Celebrating your 50th birthday is one trendy thing. It is a milestone in so many ways and a landmark to strike. Most people by the age of 50 are at their career’s best phase with maximum earnings. but this phase does come with its own unique responsibilities and demands. To start with, by the age of 50 you will have a child or two who is ready to get married or one who is moving towards higher education, whatever it is, it is going to be expensive.

It is highly advisable and appropriate to start investing early in life with a plan at hand in order to take care of at least the predictable majors and be prepared for emergencies and rainy days. If you haven’t done your investment planning yet, there is still some hope.

 

Investing in the 50s

Investing at this stage is going to be a little different than what it is in the normal course. Apart from risk and return, time is going to be a major player in the selection of investment avenues. You need to be very critical of all the decisions you make as given the standard retirement age of 58 years, you have only a few years left at hand which will earn you steady money.

A balance needs to be maintained between the risk appetite and expected rewards.

 

Where to start from?

First things first, retirement should be the topmost goal while planning your investments. Make a budget and calculate as to how much money are you going to need post-retirement. At this stage of life, retirement is the most essential phase to plan for even before you aim for high returns.

Take into account the needs, the total expenses that you make presently and any future expenses you can think of in order to plan for your retirement. Also, consider all assets and investments you have made in the past.

Make a fair estimate of things and calculate the duration till which your gathered corpus will last.

Note: While you make any calculations and estimates regarding future, do not forget to factor in inflation or you will fall short of funds.

  1. Begin with Savings

Even before you invest, you need to have money saved. If you feel that your total assets and liquid funds are not up to the mark, this is the time you focus much more on savings. only if you have money saved, you can invest. Try and look for investment avenues which offer high returns over the due course of investment or even you can maximize your investments by increasing your installment amount through step-up SIP.

Do not go straight away for returns, focus on savings. yes, you must invest but do not take an undesirable risk. Investing through SIP is a good option as you can make contributions on a regular basis and also diversify your portfolio.

Only watch out for funds which have a low-risk profile. It would be advisable at this stage that you seek expert help, piggy premier.

2. Review your portfolio

If you had already invested before you reached 50 but have not paid much attention to your portfolio, now is the time you do it. There are chances that while you were still young and had a bigger risk appetite, you had made investment decisions which no longer hold good. Make sure the majority of schemes you have in your portfolio are low on risk. This is so because, by the time you are 50, you do not have many working years left at hand in order to recover from an unfortunate market situation. consider re-allocating your funds is need be.

3. Only PF would not suffice

Having a Provident Fund account surely eliminates the risk in totality bit there is no denying the fact that it does not generate as many returns as mutual funds are capable of. Depending on your PF account solely for the retirement funds will not suffice, make sure there is a mix of assets which especially includes equity funds in order to maximize the returns.

4. Be insured

Apart from planning for retirement, the next most important thing to do is get yourself insured. Try to get the insurance part done even before you turn 50. This will save you a lot of money from being paid as premium and also save you from the trouble of going through multiple tests. An insurance policy will protect you against the inflating healthcare costs which otherwise may dig a deep hole in your pocket.

5. A big NO to Loans

Now that only 8-10 years of your working life are left, taking a loan would be the worst life decision you would have ever taken. Try considering every possible option before taking a loan in case of an emergency. The interest on the loans is hefty and your retirement funds will flow deep into the loan sea from which there is no resurfacing.

 

Planning your investment in the 50s may not seem a pink picture initially but is not an unachievable thing. Dedication and discipline are the two things you require in order to get your plan working. Just keep things simple, logical and transparent.