Money earning opportunities beyond share market for you; Check out top 5 options

Stock market has been inching on the higher side on Gilead Coronavirus treatment trial newsbreak for last few trade sessions but the share indices are still 20 per cent below the levels they nosedived on Coronavirus pandemic. During this period, investors who had direct investments had to suffer heavy losses as at one point of time, markets had plunged nearly 30 per cent. Even mutual fund investors, who had indirect investment in equity got hit by this free-fall. Lesson learnt? Diversification is very important for investors and one must invest in some guaranteed return investment tools too. So, we list some of the most sought after small savings schemes that you can invest in here:

1] PPF or Public Provident Fund: PPF scheme was launched in 1968 by the Finance Ministry’s National Savings Institute. The main objective of PPF scheme is to help individuals make small savings and make big long-term investment fund. In this small savings scheme, PPF interest rate for April to June 2020 quarter announced by the center is 7.1. PPF is non-linked and hence it is free from the stock market volatility.

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2] Gold ETF or Gold Bonds: Gold is considered haven for investors when the equity markets and other investment tools are tumbling. So, at a time when stock market is highly volatile at global levels, it would be interesting to know that from April 2019 to March 2020, gold price has skyrocketed to the tune of 47 per cent, which is huge. However, one should shy away from investing in physical gold as it involves depreciation cost of around 4-5 per cent at the time of sale. So, to get more returns, you should buy electronic gold means Gold ETF or Gold bonds issued by the Government.

3] Sukanya Yojana: If you have a daughter aged below 10 years, then you can go for the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana scheme launched by the central government in 2015. In this scheme, one can open Sukanya Yojana Account in any of the banks. Currently, it is giving 7.6 per cent returns. Most importantly, it will continue to etch the same interest throughout the investment period, which is available at the time mof Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana account opening.

4] Voluntary Provident Fund or VPF: If someone is looking for tax-saving investment option, then opting for VPF is one of the best options available to him or her. In this option, one needs to inform one's recruiter that he or she wants to add more in one's monthly EPF contribution. The recruiter would happily agree as they need to go for EPF contribution beyond 12 per cent of the basic salary of the employee. By choosing VPF, one will be able to get 8.5 per cent assured returns on one's VPF contribution, which is highest among all tax-saving small saving schemes.

5] Post Office Recurring Deposit (RD): Post Office RD or Post Office Recurring Deposit Scheme is a short-term saving scheme that gives better return to an investor. Currently, post office RD rate of interest is 7.2 per cent. Post Office Account RD helps a small investor by allowing them to invest as little as Rs 10 per month and any amount in multiples of Rs 5. Post office RD is basically a monthly investment for a fixed period of 5 years with a interest rate as mentioned above of 7.2 per cent per annum (compounded quarterly). On completion of the fixed tenure of five years, RD account with Rs 1000 invested every month will fetch you Rs 72,505.