Housewives!! Best Time to put your Hidden Savings to Work!

Attention! All the husbands in India are the happiest people since the last two days. After the news broke out that the denominations of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 will no longer be considered as a legal tender, husbands can finally get to know about all the money their wives have hidden from them and saved over the years. Now, this is something very special about India. No matter what your age is, Indian women have this habit of saving money, not in bank accounts or mutual funds, but in their cupboards!

As soon as we saw this announcement on the television, the first question that my father asked my mother was, ‘Kitne paise hai humare cupboard mein?’. Though all of this may sound funny, the truth is that all this money will now be infused into the banking system or will be invested in the right direction.

The Government has clarified that it will take a note of deposits in bank accounts over Rs. 2.5 lakh. Any deposits lower than Rs. 2.5 lakh will not come into scrutiny. So, women who have up to Rs. 2.5 lakh of savings have an option to deposit their money in the bank. However, women who have saved over the years and have more than Rs. 2.5 lakh will have to divert their money in the right direction. This money can be invested in equity mutual funds and liquid funds. Equity mutual funds depend upon the performance of the equity market. In the past, equity mutual funds have given returns of 12-14%. Liquid funds are debt mutual funds that invest in very short-term instruments — commercial papers, treasury bills, certificates of deposit, and so on for a tenure of 91 days. The return given by liquid funds is 7-8%. On the other hand, a savings bank account gives a return of 4%. Clearly, there is not point parking your money in the savings account. It is always better to park your money where you get a good rate of return.

Its time that housewives move over the traditional way of saving money in their cupboards and make their money earn some good return for them in a smarter way!