deduction on investment amount upto rs 50000 and very low fund management cost make it an attractive proposition however there are certain constraints in this regard one factor is restriction in terms of liquidity currently there is also a restriction in the form of a 50 cap in equity exposure which makes it less attractive when the investment horizon is long or the investors risktaking ability is high another factor is the restriction on withdrawing a portion only through annuity further the taxation part exempts only 40 of the maturity received as a lump sum and the balance 60 received as a lump sum or annuity is taxable for someone in the age group of 3040 with 2025 years to go before retirement these factors put nps at a disadvantage since alternatives like mutual funds exist which have more flexibility and tax efficiency overall gold has made a strong comeback should it have a place in investor portfolios from a strategic asset allocation perspective gold provides some diversification benefits during times of uncertainty it is advisable to have an overall allocation of 510 in strategic portfolios what is the ideal approach to building a retirement corpus at a later stage say after 45 years of age it is best to have a plan ready a plan can crystallise the kind of asset allocation and saving rate that one needs to follow if the planner is unable to cover their retirement from existing resources some core changes are recommended these could include increasing savings rates putting off some goals or even postponing retirement by a few years we expect that over the long term interest rates will sink even lower as a result of which having a larger retirement corpus will become more critical are roboadvisory platforms capable of catering to the financial planning needs of small investors in many ways small investors need more help in deciding to invest and to maintain a disciplined approach towards investing robo advisory can play an important role in helping with their investing decisions and steering them to create enough or more corpus for their life goals for clients who are sophisticated or who have more resources than what they expect to use robo advisory can help crystallise their risktaking ability and allow them to segregate their core and tactical portfolios