Personal Finance | Finwise

3 easy ways to know if your financial advisor is good for you

Girish Ganaraj Financial Freedom, Financial Planning, Personal Finance January 9, 2020January 9, 2020 0 Comment

In a recent article, we shared 3 simple approaches that can help you determine whether you need a financial planner/advisor. But once you decide you need one (or already have one), how do you know whether he or she is giving you your money’s worth, if not more?

Personal Finance advisors who manage money range across a broad spectrum of names. A few of these are Financial Advisor, Investment Consultant, Wealth Advisor, Financial Planner, Relationship Manager, etc. Unfortunately, while there are certifications and qualifications* that can help customers determine whether the advisor is actually an “expert”, the awareness about these are very low and the average customer has no clue about these.

* Some (but not all) of these qualifications are CFP (Certified Financial Planner, issued by Financial Standards Planning Board, USA), CWM (Chartered Wealth Manager, issued by American Academy of Financial Management) and RIA (Registered Investment Advisor, issued by SEBI).

So, how can a customer determine whether the “advisor” is qualified to give him advice and is experienced enough to be able to manage his investments? Here are 3 easy ways for you to check whether the financial advisor is right for you.

The advisor asks you “What’s the goal/purpose for the investment?”

In our experience, most retail investors start investing as and when they have savings, based on advice that they get from whoever they know. Many a times, they discover the need for an advisor when there is a “penny-drop” moment in their lives, usually due to some realization eg. need to plan for child’s education, lost a significant sum of money in some investment, etc.

In either case, a genuine advisor will try to understand your goals and aspirations. Money is usually itself never the purpose (for investing), it needs to be put to good use to achieve some personal milestone for you.
It’s the job of a good advisor to understand your current financial health, and where needed, suggest re-structuring for your existing investments to align with your goals
Lastly, a good advisor will prioritize your goals and create an overall financial plan for you, that will act as your financial road-map

The advisor says “I need to know more about you to suggest the right investments”

While the phrase “every customer is unique” sounds cliched, it is something that definitely needs to be borne in mind when it comes to personal finances. Your personal experiences with money, along with your financial health determine your risk-profile which, when combined with your goals, makes you unique.

A good advisor will spend time understanding you and your personal experiences with money, so that over time, he is able to address your fears and concerns about money.
He will help you understand your risk capacity (your financial ability to take risk) and your risk tolerance (the risk you are willing to take basis your personal experiences/biases), which together form your risk appetite
He will then suggest the right “Asset Allocation” as per risk profile and accordingly invests across asset-classes, while keeping in mind your goals. He will also come back to tell you basis your risk profile if some goals are unachievable, unless you are willing to take some higher risks

The advisor says “I charge a fee, my advice is not free”

For us as advisors, one key moment when we know that a customer may not be suitable for us, is when we talk about fees. Quite a few customers balk at the idea of paying a fee, understandably so, when there would be many so-called “financial advisors” who don’t charge.

A good financial advisor is as much a qualified professional as a respected doctor, lawyer or chartered accountant is. He therefore charges a fee for his time and advice
That said, a good financial advisor also clearly explains the value that he would be able to deliver for the fee that is getting charged, so that the customer understands clearly what he is getting
Lastly, a good financial advisor operates in a structured manner – recorded/documented conversations, in-writing recommendations along with rationales, periodic reporting and pre-planned financial reviews, all of which mean that the number of hours that the advisor puts in for you behind you is far more than the mere conversations that he has with you

So, next time you feel the need to hire a financial advisor, and are short-listing one, understand how many of the above boxes does he or she tick? Alternately, use the above to understand for yourself whether your current financial advisor meets the grade, or do you need to find a new one.

Image Credit: Tim Graf, Unsplash

Finwise is a personal finance solutions firm that helps both NRI and resident individuals and families plan for their financial goals, follow their passions and achieve financial independence.

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Dear woman: Take these 4 small steps to be on top of your money life from 2020

Prathiba Girish Financial Freedom, Financial Planning, Finwise Woman, Moneycontrol.com, Personal Finance December 30, 2019December 27, 2019 0 Comment

It is again that time of the year to work on New Year resolutions. The word has become a joke and it is now accepted that resolutions never work. We all know that a turning of the calendar is not going to weave its magic and get you started in the right direction.

What I have noticed is when we endeavour to make small changes rather than daunting makeovers which require a whole lot of change, we tend to stick to our resolutions. The same applies on the personal finance front – both whether to increase your financial awareness and to improve your financial situation.

As a woman if you wish to make your financial life better than what it has been thus far let us without much effort, here are four simple things you can do.

Read more about this in our latest article below, published on Moneycontrol.

