Introduction
Pension is a source of retirement income, especially for individuals who retire from private-sector jobs. Prudent investors often choose various avenues of investment to ensure a sufficient corpus or a regular source of income for their retirement. One such option that is preferred by most investors is the NPS (NationalPension System).
NPS provides a platform for retirement planning to investors who are risk-averse. This voluntary retirement savings scheme promotes savings that can be set aside systematically throughout one’s working life. The idea is to create a corpus for use during retirement.
Table of Contents
What is an NPS calculator?
NPS calculator is an automated tool that allows investors to gain a fair estimate of the total wealth gained,expected maturity value of the investment, expected monthly annuity income, and total annuity. These estimates are dependent on the NPS contribution made by an investor throughout the investment tenure.
NPS calculator lets investors get a fair estimate of how much investment is needed to achieve certain financial goals. It also provides an insight into the power of compounding, since the longer the tenure, the higher will be the benefits.
Steps for using Fisdom’s NPS calculator
Here is the easy process to follow while using the calculator.
Inputs required in NPS calculator
A user must begin by entering the below-mentioned details:
- Amount of investment – Investors must begin by entering the estimated amount of monthly contribution towards NPS.
- The present age of the investor–For the NPS calculator to estimate the number of years of contribution towards the scheme, the user must enter his/her present age.
- Retirement age – Another field that is important and contributes towards estimating years of contribution is the retirement age.
- Investment amount–The amount that an investor expects to contribute every year.
- Rate of interest–The ongoing rate of return on NPS.
- Percentage investment in annuity plan–The percentage of the total corpus or pension wealth that an investor would like to reinvest at maturity towards an annuity. In this context, Annuity is the pension amount that an NPS subscriber can receive on a monthly basis from the Annuity Service Provider(ASP).
An important point to note here is that the percentage of total corpus reinvested in an annuity should be at least 40%. Those who wish to exit the scheme prematurely or before attaining 60 years of age have to reinvest a minimum of 80% of pension wealth toward an annuity.
- Annuity rate of interest – User can enter the expected rate of interest on the annuity.
By considering all of these inputs, the NPS calculator will compute the net amount and pension amount that an investor can fetch at maturity.
Additional read – NPS Vs PPF – Where do I invest?
Reading results of NPS calculator
The fisdom NPS calculator provides a summary of results on the right side section. Here, an investor can see the maturity value of pension contribution against the total investment made. This is the amount that one can get at retirement if contributions are regularly made, as per estimates during the investment tenure.
The NPS calculator also computes the net annuity amount at 40% of the maturity value. This helps investors to know the exact amount that they have to park aside at maturity towards an annuity. The annuity per month is displayed on the right-hand side bottom of the calculator for investors to gauge the amount of regular income that they can fetch during retirement.
Understanding NPS calculator working through example
Let us consider an example to better understand the NPS calculator and its functionality.
Before using the NPS calculator, an investor must first be sure about the frequency of investment, whether monthly or yearly. Also, it makes sense to know the amount that one would like to withdraw at maturity or retirement.
Ms Nisha is a 24-year-old government employee who wants to subscribe to the National Pension Scheme. She wants to contribute Rs. 24,000 every year towards the scheme.NPS maturity for any subscriber is 60 years. Thus, Ms Nisha can contribute for up to 36 years in NPS with an expected interest rate of 9% per annum. She wishes to purchase an annuity for 50%of the maturity amount and expects a 7% interest on the annuity.
As per the NPS calculator, Ms Nisha’s pension account at retirement will reflect as below:
Total investment: Rs. 8,64,000
Total maturity value: Rs. 65,08,957
Annuity amount: Rs. 32,54,478
Annuity received per month: Rs. 18,984
The calculator gives an estimation of net wealth gained and monthly pensions that can be earned from the investment. However, it is to be noted that this does not guarantee the values calculated.
NPS schemes allocate a certain portion of funds toward equities, depending on the type of account selected by an investor. Thus, the actual returns generated could vary depending on the percentage allocation towards equities and the overall performance of underlying assets combined with market conditions.
How can an NPS calculator benefit investors?
The National Pension Scheme (NPS) calculator gives an insight into the return on capital along with regular income earnings through monthly pension that can be earned from the investment. Here are some of the other noteworthy benefits of this calculator:
- NPS Calculator allows an investor to estimate the monthly contribution required towards NPS for gaining a certain amount of wealth.
- NPS calculator is an easy-to-use tool for making an informed decision on retirement investment
- By selecting different investment amounts and interest rates, an investor can gauge the possible fluctuations in returns from the investment, especially from a long-term perspective.
Who should use the NPS calculator?
Any individual who is eligible to invest in NPS can use this calculator to estimate the wealth that can be gained from NPs through a given investment amount.
NPS investments can be made by all Indian citizens who are over the age of 18 years and under 60 years of age. All NPS applicants must comply with the Know Your Customer (KYC) norms and furnish relevant documents including identity proof, address proof, bank account details, etc while applying for the scheme.
Why is NPS a good investment alternative?
NPS investment offers a substantial corpus for retirement along with a regular source of income through annuity pension. The objective of NPS investment is to establish a corpus fund that can provide certainty around monthly income post-retirement.
NPS funds are used to invest a certain portion of inequity and are therefore exposed to market fluctuations, associated risks, and also rewards. The extent of exposure to equity markets depends on multiple factors.
NPS is a retirement plan and investors mostly get attracted to it for associated tax benefits combined with a balanced portfolio approach. Since NPS is a long-term investment, its benefit can be available only after retirement with very limited scope of premature withdrawal.
An investor can select the exposure type depending on personal comfort with market risk and fluctuations. It is important to consider the cost of living and earnings along with other financial commitments before making an investment in NPS.
The power of compounding makes NPS an attractive investment option for investors. The higher the amount of investment in an NPS scheme, the larger the corpus that can be accumulated as part of retirement benefit.
Conclusion
While NPS investment is mostly viewed by investors from a tax-saving standpoint, it is also important to consider the post-retirement benefits that this scheme can fetch. What better way to easily estimate the returns from NPS than by using calculator. With easy-to-follow steps of the NPS calculator, one can know the corpus amount along with a regular pension that can be earned from NPS investment.
