Skip a cigarette a day and build a healthy retirement corpus, here's how

Most of us get so occupied in the daily hustle-bustle of life that we tend to forget to plan our life ahead, especially after retirement. What we don’t realise is that by maintaining certain habits we can actually make our post-retirement period quite comfortable. It is possible that we can secure our life after retirement by changing one single habit on a daily basis.

Do you know, that if you skip a single cigarette a day and instead invest that small amount, you can create a regular income of Rs 5,000 per month after crossing 60? Yes, it is possible, if you invest that little sum in the right scheme.

With the aim of creating regular income for senior citizens, the government had launched the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) to ensure that those working in the unorganised sectors such as daily wage workers, maids, gardeners, delivery boys, etc, can get life long monthly pension.

Atal Pension Yojana (APY)

The Atal Pension Yojana (APY), managed by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is a guaranteed pension scheme provided by the Government of India. After investing in the Atal Pension Yojana, beneficiaries can get a pension every month after the age of 60 years.

This scheme was started in May 2015 and had crossed the 3-crore subscriber mark at the end of March 2021.

To apply for the scheme, you should fall under the age between 18 years and 40 years. It is mandatory that you invest for at least 20 years in order to get the retirement benefits. You will be entitled to enjoy a fixed monthly pension of- Rs 1,000, Rs 2,000, Rs 3,000, Rs 4,000, or Rs 5,000 depending on your contribution and age at the time of enrolment.

Start early to pay less

If you enroll for the Atal Pension Yojana at the age of 18 and invest Rs 210 per month till the age of 60 years, you will start receiving Rs 5,000 every month for a lifetime from 60 yrs of age.

At the same time, for a monthly pension of Rs 1,000, you have to deposit only Rs 42 per month. Whereas, Rs 84 will have to be deposited every month for a pension of Rs 2000, Rs 126 for a pension of Rs 3,000, and Rs 168 for a monthly pension of Rs 4,000.

But if you want to receive Rs 5,000 pension after retirement, and start investing late then you have to pay Rs 533 at the age of 30, Rs 902 at 35, and Rs 1,318 at 39.

How to apply?

All the nationalised banks in the county provide the scheme. You can visit these banks to open an APY account. The account opening forms are available online on the bank websites as well. You can download the application form fill in the details and submit the form at the bank with the Aadhaar card photocopy. Also, a valid mobile number is required. The application form is available in English, Telugu, Tamil, Odia, Marathi, Kannada, Gujarati, and Bangla. You can also open it online from your bank’s website.

Features and benefits of the scheme:

– Under Section 80CCD, individuals are eligible for APY tax benefits for the contributions made towards the scheme.

– All bank account holders are eligible to join the APY scheme.

– Individuals will start receiving pension once they reach the age of 60.

– Private sector employees without any pension benefits are also allowed to apply for this scheme.

–  If the beneficiary dies, the pension amount is paid to his spouse who can either claim the contributions or complete the duration of the scheme. While in the absence of a spouse nominee can avail of the benefit.