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/personal-finance/dear-woman-take-these-4-small-steps-to-be-on-top-of-your-money-life-from-2020-4763791.html

Finwise is a personal finance solutions firm that helps both NRI and resident individuals and families plan for their financial goals, follow their passions and achieve financial independence.

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For advice, please reach us at getfinwise@finwise.in or +91 9870702277/9820818007.

Image credit: Moneycontrol

3 ways to quickly check if you need a financial planner

Girish Ganaraj Financial Freedom, Financial Planning, Personal Finance December 20, 2019December 21, 2019financial freedom, financial planning, Personal Finance thumb rules 0 Comment

Personal finance and investments related advice is omnipresent today. Open any regular newspaper and they have a daily page devoted to personal finance. Surf the TV and even normal entertainment and mainline news channels have programs which “help” customers on their personal finances and give product-related advice. On most infotainment portals, Personal Finance is a separate section and every few articles, one on personal finance advice pops up.

This surfeit of information has created a not-so-desirable impact for us though – easy access and availability of so much information makes us think that we now “know enough” and can even “do it ourselves”. That said, there is an information overdose even on the products side, so how does one be sure? That’s where financial planners and advisors come in. In our experience, hiring a financial planner is usually a big decision for people to make, and hence they end up delaying both this decision as well as their investment decisions, doing themselves more financial harm in the process.

So, how can you decide if you need a financial planner to help you with your personal finances? I am sharing below 3 simple thumb-rules which can help you decide. If your answer to even one of these is a NO, then you surely need one.

RULE 1 – THE SAVINGS RULE – Save at least “your Age %” of post-tax income

What – At age 25, you should be saving at least 25% of your post-tax income, and as you grow older, this % should increase beyond your age. Eg. at age 35 should be 40-45% and at age 45 should be 50-60%.

Why – Remember, for every year you work, you will live a year, possibly even more, post-retirement. Now, even assuming that your needs in retirement are more spartan than when you are young, unless you save an average of 40% of your income across your working life span, you may end up not having enough to fund your retirement.

RULE 2 – THE NET WORTH RULE – Your NW should be at least “(your Age * Pre-tax annual Income) / 10”

What – Your Net Worth is defined as your Assets minus your Liabilities. Do not include the house that you stay in, unless you are willing to liquidate it and move into a smaller one.

Why – This rule helps you assess 2 things – how much your savings have transformed into assets and how over-leveraged you are in terms of liabilities. Also, this is a “minimum” rule, to check whether you have “enough”. To understand whether you are “wealthy”, multiply this by 2 (or more). Eg. If you are 40 and your pre-tax income is Rs. 50 lakhs per year, then your minimum Net Worth should be (40 * 50 lakh) / 10 = Rs 2 Cr. Remember this is net of your liabilities and the house you are staying in.

RULE 3 – THE ROI (RETURN ON INVESTMENTS) RULE – Your investments should grow at minimum your country’s nominal GDP rate

What – Return on Investments is the rate at which your investments are growing on an annualized basis. Nominal GDP is Inflation + Real GDP. Your investments include both real and financial assets (excluding the house where you stay).

(NOTE: An easy rule to calculate your current ROI is the Rule of 72 – Divide 72 by the number of years it took you to double the value of your investments. Eg. If your investments were Rs 2 Cr in 2012 and today their value is Rs 4 Cr, ie. took approx. 7 years to double in value, the approx. ROI you have generated is 72/7 ~ 10%).

Why – In an Indian context, the nominal GDP over the next couple of decades can be conservatively estimated to be around 10% (4% Inflation + 6% real GDP growth). Preferably, add 1-2% to this, since lifestyle inflation is usually higher, and investment returns can be much more volatile than national Inflation/GDP, hence some buffers are needed so that you don’t fall short as you near financial goal horizons. So, a good number to plan for is 12%.

BONUS RULE – THE “PEACE OF MIND, NOT PIECE OF MIND” RULE

Benjamin Graham once said “The investor’s chief problem – and even his worst enemy – is likely to be himself”. And as if on cue, Jack Bogle said “An advisor serves as an emotional circuit-breaker, so you don’t abandon a well-thought-out plan”.

Frequent, sometimes even addictive perusal of “information” ends up making us over-reactive and take wrong decisions in the short-term, apart from stressing us out. A good financial planner allows you to forget about your money worries and gives you peace of mind, while also acting as a safety-net to prevent you from taking wrong money decisions.

So, use the above 3 rules to quickly check whether you need a financial planner to help you manage your finances. And use the bonus rule to assess whether your money is worrying you, rather than working for you.

