What is the best pension strategy and option for under 20 or working professionals?

As a young person standing at the threshold of your career, you may not think too much about your retirement. You would obviously be more excited about the long career lying ahead of you. However, your retirement is a reality and even though right now it seems like a lifetime away, saving for it is mandatory. The earlier you begin, the better it is for you. So what are the best retirement strategies available to you? Should you invest in a pension plan or should you start a PPF account? Take a look at this article to see what your best options are.

Pension strategies for young people

As a youngster under 20, you may still be studying or may have just begun your professional journey. You may still have a few student loans that you are repaying. At such times, is it practical for you to put some money away in a pension plan for your retirement? The answer is a big, fat yes! The logic behind this is simple – the earlier you start, the larger your fund will grow. Let us take a look at some of the pension strategies for young people.

·         Pension plans: The pension plans, also known as the retirement plans, are popular saving tools available from the leading insurance providers in India. The pension plans allow you to save small amounts of money for a long time. Your money is invested in safe market tools and it grows even further. And since a pension plan is an insurance product, it also comes with a death benefit component. So if anything happens to you within the policy period, your loved ones will get the sum assured. Upon maturation, the pension plan gives you a lump sum amount of money and the rest of the accumulated fund is given in parts to you and becomes a regular source of income for you.

·         Deferred annuity plans: As a young professional, you can start investing in a deferred annuity plan which is a kind of pension plan. This allows you to be disciplined about your finances and keep a small amount of money away each month for your future.

·         Investments: Apart from the pension plans, you can also invest some money in mutual funds, PPF accounts and also in post office savings schemes like the NCS. You will be able to save and build up a large corpus which you can use for your retirement as well as for your other life goals such as your wedding, your children’s college fees, etc. You can also use a part of your accumulated corpus later on to buy an immediate annuity plan. An immediate annuity plan is a type of pension plan where you pay a lump sum amount of money after you retire and set up a regular income source for yourself. It therefore is important to start saving early as you can then build up a fund which will aid you in every step of your life.

Things to consider when building up a retirement corpus

Whether you choose to invest in a deferred annuity pension plan or you want to lock your money into a PPF account, there are a few things you must keep in mind. Firstly, you have to work on a tight budget. As a 20-year old, your salary won't be too high. You therefore have to balance your finances in such a way that it is possible for you to put some money away each month. It may be difficult, but it is not impossible. Secondly, do not make the mistake of thinking that your retirement is way too far away. It never is too early to start saving for your future and you too must take stock as soon as possible. This will help you in finding the best pension plan as well as securing your own financial future.

To sum it up

To sum it up, as a 20-year-old, you must start saving in a pension plan or in any other kind of investment to ensure your retirement phase is smooth. Saving money is a good habit and if you begin early, you will become a successful money manager your whole life and that will prove to be very beneficial for you. Good luck! 

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What are the must-know things while choosing a pension plan for myself?

Rahul was looking to buy a pension plan for himself. He was 42 years old and understood the importance of starting a retirement corpus early on. He did not want to wait till he was too close to his retirement as he knew that would make it difficult for him to build up a substantial fund. So he went shopping for a pension plan. To his surprise though, there were many factors that Rahul found he did not know about the pension plans. It took him a while to do his research and he bought a suitable plan only when he was sure about the clauses of a pension plan.

If you too need some help with the understanding of the pension plans, take a look at this article where we tell you about the main features of the pension plans in India.

Features of pension plans: Things to remember:

Take a look at these important features of a pension policies so that you know what kind of plan you must opt for and why.

·         Types of annuity:  Pension plans offer two kinds of annuity options to choose from. You can have a deferred annuity or an immediate annuity. In a deferred annuity pension plan, you invest small sums of money over a long period of time. The money you put in is saved din a fund and after your retirement, regular payments are made out of this fund. This helps you to have a regular source of income. Deferred annuity plans are very popular types of retirement plans. Immediate annuity plans are types of retirement plans where you pay a lump sum amount of money after your retirement (or when you want the plan to kick in) and you start getting regular payouts immediately after that.This is a good option if you want to invest your retirement bonus or any other large sum of money you may receive and utilise it in your retirement years.

·         Taxation:  You must be aware of the taxation norms before you buy a pension plan. The premiums you pay on your retirement plans are tax exempted under Section 80C of the Indian Income Tax Act. The income that you earn after the plan matures, however, is fully taxable. So you must keep this point in mind before you invest in a good retirement benefit plan.

