Nikhil Thakker, WeCare Investments
At the peak of my career, I made a bad investment choice by recommending thematic funds to my clients. I did not research such funds and advised my clients to invest in them. Being their adviser, it was my responsibility to understand how thematic funds work and who should invest in them. As a result of my negligence, my clients incurred losses.
The biggest challenge was to convince clients to switch from thematic funds. I advised thematic funds in 2010 and asked them to switch in 2013. What followed was a series of questions from my clients. In this process, many clients left me.
The lesson I learned that constant learning is required in order to sustain in this business. Also, don’t try to experiment with your client’s hard earned money.
Jigisha Shah, Navkar Financial
After the birth of my son, my husband and I started thinking about our son’s education and future expenses. Unlike others who had invested in fixed deposits for their children’s future, we decided to invest in products which could earn higher returns. We started studying about mutual funds, insurance, equity market, CDs, bonds etc. through libraries and internet. Gradually, I became expert in managing our savings. As my knowledge about products grew, some of our friends came to us to seek my advice on investments.
One of the things which I used to regret is starting late in the financial advisory profession. I started this business at the age of 40 which initially was an obstacle for me to get clients. By the time I started, many IFAs had already established themselves. I used to consider this as my mistake that I started late as a result of which I was not confident and feared competition.
Starting late also came with a lot of obstacles as I had to juggle between my personal and professional life. Additionally, I entered mutual fund distribution at the time of global economic crisis. As a result, I found it very difficult to convince people to invest in mutual funds as many people had lost their faith in mutual funds.
When I started, I could not acquire clients easily as many thought I was inexperienced. But as I started sharing the case study of my personal investments, they found it interesting. Also, they appreciated me that being a homemaker; I took the responsibility of managing savings for our family. Many housewives took this inspiration from me and pushed their husband to start investments.
I learnt that never underestimate your passion and don’t fear competition even if you have started late in the business.
