The idea of early retirement planning is still not very prevalent in India. If we ask people living in towns and villages, we will still find them depending on their children post-retirement. While retired public sector employees can count on their pension, others are completely dependent on their children. The idea of early retirement is something that they do not even think about.
In urban India, early retirement is planned by only those who have a risk appetite. The majority of the people think that early retirement is nothing but expensive and is mostly opted for by the rich.
6 Benefits of Early Retirement Planning in India
Well, there are so many things to discuss on this, let us first start with the benefits of early retirement in India.
1. The early you start, the easier it is for you
If you start building your retirement fund when you are young, it will be much easier for you. At a young age, the responsibilities are lesser and the disposable income is higher. As time goes by, the numbers of responsibilities grow; therefore, it gets difficult to save for the retirement years.
2. Get benefit of tax exemption
Under Section 80C, if you invest in the majority of the pension and investment plans, you will be eligible for tax exemption. Therefore, while planning for your early retirement, you will be able to save deductions on income tax.
3. The power of compounding
If you are into an investment, you already know what compound interest means. It means getting interest on interest. If you invest your money for a longer time, you will get to know how compounding works. And the sooner you do it; the more beneficial it will be for you. You will also be able to invest regularly. By the time your retirement years come, you will have a huge corpus.
4. Inflation
In the last twenty years, India has seen rising inflation. For example, inflation in 2020 was 6.2%. This means, that if you had earned INR 100 in 2020, the value of the same money in 2021 is INR 94. And when we invest in retirement corpus in old age, it often becomes difficult. With each year, the saving cost increases. Therefore, when you plan early, the chances of your achieving the target can be higher.
5. Ready to face emergencies
When you have enough funds accumulated, you will very easily be able to face an emergency. Seldom do we realize that life can turn around and the smooth part gets thorny. This is why starting early to invest in your retirement plan can help you in saving enough for your emergency fund.
6. It is better than FDs
Going back to 2010-2011, the average rate of a bank fixed deposit for up to 5 years used to be 7%. Today, it is around 5.3%. If you are opening a fixed deposit account and keeping your money there, the interest you will receive will be very less. While keeping money in FDs and RDs is not a bad idea but the process of building your retirement corpus will get slower. You should rather choose an early retirement plan that can easily beat inflation.