Need Expert Advice?Our Gurus Can Help

Ans: Hello;

Request you to furnish more details regarding your issue:
Is EPF transfer completed and only EPS is remaining (stuck)?
If so, any reason given by the Deptt. for the same?

Thanks;

Ans: Hello;

My suggestion would be to consolidate entire stocks, equity and debt mutual funds in to a single hybrid fund.

I recommend equity savings type mutual fund with low to moderate risk for eg. ICICI Pru equity savings fund and do a SWP at 4%.

This may fetch you a monthly income of around 1.04 L. Add to this the 24 K monthly payout you get from the 40 L annuity.

So your total monthly income will be 1.28 L fulfilling your requirement of 1.25 L monthly income.

Since the fund is classified as equity oriented, it's returns are tax friendly.

Kindly ensure nomination for your funds.

Also please buy a good health care insurance for yourself and your spouse.

Happy Investing;

Ans: Hello;

Have you worked for a continuous span of 10 years or more without any break after 1995, please confirm?

Thanks;

Ans: Hello;

Your case is peculiar therefore I recommend you to please consult a lawyer specializing in labour/EPF laws or an EPF consultant for help regarding your issue.

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;

EPF: Yes, no age limit
EPS: NO

So entire 12% of employer contribution should go to EPF.

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;

It would be better to have a personal healthcare cover apart from the corporate health insurance.

Because you are nearing 40 when typically lifestyle diseases begin, may god forbid.

Also if you change your job, during the intermittent phase, before joining new responsibility the personal healthcare plan comes in handy, if required.

In case you or anyone in your family has a pre-existing disease the waiting period of 2-4 years need to be factored in, before these can be covered.

My suggestion is that buying a personal healthcare cover would be a better option rather then enhancing sum assured in the corporate health insurance.

Do a thorough study or seek help of an insurance advisor before you sign-up.

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;

It depends on your risk profile, financial goal, asset allocation and time horizon.

Please consult a mutual fund distributor or certified financial planner for more help.

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;

Your EPF corpus, PPF contribution+ corpus and MF sip corpus together will provide you a corpus of 2.5 Cr+ over 10 years. (8%, 6.9% & 12% returns considered respectively)

Maturity proceeds of endowment life insurance policies, if any, is a surplus.

Do invest part of your annual incentives as lumpsum investment in the sip funds to boost your corpus.

Also always bear in mind to never mix investment with insurance.

For life insurance an adequate term life cover is good enough.

Endowment policies have the worst returns.

SIP funds are okay except multicap fund, which you may replace with any other top quartile fund from that category, since that fund AMC has an ongoing sebi probe into frontrunning allegations.

Happy Investing;
X: @mars_invest

Ans: Hello;

If it is a continuous stretch of 5+5 years (120 months) service without any gap then you can't withdraw EPS.

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;

Home Loan repayment is being taken care through EMI. Claim IT deduction for the same as per tax provisions.

Now the excess investible fund you have should be deployed as follows:
MF SIP: 7 K per month + 3 K initial
NPS: 7 K per month+4.5 K initial
Rest amount should be divided equally between SSY and PPF as additional investment above 1 K per month currently.

If you get any lumpsum such as bonus then you may use it to prepay the home loan every year.

Happy Investing;

Ans: Hello;

If it is exempted pf trust(approved by EPFO and authorised by ITax Deptt.) then it is safe and much better for the employees in terms of cost and hence returns.

In the eventuality of merger or acquisition the pf accounts held by the exempted trust may be migrated to epfo seamlessly as per process.

Most big companies in India have exempted pf trusts.

But ensure to keep a record of your contributions, account details and returns you receive also the rating given to your pf trust by EPFO from time to time.

No need to worry.

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;

Prudent fiscal planning and discipline is very important in retirement.

Your family may stay together for cost optimization and avoiding duplication of expenses.

The other property may be sold, after releasing encumbrances, if any.

You may buy immediate annuity from a life insurance company from the proceeds of property sale to get monthly income as per the annuity rate offered by the insurance company.

Later you may sell inherited property to boost your annuity income.

