The much awaited Cafemutual Ideas Fest 2022 was finally held in Mumbai on Thursday. The industry’s first ’phygital’ event saw over 20 speakers addressing close to 2,000 viewers, including 242 MFDs and RIAs who physically attended the event in Mumbai. In addition, over 100 MFDs have attended live streaming in Delhi and Coimbatore.
The speakers, which included eminent authors and industry veteran like Carl Richards, PV Subramanyam and AK Narayan shared with us their perspective on the most important investment-related issues of the present times and tips to take the business forward.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the event:
Carl Richards, Author, Behavior Gap
- I see three trends in the wealth management industry. Firstly, the value of a financial advisor has never been higher. Secondly, there's an increase in transparency. And third, we can now reach newer grounds through virtual means.
- Advisors need to understand what they do and for whom. They need to identify their niche to excel at the job.
- Every investor wants an advisor who listens patiently to them and asks the right questions.
PV Subramanyam, Author, Subramoney
- Doing asset allocation on the basis of market movement can lead to a complete disaster. Do it as per the goals of your clients.
- In markets, experience of 10-15 years doesn't proves that you are an expert. We have only seen a bull market in the past 13 years. Most investors and MFDs are to face an extended bear market.
Ravi Gopalakrishnan, CIO-Equity, Sundaram MF
- Markets are driven by events, which come and go. Stop worrying about things you don't have any control on. Focus on discipline and asset allocation.
- The success of PLI scheme shows that the next decade could really belong to India. There's a lot of growth potential.
Prateek Pant, CBO, White Oak Capital Management
- India now has a major issue covered. Lack of capital, which used to major hindrance, is no longer an issue, thanks to emergence of private capital.
- Just because a company is profitable doesn't mean it will remain a winner. Today's top companies like Tesla and Facebook were in losses for years.
Amit Trivedi, Author
- When engaging with clients decide what is the purpose for it. Ask yourself if it is to understand the
- client or to gain referrals or to get testimonials or something else.
- It's important to understand the human side of client management. Keep in mind that your clients have emotions. You need to empathize with them.
A.K.Narayan, Mentor, Author & Investor
- All MFDs need to ask themselves this very important questions: when we are doing retirement planning for investors, should we not be doing a succession planning for ourselves too?
- You should consider a lot of factors when planning your succession. Most importantly, keep clients' interests in mind and remain open to changes.
Vinay Paharia, CIO, Union MF
- It's futile to engage in the active vs passive debate. In reality, they both compliment each other. There will be no active without passive and vice versa.
Ajit Narasimhan, CMO, Sundaram MF
- For a MFD, value proposition is defined by two factors - the problem you want to solve for customers and why your product or service is the best solution.
- Value proposition gains relevance due to a crowded financial services market and the fact that different customer has different needs.
Vinod Bhat, Portfolio manager & equity strategist, ABSL MF
- In contrast to the rest of the world, earnings growth in India is expected to remain high in years to come.
- Markets are a slave to earnings and that's why MFDs should give priority to earnings growth when takeling equity calls. It is also easy to analyze as compared to factors such as investor behavior, liquidity and others.
Nilesh Shah, MD, Kotak MF
- The future of distribution business looks quite impressive. Indians are good savers. As the economy will grow, savings will grow and hence the distribution business will grow.
- MFDs need to choose between two options - coming together to create a competitive entity or pursue niche segments.
Navin Agarwal, MD & CEO, Motilal Oswal MF
- You need to look out for both quality of business and quality of management to identify a good stock.
- High quality companies with low pace of growth is actually a trap. You need to invest in companies that are high in quality and are also growing at a fast pace.
Niro Sivanathan, Associate Professor, Organisational behavior, London Business School
- When making an argument, the strength of that argument is only as strong as your weakest link. So, when trying to pursue anyone make sure you have every bit planned.
Shridatta Bhandwaldar, Head-Equities, Canara Robeco MF
- In the last 18 months, unprecedented amount of fiscal and monetary push has lead to huge amount of savings. And a lot of this money landed into capital markets.
- As long as growth rates remain high, markets won't take a big hit with rise in rates and high inflation.
Vishal Dhawan, Founder & CEO, Plan Ahead Wealth Advisors
- The way to life planning is to seek the real answers from clients and understand their values and motivations.
- The other key to life planning is to converse on non-financial topics as well. We also need to set out meaningful goals and objectives for clients.
Prem Khatri, Founder & CEO, Cafemutual
- Every second investor has seen over 10% fall in their income due to covid, shows Cafemutual survey.
- Investors think mutual funds can help them enjoy better lifestyle and supplement their income, survey shows.
- 51% of investors say they invest through MFDs as they are experts in the subject and can help them invest better.
