While the new year is fast approaching, experts are advising investors to implement their investment strategies. As investors are finding investment tools to become rich, investment advisors are also coming up with and recommending various innovations apart from the available investment tools in order to generate a formula that would help them create huge amounts of money from investors' investments. With this wealth making objective, they advise investors to diversify their portfolio in such a way that at least some part of their funds are funneled into all the possible options that would maximise their income as well as protect from excessive risk. From direct equity to equity mutual funds, ELSS to PPF and real estate to NPS, everything should be looked at with the proper perspective.

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Elaborating upon how to maximise income by diversifying one's portfolio and how the long-term investment pays rich dividends to an investor, Harsh Jain, CO-Founder & COO at Groww said, "With your whole life before you, with exciting things waiting to happen, all you would like to think of is to have a good time and spend your salary as soon as it comes in." However, apart from discretionary spend on entertainment food and the like, Jain said that diversification of an investor's portfolio is a must and fund allocation should be a mix of both debt and equity plans. Jain said that if an investor has a low-risk appetite, then he or she should invest in equity mutual funds because it maximises an investor's money. However, an investor who is interested in equity funds but at the same time wants to save income tax outgo, he or she can opt for ELSS Mutual Funds option.

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On the top 5 investment options that can help someone attain financially independence in long-term, Jain has highlighted the following options:

1] Stock investment: The Indian stock market has proved to be the best performing asset class over the long-term. The Indian indices (Sensex, Nifty, Bank Nifty etc.), for instance, have given returns in excess of 16 per cent annually over the last 10 years. This means that if you had invested Rs 10,000 every month over the last 10 years you would have more than Rs 29 lakhs by now. A more conservative estimate would assume that stocks give 10 per cent return every year. If you invested Rs 10,000 every month for the next 30 years, you would get an amount of more than Rs 2 crore.

"If you have a high-risk appetite, you can invest in shares and watch them grow over long-term say next 20-25 years. You can invest either a lump sum or a little bit every month thus optimising your cost. If you would like to lower your risk but still be in equities then you can try equity mutual funds. Monthly investments in equity schemes in the form of Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) can help you build wealth over a long time horizon," said Jain.

2] PPF or Public Provident Fund: An investor should be conservative in nature and have some belief in fixed returns with no risk as well. Hence, it's advisable for the investors to have some fund allocation in PPF as well.

Speaking on the benefit of PPF investment Kartik Jhaveri, Manager — Wealth Management at Transcent Consultants said, "It is a 15-year scheme that you can extend by another 5 years. You can invest anything from Rs 500 to Rs 150,000 a year. If you invested the maximum permissible every year, you would have a corpus of Rs 44 lakhs at the end of 15 years. A good thing about investing in PPF is that the returns are guaranteed. Another advantage of investing in PPF is that the returns are tax-free and you can get a tax relief of up to 1.5 Lakhs if you invest in PPF. So PPF gives you tax-free returns as well as a chance to reduce your income tax outgo."

3] Insurance:  Insurance is strictly a protection product and not really an investment, but some of them can double up as investments to create a sizeable amount over the years. There are policies that mature after 25 to 30 years such as endowment covers. Unit-linked insurance plans are for both protection and investment products. Compare products online to save time and get started with beneficial insurance plans.

4] Real estate: Owning a home comes with many benefits. Firstly, it can help you claim tax breaks on the principal and the interest amount you pay. You can buy a house whose EMIs roughly equal the monthly rent you pay. That way you will have your own asset after a few years that will only appreciate over time. You can sell it if need be or pass it to your children as and when needed.

5] National Pension System or NPS scheme: The NPS is compulsory for central government employees while others can contribute voluntarily. Over the last 10 years, the NPS has given returns between 8 to 10 per cent annually. Assuming a return of 10 per cent, if you invested Rs 10,000 annually in the NPS, after 35 years you would have a corpus of 3.8 crore. On retirement, 60 per cent of the corpus can be withdrawn without any tax implication, while the remaining 40 per cent will serve as annuity (pension) payouts over the life of the individual.  In the example above, you can get Rs 75,600 as monthly payouts. If you want more you can increase your monthly investments.

Up to Rs 1.5 lakh is tax-deductible under Section 80C and another Rs 50,000 under Section 80CCD, so your income tax outgo is also reduced.