The retirement question is never "did I build a corpus?" — it's "will the corpus pay me every month, for life, without frightening me?" Government-backed schemes are the quiet heroes here. A comparison, the way we'd explain it across the desk:
SCSS — the retiree's first stop
The Senior Citizen Savings Scheme takes a lump sum (up to the prevailing cap per individual), pays quarterly interest at rates set by the government, and runs five years, extendable. Sovereign backing, predictable payouts — the closest thing to a pension you can buy at 60.
POMIS — monthly income, literally
The Post Office Monthly Income Scheme does what its name says: fixed monthly interest on a deposited lump sum. Rates are usually a shade below SCSS, but the monthly cadence suits household budgeting perfectly.
PPF — the tax-free compounder
The Public Provident Fund is a 15-year EEE instrument — contributions deductible, interest tax-free, maturity tax-free. Post-retirement, an extended PPF (in 5-year blocks, with or without contributions) is a superb tax-free reserve pool sitting behind SCSS and MIS.
NPS — the market-linked leg
The National Pension Scheme builds a corpus with equity/debt exposure and converts part of it into an annuity at exit. Before retirement it also earns the extra 80CCD(1B) deduction. It's the growth leg — pair it with the guaranteed legs above, don't replace them with it.
How they fit together
A typical structure we build: SCSS + MIS for guaranteed monthly income, extended PPF as the tax-free reserve, mutual fund SWPs for inflation-beating top-up, and health insurance around all of it. That's retirement planning as we practice it — and it's a conversation worth having five years before the farewell party. Start it here.