FINANCIAL RADIANCE
FINANCIAL RADIANCE
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On 1st December 2018, I complete my two years as an entrepreneur after having worked for over 21 years in the corporate sector. What a roller coaster ride it has been as a financial planner! Further, on the second anniversary, I am very happy to relaunch my website www.financialradiance.com with a new look. Please do share your inputs.
The second year was even more inspiring and excitement driven when I compare it with the previous year.
The second year was even more inspiring and excitement driven when I compare it with the previous year.
First, let’s talk about the positives. Business increased swiftly over the year. More clients were acquired and more investments done through the SIPs and STPs. Referrals increased a lot which validated my thought process that if we do right for people, business will flow.
Happy to inform that the entire business continues to be done online with no investment forms to be filled. This reduced my operational work significantly which meant that I could spend more time interacting with clients understanding their goals, risk-taking ability, and their time horizons. Also, it meant that I could do more value-added work like spending more time reading, researching and attending fund managers’ calls and meetings. Financial Planning/Investment planning involves a lot of self-learning as it is critical for us to upgrade our knowledge continuously.
This year I conducted many Investor Awareness Programs across companies in India. It was truly satisfying and enriching to deliver these sessions where people, including youngsters, were very involved in understanding the nuances of personal finance investing, especially the need to start early and leverage the power of compounding. There were some interesting conversations during such sessions.
This year also had few interesting observations and learnings.
There were people who had known me for years. When they heard about my foray into this business in 2016, a wait-and-watch approach was adopted by them as they wanted to probably check my seriousness and see if I remain committed to the business. Eventually, had some of them crossing over the line and becoming my client.
A few also tried to take all the financial planning knowledge in a day, as they probably presumed, and walked their way, without realising it is a knowledge that gets updated on a daily basis on almost every component of it. Probably, they have not heard of the story of a farmer who cut open the stomach of hen that laid a golden egg daily in anticipation of taking out all the eggs in a single day.
I view SEBI investment advisors’ regulations which came in with almost immediate effect, to be very positive for the investors and even for genuine distributors and advisors, though with some short-term pains such as a decline in revenues, no upfront commissions and trail-based remuneration, which gives very less breather for those setting up new business.
However, what this also means is that good unbiased advice would be at a premium and those intermediaries willing to grow with (and not at the expense of) their clients would thrive in this profession with adoption of technology which has enabled to service a larger number of clients, the only way to look forward is growth!
My recommendation to my clients (and to everyone in general) is that during the volatile times, such as those currently, we must stay invested and not take redemption decision in panic. It is such times which generate returns for us over a long-term period. Reminds me of the quotation from Sir John Templeton – Bull markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism and die on euphoria. For a detailed discussion, you must talk to your financial advisor who would provide specific advice after understanding your goals, risk profile and time horizon.
That’s it from me, for now.
If you would like read my 1st-year completion mailer, then please click here and don’t forget to check my new website.
A big thank you to all my clients for their trust in me as we work towards achieving their financial goals.
