Diwali is the festival of lights and joy; a time to welcome prosperity. In fact, the festival symbolises the end of darkness and ushering in prosperity.
In this article, we look at five key Diwali traditions and the financial lessons they hold.
Buying gold on Dhanteras: Traditionally, people buy gold on Dhanteras. A point to note here is that the purchase is made to accumulate gold and pass it to the next generation; it is family wealth. In the same way, you need to encourage your clients to invest for the long-term to accumulate wealth for the next generation. Additionally, this long-term corpus may come in handy if the client is faced with any unexpected huge expense.
Spring-cleaning / deep cleaning: Just before Diwali, most of us thoroughly clean the house. Typically, we take a stock of all stored items and discard what is no longer useful. Similarly, you need to do a thorough analysis of your client’s portfolio at least once a year. You can use this opportunity to review how the different investments are performing and decide if they are still in line with your client’s goals. It is the time to carefully review the portfolio and rebalance as required.
Lighting lamps: Symbolically, we light lamps to fight against darkness (evil) and ignorance. As an advisor, you must be regularly interacting with people who have limited knowledge or misconceptions about investing. This makes them earn sub-optimal returns on their portfolio. You should try to educate them. Organising IAPs is a way through which you can spread investment knowledge. What’s more, you may earn a few clients in the process.
Decorating the house: Be it drawing rangoli or decorating the house with flowers and lanterns, all members in the house come together to make the house look festive. In the same vein, you need to involve all members in the family before making a financial plan. This will help you get a better understanding of expenses and goals of the different members and make the financial plan more comprehensive.
Accompanying the kids while lighting crackers: It is common for elders to supervise the young kids when they are bursting crackers to ensure safety. Likewise, you need to convince your clients that they can protect their family during various unforeseen circumstances through insurance. At the very least, you can suggest health and term insurance, which will help them in case of medical emergencies or death of the client.
