10 financial steps you must take before you retire

Do not put off today what you can not afford to do tomorrow. In spite of the world wide pension crisis and a growing acceptance that we must plan and save for our retirement, the harsh reality is we are actually not saving enough. Research reports reveal that only 15 per cent of the individuals are saving sufficiently for their retired life. Here are a few tips on things to do before you retire so that your retired life is more comfortable and enjoyable.

1. Get rid of all your debts

If you are taking a housing loan, personal loan, car loan or any other loan make sure that you will be repaying them on or before your retirement. You need to choose the term of the loan in accordance with your retirement age. You can enjoy your retired life when you have 100 per cent financial freedom, not when you have to repay your loans.

2. Protect your emergency fund

Emergency expenses can happen any time. But the possibility goes up during the old age. So we need to enhance the emergency reserve year on year, based on the inflation and change in your expense levels. Emergency fund will give you a sense of security and also you need not touch your other investments during emergency where you need to pay pre-closure penalty. Also don't forget to refill the emergency fund once you met an expense out of emergency fund.

3. Establish a retirement budget

You need to visualize your retired life well in advance and need to create a budget for your retirement. That is you will not be going to office. So the expenses on transport and clothes may come down. Also you will have more time to spend. You may need to spend more on leisure travel and health care.

4. Examine your cash flow

Take a close look at your cash inflow as well as outflow. Is there going to be any income after retirement? Like rent, royalty.... would there be any unwanted outflow during retired life? Like paying life insurance, or SIP. At times during your beginning of the career, you could have taken a policy where you need to pay premium up to the age of 60. But now you may plan to retire at 55 itself. So you need to realign your existing policy and other investments in synchronisation with your retirement age.

5. Grow your retirement corpus

Find out how much corpus you need to have when you retire so that you will be having complete financial freedom. A professional financial planner will of great assistance to you in this regard.

6. Develop a withdrawal strategy

How are you planning to withdraw your cash outflow during retirement from the retirement corpus? Are you going to withdraw monthly, quarterly, half yearly or annually? Through systematic withdrawal plan in mutual funds or by way of dividend or interest. All these will have a great impact on the corpus you need to accumulate. So you need to decide in advance.

7. Minimize taxes

Your retirement corpus and retirement income need to be tax efficient. You need to pay taxes for the interest accrued irrespective of that you withdraw the interest or reinvest under a cumulative option. But you need to pay income tax only when you withdraw from the mutual funds. Careful selection of investment vehicle can reduce your tax during the retired life.

8. Get sufficient mediclaim coverage

The moment you retire, your employer will stop covering you under the group mediclaim. So you need to plan for your individual medical cover well in advance. At old age the medical expenses are inevitable. If you have not planned it properly the all your retirement plan will become a mess.

9. Consider inflation adjusted annuities

The monthly income you need when you retire is not going to be the same even after 5 years of your retirement. Inflation will increase your retirement expenses year after year. So year after year your retirement income needs to go up.

10. Oversee estate planning

How your fixed assets and financial assets need to be distributed to your legal heirs? Create a Will. You can avoid creating relationship problems to your next generation because of your left out wealth.

Encadrement of newly created posts into CSS/CSSS on the strength of Min. of Social Justice & Empowerment

Dopt orders 2013 : Encadrement of newly created posts into CSS/CSSS on the strength of Min. of Social Justice & Empowerment       

F. No.24/1/2010-CS-I (P)

Government of India

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions

Department of Personnel & Training

Lok Nayak bhawan, New Delhi

Dated the 10th July, 2013

Order

Approval of the competent authority is accorded to encadrement of the newly created posts into the corresponding grades of Central Secretariat Service/Central Secretariat Stenographers' Service, on the strength of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment :-

S.No.	Post / Grade	Number of posts encadred	Revised Strength of grade in the Cadre Unit	Remarks/details of creation of post
1	Director	3	17	The posts were created vide Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (Department of Disability Affairs) letter No.A.42018/13/2011- Estt. dated 21.06.2013.
2	Under Secretary	6	24
3	Section Officer	13	58
44	Assistant	26	100
5	Sr.PPS	1	4
6	Private Secretary	3	34
7	Personal Assistant	8	28

sd/-

(Parminder Singh)

