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4 Pillars of Financial Success for Individuals in India

· 5 min read
D Balaji
Lead Design Technologist

In the pursuit of financial success, individuals often dedicate a significant amount of time to consuming financial news, financial literature, minimalist techniques or simply ask their friends for ideas. In this article, we will focus on four essential pillars of financial success for individuals with an Indian background. By following these principles, individuals can strive towards a more secure and prosperous financial future.

By focusing on steady income growth, reducing liabilities, avoiding major losses, and holding long-term growth assets, individuals can enhance their financial well-being and build a solid foundation for the future.

Steady growing income

Establishing a steady growing income is a fundamental principle for individuals in India who aspire to achieve financial success. In a country where many middle-class individuals experience limited job growth and security, relying on a single source of income can be precarious. Personally they have to rack up atleast one year worth of expenses in a liquid fund or fixed deposit which I categorize as lazy funds.

Its surprising to see senior advocates, doctors, businessmen making handsome income in their late 80s but a retired engineer making nothing other than his pension if any.

Tip #1: Choosing a retirement proof career is key in financial planning.

If you are already mid way through career, start and grow a promising business because business owner cannot be fired or forced to retire by labour laws.

Declining or reduced liabilities

Traditionally, individuals in India would secure employment within their local communities and often live with extended family or in joint households. Consequently, recurring expenses such as rent, electricity, and locking up money in the form of advances or security deposits were relatively unheard of. However, the modern lifestyle has led to an alarming increase in imprudent accumulation of liabilities. Even before securing employment, individuals often find themselves burdened with education loans, followed by payday loans soon after receiving their first salary. While it is not fair to blame individuals entirely, the expenses associated with metropolitan living necessitate managing multiple financial responsibilities with a limited income, leaving minimal room for savings in their 40s.

Maintaining strong family connections, prioritizing children's needs, and preserving cultural traditions can quickly deplete financial resources, making one's 30s more challenging than anticipated. Ultimately, achieving financial success requires generating income several times greater than one's liabilities. If it proves difficult to substantially increase income, it is imperative to focus on reducing costs and minimizing liabilities. Many successful individuals have chosen to retain modest lifestyles, refraining from upgrading furniture, driving smaller vehicles, and using the same vehicle for extended periods.

Tip #2: Avoid the shiny, fad and impractical expenses. Think long term before you commit for something.

Not incurring major losses

It is an undeniable fact that the path to wealth creation has always been filled with risks and uncertainties. A notable story from the book "The Richest Man in Babylon" recounts an individual who lost their investments due to misguided advice when purchasing gold, resulting in poor decision-making. Today, individuals continue to face similar challenges, often influenced by biased recommendations from stockbrokers, mis-selling insurance agents, and other vested interests. Countless individuals have taken leaps of faith only to discover that their ventures led to significant financial losses, whether through failed businesses or ill-informed investment decisions. Such losses can have long-term consequences on one's financial stability and progress.

Tip #3: In new ventures, Diversify even if the returns are less because losing capital means losing the game of financial success.

Create & Holding long term growth assets

Anecdotally, we often encounter stories of individuals who achieved substantial wealth by merely leading ordinary lives and retaining inherited ancestral properties. While inheriting wealth is undoubtedly advantageous, those without such fortune must exchange their money for the creation, growth, and retention of assets.

It is essential to recognize that assets need not be limited to gold, stocks, or land. Owning a thriving tea stall in a strategic location that was once neglected but is now a prime spot exemplifies a valuable asset. Many successful family businesses in India trace their roots back to the entrepreneurial efforts of grandparents who fearlessly embarked on ventures that yielded fruitful returns.

Rather than advocating for excessively frugal lifestyles or sacrificing vacations to save money, it is more advantageous to focus on creating assets that can generate significant returns over the long term.

Tip #4: Put time in creating assets instead of trying to save rupees in short term

Summary

The road to financial success is not easy especially when you have a family which includes dependents, a society who pushes new fads like spending 2 lakhs on child first birthday, a govt which introduces taxes on whatever you do and use, a job where growth is like a slow moving train, etc. But good use of money can make you comfortable financially. Its okay to be comfortable than be miserable in terms of money.

