Money tips: How senior citizens can take care of their investments in times of coronavirus; Dos and donts

The outbreak and spread of the coronavirus have affected individuals in many ways. Mainly, senior citizens are highly vulnerable to catch the virus if exposed. Hence, it makes it essential for them to stay home to alleviate the risk of infection. At this point, senior citizens may find it challenging to manage their investments. This is because they mostly invest with banks in safe investment options such as Public Provident Fund (PPF), Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS), Bank Fixed Deposits (FDs), among others. They operate these investment accounts mostly with banks or post offices. 

With the unprecedented turn around of things, senior citizens are now unable to visit the bank or post office in person. They must stay at home as they are highly vulnerable to coronavirus if exposed. In this unfavourable scenario, senior citizens can still continue their investment journey by switching to the online mode of investing. They need to get used to transacting online, this will alleviate the need for them to visit the branch, and they can stay away from the risk of contracting the virus. If they are not sure of how to operate accounts online and there is no one to rely on, then it is advisable to contact their respective banks to learn about it. 

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Senior citizens can ask their close ones to help them with their investments. They can ask the trusted ones to teach them to transact online as it would be challenging to get started with it right away. However, senior citizens should note that they should rely only on those that are trustworthy. This is very important as relying on someone who is not reliable can turn out to be a disaster as senior citizens will have to disclose their confidential financial information and they run a risk of losing their money. If the investment scheme that the senior citizens have chosen to invest does not allow online transactions, then what they can do is ask someone to visit the bank or a post office branch to invest on their behalf. At any cost, the senior citizens should not step out of their house.

(By Archit Gupta, Founder and CEO, ClearTax)