Image Credit: TheDigitalWay, Pixabay

Rule 2 Credit: While the other 2 rules are commonly used thumb rule, Rule 2 is formulated by the authors of the book “The Millionaire Next Door”

Finwise is a personal finance solutions firm that helps both NRI and resident individuals and families plan for their financial goals, follow their passions and achieve financial independence.

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For advice, please reach us at getfinwise@finwise.in or +91 9870702277/9820818007.

What role does your Financial Advisor play in your life?

Girish Ganaraj Financial Freedom, Financial Planning, Personal Finance October 17, 2019October 16, 2019financial independence, financial planning 0 Comment

If you were asked to describe a good financial advisor, what would your response be? Based on our experiences over the years, let me go out on a limb here and say that the most popular responses are likely to be from among the below.

Someone who is trust-worthy, whom I can trust with my money
Someone who is available to me for advice when I need and has my interests at heart
Someone who will make my money grow at a decent pace while also ensuring that it is safe

Of course, there could be other responses, do add them in the comments section below. That said, if I am right till here, let me turn around and tell you that these expectations are rather basic and should describe any financial advisor worth his or her salt. I fact, these above “virtues” should be basic minimum expectations for anyone to qualify as a financial advisor. After all, why would you even consider using the services of someone who is not trustworthy or not available when you need or not competent?

So, what then actually makes a good, rather “really good” financial advisor? In my view, a truly good financial advisor will have the qualities of these professionals as well!

Doctor

A doctor diagnoses ailments basis visible symptoms, necessary reports and probing, identifies them as chronic, acute or placebic (imaginary), and treats accordingly.

Similarly, a good financial advisor should be able to unpeel your personal finance onion layer by layer to identify your money problems so that the right approaches can be used to put them in order.

Accountant

Just as an accountant helps you put and keep your books in order, as well as plan and stick to a budget, a financial advisor helps you understand your personal financial balance sheet and profit-loss statement, co-creates a plan with you to nurse them back to health and helps you execute a budget for your household.

Designer-Architect

A designer-architect understands your personal desires and aspirations and helps you accordingly build a home that feels like yours and only yours.

In the same way, a financial advisor understands your personal financial goals, helps you prioritize them and works with you to construct your own castles.

Policeman

A financial advisor is your personal money police and helps you stay on the right side of your plan and budget, while also reading you the riot act once in a while when you step out of line!

A financial advisor also is the person who you will run to in case of any doubtful or poor experience with your money, to seek advice on damage control as well as salvage.

Lawyer

A lawyer helps you interpret the rules or the laws specific to your problem and finds a way to solve your problem for you within the available space to your best advantage.

Just like a good lawyer, a financial advisor always has your interests as paramount and protects them at all costs, even if you are at times being criminal with your money! Though at times she (or he) may not be civil about it!

Psychologist

A psychologist studies people, their thoughts, feelings and behaviors, in an effort to understand the “why” behind people’s actions so that they can help plan appropriate corrective measures.

Likewise, a financial advisor understands you as a person, your relationship with money and your deeper motivations so that his advice is tailored to suit you as a person. At times he also gently corrects you when you are making common behavioral mistakes with your money.

Teacher

Last but never the least, a teacher is someone who imparts knowledge and wisdom to her students, feels pride at their successes and then selflessly moves on to the next batch, ready to start the journey all over again.

A financial advisor too helps you move along the path of “personal financial wisdom” from safety to security to freedom, is there with you to celebrate your small wins at every step and when finally, your financial goals get achieved, feels proud to have helped make it happen.

So, if you have a financial advisor, how many of the above qualities does he or she have? And if you don’t have one as yet, use the above as benchmarks to set your expectations so that you select the right one!

Finwise is a personal finance solutions firm that helps both NRI and resident individuals and families plan for their financial goals, follow their passions and achieve financial independence.

To receive our articles through email, pl subscribe here.

For advice, please reach us at getfinwise@finwise.in or +91 9870702277/9820818007.

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With even banks failing, which asset class is safe enough for me to invest?

Girish Ganaraj Equity Investing, Financial Planning, Personal Finance October 9, 2019October 9, 2019fear of investing, Iceberg Illusion, investing, Risk 0 Comment

The last couple of years have not been kind to investors at all. Equities (the broader indices) have near-crashed, debt mutual funds have also sprung unpleasant surprises, real estate has languished. And if things couldn’t get any worse, the so-assumed last bastion of safety for investors – banks, has also been breached.

In the last few weeks, two specific pieces of bad news has hurt investors and further spooked markets which already were like a cat on a hot tin roof. The first relates to the NPA woes of Yes Bank, and despite the repeated assurances of the management, investors are panicking and not only are its shares being dumped by investors and employees, there are anecdotal stories of FDs and even basic accounts being moved.

