Retirement Planning: Investing in these 3 places will be very useful in the new year..

Retirement Planning: It is a new year, it is a great time to do financial planning. Now if you are in your 30-40 age then you should do retirement planning. Many salaried professionals do not keep retirement planning as a target in their financial planning. But this year you can fix one thing. If you follow a long-term investment strategy for your retirement fund, then there are many good options for investment. You can get better returns with these options. Investing in Voluntary Provident Fund (VPF), ELSS or Public Provident Fund (PPF) can give good profits.

Voluntary Provident Fund (VPF)
Only 12 percent of the basic salary can be contributed to EPF. But, there is no limit to investing in VPF (Voluntary Provident Fund). Meaning, that if the employee increases his contribution to the provident fund by keeping his in-hand salary low, then this option is called VPF. In VPF also, 8.15 percent interest is being given like EPF. This scheme is an extension of EPF. Only employed people can open it. 100 percent of the basic salary and DA (Dearness allowance) can be invested in it.

What to do for VPF?
You will have to contact the HR or finance team of your company. Contribution will have to be requested in VPF. Once processed, VPF will be linked to your EPF account. No separate account of VPF is opened. VPF contribution can be revised every year. However, the employer is not obliged to invest in VPF. The employee can only increase his contribution.

Special things related to VPF
If you change jobs, you can easily transfer this account. The loan is also available on this. Loans can also be taken for children's education, home loans, and children's marriage. For partial withdrawal of the amount from the VPF account, it is necessary for the account holder to work for 5 years. If it is less than 5 years then tax is deducted. The entire amount of VPF can be withdrawn only on retirement. VPF gets the benefit of tax deduction under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act. The money received on investment, interest, and maturity (EEE) is completely tax-free. This scheme is very good for retirement planning.

ELSS- Equity Linked Savings Scheme
42 mutual fund companies run tax saving schemes in the country. Every company has ELSS to save income tax. It can be purchased online or from an agent. To save income tax, a time investment limit is a minimum of Rs 5 thousand and if you want to invest every month then you can start investing a minimum of Rs 500 per month. In this, a maximum tax exemption of Rs 1.5 lakh can be availed, but there is no limit on maximum investment.

No interest, you get market-linked returns
There is a lock-in in the scheme for 3 years. Later the investor can withdraw the money if he wants. If desired, it can be completely withdrawn after 3 years. There is also an option for partial withdrawal. You can leave the remaining money in the scheme as long as you want. The special thing about ELSS is that instead of interest on investment, you get market-linked returns.

Public Provident Fund-PPF
Public Provident Fund (PPF) This scheme can be opened anywhere in a bank or post office. Transfer can also be made to any bank or post office. Only Rs 500 is enough to open it. It is necessary to deposit Rs 500 at one time every year. A maximum of Rs 1.5 lakh can be deposited in the account every year. This scheme is for 15 years, due to which money cannot be withdrawn in between. But, after 15 years it can be extended for 5-5 years.

Loan and partial withdrawal exemption is available
PPF cannot be closed before 15 years, but after 3 years, a loan can be taken against this account. If anyone wants, he can withdraw money from this account from the 7th year as per the rules. Interest rates are reviewed every quarter. Interest rates may increase or decrease. At present 7.1 percent interest is being given. The benefit of tax exemption up to Rs 1.5 lakh under 80C is available on investment in the scheme. Any person can invest in these.

Where should one invest?
There is a facility of getting tax exemption on investment in all three options. But, still, all three are schemes with different benefits. If you are employed then it would be right to invest in VPF. Because from here you will get more interest than PPF and ELSS. At the same time, if you can take some risk then ELSS is a better option for them. Money should be invested in this through SIP, in which investment is made every month. This reduces the risk on investment and increases the chances of getting good returns. At the same time, if you want to stay away from market risk then it would be right to invest in PPF.

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