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;

You may begin a monthly sip of 2.5 L into a combination of pure equity mutual funds and top it up each year by minimum 22% to achieve 15 Cr target in 10 years, including PPF value of 1.38 Cr after 10 years.

It top up is not possible then the flat monthly sip of 2.5 L will have to continue for 15 years (delaying retirement) to reach the intended corpus of 15 Cr, including PPF value of 1.93 Cr, after 15 years.

The value of your business is not factored into this working.

The current monthly expenses of 75 K will be 1.34 L after 10 years and 1.8 L after 15 years considering inflation of 6%.

But your target corpus is more then enough to generate monthly income (Annuity & SWP Mix)much more than your monthly expenses after 10 or 15 years.

Happy Investing;
X: @mars_invest

Ans: Hello;

Do you have any rental income from the flats owned by you?

Kindly confirm so as recommend suitably.

Thanks;

Ans: Hello;

Firstly congrats on your engagement.

There are various affordable housing schemes operated by the central government (PMAY) as well as several state governments(DDA housing scheme, MHADA lottery scheme, TN housing board scheme)as well.

You may seek house through these schemes.

Also you may focus on improving your earnings so that you can generate some savings which may be invested for future needs.

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;

To generate a corpus of around 50 L in 8 years you have two options:

1. Start with 20 K monthly SIP and step it up each year by 15% upto 8 years.

2. Start with a monthly sip of 31 K which may yield you a corpus of around 50 L after 8 years.

A modest 12% return from equity mutual funds is considered.

Mutual funds will be certainly better then direct stocks from a risk perspective.

You may invest in a flexicap type mutual fund and a large and midcap type mutual fund in the proportion of 50:50 for your investment.

You may select any fund from the top quartile in these categories.

You don't need a demat account.

You will need to do KYC before investing, some investment apps/AMCs offer it to be done online even for NRIs.

Happy Investing;

Ans: Hello;

Recovery from old dormant EPF accounts could be a tedious and draining experience. Their is lot of scope for improvement at EPFO end on this matter.

However if you get into regular employment again it will make things a lot easier because you will have a UAN and a new EPF account.

You may link your old pf account with your UAN or also merge it with your new PF account.

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;

Your monthly sip value adds upto 1.3 L however you have claimed it to be 1.18 L. (Maybe a typo).

Existing corpus(19.35 L) and monthly sip (1.3 L) won't reach 5 Cr in 10 years.

You have two options to make it happen:

1. Increase monthly sip amount to 1.9 L.

2. Top-up current monthly SIP of 1.3 L by minimum 10% each year for 10 years.

Both ways will lead you to a corpus of 5 Cr over 10 years.

You may consider money market mutual funds for parking your funds for a 1 year horizon. Returns may be comparable to FD returns but with flexibility to withdraw anytime. They typically have low to moderate risk.

Happy Investing;
X: @mars_invest

Ans: Hello;

You may withdraw your EPF corpus claiming two consecutive months of unemployment after quitting the previous job(Aug-24).

Further if you have had 5 years, or more, of continuous service, across employer's but without any break, then your withdrawal will be tax free.

Else you may have a 10% TDS on withdrawal plus interest on contributions is also taxable as per slab rate.

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;

Surely you can do it.

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;

You may invest in any of the top flexicap funds for long term;

1. JM flexi cap fund
2. PPFAS flexicap fund
3. HDFC flexicap fund

Not recommending Quant flexicap fund as of now, also in top quartile, since there is an ongoing sebi probe into alleged front running case.

These are top quartile flexicap funds on 10 yr return basis.

Happy Investing;
X: @mars_invest

Ans: Hello;

If you retain your current corpus (52 L) in the invested funds and also continue the monthly sip of 50 K then you may reach your target of 1.5 Cr by 2030 without any Sip top-up.

A modest return of 12% from pure equity mutual funds is considered.

Happy Investing;

Ans: Hello;

What is purpose of investment (retirement planning, kid's education house purchase)?

What is the time horizon (number of years)?

Based on your response, I can recommend you suitable options.

Thanks;

Ans: Hello;

If you have been member of EPFO for 10 years or more you can do partial withdrawal from your EPF account towards repayment of loan.