The second piece of news is far more chilling to the retail investor. The RBI suddenly froze all accounts and transactions of PMC (Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative) Bank, a medium-sized cooperative bank, throwing its depositors and customers into serious emotional turmoil and financial crisis. It turns out that nearly 3/4ths of its loans are NPA (non-performing asset, which in simple words means – unlikely to be paid back, at least in whole), having been advanced to a single customer (in brazen violations of existing regulations), which has gone bankrupt. What is sad is that there seems to be not much hope immediately in store for the thousands of retail investors who had deposited their hard-earned savings in the bank, and whose monies and access to liquidity has got stuck all of a sudden.

This leads me to the titular question – “As an investor, which asset class is safe enough to invest?” While I am sure this question is on many investor’s minds, this question is better answered by flipping it and instead asking oneself – “As an investor, how much do I understand the risks?”

Let me explain further. Most of the time, investors burn their fingers because they invest without fully understanding the products and the risks that they carry. Usually the only understanding of risk that they tend to have is volatility, which they then convert into a perception of capital protection. Ie. Equity is very volatile, and capital loss can be significant. Debt is not at all volatile and is like an FD, therefore capital protection is guaranteed.

Unfortunately, this is an incomplete picture of the risks that the products carry. At a recent seminar I attended, a speaker used the iceberg metaphor to depict the unseen factors behind results (success or failure) and it is apt here as well. Risk is also like an iceberg. While some part of it is seen, many parts of it remain unseen. And importantly, as an investor, while it may not be possible to identify all the risks (ie. many parts of it will remain unknown), it is necessary to understand and estimate it, to be able to manage it.

Eg, In the case of Equity, volatility is seen as the primary risk, but actually that’s not the risk investors should worry about, since over the medium to long term, the volatility subsides substantially. That said, business risk (how will the company perform) and concentration risk (% share of the company in the overall portfolio) are important risk factors that need to be managed.

In the case of debt, investors have some understanding about interest rate risk, since they know that FDs when renewed may be at a lower or higher rate, depending on the prevailing interest rate. On the other hand, the general investor belief about debt is that capital protection is guaranteed, and hence one sees a bee-line for some of these corporate deposits or debentures, which offer much higher rates vs the prevailing rate in the market. Key risks that investors ignore in the case of debt are credit risk (what if the company fails to pay either the interest, or worse, the principal as well) and business risk (what if the company you are putting your money in has bad lending practices and hence sinks eg. PMC Bank).

So, leading back to the question we asked originally, unfortunately, the answers aren’t black-or-white. Investors would be prudent not to chase so-called “safer” asset-classes basis their past experiences. They should instead spend time understanding the risks involved and managing them. Your investment is safe only if you have taken the necessary and right steps to manage the risks involved in those investments. Managing the risks involve having the right asset allocation basis your (the investor’s) investment time-horizons as well as appetite for risk, identifying the right investments within each asset class, as well as making sure that there is adequate diversification, both across and within asset-classes.

While the above is not rocket science, having both, the right expertise (analysis and research) and pain-staking effort (regular review and course-correction), is required. And importantly, the need to “unbias” yourself while evaluating your choices and taking your decisions is essential. If you are new or busy, then having access to a trusted advisor will help you manage your portfolio better in terms of both risk management as well as adapting the portfolio to best suit your needs and goals.

To summarize though, remember – understanding the risks is key to determining safety of your investments. Without adequate understanding, even the safest-seeming investment can turn out to be super-risky, while with some level of understanding and risk-management, investors can navigate their way safely through even seemingly high-risk investments.

Finwise is a personal finance solutions firm that helps both NRI and resident individuals and families plan for their financial goals, follow their passions and achieve financial independence.

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For advice, please reach us at getfinwise@finwise.in or +91 9870702277/9820818007.

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Many a times, the battle is lost for the want of a horseshoe!

Prathiba Girish Financial Freedom, Financial Planning, Personal Finance September 19, 2019September 19, 2019fee-based advice, financial independence, financial planning 0 Comment

For the want of a nail the shoe was lost,

For the want of a shoe the horse was lost,

For the want of a horse the rider was lost,

For the want of a rider the battle was lost,

For the want of a battle the kingdom was lost,

And all for the want of a horseshoe-nail.”

― Benjamin Franklin

It may not sound nice to the ear, but as Indians, we are, in general, poor at DIY (Do It Yourself). As such, we are not brought up in a DIY culture and this perpetuates. Even now, we are used to having help at home for the smallest of things, and as a result, an average middle-class Indian is hugely lacking in basic life-skills as compared to his counterparts in most developed economies.

