Tell us about the business model of Finscholarz.
We offer fee only service to our clients. We provide holistic financial planning and portfolio management services to our clients. Our only source of income is the fee collected from clients. We do not have ARN or insurance agency license. We do not have brokerage or commission income.
We provide one stop solution for our clients' personal financial needs. This includes money behavior analysis, risk profiling, financial health check, financial risk management, finscholarz life continuation plan, tax planning and filing it returns, whole life financial planning, goals based investment, portfolio management and post retirement income flow. We track, review and rebalance clients’ investment portfolio at regular intervals. We resolve all queries be it buying, selling or leasing a real estate or investing in a business.
Our practice has ensured a peaceful and prosperous life for our clients. Our clients include Investment bankers, RBI deputy governor, bank employees, MD of MNCs, CEOs, lawyers, celebrities, business persons, NRIs to government employees, young professionals, single women, retired professionals and even homemakers. We have clients across all age groups and economic strata. We count our success not by assets but the lives that we touch.
At Finscholarz - we believe: Everyone can live a financially happy and fulfilling life. The need is to align an individual's actions to his/her financial goals, earning capacity and financial markets. A real advisor with no conflict of interest can easily help clients accomplish this.
How did MFU help your business grow especially during the pandemic?
MFU fills the missing link in the MF industry i.e. providing seamless execution in direct plans. This has helped us in big way especially during pandemic times, as we were able to manage more transactions despite lockdown restrictions.
In addition, MFU has removed geographical barrier of investors and advisors. We are servicing clients across the world from one single office in Chennai. But we had to move the office to WFH during the lockdown.
What makes MFU a better platform?
Finscholarz started acquiring fee-based clients from 2013. Since it was a new concept then there was no systemic support available in the industry. There was no platform in the market for practitioners like us. For implementation of plan, we gave instructions to clients to do transactions on their own. In the process, many clients made errors and at times, they had to rectify at the cost of exit loads. Most of the clients would come to our office, sit with us and we would then execute transactions from their laptop. It was time consuming but there was no other choice.
MFU was the first platform to offer transaction in direct plans across mutual funds. It was a gift to fee only advisors. There were some hiccups in the beginning, which happens with any new system but the staff was very responsive and the issues were resolved quickly. In addition, tracking transaction status, reordering and cancelling require just a few clicks.
Finally, facilities like eCollect has made our life easier. Collection cheques on a monthly basis was cumbersome but the facility has made it completely online.
Can you highlight one major achievement that you are proud of.
If I have to specify only one major achievement - I would say - Being able to create happy and financially fulfilling lives.
We could do it with the help of our conflict free model. We pioneered a new business model where there is not an iota of commission income. But with right tools and intent, we made it a successful journey. Being able to create a pure buy-side practice in an industry dominated by sell-side has been a soul satisfying journey.
Any important suggestion to RIA community who are yet to move their business online to platforms like MFU.
Pure RIA is a consulting practice and not distribution. When an advisor collects fee from the client, he pays for the advice and not for filling up forms. Nevertheless, an advisory practice cannot be sustained without transactional support and portfolio management. A good platform is an essential feature to scale up the practice and sustainability for fee only practice.
MFU is a well-designed online portal for managing investments for clients. It is feature rich. The functions are easy to understand. It provides multiple options to schedule transactions, track status and take corrective actions if needed.