Achieving financial success in India requires a combination of discipline, informed decision-making, and a long-term perspective. By prioritizing a steady growing income, reducing liabilities, avoiding major losses, and focusing on long-term growth assets, individuals can enhance their financial well-being and increase their chances of achieving their financial goals.

Groww App users meeting in Krishnagiri

· 5 min read
D Balaji
Lead Design Technologist

Groww welcome photo

Post covid, I do not attend in person meetings. Hey Covid, you added bunch of excuses to the list. I do not use Groww app however I decided to attend this meeting to hear the financial jargon. This meeting was first of its kind, a meeting about finances is not something that happens often in upcoming cities.

Venue and arrangements

The venue was in district headquarters or Taluk. The hotel was in a decent location, well-connected to all means of transport. Event had adequate branding arrangements. Not too flashy or the absence of it.

There was a small stage suitable for one speaker to stand and present his contents to a room of 50 to 75 people.

I reached the venue first, and it was an empty room but towards the end, the hall was full.

Audience

Free tickets were to be booked on eventbrite platform in advance.

The room had people who where in their teens until retirement. I think the Groww team estimated the audience demographic details by their experience. They had a certified financial planner to give a financial talk for close to 1.5 hours.

Speaker

His name is Karthik, and he is a CFA. Because that's all we know about him. There was hardly any speaker introduction or hype or welcome address.

The speaker also did not do PR for Groww. The speaker maintained a neutral view without being sales focused.

Key takeaways

The general purpose of a speech presented by the CFP would essentially be around having a financial plan in place, identifying goals and arranging corpus for goals. The speaker delivered a well crafted speech backed by research and data.

Let me present the unique points apart from stock selection theory, retirement planning, investment choices which were spoken on the stage.

Comparing similar stocks before buying

Let us assume you are an informed investor. You would select a sector, then industry, and then the stock. But have you compared the stock pick with the peers thoroughly? I do not do that because I know only about company X and not its peers.

The simplest way to compare would be to use screener website peers table or make your own table with key KPI and access the peers closely. We might pick a better stock in this approach.

There are 18 sectors listed on NSE.

Evergreen funds and SIP Millionaires

The average SIP tenure is about 3 years.

We have seen the fancy Groww SIP calculator throwing 8 figures when you input a decent SIP number and 15 years of tenure but how many really get to realize the numbers? Not many of us, because markets are volatile, scary and nerve wrecking when the corpus gets bigger.

In short term the market generates losses but in a period of 10+ years the chances of market investment making losses is very low.

An average investor tends to take the money out of MF or stop the SIP process. This is preventing people from becoming crorepati.

The assumption is that you invest your money into flexi cap fund or some evergreen funds which are professionally managed. Mutual funds can be compared to market performance. If the MF is consistently underperformed for multiple years in a row in spite of markets going upwards, then you may have to switch the MF.

High P/E stocks essentially means that in case of crash, it would take longer time to recover from the crash.

Approaching investments

The speaker did not say mutual fund sahi hai at all. The speaker was an advocate of tagging an investment to a goal. Tagging investment to a goal relieves the investor from emotional conundrums like should I take my money out or should I worry about the crash, etc.

Let us say you are saving for child college, then the ripe time to think of withdrawing money would be 3 years before college. Withdrawal can be done in SWP.

As long as the financial goal is met, the investment vehicle hardly matters.

Investment options should be evaluated in the context of risk and return.

Everyone like to be a part of a trend which is bullish, has a long run raking profits for its share holders.

Here are few things we need to be aware of

  • Markets follow cycles like accumulation phase, distribution phase, bull phase, bear phase, etc
  • Trends arise out of new market opportunities or opportunities in particular sector
  • Be good at
    • Identifying trends
    • Taking calculated risk
    • Reading trend lines
    • Trend reversal
  • If you can spot trends ahead of one quarter, then you are going to make profit or book profits.

Summary

Money decisions should be logical and not emotional.

An evening well spent with good amount of information and surprise goodies which was a T-Shirt.

You can have a good financial future if you have a

  • Steady income
  • Wont make big losses
  • Save consistently
  • Plan ahead
  • Won't make emotional spends.

Save first, spend next.