Retirement is a golden period of life where you would like to make the most out of it instead of worrying about the income. Once you retire, your income will stop, but the bills will continue. If you are worried about your post-retirementfinancial stability, various types of investment instruments are available in the market to help you build a sizable corpus. Here, it becomes essential to understand the features and benefits of such plans before investing, so that you can meet your long-term financial goals.
With the Internet, you can invest in differentonline investment plansand lead a financially stable retired life.
Here are five different types of investment schemes that can help you secure your financial wellbeing after retirement:
- Unit-Linked Insurance Plan (ULIP)
ULIP is a type of life insurance plan that provides an added benefit of investing in equity, debt, or balanced funds. It is one of the efficient ways to help you meet your life goals in the long run. Numerous benefits, like flexibility, transparency, free-switching of funds, and tax benefits, among others make ULIP one of the popular wealth creation tools. The dual benefits of life insurance investment and a cost-effective way to invest in the equity-market make it an attractive financial product.
- Public Provident Fund
PPF is a traditional and trusted investment scheme, as it offers many benefits and investor-friendly features. It is an ideal long-term investment alternativeif you want to earn decent and assured returns. You can invest in it if you are aged 18 or more. Even minors can have a PPF account only if their parents operate it. PPF has a mandatory lock-in duration of 15 years. It is a tax-exempt investment instrument. The maturity proceeds that you receive after the completion of 15 years are tax-free. Besides this, the amount earned as interest on the principal is eligible for a deduction under the Income Tax Act, 1961. PPF offers a decent interest rate of approximately 7.10% per annum, making it a noteworthy investment option.
- Voluntary Provident Fund
VPF is a type of retirement scheme specially designed for salaried people to meet the post-retirement financial requirements. Here, you contribute or invest funds towards your provident fund account.VPF offers many advantages, like tax exemptions, high returns, andeasy transfer in case of a job change. It has a compulsory lock-in period of five years. In this scheme, you can contribute up to 100% of your basic salary and dearness allowance. VPF offers a rate of interest of 8.65% per annum, which is much better than bank fixed deposits.
- National Pension Scheme (NPS)
NPS is one of the ideal government-sponsored retirement schemes. Any Indian citizen aged between 18 to 60can invest in this scheme. Here, you can contribute funds periodically in a pension account till retirement. The current rate of interest is 9% to 12%.When you invest in an NPS,it is not possible to withdraw the corpus until you reach the age of 60. On maturity, you can withdraw 60% of the funds in lump-sum, whereas the remaining 40% will be invested in an annuity plan that will ensure a lifetime pension.
- Mutual fund (MF)
MF is a type of investment tool that invests your money in money market instruments, bonds, and stocksto help you earn significant returns in the future. It offers benefits like professional management, diversification, and liquidity, among other investor-centric features. Here, you can earn returns through dividend payouts, capital gains, and increased Net Asset Value(NAV).
If you are looking for a life insurance investment plan to secure the financial future of your dependents by earning high returns, then investing in ULIP is advisable. It is because ULIPs offer dual benefits of insurance and investment in a single plan, which makes them stand out as compared to other investment instruments mentioned here. Moreover, you can meet various life objectives, like children’s education, their wedding, and building a substantial retirement fund, by investing in a top-performing ULIP plan.