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Awareness about mutual funds has increased in India in the last few years. However, there are still regions and demographics where there is a hesitance regarding MF investments. Housewives in rural India is one such demographic who is yet to taste the benefits of mutual funds.
Sensing this, Brijesh Bhatt and his wife Hiral Joshi Bhatt of Bhatt Financial Services conducted a knowledge session on mutual funds for housewives and skilled women of Junagadh and nearby villages.
Overall, 92 women attended the event, which was focused on making them aware about the importance of goal-based investing through SIPs. Most of the women who attended the event do skilled jobs to support their families and have a habit of saving a part of their income.
The MFD couple took these women through benefits of mutual funds and flexibility in SIPs like pause, increasing or decreasing SIP amounts and linking SIPs with their key goals like children’s education and marriage and buying a house or renovating existing house.
They also advised middle-aged and elderly women to set aside some small amounts through SIP to get a regular income in their old age.
Brijesh told Cafemutual that while these women liked the concept of mutual fund investing through SIP, there were concerns related to capital protection and occurrence of frauds. The MFD couple took them through the structure of mutual funds, existence of the regulator and grievance redressal system to resolve their concerns.
The MFD couple also played some games to make learning more interesting and build excitement.
Thanks to all these activities, the couple managed to convince 70 women to start their first SIP in mutual funds.
Brijesh and Hiral had conducted a similar knowledge session in 2022. About 60% of the participants of the recent IAP came through references of the women who had attended their previous event.
