Most of us believe life will be better by achievingour goals, so we make our plans and put our nose to the grindstoneuntil we are there.We have different goals in life, whether it’s saving for children’s education, starting a business, planning for early retirement, or buying that dream house.
Whatever be the goal, you need to choose the right approach to meet them at the earliest.What this implies is that you need to think about what your future might hold and invest towards the same. Fortunately, by investing in some of the best long-terminvestment plans, you can work around this.
However, there are many long-term investment options out there, and it can be challenging to determine which makes sense for your life goals. To help you with this, we have given below some of the best long-terminvestment plans that you can consider investing in. Take a look:
Unit-linked Insurance Plans (ULIPs)
On an average, our lives revolve around primary goalssuch as -child education/marriage, wealth creation, and retirement.You can achieve them all with ULIPs.
Unit Linked Insurance Plans help to create wealth through a variety of funds in the long-run while providing the necessary life insurance protection.Meaning, this unique financial product provides dual benefits of life cover and investment.
Moreover, ULIPs offer you the choice of multiple funds like equity, debt, and balanced funds for proper asset allocation. Therefore, depending on your life goals and the duration in which you want to achieve your goals, you can choose the funds to invest in.
Typically, when you are young and have fewer responsibilities, you can take higher risk by investing a more significantproportion in equity. You can even switch between funds based on the changing market conditions, using the “Switch Fund Option” that ULIPs offer.
Additionally, the premium paid for ULIPs is tax deductible u/s 80C. Also, the maturity benefits are entirely tax-free, and this feature makes ULIPs one of the best tax saving investment options available today. Not only this, insurers like Max Life Insurance offer ULIPs with severalbenefits like flexible policy term and premium payment term, guaranteed loyalty additions, availability of ‘Life Partner Care Rider,’ transparent charge structure, and so forth. All in all, to fulfill your life goals, ULIP is undoubtedly thebest long-terminvestment plan.
Equity-linked Savings Scheme (ELSS)
Another financial instrument that can help you meet your long-term goals, while also allowing tax savings is an equity-linked saving scheme (ELSS).
The advantage of investing in ELSS is that since it is an equity-oriented investment, it has the potential to deliver higher returns. However, since this investment comes with higher risks, it is recommended to invest for a longer duration.
Along with having a shorter lock-in period of 3 years, ELSS also offers tax benefits up to Rs. 1.5 lakhs u/s 80C (per financial year). And given the wealth creation potential of this investment, you can plan life goals such as your retirement, children’s education, or long-term wealth creation.
Public Provident Fund (PPF)
When it comes to long-term investment,Public Provident Fund is one investment many individuals turn to. There are two basic reasons behind this: its annual compounding and tax-freeyearly interest. Since PPF has a long duration of 15 years, the effect of compounding is immense, particularly in the later years.
And just like ULIPs, PPF also turns out to be one of thebest tax-saving investments as the interest earned on it is tax-free. Also, no tax is levied at the time of maturity.
All in all, PPF is a suitable investment option for fulfilling long-term goals, especially for risk-averse investors. For those who wishto generate higher returns and are willing to take some risk, other options like ULIPs can be explored.
Remember that when it comes to investing for long-term, a little can go a long way. You can invest even a small amount regularly in investments like ULIPsif it feels more viable as compared to depositing a large amount at once.And unlike ELSS and PPF, ULIPs offer the added advantage of life cover which ensures that your family and their goals are secured even in your absence.
So, if you haven’t invested yet, now is the time to make a new beginning and generate a corpus you need for your financial goals.