You may retire, but don’t let your money retire – Invest in these safe schemes

• Follow

When planning investments, the age of the person making the investment is of great significance. While the young usually take more risk, the aged and the retired want to ensure the safety of their capital, and therefore, are not prone to taking risk at all.

The problem is risk is always coupled with rate of return – the less the risk, the less the return. And since interest rates are falling constantly, safe instruments are low of returns that leave little room for real income once the amount of interest earned is adjusted for inflation.

Yet, in the midst of this risk-return duel, there are a few schemes that offer some earning opportunities to those retired.

Senior Citizen Saving Scheme SCSS is one of the most popular investment instruments among senior citizens. It is a government-backed retirement benefits program.

SCSS is now offering 7.4% annual interest rates.

An individual of the age of 60 years or more can open an SCSS account in post offices or banks.

The tenure of the scheme is 5 years. But the account can be extended for further 3 years.

The maximum limit of investment is Rs 15 lakh.

PM Vaya Vandana Yojana Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana is another appropriate scheme designed for senior citizens.

The rate of interest is revised every year at the start of the financial year by the finance ministry.

Now it is also offering 7.4% interest per annum. The policy is for the period of 10 years and the existing limit on investment is Rs 15 lakh.

PMVVY gives you a chance to have an inflation-beating return when interest rates have declined over the year.

Monthly Income Scheme The Post Office Monthly Income Scheme (POMIS) is also popular among senior citizens. Senior citizens queueing up in front of post offices at the beginning of every month to withdraw money from MIS is a common sight all over the country.

It has provision of interest payback on a monthly basis. The account can be open only in the post offices.

The tenure of MIS is 5 years. It offers 6.6% interest rate per annum.

The minimum investment amount is Rs 1,000 and the maximum limit is Rs 4.5 lakh in a single account.