Independent financial advisers are trying their best to make millennials aware of the benefits of investing in mutual funds. Millennials refers to young professionals below the age of 25. Advisors are trying to reach out to this new generation of investors by taking the help of corporate seminars, group meetings and social media.
How to approach millennials
Talking about how advisors can reach out to millennials, Amol Joshi says that referrals especially from people they look up to go a long way in getting them interested in mutual funds. “Most of the millennials who approach me have been advised to do so by one of their superiors who usually is a client of mine,” says Amol Joshi of PlanRupee.com.
Talking about social media’s influence on millennials, Lovaii Navlakhi of International Money Matters says, “Many clients approach me after reading blog posts or articles about mutual funds on the net. My social media presence also makes it easier for them to approach me.”
Challenges faced
Financial advisors are of the opinion that being technology savvy has had both a negative and a positive effect on younger investors. Amol says that the availability of information has helped investors become aware of the risk-return perspective and also about the benefits of staying invested for a longer time. However, he feels that this has also made investors run after returns and they expect schemes to deliver higher returns on a consistent basis.
Inculcating investment habit
In order to make investments in mutual funds a popular investment option among millennials, advisers are making them aware of their short term goals and are explaining how investments in mutual funds schemes can help towards those goals.
“We have to talk to them about short term goals that they can relate to such as holidays, purchasing expensive gadgets, etc. Once they get into the investment habit, and then I encourage them to look at long term goals,” said Lovaii.
Talking about how he convinces clients to start investing, Vinod Jain of Jain Investments says, “I tell my investors that only if they save now they can retire early from corporate work. This immediately motivates them to start investing.”
Vinod observes that tax savings schemes are another way of attracting millennials to start investing in mutual funds. “Most of the young investors usually approach me towards the end of the financial year saying that they want to invest lump sum in ELSS. But I convince them to start investing in mutual funds on a regular basis” says Vinod.