Under Secretary to the Government of India

GEF delegation welcomed Hon’ble Lt. Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands

                           A delegation of  Government Employees Federation, A&N Islands led by its President Shri. P.KANNAN met the Hon’ble Lt. Governor at Raj Niwas yesterday on 18.07.2013 (evening) and welcomed him in person and  congratulated him to become the Lt. Governor (Administrator) of A&N Islands. The delegation briefed the functioning of Government Employees Federation in these Islands and assured their full support and cooperation to him. The Hon’ble Lt. Governor interacted with each office bearers of  Federation  and said to have appraised their functioning  and assured his full support and cooperation to Government Employees Federation.

         

                                The Hon’ble Lt. Governor also discussed various issues with  President  Shri. P, Kannan, General Secretary Shri. S. K. Majumdar and delegation in the presence of Chief Secretary and Secretary to LG such as :-

1. Filling-up vacant posts of all the departments, which has not attracted ban.

2. Deputing adequate staffs to inter-Islands.

3. Eradication of corruption.

4. Unemployment problems.

5. Improvement in public service.

6. Proper implementation of transfer policy.

7. Imparting short term trainings/seminars to all technical & non-technical staff.

8. Posting of  adequate IAS / DANICS and HODs.

      And also discussed various important issues related to good governance and the development of Islands. The Hon’ble Lt. Governor sought suggestions, support and cooperation of Government Employees Federation (GEF)  for the smooth function of Administration as well as for development of Islands.               

           Finally, on behalf of Federation, Shri. P.Kannan, President has expressed his gratitude to Hon’ble Lt. Governor for the assurance given by him.

SR 202 - Inspection of Service Book : Obtaining signature in Service Book every year reg.

Updation of service books and its inspection by each employee. : SR 202 (Inspection of Service Book) says, every head of Office has to initiate action to show the service book to the government servant concerned every year and to obtain his signature there in token of their having inspected / seen the Service Book.

EMPLOYEES PROVIDENT FUND ORGANISATION

(Ministry of Labour and Employment, Govt. of India)

No. HRM/RPFC/PA/CPFC Meeting/2013/7493

Dated: 15.07.2013 / 17 JUL 2013

To 

Director, NATRSS,

All Addl. CPFCs.

All Regional P.F.Commissioners (ROs/SROs - including RPFC(ASD))

Subject: Updation of service books and its inspection by each employee.

Sir,

You are aware that under SR 199 every step in the career of an official / officer should he recorded in the service book and each entry is attested by the Head of the Office / officer so authorized to ensure accuracy in the entries.

2. Further, under SR 202 the updated service book is required to be shown to official / officer every year. The government servant after ensuring the accuracies of each entry affixes his / her signature.

3. In view of the above, it is requested to carry out an exercise towards updation of service book and its mandatory inspection by respective employees. The head of the offices maintaining the service hooks of employees must give a certificate that Service books of all employees in his office has been updated and the signatures of respective employees have been obtained in the service book.

4. This exercise needs to be completed by 15.08.2013.

(This issues with the approval of ACC(HR) ).

Yours faithfully,

sd/-

(UDAY BAXI)

REGIONAL P.F. COMMISSIONER(HRM)

MACP – Need for implementing Hon’ble Supreme Court Judgement

MACP – SHRI M.RAGHAVAIAH, GENERAL SECRETARY, NFIR ADVOCATES FOR IMPLEMENTAION OF HON’BLE SUPREME COURT JUDGEMENT ON MACP

ADASA, Doordarshan Members meet JCM member Shri M. Raghavaiah at Hyderabad yesterday evening to know the latest developments concerning Central Government Employees.

Shri Raghavaiah explained that so far only three meetings have taken place with anomaly committee to resolve the anomalies cropped up after the implementation of VI CPCrecommendations.

