Have you recently been blessed with a baby girl who has made your life even better? Well, congratulations! While you are celebrating your parenthood, you must make it a point to start investing your money for your child’s future. When it is about investment, it is always the sooner, the better. Although there are several options of investments for a girl child, if you are a risk-averse individual, you can go for post office saving schemes for a girl child. Here are some of the schemes mentioned below:
Post Office Savings Account
A post office savings account is almost like a bank savings account that offers a 4% rate of interest to the investors. You can open an account for your girl child; however, she has to be under 10 years of age at the time of opening the account. The minimum of money that you would be required to deposit is INR 500, while there is no specific maximum limit. The rate of interest that you get at the time of opening the account may not be the same always and may change after some years, as the aim is to provide financial security to the girl children. You will be able to withdraw money anytime as per your requirement. However, you must maintain a minimum balance of INR 50.
Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana
Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana has come up as one of the most popular savings schemes which provide financial benefit to the girl children. You can open an account under this scheme for a maximum of two girl children under the age of 10 years. The rate of interest is 7.6%, which will remain the same throughout the investment period. You can deposit a minimum of INR 1000 and a maximum of INR 1.5 lakh. Apart from this, once the girl completes 21 years of age, she will get the maturity benefit. However, there is no scope for withdrawing the amount until the girl child completes 18 years of age. This post office saving scheme is low risk and provides higher returns. If you move to any other state in the country, you can transfer the account to the other post office.
Recurring Deposit (RD)
Recurring Deposit, which is also called RD, is certainly one of the best post office saving schemes for girl children in the country. You will be able to save money in this account every month. RD can be opened for 5 years and offers an interest rate of 5.8% per annum. You cannot withdraw the money before its maturity date. The minimum amount of deposit that you can do in this account is INR 100 and there is no maximum limit for deposit.
Public Provident Fund (PPF)
PPF is another scheme that you can open for a girl child in a post office. It is completely risk-free and provides guaranteed returns. The rate of interest for this plan is 7.1% and the tenure is fixed for 15 years. After the completion of 5 years, you can withdraw the amount. You can also choose for premature closure of the account. However, you have to pay a 1% penalty for that. Between the 3rd and 5th year, in case of an emergency, you can avail of loans also. You need to know that term loans may not always be the same.
While you have so many options, you can also choose to purchase a term insurance policy. You will not get any maturity benefit if you survive through the policy term. However, in case of an unfortunate event, your family will be able to avail of the death benefit.
If you wish to know more about the Post Office saving schemes for a girl child, you can visit the IIFL website. You will come across several such policies and choose any one from them.
