The various investment options you can try

You can supplement your current income and even augment your wealth by means of five investment options that you must try.

The current economic environment in India, despite its ups and downs, is conducive to investments and expanding business operations. With more sectors being opened for FDI and the ‘Make in India’ initiative in full swing, business and investment opportunities are opening up all over the country. It is time to capitalise on these for personal and professional gain, so that one’s money can be made to work hard to drive growth and financial stability.

Every seasoned investor knows that parking one’s surplus funds in reliable investment instruments is the key to financial success. But too often, one picks the wrong instrument and suffers not just lower returns but even losses! Instead, it is time to look at trusted Government securities or products offered by reputed investment houses to augment one’s wealth. The following are some investment options to consider:

1. PPF scheme or Government bonds. The Public Provident Fund (PPF) is an extremely popular investment option today, though the returns on them come only after 15 years. However, one may borrow funds against the accumulated corpus after the seventh year is complete. The returns on such Government-backed instruments as National Savings Certificate, Kisan Vikas Patra and bonds are also quite good. The lock-in periods for each vary from five to seven years.
2. Recurring deposit account. A Recurring Deposit (RD) account helps you invest incremental sums of money every month for a certain period of time. At the time of maturity, you get a large corpus of money that you can use for personal or professional purposes. A recurring deposit account encourages regular savings without having to invest a large sum of money upfront, such as in a fixed deposit. But since FDs give higher returns than RDs, the matured recurring deposit corpus can be reinvested in an FD.
3. Market linked securities. Those who decide to ride the crests and troughs of the share markets for the long haul are sure to get capital appreciation over investment. Seasoned investors know how to turn the rise and fall in interest rates to their advantage by investing in the right market linked securities such as mutual funds, debt instruments and even bonds. These instruments, especially mutual funds and ULIPs, provide broad diversification that helps to augment the investment over a long period of time.
4. Property. Any experienced investor will tell you that there is no better investment than property. Property creates an appreciating asset for you and your family, and it also provides excellent tax benefits if you have taken a loan to purchase it. Besides, it is highly liquid in times of financial emergency.