To make things worse, we place a premium on DIY when it comes to knowledge-skills. It could be that it gives bragging rights that you could manage something by yourself, when many others found the need to engage with a professional to get ahead.

For example, we resort to self-medication because the symptoms seem “similar to what she had” or worse, we googled it up. Similarly, planning and managing your personal finances often is a DIY activity. While this may work at times, what many people don’t see is the many risks that one may encounter due to this.

In the hundreds of interactions with numerous customers over the past few years in my financial planning practice, I have seen many such mistakes committed. I have tried to list a few commonly encountered ones to help you avoid the DIY trap.

Investing too little

This is something we see often. There is a lot of media noise around mutual funds, and listening to the ‘mutual fund sahi hai’ campaign on a constant basis, people feel the need to be a part of the success story. They decide that setting aside some money is required and start with some small amount. A person whose monthly expenditure is Rs 1 lakh starts saving Rs 10000 per month in MFs and is very happy that he is putting something away for the future. For a low-income family, whose monthly expenses are Rs 25000, being able to save Rs 10000 per month consistently truly deserves a pat on the back, since the family is saving a substantial part of their income and may well on its way to financial freedom. But in the above example the Rs 10000 investment in mutual funds is not going to help you save anything substantial and is a mere tick-mark activity which lulls you into believing you are saving, thereby allowing you to indulge guilt free.

Not assigning any goals

In almost all cases when money is invested there is never a purpose to it. When you invest without a purpose it is mentally extremely easy to redeem. The next iPhone upgrade or the long-dreamt-of trip to New Zealand seems like an emergency, when you have sufficient money invested. Imagine if the savings were given a name, say Child Higher Education Fund. What are the chances that you would withdraw from it, to fund your trip to New Zealand?

Trying to time the market

When you are sitting on the fence, it never seems like the right time to start investing. One month you are worried that the markets are creating new highs every day, second month you are worried that the political situation may spell dooms day to your investments and the third month you are worried about recession. If you are investing with a horizon of 7 to 10 years what happens in this month or the next is not going to have much of an impact on the outcome. What is important is to get off the fence and get into the field of play.

Investing in schemes based purely on recent performance

Most investments are based on past performance, and even star ratings of Mutual Funds are largely based on past performance. One should keep in mind the recent performance has a huge bearing on the 1-year, 3-year and even 5-year returns. It is also important to understand the reasons for the outperformance or underperformance before deciding. Make sure that your investment advisor has a proper framework for selection is important.

Discontinuing investments during down times

Markets are by nature turbulent, and you are going to have to accept your share of this, if you are in for the long haul. It is important to have conviction in your choices and stay put. However, there is a lot of noise in the media and Whatsapp forwards from well-meaning friends proclaiming that doomsday is around the corner. The immediate instinct in such situations is to stop any further investments. However, that would be a very bad strategy since you are getting an opportunity to accumulate at lower prices. Unfortunately, this awakening will come in hindsight.

Not bothering to understand tax implication

Many a times we see people have invested without understanding the tax implications. Just because the dividend which is given to you is tax free does not mean there is no tax applicable on it. It is paid out after tax is paid by the AMC. There have been cases were people have invested in dividend pay-out option for years when they had no use for the dividend and had no clue what they did with dividends. They would have been better of in growth option where the capital would have appreciated substantially given the long tenure of investment. In other cases, we have seen people in 10% slab investing in dividend option of Debt fund where the tax is much higher. Investing in NPS without checking the taxability on exit. Buying ULIPs purely for the taxability. The list is very long and exhaustive but I guess the point is made.

Have a laundry list of investments in the name of diversification

The intention is right, one should not put all eggs in one basket. However, having 25 schemes in the name of diversification is no good. Further there is no thought given to overlap. It would be a good idea to start investing only after you clearly decide how much goes into debt, equity and other assets. Within equity you need to decide percentage allocation to MF, stock, PMS etc and have optimum stocks /schemes and not go over-board with it.

Taking your RM at face value

For many clients, the trust they have on the RM is a transfer of the trust they have in the Bank. They truly believe that products suggested by him/her is totally in their interest. I wish this were true, but its not! We encounter customers who have been sold the wrong products – eg. bad performers, high lock-in products with little or no exit options, complete laggards, etc. so often. Remember, there is no free lunch, if someone is giving you a “free” recommendation in your interest, it may make sense to understand how he is compensated for his time and effort.

Herd Mentality

Last but not the least is following the crowd. The crowd is always excited when markets are touching new highs every day. They don’t want to be left behind and hence jump in when markets have already gone up. However as soon as they see some down side they want to jump the boat. Where-as caution is in order when markets are going up and one should invest more if possible when markets are going down. However, to do this you require conviction and belief.

