The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation manages one of the best investment schemes that deals with employees across India. This is not a voluntary scheme the way the Public Provident Fund (PPF) is. Notably, as soon as an employee joins a firm and he is earning over Rs 15000 as salary, he can become a member provided the employer and worker agree. While starting rules are clear enough, what about at the time of retirement? What does the EPF FAQ list indicate about the EPF retirement rules? Can an employee continue as EPF member after superannuation? This question is very important as EPF often provides the biggest retirement amount for an employee.
EPF FAQ: Can employee continue as an EPF member even after his retirement?
According to the EPF superannuation rules, “ Yes. If one continues to work even after attaining the superannuation age.”
To the EPF FAQ, “How long an employee can continue his EPF membership?”, the organisation adds, “There is no restriction of period for membership. Even after leaving the establishment a person can continue his membership.”
However, there is a big warning from EPFO too that an employee must pay heed to. It says, “If no contribution is received into a PF account for 3 consecutive years the account shall not earn any interest after 3 years from the stopping of contribution.”
So, that should galvanise all EPF account holders to ensure they keep a constant track of their money as well as the status of their EPF account without fail. Because otherwise, they face a massive loss of money.
EPF interest rate
Notably, the EPF interest rate is at a high 8.25%. It used to be even higher earlier, but the government has reduced it to this level. However, even at this rate, the EPF account holder is getting a higher rate of interest than even bank fixed deposits are providing. The only investing tool that may surpass this kind of return are the stock markets, but they also carry tremendous amounts of risk.
Significantly, under the New Pension Scheme (NPS), there is a significant portion of the savings of an employee that can be funnelled into the stock markets to fetch higher returns. However, there is risk involved as markets have a tendency to crash. So, the employee will have to decide how much risk he wants to expose himself to.
EPF FAQ – Retirement rule: Can an employee continue as EPF member after superannuation? Is it the end of the road? Check surprise EPF retirement rule. Personal Finance Business News – Personal Finance News, Share Market News, BSE/NSE News, Stock Exchange News Today
