In this post, I discuss why it is a terrible idea to shift your EPF corpus to the NPS (National Pension Scheme). In a circular dated 6th March 2017, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PDRDA) announced a road map for provident fund and superannuation plan subscribers to shift to the NPS. The shift…

There has been a lot of confusion regarding the exit and withdrawals rules of the National Pension System (NPS). I apologise if I have contributed to it. In this post, I shall attempt to get rid of my own confusion and clarify my understanding. Until today I have incorrectly believed that 40% of the NPS corpus…

Here is a guide to investing in the National Pension System (NPS) with suggestions for existing and potential individual, corporate and government subscribers. Over the past few years, the government has tried hard to make the National Pension System popular. First, it used the magic phrase tax-saving by allowing an additional 50,000 invested in Tier 1 to be discounted from…

The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has announced guidelines regarding partial withdrawal from the National Pension System (NPS). (1) A subscriber whose NPS account is at least 10 years old will be eligible for withdrawing 25% of  his/her contributions alone. Employer contributions (if any) cannot be withdrawn. Notice the similarity with the recently…

Here are some less-understood facts about the National Pension Scheme (NPS). National Pension Scheme comes with no guarantees of returns. NPS is a mutual fund and carries with it all the risks associated with any old mutual fund. Read more: NPS investments are mutual fund investments! The aim of NPS is to generate a corpus…

Did you know that when you invest in the national pension scheme (NPS), you are actually investing in mutual funds? The NAV would be as volatile as any old equity or debt mutual fund and returns are not guaranteed. I was surprised that many thought the NPS investing is different from mutual fund investing. Hence…

Should NRIs Invest in the National Pension Scheme? A discussion on why the National Pension Scheme (NPS) is not a good option for NRIs to invest in. RBI has allowed NRIs to invest in the National Pension Scheme. While such a move would be beneficial for the country, I don’t think investing in the NPS is…

Here is how all NPS subscribers, including state and central govt. subscribers can make online contributions to NPS. This is post is meant for existing individual, corporate and government subscribers and is not a recommendation to invest in NPS. If you have an existing account with valid PRAN no (permanent retirement account number), you can, Go…

Here is a National Pension Scheme NPS Calculator for government, corporate, and individual subscribers in Excel to enable better understanding of how the scheme works. For government subscribers, the asset allocation is fixed: 15% in equity (E) and rest in fixed income (allocation to G – government bonds and C – corporate bonds is not known) The…

National Pension Scheme for corporate employees has gained popularity as employers can get tax benefits by showing their contribution to employee accounts as a business expense.  Now the government wants to encourage NPS further by offering a choice to EPF subscribers to shift to NPS and then there are the tax sops, which I am…

Here is why I think one should not invest in the National Pension Scheme even if you get tax benefits. This is the updated version of an earlier post. Earlier I had recommended subscribing to the NPS if you get tax benefits via the employer contributions. Tax benefits have actually increased since the govt. announced…