Retirement is usually synonymous for the idea that all your years of hard work and hustle is over. After all these years, you can finally sit back and relax. It also brings you more options than any time in your life. After retirement, you could choose to sit back at home or you could work as a consultant depending on your profession. Regardless, another thing that comes with retirement is an entire career’s worth of savings.
Naturally, you wouldn’t want to exhaust this money by simply spending it on taking trips and buying things that you always wanted to. The first instinct would be to invest the money somewhere where it can give you returns. However, investing when you are young gives you time to let your investments grow. On the other hand, investing at the age of 60 or 65 may not allow that much time. Hence, to invest effectively, you need an investment plan. Here is how you can do it:
How to divide your money
Since, you are not working anymore, your savings are the only source of money you may have. Hence, you need to divide your money in a way that it benefits you rather than take away the money you already have. Here the important divisions you need to make:
- Emergency fund
Just because you are retired does not mean that you will not have any expenses. In addition to the regular expenses, you need to have money in case of emergency. For example, increasing age means you are more likely to have health issues. This means you may have to visit the hospital and may need money for treatment. Hence, you need to set some money aside that you can use in any emergency.
- Investment
The other half of your money should be dedicated to investment in various options. The goal is to use your life savings to generate wealth. This in turn should enable to invest more. Hence, the idea becomes about letting your savings earn for you. However, investment comes with its risks. Hence, you have to make sure you invest in options that have lesser chance of losses.
What you can invest in?
Simply put, one of the best options for you to invest in is mutual funds. While there is nothing wrong with exploring other options, it is better to focus more on mutual funds. Retirement income mostly includes interest payouts and dividends from investments. Hence, it is better to make investments in options that can take inflation into account.
Moreover, there are a long list of options you can get even within mutual funds. This helps you diversify your investment portfolio. The right investment option for your portfolio depends on the amount of risk you are willing to take. Experts recommend taking lesser risk with your life savings. However, if you want higher returns and have the right mutual funds option for it, you can go for a riskier investment option. This is the reason that mutual funds are popular among investors, they allow you to invest in different equity-based options with different risk profiles.
Another option that you go for is debt-based mutual funds. The main reason you should consider this option is the taxation around it. If you put your money in a bank account, you will be taxed on that income based on which tax slab your total income falls under. The highest slab requires you to pay 30.9% as tax. On the contrary, any income from debt funds is only taxable upto 20% if you have held it for three years or more. Happy investing!
