― Oscar Auliq-Ice
National Pension Scheme, popularly known as NPS, is a government-owned social security investment option, designed for the employees of private, public or unorganised sectors. Through these schemes, the investors can invest a portion of their income at a regular interval. Once the retirement age approaches, the subscribers can withdraw a percentage of the financial corpus earned. The rest of the amount will be offered as a regular pension. One can invest as minimum as Rs 500 to no limit. The NPS contributions deposited further are invested in different securities, investment avenues and equity market accordingly. The current rate of interest applicable is 9%-12% depending on the scheme chosen.
A bond is a fixed-income instrument that represents a loan made by an investor to a borrower (typically corporate or governmental). A bond could be thought of as an I.O.U. between the lender and borrower that includes the details of the loan and its payments. Bonds are used by companies, municipalities, states, and sovereign governments to finance projects and operations. Owners of bonds are debtholders, or creditors, of the issuer.
An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of pooled investment security that operates much like a mutual fund. Typically, ETFs will track a particular index, sector, commodity, or other asset, but unlike mutual funds, ETFs can be purchased or sold on a stock exchange the same way that a regular stock can.