As the title says, it makes little sense to learn by making mistakes with your own money rather than engaging with a professional at a fraction of that sum. They could guide you to take better decisions and keep you safe from your impulses.

After all, Benjamin Graham did say ‘The investor’s chief problem – and even his worst enemy – is likely to be himself.” Think about it!

Finwise is a personal finance solutions firm that helps both NRI and resident individuals and families plan for their financial goals, follow their passions and achieve financial independence.

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For advice, please reach us at getfinwise@finwise.in or +91 9870702277/9820818007.

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“No Pain, No Gain” is as true for your finances as it is for your fitness!

Prathiba Girish Financial Freedom, Financial Planning, Personal Finance September 12, 2019September 12, 2019financial independence, fitness and money, personal financial planning 0 Comment

The year seems to have flown by quickly, with less than 4 months left for it to end. As I look back at the things I planned to achieve, one stands out – getting fit! This has been on the list for nearly a decade and this year, I finally managed to get somewhere close. This journey of mine towards fitness, has many parallels with people trying to get financially independent and this has helped me understand and empathize with customers better, by looking at the need for financial planning, being in their shoes.

Phase 1 – It’s a breeze, I can do it myself. I don’t need a trainer

When I decided I wanted to get fit, I thought it would be a breeze, and now that I had decided, all I had to do was do a bit of exercise and eat smart. I could not understand why people engaged with a nutritionist and trainer. What a waste of money and time, to do something as basic as getting in shape, I thought.

Armed with the newfound motivation to get fit, I did a bit of walking, changed my eating habits very slightly and looked at the weighing machine with hope every few days. It just refused to move. This whole phase lasted a few years. There was no consistency in my effort, and though the intent to do it right was very much present, it always kept getting pushed to “tomorrow”, which obviously never came.

I see many parallels to this in the journey of people trying to achieve financial independence. Many of them start out saying this is common sense, just save every month and very soon you will have a good corpus. The amount they save has no correlation to the goal they are trying to achieve. The investments are dipped into at the slightest of provocations. The newly launched phone, a lavish birthday planned, are all legitimate reasons to put the savings on hold.

I often tell people – don’t kid yourself by starting an SIP for a miniscule amount, its only a tick mark activity, and unlikely to ever take you anywhere on your path to financial freedom.

Phase 2 – I need a bit of motivation and help, nothing personalised, let me join a group

It took me a few years to wake up to the fact that my walking and working out on an irregular basis was not going to deliver at all and I did need some help. I decided to be smart and achieve the target by joining a running group. It was of course better than phase 1, and since I had paid up, I did manage to train 3 times a week and made some fabulous friends. It was also a good point of discussion in many social gatherings on how I trained for marathons. Yes, I did manage to do a few marathons. Neither did my timing improve nor did I lose any weight or inches. I can now honestly say that I was nowhere near my definition of fitness.

Again, in their financial independence journey, I see that most DIY people at some stage, sufficiently alarmed by the years passing by and the savings pot not growing in tandem, move to seeking advice from some form of website or robo-advisor or even “tips from knowledgeable friends” where they get advice instantly on where to invest and how much. There is a sense of achievement on being more systematic with investments. There again, they may end up saving more than they did previously but are they really taking their entire unique situation into consideration and moving comfortably towards their financial independence, is something they need to ponder on.

Phase 3 – I need proper personalised guidance to help me get on track and stay there, let me engage with a professional

I finally realised that if I seriously wanted to get fit, I would need to engage with a professional who knew his job and so, I enrolled with a personal trainer. I now realised the difference between what I was doing in the name of exercise and what it really meant to exercise. I was consistent and trained 3 days a week without fail. I started to lose inches and feel more energetic. The weight wouldn’t budge. I realised that I would not only need to exercise but also ensure that my nutrition was right if I were to get anywhere close to being future-fit from a health point of view. I then visited a naturopath to get rid of some of my niggling health issues. My stated objective was to get rid of allergies, my secret hope was to lose weight. Major lifestyle changes were suggested by her, give up on sugar, no processed food and a lot of other changes. I followed advice strictly. The initial few weeks were very difficult. Despite giving up my favourite food, there was no improvement. It took few months for the changes to be seen. And a few more for people to comment on it.

A journey towards financial security and independence is similar, your situation, goals and aspirations are unique and hence advice that is personalized keeping those in mind will hold you in good stead. Similar to the above story, just concentrating on one thing, investments, is not going to be sufficient to get you to your destination. Apart from investments, you would also need to look at your spending and income. Like with my weight, you may secretly aspire for a certain return. You may peg it to the best return you have got over a life-time and evaluate your investments against your benchmark. Your planner will not even be aware of what you are anchoring your expectation to.