You will require outstanding loan statement from the bank to process your request.

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;

If you have been member of EPFO for 10 years or more you can do partial withdrawal from your EPF account towards repayment of loan.

You will require outstanding loan statement from the bank to process your request.

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;

Your EPF account will continue to get interest upto 58 years of age so you may hold it till that time.

Although EPFO has a rule that epf accounts will become inoperative after 36 consecutive months of no contribution except interest but they have a policy decision of honouring interest payment on corpus till member age of 58, despite this rule.

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;

You may register a grievance with ombudsman of the lender stating the facts of the matter clearly.

It is upto the discretion of lender's grievance management leadership to take appropriate view of this matter and decide suitably.

Because legally it will always boil down to, you have signed up for the policy after going through all the terms and conditions and also didn't reckon that anything is wrong during the free look up period so no discussion unless you manage to get a video clip of your conversation with the bank employee, which I believe is almost impossible.

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;

What is the reason for EPS being held-up?

Your employer or EPFO should clarify to you on this aspect.

Based on the reason we can take corrective steps to clear the matter.

Composite claim form(CCF), aadhar and non aadhar type, both are available on epfo portal. It has replaced the earlier form no. 19, 10 C and 31.

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;

You can check that through;
1. EPF portal
2. SMS service
3. Umang App

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;

Your corpus adds upto around 2.27 Cr, which I have rounded off to 2.2 Cr.

This corpus if annuitized, may generate a post-tax monthly income of around 93.5 K.(6% annuity rate considered)
Add 52 K monthly income of your spouse.
So total monthly income may be around 1.45 L however your current monthly expenses are to the tune of 1.49 L.

This implies that you may have to cut down on few expenses and also you will have to pursue some alternate vocation, after quitting regular employment, for another 5-7 years to ensure monthly expenses are adequately funded plus some additional investments are made for future goals.

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;

It depends on your age, risk appetite and time horizon.

If your age is 45 or less, have 10 yr+ time horizon and are ok with exposure to equities then any top quartile fund from Multicap or Flexicap type mutual fund category should be okay for your lumpsum investment.

Happy Investing;
X: @mars_invest

Ans: Hello;

You may invest 25% each in a Multicap, Flexicap, Large & Midcap, and Large cap type mutual funds.

You may select any fund from the top quartile of these categories.

If you are 50 or above in age, replace multicap and large cap with balanced advantage and muti asset allocation type mutual funds.

Happy Investing;

Ans: Hello;

Long-term (10 yr+) mutual funds should be a combination of flexicap, multicap, large & midcap and large cap or ELSS type mutual fund.

You may select any fund from the top quartile of these categories.

Happy Investing;
X: @mars_invest

Ans: Hello;

What is your monthly contribution to EPF, NPS and MFs?

Please clarify so as to advise you suitably.

Thanks;

Ans: Hello;

You may begin by investing 1000 Rs. in a recurring deposit (RD) for 3 years with a public sector bank or big private bank.

Happy Investing;

Ans: Hello;

You may start a monthly sip of 30 K in a combination of flexicap fund and a Large and Midcap fund in the proportion of 50:50, for 12 years. Do lumpsum investments as and when possible in your sip funds to boost your effort.

After 12 years you may expect a corpus of around 1 Cr assuming modest 12% returns.

Happy Investing;
X: @mars_invest

Ans: Hello;

The value of your investments after 10 years;

A. EPF Corpus+Contribution: 1.6 Cr
B. NPS Corpus+Contribution: 53 L
C. MF(sip) + Gold(sip): 25 L
D. Real estate (land): 3.26 Cr

So sum of A, C & D gives us a corpus of 5.11 Cr

Since you will withdraw NPS before 60 age 80% of corpus will go into annuity while 20% will be available to you.

So you may expect monthly income of around 21 K from annuity(42.4 L).

Balance 10.6 L get added to 5.11L taking your total corpus to ~ 5.2 Cr.

If you invest 5 Cr in a conservative hybrid debt fund and do a SWP at the rate of 3%, you may expect a monthly income of around 1.1 L(post-tax).

Add your monthly rental income of 36 K(No growth factored) and annuity income of 21 K to this and you have total monthly income of 1.67 L after 10 years.