·         Withdrawal limit upon maturity:  If you invest in a deferred annuity pension plan, then you can withdraw only 1/3^rd of the accumulated amount when the policy matures. This is important to note as many people expect to get back the entire sum along with the interest component. However, this doesn’t happen in pension policies and you have to buy an annuity plan with the remaining amount. Regular payouts will then begin from the annuity plan and you will get a regular source of income thereafter.

·         ULIPs v/s Endowment plans:  Most of the pension plans available from the insurance companies in India are either endowment plans or ULIPs. You have to therefore make a choice between the two before you start the plan. If you have a low risk appetite and do not want to risk your retirement fund in any way, it is a good idea to invest in a traditional endowment plan. If however, you want to take a few risks and look to multiply your returns, you could invest in a ULIP. It is safe to do so as you get a death benefit and a sum assured. A part of your funds are invested in the markets and you stand to earn high dividends from them and get more money for your retirement days.

So as you can clearly see from the points mentioned above, the pension plans in India are varied and come with a lot of features. Understand the plans before you invest. This will help you in getting the most out of your pension policy and you will be assured of a financially strong retirement. The post retirement days are the golden days of your life and you must be economically well off to enjoy these days. So rather than depending on anyone else, take charge right away and pave a golden future for yourself. 

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Retirement: Which is the best pension plan for an IT employee in India?

Information technology, or IT, as it is commonly known, is a very lucrative career option in India. As a result, we find many young people opting to become IT professionals. The IT industry offers well-paid jobs, travel opportunities and promises the employees of an overall comfortable life. But is this enough for an employee? Can a mere dependence on an IT job prove to secure every employee’s future? Perhaps not, and this is why every person working in the IT industry must secure his or her retirement years. A good idea is to invest in a pension plan. In this article we speak about the best pension policies in India and how they help the IT professionals. Take a look.

What is a pension plan?

A pension plan is an endowment insurance policy that helps you to build up a corpus for your retirement years. As an IT employee, it is a very good idea for you to start your investments early. If you wait till the last moment, you may end up with very little time to build up as sufficient fund. So start putting in small amounts of money for a long duration and make sure you have a comfortable life even after your salary stops coming in.

The best retirement plans for IT employees

Let us now take a look at some of the good pension plans.

1. HDFC Pension Super Plus Plan: This is a very good pension plan for the young IT employees in India. The HDFC Pension Super Plus Plan is a non-participating ULIP that helps you in building up a safe corpus and also provides the option for your money to grow. The plan offers guaranteed returns, thereby securing your retirement. You can enter the plan between the ages of 35 and 65. The vesting age of the plan is between the ages of 55 and 75. You can pay the premiums annually, semi-annually or quarterly.

1. LIC JeevanAkshay VI: LIC is one of the most trusted names in the India insurance industry. So it hardly comes as a surprise when we list the LIC JeevanAkshay VI as one of the best pension plans. This is a very flexible policy that offers as many as six annuity options. You can start this policy when you are just 30 years old. If you buy the policy for Rs 2.5 lacs or more, you can get attractive rebates as well.

1. Bajaj Allianz Retire Rich Pension Plan: This is another impressive pension plan. It is a deferred pension plan. Being a ULIP, it offers a guaranteed return and a sum assured and also helps to multiply the dividends. The plan is available for a minimum of seven years and a maximum of 30 years.

1. Max Life Forever Young Pension Plan: This is a wonderful retirement plan as it offers a guaranteed return of 101% on all the premiums you pay. You can therefore build up a substantial retirement fund for yourself with the help of this plan. The minimum entry age is 30 years and the maximum entry age is 65 years. The vesting age is between 50 years and 75 years.

1. ICICI Pru Immediate Annuity Plan: This is a single premium pension plan that assures you a secondary source of income. The plan has four payout options and you can choose the one that suits you the best. The annuity is paid till the time the policyholder is alive. After that, the spouse receives the annuity. The minimum entry age is 45 years while the maximum entry age is 80 years. The minimum entry age for the spouse is just 20 years.

As an IT professional, it is your duty and responsibility to ensure that the comfortable life you have today continues even after you retire. You owe it to yourself and your family members. So choose a good pension plan from the options mentioned above and you will be able to secure a wonderful retirement for yourself, your spouse and your other dependent family members. Speak to your financial adviser to see which kind of annuity option to select and what mode of premium payment to opt for. Once you have all the necessary data, just go ahead and purchase the pension plan at the earliest.

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