FD interest rates of up to 8.75%. You can also benefit from a regular income, by making use of high interest payouts by choosing the non-cumulative FD variant. So, invest based on your financial goals by checking your maturity amount using the FD calculator.
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Systematic withdrawal plans (SWP) of debt funds
You can tune your mutual fund investments post-retirement through SWP plans. While equity funds have high volatility in the market, debt funds lower the risk of market fluctuations. This allows you to gain high returns and enjoy a certain level of safety at the same time. It offers you a high rate of interest that could range from 5.67% to 8%. Also, with SWP, you can predetermine the amount and the interval at which you want to withdraw a fixed sum from your debt investment.
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Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana
Launched on 4th May, 2017, this investment scheme has been exclusively started by the government for citizens aged above 60. You can gain from an 8% annual interest, payable on a monthly basis by investing a sum of up to Rs.15 lakh in this scheme. Here, your investment will fetch you an income in the form of pension of up to Rs. 5,000 every month for a period of 10 years.
On maturity, after 10 years you get back your invested sum along with your last pension amount. Also, along the tenor after completing 3 years with the scheme you can take a loan of up to 75% of your investment value.
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Immediate annuities
You can invest in immediate annuity schemes through insurance companies. The exclusive feature of this scheme is that it pays you a fixed pension for the rest of your retired life without the limitation of a tenor. Although, it is important to note that the pension you receive from the annuity is completely taxable. Apart from that the corpus once invested is non-returnable.
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Eight per cent Government of India Savings Bond
The Government releases bonds from time to time to raise funds for infrastructural developments and social welfare. You cannot buy these bonds in primary markets and must purchase them in reputed stock exchanges or at selected banks.
The best part about these bonds is that they protect your investment on a fixed 8% interest rate, irrespective of the market conditions. These bonds generally come with a longer maturity tenor of at least 6 years and a maximum of 15 years.
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The National Pension System (NPS)
In case you work in the unorganised sector or do not have an EPF account, you can avail the benefits of the National Pension System. This tax-efficient flexible pension scheme is sponsored by the Government of India. Thus, interest gains on your investment are assured and higher too for NPS.
Moreover, you can claim an additional Rs. 50,000 owing to your NPS investment alongside the regular Section 80 C claim of the Income Tax Act. Further, tax-free withdrawals of up to 40% of your investment are also allowed in case of NPS.
A good and well-balanced investment portfolio can help you in several ways. Not only does it help you finance various costs like healthcare and household bills, but also enables you to save for big occasions in the future like weddings and children’s education.
