What is Lock-In Period?
We advise you to enter the world of investing only if you are ‘committed’ to being in it for the long haul. Your ‘commitment’ to saving money is what will reap results. If you ‘commit’ both, your time and money – then your financial portfolio will be booming. Are you picking up on our subtle hints here?
Commitment. We’re hinting at commitment. Because that is essentially what a lock-in period is. A lock-in period refers to the amount of time you commit to not selling or withdrawing the money that you have invested.
We can feel you retracting. What’s in it for you if you can’t even touch your money for a predetermined period of time? The concept of a lock-in period can sound scary, we know.
But stay with us. Because there are some really great advantages there too –
1. Your money is never really completely inaccessible to you. At any time in the lock-in period, your investments will provide you with the option to opt out. But (spoiler alert!) it will come at a price. So, in case you absolutely must disrupt the course of your investments during the lock-in period, you can do so if you pay a fee which is called the exit load in investments.
2. You have to recognize the merit of keeping your investments locked in for a period of time. You can look at it like a tool that safeguards your money for a fixed period of time, at the end of which you will get tangible returns. Sometimes it can be hard, especially for young investors, to collect lump sums of money – so when you do – it is prudent to lock it away and allow it to work for you.
3. Lock-in periods can be a goal-oriented undertaking on your part. You’re a young investor who wants to save up for a trip to Greece for her 25th birthday? Do the math and figure out how much you need invested and locked in! Want to buy your dream car within the next 5 years? Invest now and save up for that down payment.
In addition to these things, also keep in mind (from the investment market point of view) that options like mutual funds also benefit from lock-in periods. It offers some stability in the market while ensuring possible liquidity.
Having said that, we wanted to leave you with a general idea of what lock-in periods can be like with different investment options. Here are some of the most common ones –
- Hedge Funds – 30 to 90 days
- Public Provident Fund (PPF) – 15 Years (Yep!)
- ELSS Tax-Saving Mutual Funds – 3 Years
- Tax-saving Fixed Deposits (FDs) – 5 Years
As you know, the Deciml App does not require any lock-in period for your investments. But even we can appreciate the fixed time element of the lock-in policies for investing. After all, we do keep reminding you that the longer you stay invested, the better your earned returns will look.
So a lock-in period can definitely be a boon (even, or especially, if you’re the non-committal kind). It can also be a good idea if you’re just not good with regularity in your investments (it’s cool, happens to the best of us).
In any case, if you’d rather invest with the reassurance of having complete access to your money at all times (without any extra charges), then you know you’ve always got Deciml to invest with 🙂