Everyone wants to live a comfortable life after retirement without any financial worries. To achieve this, people want to save some part of their earnings and invest it in a place where their money is safe and gets good returns. Some people plan their investments in such a way that they continue to get regular income after retirement. In this case, a post office saving scheme is quite popular. We are talking about Post Office Senior Citizen Saving Scheme (POSCSS), which is specially designed for senior citizens and guarantees monthly income of Rs 20,500 on investment.
Zero risk, high interest
Investors trust post office savings schemes as they are considered risk-free investments. This is because the government itself guarantees the security of every investment, whether small or big. In terms of interest rates available on the government-backed Post Office Senior Citizen Savings Scheme, even bank FDs lag behind; The government is offering an impressive 8.2 percent interest rate on investment in POSCSS.
Start from Rs 1000, tax benefits also
This government scheme allows you to start investing with just Rs 1000. Apart from providing regular income and safe investment, this post office scheme also offers tax benefits. People investing in POSCSS are eligible for annual tax rebate of up to Rs 1.5 lakh under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act. The maximum investment limit in this Senior Citizen Saving Scheme is Rs 30 lakh. This post office scheme can prove to be effective in ensuring financial security after retirement. Any person aged 60 years or above, either singly or jointly with his/her spouse, can open an account. There are also provisions for relaxation in age limit in some cases. People taking Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) can open the account if they are between 55 to 60 years of age at the time of opening the account, while retired defense personnel can invest between the age of 50 to 60 years.
Maturity of 5 years, early closure is expensive
The maturity period of investment in Post Office Senior Citizen Scheme is five years, which means that to take full advantage of this scheme, you will have to invest for 5 years. If the account is closed before this period, the account holder will have to pay penalty as per the rules. In this government scheme, interest on investment is given every three months. If the account holder dies before the completion of the maturity period, the account is closed and the entire amount is paid to the nominee specified in the documents.
How to earn ₹20,500 every month?
You can easily open your SCSS account in any nearby post office. A maximum of ₹15 lakh can be invested in a single account and ₹30 lakh can be invested in a joint account. If a person invests ₹30 lakh in Post Office SCSS under a joint account, he will get an interest of ₹61,500 every quarter, and this will continue for 5 years. After five years, you can withdraw the principal amount of ₹30 lakh or extend it for another 3 years. If we calculate it month wise…
Annual interest earned: 8.2% of ₹30,00,000 = ₹2,46,000
Quarterly interest earned: ₹2,46,000/4 = ₹61,500
Interest earned for the month: ₹2,46,000/3 = ₹20,500
It is worth noting that once you invest, the same interest rate is applicable for your entire maturity period, even if the government changes the interest rate later through quarterly revision.