Learn to fish, don't just purchase a fish...
I work on the Education + Financial Planning model.
If you take an interest in money management, 2 or 3 engagements with me would be enough for you to become capable of managing your money on your own. You may not need to work with an adviser thereafter.
Primarily, I work with resident Indians and NRIs who do most of their investments in India. I do not work with the US, UK, and Canada residents.
I follow the Defensive-Passive approach of investing as described by Benjamin Graham in his investment classic ‘The Intelligent Investor’. In this approach, we construct permanent portfolios which can majorly run on autopilot and require little further effort. The emphasis is on avoiding serious mistakes or losses and to be free from effort, annoyance, and the need for making frequent decisions. (Why it makes sense to become a defensive or passive investor)
I suggest Index Funds for equity investments. I do not provide stock advice. (Should I pay a financial planner who only recommends index funds?)
Fees
Education + Financial Planning & Need-Based Consultation for six months (5 Sessions Engagement) – ₹40,000 + 18% GST
Financial Planning & Need-Based Consultation for six months (3 Sessions Engagement) – ₹30,000 + 18% GST
Subsequent Review & Need-Based Consultation for six months : ₹12,000 + 18% GST
You may not need to renew the engagement immediately after the engagement ends. You can take a break between two engagements.
Process
If you decide to engage me as your financial planner, I will mail you a formal letter of engagement through Zoho Sign. If you agree with the terms of engagement, you shall digitally sign the letter of engagement using Email OTP.
I will share my bank account details with you after receiving the digitally signed copy of the letter of engagement. The engagement shall begin once I receive the fee.
After receiving the fee, I will share a data sheet in Google sheet format with you. You shall provide all your details in the datasheet.
After receiving the data, we will do 5 sessions or 3 sessions of 1 hour each.
Education + Financial Planning (5-Sessions Engagement) :
In the 1st session,
We will discuss your data. I will try to understand your life situation, financial situation, financial goals and aspirations, and your knowledge of personal finance and investing.
In the 2nd session,
We will do financial planning calculations to get an idea about the feasibility of achieving your financial goals given your current assets and savings potential. We will calculate your affordability for goals like house purchase, car purchase, higher education & marriage of kids etc., and your annual expense affordability if you are already retired.
We will also discuss the time-tested principles of asset allocation and decide how we can manage your portfolio at the asset allocation level.
In the 3rd session,
We will discuss critical aspects of equity portfolio construction for an investor who want to follow the passive approach. We will discuss the concept of indexing and why indexing works in this session.
In the 4th session,
We will construct your equity portfolio. There are different ways of constructing equity portfolios. We will discuss different options and freeze the option you are more comfortable with.
We will also discuss various debt product options available, risks associated with these products, and decide which debt products we can use in your portfolio.
In the 5th session,
We will arrive at a clear financial planning action plan. We will also discuss insurance in this session.
I have prepared a few documents about the important aspects of money management. From 2nd session onwards, I will start sharing these documents with you.
Financial Planning (3 Sessions Engagement) :
In the 1st session,
We will discuss your data. I will try to understand your life situation, financial situation, financial goals and aspirations, and your knowledge of personal finance and investing.
In the 2nd session,
We will do financial planning calculations to get an idea about the feasibility of achieving your financial goals given your current assets and savings potential. We will calculate your affordability for goals like house purchase, car purchase, higher education & marriage of kids etc., and your annual expense affordability if you are already retired.
We will also construct your equity portfolio, debt portfolio, and decide how we will manage your money at the asset allocation level in this session.
In the 3rd session,
We will arrive at a clear financial planning action plan. We will also discuss insurance in this session.
(In the 3-Sessions engagement, it is not possible for me to discuss the background and the rationale behind all the recommendations. The 5-Sessions engagement will give you a better clarity of understanding and can take you to an advanced level of DIY investing.)
We will do all financial planning work in a Google Sheet. We will use Google Hangouts for financial planning sessions. I do not do video calls as video calls are distracting, but I will share my screen with you during the sessions.
After the initial 5/3 sessions, I will be available for the need-based consultation throughout the duration of the engagement. You can contact me to discuss anything related to personal finance, investing, and your financial planning during the engagement period. If your financial or life situation changes and there is a need for modifications in the plan, we can do an additional session.
I work on the advice-only model. You will have to the responsibility for implementation of the action plan.
I will be the sole point of contact with you. I do not delegate financial planning and advice work to anyone else.
Please Note
Financial Planning is about the future, and we do not know how the future will pan out. There are many unknowables. Many things like your life situation, financial situation, taxation rules etc. change. New and better designed products come into the market. As your understanding of money management improves, and as you grow in experience, your style of money management could also change.
We can discuss and decide how you should manage your money over the next 20-30 years, but you are unlikely to follow it. Financial plan documents do not stay relevant even for 2-3 years.
Therefore, a better approach is to have a clear idea about where you are today, where you want to reach, and the investment philosophy you want to follow. Once you do that, take money management one year at a time. We can keep making adjustments as life happens.
We will try to arrive at an agreed-upon action plan for the next one year and a set of rules for you to follow. I follow the two-portfolio approach. One portfolio for your short-term needs, and a single unified portfolio for all your long-term needs, which we manage at the asset allocation level.
You can connect with me over WhatsApp (8308844318) to schedule an introductory call.
A few quotes I like
“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
“The best way to own common stocks is through an index fund that charges minimal fees. Those following this path are sure to beat the net results (after fees and expenses) delivered by the great majority of professionals.” –Warren Buffett
“If investing is entertaining, if you’re having fun, you’re probably not making any money. Good investing is boring.” – George Soros
“When there are multiple solutions to a problem, choose the simplest one.” – John C. Bogle
“They think that intelligence is about noticing things are relevant (detecting patterns); in a complex world, intelligence consists in ignoring things that are irrelevant (avoiding false patterns)” – Nassim Nicholas Taleb
“Investing success does not accrue to those with savant-like expertise in one field of intellectual endeavor, but rather rests on four pillars: a command of financial theory, a working knowledge of financial history, an awareness of financial psychology, and a solid understanding of how the financial industry operates. Like the decathlon winner, the successful investor is rarely the world champion in a single event, but rather someone who excels at all.” – William J. Bernstein