Financial planning requires you to see much beyond returns and wait patiently without losing faith during turbulent times. At least in the above case of my health, results started showing in a few months post engaging the right professionals. In case of your finances, it may take a few years for you to see meaningful results. In the interim there is only pain, since you will need to cut down on unnecessary expenses, ensure you invest smartly and stick to it even when you see you are getting unsatisfactory, maybe even negative returns.

Again, unlike the fitness story, there is no before- and after- picture to flaunt, all you will have is peace of mind that you are well prepared for your future. No one is going to compliment you on your financial health, unlike your weight. What you will see though, is that you are inching closer to your life’s goals, sometimes because of your returns and sometimes despite your returns. Either ways, having someone who has your back through the journey and motivates you to stay the course and steer you clear of some impulsive emotional actions can be invaluable!

Finwise is a personal finance solutions firm that helps both NRI and resident individuals and families plan for their financial goals, follow their passions and achieve financial independence.

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Why women must constantly reskill to deal with life’s googlies

Prathiba Girish Financial Freedom, Financial Planning, Finwise Woman, Personal Finance August 23, 2019August 23, 2019 0 Comment

If you are wondering what reskilling and upskilling has got to do with personal finance, think again. The best investment you can make is on yourself. Today it does not matter where you are – you could have achieved a fair bit of success in your career, you could be just starting out or you might be qualified, yet a housewife by choice.

We are a part of times which are changing rapidly, driven by technology, life-styles and generational leaps. While you could be secure currently, given this pace of change enveloping us, it is important to stop every once in a while, to gauge how you measure up to the changed circumstances.

While some of what I say is gender-agnostic, it is particularly pertinent to women, whose work-lives are characterized by self or externally imposed breaks, societal pressures and who don’t necessarily play as significant a role in family financial decisions, thereby being more “not-in-control” and vulnerable to these forces of change.

Our latest article (link given below), published in Moneycontrol, highlights the risks that women run by not upgrading their skillsets periodically, thereby not being adequately prepared to face life’s challenges.

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/personal-finance/why-women-must-constantly-reskill-to-deal-with-lifes-googlies-4362771.html

Image credit: Moneycontrol

Finwise is a personal finance solutions firm that helps both NRI and resident individuals and families plan for their financial goals, follow their passions and achieve financial independence.

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My Equity Portfolio is down 20%! Have I made a mistake? What should I do now?

Girish Ganaraj Equity Investing, Financial Freedom, Personal Finance August 14, 2019August 13, 2019Equity investing, financial freedom, financial planning, Goal-based investing 0 Comment

The last 18 months have not been kind to investors in the stock markets. Depending on which period you are looking at, there have been severe corrections, across all market-caps. When mid and small-cap indices fell severely from their Jan 2018 highs, large-cap indices still held on and posted marginal gains. But post the budget presented in July 2019, they too have thrown in the towel.

So, how badly has equities done, and how much has it actually impacted investors? To put things in perspective, a diversified multi-cap index portfolio has fallen approximately 12%, both from the market peak in January 2018 (approx. 18 months back) as well as from the recovery peak in August 2018 (approx. 12 months back). The below table gives the details.

Of course, this varies across market capitalizations, with large-caps still managing to hold on, losing only between 4-9%, mid-caps dropping 18-22% and small-caps plummeting as much as 28-40%.

So, in such a situation, what should one do? Is the market likely to drop further, and if yes, should one exit one’s portfolios? Are equities not the right asset class to invest now?

There are enough and more market news and views answering the above questions, with necessarily no improvement in clarity post reading them. I do not intend to add more to this confusion by also pitching in. Rather, in my view, the best thing to do in such situations is to go back to the “wise men” and learn from them on how to handle such situations. So, let’s see what five such wise men have to say.

You get recessions, you have stock market declines. If you don’t understand that’s going to happen, then you are not ready, you won’t do well in the markets – Peter Lynch

The first lesson is about having the right attitude to invest in equity. Be prepared to travel the roller-coaster ride that it will take in the short term and to be unpleasantly surprised despite precautions. Building the temperament needed to invest in the stock markets takes time, so invest only what you can bear and slowly increase it over time as you get comfortable.

The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of everything but the value of nothing – Benjamin Graham

Markets gyrate excessively, basis the laws of demand and supply, which in turn are driven by sentiment, fueled by a continuous dose of “news”. If you have the temperament and the knowledge, volatility can be an opportunity. That said, timing the market is tough and not advised and for the average retail investor, these are the times when your SIPs and STPs MUST continue, and if possible, topped-up, to take advantage of rupee-cost averaging.