While explaining the developments, he stressed the need to rectify certain provisions in MACP scheme as any new scheme should be more beneficial than the existing one.  Where as the MACP scheme is detrimental to the interest of employees, particularly at lower level.  In this context he said that he has submitted certain proposals for modifying the conditions in MACP Scheme and awaiting the reply.

The ADASA members have drawn his attention to the latest Punjab & Haryana HighCourt judgement, CAT Principle Bench judgement, Apex courts rejection to allow the SLP on MACP, he explained that they are fighting since 2010 for modifying the provisions which are having adverse affect.

He felt because of the observations of Judiciary at highest level, now the government has no other option except to modify the provisions gracefully, which will benefit all the employees in general particularly at lower level. He has asked the members to feel free and interact on the issues concerning central government employees and volunteered to support for the true cause.

The meeting ended by expressing sincere thanks by all our members for sparing his valuable time despite busy schedule.

Watch the following video featuring the speech of Mr.M.Raghavaiah, General Secretary, NFIR on implementation of Hon’ble Supreme Court Judgement MACP

Arrears of pension in cases where valid nomination has not been made

DPPW Orders :  Payment of arrears of pension in cases where valid nomination has not been made under the Payment of Arrears of Pension (Nomination) Rules, 1983 Payment of arrears of family pension - reg.

No.1/22/2012-P&PW (E)

Government of India

Ministry of Personnel, P.G. and Pensions

Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare

3rd Floor, Lok Nayak Bhawan

Khan Market, New Delhi - 110003.

Dated the 10th July, 2013

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Sub:- (i) Payment of arrears of pension in cases where valid nomination has not been made under the Payment of Arrears of Pension (Nomination) Rules, 1983; 

(ii) payment of arrears of family pension — reg.

Attention is invited to the Payment of Arrears of Pension (Nomination) Rules. 1983 which provide that after the death of the pensioner, all moneys payable to the pensioner on account of pension will be paid to the nominee of the deceased pensioner. In the absence of any nomination made by the pensioner, the arrears of his/her pension are paid to the legal heir as per the procedure indicated in para 4 of part A of annexure to Ministry of Finance OM No.1 (3)-E.V/83, dated 11.10.1983. However, dependents of some pensioners expressed difficulties in obtaining the legal heir-ship certificates and represented that the necessity of production of legal heir-ship certificates may be waived where the amount of arrears payable is small.

2. The matter had been examined in Ministry of Finance, D/o Expenditure vide OM dated 04/06/1985 and it was decided that in case where a valid nomination does not exist under the Payment of Arrears of Pension (Nomination) Rules, 1983 and the dependent of pensioner is unable to produce the legal heir-ship certificate, the Payment of Lifetime Arrears of Pension accruing to the deceased pensioner may be authorized on the basis of any documentary proof regarding the relationship and heir-ship of the claimant if the gross amount of arrear does not exceed Rupees 25,000. In such cases, if the gross amount did not exceed Rupees 5,000 and case represented no peculiar features, the accounts officer was authorised to make the payment on his own authority. 

3. The Government has further looked into the matter and decided to incrence the limits of Rupees 5000 and 25000 as indicated in Department of Expenditure OM, dated 4.6.85 to Rupees 50,000 and 2,50,000 respectively. The conditions and the procedure of payment as indicated in Department of Expenditure OM, dated 22.10.1983 and 04.06.1985 will remainthe same, which are reiterated hereunder.

4 The Pension Disbursing Authority (PDA) may receive application along with any documentary proof regarding the relationship and heir-ship of the claimant, in case the claimant is the recipient of fmily pension, the disbursing Officer will verify the identity of the claimant with reference to the disburser’s half as well as pensioner’s half of the PPO and give a certificate of having done so. PDA will duly attest the documents received from the applicant and forward these along with the application to the Accounts Officer. The Accounts Officer, on receipt of application along with a copy of PPO of the pensioner and other documents from the PDA, will calculate the amount of arrears and issue necessary authority for payment of Life-time arrears to the disbursing authority if the case does not present any peculiar features and the amount does not exceed Rs.50,000. In case the amount exceeds Rupees 50,000 hut does not exceed Rupees 2,50,000, the Accounts Officer will obtain the orders of the Head of Department or Administrator or the CAO in the case of pensioners from Indian Audit & Accounts Department or any Officer of that Department declared as an HOD. Payment will be made on execution of a duly stamped indemnity bond in Form T.R. 14/G.A.R. 26, with such sureties as necessary in terms of para 7 below. In case of any doubt and also in cases where the amount of arrears exceeds Rupees 2,50,000, payments shall be authorized to be made only to the persons producing the legal authority.

