Over the last few months, coronavirus pandemic has not only posed serious threat to human lives, it has affected the health of our economy to a large extent.
While investment portfolio of most investors are deep in the red, distributors were not able to meet them physically to assuage their concerns due to nationwide lockdown. Undoubtedly, the current situation is an unprecedented one. We spoke to two MFDs to understand how they are helping their clients deal with these difficult times.
Gajendra Kothari of Etica Wealth Management, Mumbai
I have increased interaction with all my clients through video calls. I usually share my investment portfolio with clients to assure them that we are both together in this journey. I also highlight the benefit of asset allocation in their portfolio. For instance, some of the debt funds have given handsome returns in the past few months. This has offset their notional loss in equities to some extent. Therefore, even as the equity markets have fallen by around 20-25%, their portfolio has not taken a similar beating.
Further, allocation to debt funds has also helped clients who are in need of money due to financial constraints.
In difficult situations, I always give my clients an example. When you drive a car on highway and your car comes to reserve, you don't panic right away. You know that your car can still drive some more distance and whenever you get to the next petrol pump, you will refill your car. This holds true for investments as well.
Neepa Khatri of Neepnil Investments, Pune
The current situation has created anxiety among investors. Many of them aren’t sure about their income due to delays in salary or financial constraint. In fact, some of them are not even sure about their job security.
Over the last few days, I have been talking to my clients to understand their financial situation and give them advice on how to go about budgeting and reducing expenses.
I am arranging conference calls with fund managers and CEOs to give them confidence that they will reach their financial goals if they stay invested. I am also conducting webinars for my clients in which I invite senior financial journalists and research analysts to give their inputs on the economy and markets.