Only when the tide goes out do you discover who has been swimming naked – Warren Buffett

When markets take a dive, the natural response from a retail investor, even some of the experienced ones, is to sell the stocks (or funds) that are holding on while retaining the stocks that have crashed, since they want to “wait for it come back up”.

It is pertinent though to remember that in good markets, even the mediocre performers get “swept up by the tide”. It is when markets go down that these average performers get called out. Also remember, every growth cycle has a different set of dominant contributors. So, use downturns to get rid of your not-so-good stocks while retaining the ones that are still good, thereby building a future-ready portfolio. While the urge to wait for markets to come back up is high, remember, that the good stocks by then would have run up even more.

It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent – Charlie Munger

Building a good, long-term, high-quality portfolio takes time and requires pain-staking effort. Make sure you are taking advice from a qualified investment advisor, whose interests are aligned to yours. But once done, sit back and enjoy the view. The key to benefiting from good equity investments is allowing them time to grow and compound. So, stay the course, and don’t take recourse to stupidity, such as exiting perfectly good portfolios just because the prices are down.

If you don’t know who you are, the stock market is an expensive place to find out – George J W Goodman

Lastly, investing in equity without having sight of what you are hoping to achieve, and over what time-frame, is fraught with risk. The danger is that since you do not know either, you will tend to over-track and get impacted by short-term volatility and performance. Anchor your investments to a goal, and you will suddenly see the big picture, and will not get swayed by what happens during the journey. A good financial planner will help you identify the right investments for your goals and will also help you course-correct over time, and ensure that your portfolio is always future-prepared, thereby allowing you to have peace-of-mind and enjoy the present.

In summary, use the below 5 inferences as guard-rails to both smoothen as well as make safe your equity investing ride.

1. Build the temperament to invest in equity, by gradually increasing your investments

2. Volatility is good. Ride it out, and if anything, use it in your favour through your SIPs

3. Use downturns to clean up your portfolio and make it future-prepared

4. Once you have a future-ready portfolio, stay the course, and avoid short-term decisions

5. Finally, know why you are investing. Anchor your investments to your goals

Finwise is a personal finance solutions firm that helps both NRI and resident individuals and families plan for their financial goals, follow their passions and achieve financial independence.

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For advice, please reach us at getfinwise@finwise.in or +91 9870702277/9820818007.

Image by Mediamodifier from Pixabay

Empower the women who are also key contributors in your success through these 5 steps!

Prathiba Girish Financial Planning, Financial Planning for the Under-privileged, Finwise Woman, Government Savings Schemes, Personal Finance July 31, 2019July 31, 2019Financial Planning for the Under-privileged, finwise woman 0 Comment

When Chuck Noll said “Every job is important, but no one is indispensable”, he certainly hadn’t kept the Indian working woman in mind! For us working women, one person who is indispensable and brings an immediate sigh of relief and a genuine smile to the face when she arrives, is the house-help. Our lives get complicated when she is on a long leave and turmoil in her life cascades to chaos in our planned hi-speed schedules, to overcome which needs a lot of “jugaad”. Retaining her and ensuring that things are smooth-sailing is non-negotiable for us. Whatever the reason to do so, our latest article published in Moneycontrol.com (link shared below) gives you five simple ways to add a lot of value to the financial condition of these indispensable women, at literally no cost.

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/personal-finance/five-steps-to-ensure-your-domestic-help-becomes-moneywise-4249451.html

More details on their eligible government schemes are easily available online and are also on our website www.finwise.in. Apart from government schemes they could also invest in Mutual funds which are available to everyone. However, given their tendencies to trust people unconditionally, it is important that they have access to advice which is genuine and do not take undue risks with their money. You could approach your financial planner to help with these. A word of caution though, when you recommend someone, the trust they have with you gets automatically transferred to the person you refer them to, hence be sure you send them to someone who will give appropriate and genuine advice. They would otherwise be better off with government schemes that have guarantees.

From our point of view, life might seem unimaginably difficult for this segment of people, making us wonder how they would be able to save, when making ends meet itself is a problem. But believe me, they are resilient and are able to manage temporarily even when they suddenly lose one of their many jobs. Taking some of the above actions will help your own “CAT (Cook/Ayah/Top-help) Commandos” secure their financial futures, while they help you effortlessly manage your present.

Image credit: Moneycontrol

Finwise is a personal finance solutions firm that helps individuals and families plan for their financial goals, follow their passions and achieve financial independence.

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For advice, please reach us at getfinwise@finwise.in or +91 9870702277/9820818007.