5. This department’s OM No. 43/4/95-P&PW(G), dated 30.10.1995 stipulates that in the event of death of a family pensioner, the right to receive any arrears of family pension would automatically pass on to the eligible member of the family next in line. The requirement of succession certificate for payment of any arrears occurs only where there is no member in the family who is eligible to receive family pension after the death of the family pensioner. Therefore, it has been decided that the provisions of this office memorandum will also apply to the payment of arrears of family pension where no member of family is eligible to receive family pension.

6. The Head of Department here means the Head of Department as defined in rule 2 (xvi) of the General Financial Rules, 2005. However, in order to ensure that the citizens do not have to face unnecessary hardships, it has been decided that in the case of field establishments, the Administrative Ministries/Departments may delegate the power of head of Department to the Head of Office in the rank of Deputy Secretary/Director, if felt necessary by them. It is also clarified that this OM will cover all such past cases.

7. Normally, there should be two sureties, both of known financial stability. However, in case the amount of claim is less than Rs.75,000/, the authority accepting the indemnity bond for and on behalf the President of India should decide on the merits of each case whether to accept only one surety instead of two. The obligor as well as the sureties executing the indemnity bond should have attained majority so that the bond has legal effect or force. The bond is required to be accepted on behalf of the President by an officer duly authorised under Article 299(1) of the Constitution.

8. These orders will not be applicable in cases where a valid nomination exists under the Payment of Arrears of Pension (Nomination) Rules, 1983. In such cases, the payment of arrears will be authorised to be made to the nominee (s).

9. As regards pensioners/family pensioners belonging to the Indian Audit and Accounts Departments, these Orders issue after consultation with the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

10. This issues with the concurrence of Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure, vide their ID Note No.568/E.V/2013, dated 28th June, 2013 and O/o Controller General of Accounts vide their ID No. 1(7)/TA-III/2011-12/Miscl/116, dated 13.02.2013.

sd/-

(Sujasha Choudhury)

Deputy Secretary to the Govt. of India

Source: DOPT

GoI issue Guidelines on Air Travel on Official Tours / Leave Travel Concession (LTC) – reg.

Finmin Orders 2013: Guidelines on Air Travel on Official Tours / Leave Travel Concession (LTC) – reg.

No.19024/1/2012-E.IV 

Government of India 

Ministry of Finance 

Department of Expenditure

North Block. New Delhi 

Dated the 9th July, 2013

Office Memorandum

Subject: Guidelines on Air Travel on Official Tours / Leave Travel Concession (LTC) – reg.

Reference is invited to instructions issued by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance from time-to-time regarding the procedure for booking of air tickets on Government account. As per existing procedure Government officials/offices can book the air tickets directly from Airlines (at Booking counters / Website of Airlines) and if needed, by utilizing the services of authorized agents. viz. M/s Balmer Lawrie & Company Limited (BLCL) and M/s Ashok Travels & Tours (ATT) [Department of Expenditure OM No.19024/1/2009-E.IV dated 16/09/2010 refers]. Air tickets for travel on LTC, to a limited extent, can also be get booked through Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation(IRCTC) [Department of Personnel & Training 0M No. 31011/6/2002-Estt.(A) dated 02/12/2009 refers].

2. It has now been decided to include IRCTC as an authorized for the purpose of booking air tickets on Government account. Accordingly, if the services of a travel agent for booking air tickets on Government account is to be availed of, in addition to BLCL and ATT, the services of IRCTC can also be availed of.

3. All Ministries/Departments of the Government of India. etc. may accordingly bring these instructions to the notice of all concerned for strict compliance.

sd/- 

(Subhash Chand) 

Deputy Secretary of Government of India