Your current monthly expenses of 50 K after 10 years would be around 90 K and 1.6 L after 20 years.

Considering return of around 7-7.5% from the conservative hybrid debt fund you will still generate inflation adjusted return at 3% SWP after 80 years of age.

Assumptions:
Inflation rate-6%
Return from EPF-8%
Return from NPS-9%
Return from MF-10%
Return from gold-7%
Return from Land-5%
Annuity rate-6%

The spare flat is not considered in this because it will continue to yield you rental income in retirement.

Since real estate(land) returns may fluctuate over 10 years suggest to increase MF sip(6X) as a back-up, also in this case you may decide to retain & invest in NPS upto 60 age.

Of course MF returns are also not assured but you are improving the odds by backing two appreciable assets(RE & equity) over long-term.

Happy Investing;
X: @mars_invest

Ans: Hello;

To correct a mismatch in your father's name in your EPF account, you may;

1. Update online
Go to the "Manage" section in EPF portal, and update your father's name. Make sure the name matches with that in your Aadhar card. This request will have to be validated by your employer.

2. Submit a joint declaration
Submit a joint declaration with your employer to the Regional PF Commissioner. You will need to include valid supporting documents.

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;

You can talk to the HR team of your new employer and discuss these aspects. Submit a written request over mail/letter, if need be.

Check with you peers in the new establishment.

Such errors are not expected from professional organisations.

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;

Get it corrected vide joint declaration through your current employer.

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;
What is the extent of future expenses for kids included in the retirement corpus of 5 Cr?

Kindly clarify so as to advise suitably.

Thanks;

Ans: Hello;

If you begin with a monthly sip of 30 K in a combination of large cap fund and balanced advantage fund (50:50) then you may expect a corpus of,
25 L after 5 years
48 L after 8 years and
70 L after 10 years.

A return of 12% is considered.

Happy Investing;
X: @mars_invest

Ans: Hello;

You should seek advice from a mutual fund distributor/certified financial planner to guide you to the most appropriate funds suited to you.

Happy Investing;

Ans: Hello;

Honest answer: any top quartile flexi cap equity mutual fund that comprises a basket of stocks, rather then a single stock.

Happy Investing;

Ans: Hello;

If your investment is for long term (5-7 yr+)then you should continue with your SIPs.

Your SIP is buying you more units in such downfalls.

Happy Investing;

Ans: Hello;

Insurance is not a investment.

It is a protection which you buy to safeguard your dependents, financially, in case of any unfortunate event.

Pure term plan with riders for critical illness and accident benefit is optimal.

Ideal life cover should be 15X-20X your annual income.

If you are keen then you may check term plans that offer return of premiums paid(less tax) if you survive the policy maturity period.

Healthcare insurance should be from a company that has:
1. High number of network hospitals throughout the country.
2. Low waiting period for pre-existing conditions.
3. High claim settlement ratio and simple & fast claim settlement.
4. Covers maternity expenses for female members.
5. Sum assured restoration benefit.

Both life and healthcare insurance premium payments are deductible under old regime of income tax.

PPF, NPS, bank FDs are other investment options.

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;

Request you to kindly rephrase your question.

Thanks;

Ans: Hello;

You can invest in NPS for your retirement planning.

For your other goals you may invest in different type of mutual funds based on your risk appetite and time horizon.

Never mix insurance (pure protection)with investment.

Happy Investing;
X: @mars_invest

Ans: Hello;

Sell any gold which you may have and repay the loan. Once the loan burden is over you can buy gold again later.

Check if you can port the loan to another lender with lesser rate of interest.

Borrow from your close relatives/employer, if possible, to get you over the loan and repay it later.

If the recovery agents are harassing you beyond due follow-up then report it to the Police/RBI.

Please be firm and positive to get over this difficult phase.

However if you feel depressed kindly consult a psychiatrist.

Best wishes;

Ans: Hello;

6-7 year time horizon for NPS may not be optimal.

Also after 60, you may withdraw maximum of 60% of your investment value while the rest 40% has to compulsorily be utilised to buy an annuity.

Happy Investing;