Smart investing can help you earn a second income

Investing in liquid or accrual funds could be a source of generating extra income for investor

Most earners__ salaried or businessmen__work hard to earn money for the family and the self. However, not all of these people, after they have earned money, also make their money work hard to generate some extra income. There are quite a few options which people could use to earn some extra income. Two of those routes are putting a small part of your hard earned money into Liquid Funds and/or accrual funds. Investing in these funds could also help retired people to earn some extra income. And if they are already getting pension, earnings from these funds could work as a source for a second income for them.

WHAT ARE Liquid FundS AND ACCRUAL FUNDS?
Liquid Funds are those mutual fund schemes which are ideal for putting money for a very short period of time, preferably not more than three months. Since these funds invest in extremely short term Debt papers, they come with very low volatility and risks. Accrual funds are those funds which invest in Debt papers of short and medium tenures to generate interest income. These funds usually do not take any interest rate/credit risk but stick to earning interest.

INVESTING IN ACCRUAL FUNDS
According to financial planners and advisors, retired people could invest in Debt accrual funds for higher post-tax income. These funds are more useful to those retired people who are in the higher income tax bracket (20% and 30%). For those who are in the 10% tax bracket, and also those who do not have to pay any taxes, bank fixed deposits are equally good, they say.

This is how the people who are in the 20% and 30% tax bracket can generate another stream of income by investing in accrual funds: The investor will invest in the fund and subsequently should also set up a systematic withdrawal plan (SWP) for the same scheme. The SWP will be set up in such a way that only the gains from the fund are transferred to the investor's bank account, at regular intervals, while the principal remains untouched. So in effect the investor enjoys a steady flow of regular income, but pays lower tax compared to if he had invested in bank fixed deposits. This is because as per tax rules, only the gains are taxed. While investing in accrual funds, the investment option should be growth and not dividend, financial planner and investors say.

INVESTING IN Liquid FundS
Investing in Liquid Funds could generate annual returns of nearly 7%. With banks cutting interest in savings account, Liquid Funds, which are almost a perfectly substitute product for SB accounts, could turn more attractive in terms of return.

At 6% annual rate of interest, even if the fund house has to pay a dividend distribution tax of about 28.3%, the post-tax return works out to about 4.3%. In case the fund manager can generate a bit higher return in the fund, the returns to the investors in the fund could also be proportionately higher.