The contest of ‘Principal Business Champions – Winning Ideas’ has received tremendous response from the IFA community. This time we received 4362 votes on the website pool. Similarly, our Facebook and Twitter handles saw an encouraging reach of 22,599 and 12601 impressions respectively.
A joint initiative of Principal Mutual Fund and Cafemutual, ‘Principal Business Champions – Winning Ideas’ aims to help advisors learn from the best practices of other IFAs.
In the latest series of this initiative, IFAs across the country shared how they have helped their clients achieve financial goals.
Here are the entries that received the highest votes.
Winner on Website: Ashok Alurkar, Rupee Clinic, Pune
I have helped a couple to create wealth.
A couple who had been working for nearly 15 years but had very little savings approached me. The couple had invested heavily in stocks and lost when the market collapsed. The first thing I did to rebuild their trust in equity investments by highlighting the advantages of professional fund management. I demonstrated to them how fund managers are able to deliver better results compared to lay investors.
Another advice I gave them was to reduce spending. I asked them to invest in mutual funds through SIPs. The duo started with SIP of Rs.30,000 and now they invest Rs.50,000 per month. They were able to fund their daughter’s foreign education from their MF investments.
Another client sought my help to fund his dream of turning an entrepreneur. He wanted to check if his investments in FD, PPF and EPF would be enough to repay his home loan and fund his new venture. However, when we looked at his finances, we realised that he needed a bigger corpus to achieve his financial goals. I asked him to keep working for at least 8 years so that he could build a corpus that could help him repay his home loan and start a business. Thanks to mutual fund investments, he has repaid his home loan in just five years. He will soon start his own business.
Winner on Twitter: Imraan Gilani, Gilani Investment, Palghar
I have helped my client fund his daughter’s education.
Five years back, a client approached me seeking my help on planning for the higher education of his daughter. The estimated cost of the higher education was Rs.10 lakh. Factoring inflation rate of 6%, I advised him to start an SIP of Rs.15,000 in equity funds to accumulate Rs.13.38 lakh in five years. Following my advice, he is now able to fund his daughter’s medical education.
In another case, I was able to help my client through health insurance. The client was not initially willing to buy health insurance as he felt that the group insurance policy offered by his employer was enough. However, I explained to him that these benefits may not help him if he quits job. In addition, his group coverage was Rs.3 lakh, which was not enough for a family of four. He followed my advice and a year and half later, his son met with an accident. Fortunately, the health insurance cover helped the family pay off the hospital bill of Rs.8 lakh.
Winner on Facebook: Bhadresh and Kavita Sanghavi, Sanghavi Financial Services, Ahmedabad
We have helped a client achieve early retirement.
A doctor sought our help to retire at 50 to pursue his hobbies. We first calculated the future value of his current household expenses. After factoring in inflation, we recommended to him to start a few SIPs so that he could retire at 50. The plan worked out well for him and he has accumulated the target amount four years ahead of retirement.
Another client wanted to save for his daughter’s higher education. Apart from the annual fee, he wanted to create a corpus for college donation. I asked him to invest Rs.25,000 per month in mutual funds through SIP for 12 years for building a fund for both the fee and donation. After 12 years, this investment approach has helped him build a corpus not just for his daughter’s education but also for her wedding.
