Partha has an eclectic experience spanning sales, advertising and financial services. During his 25 years experience across diverse segments, he has learnt that the important aspect of client relationships is to understand the client mindset and change it gradually to help them achieve their goals as well as increase revenues.
His stint in social communications helped him to focus on the positive aspects of life and bring about a change in their behavior and attitude towards their lives and others. After working for 12 years in sales and advertising, he moved to financial services in 2000. He started with KFIC Securities and he went on to work with Way2Wealth Securities, Edelweiss Capital and Sharekhan before venturing out on his own.
Parthahad observed early on in his advertising career that many people like him were not able to spend smart, save smart and invest smartly. He realized that income has nothing to do with one's capacity to save and invest. In fact, it is the ability to control expenses,save and invest is the route to wealth creation. “It is possible for a person who is earning Rs 15,000 per month to build his wealth better than a person who is earning say, Rs 1 lakh per month".
The trigger to joining financial services was the dot com mania and bubble in 2000-2001 where he observed that lot of retired people and other individuals saw their retirement corpus and investments shrink by over 60%. He found that it was largely driven by mis- selling with the famous pitch for NFOs of tech mutual funds "dus ka bis". The impact of this mis-selling was significant and it had a telling effect on many people's lives. Many parents had to borrow money for their children's education or marriage, some had to postpone their retirement by half a decade and some had to wait for their investments to recover to purchase their dream house.
"In the context of what was happening around me, I decided to join financial services and help investors make right investment choices based on their financial goals. I got an opportunity ( thanks to a wonderful friend) who introduced me to KFIC Securities. At KFIC, I served many young men and women in technology who had just started their career. I did a lot of basic financial planning and investment advice focused on systematic and disciplined investing to help them achieve their financial goals," says Partha
Partha launched his fee based model first in 2003 even though his colleagues were skeptical that the fee based model was too early for India. His subsequent success has vindicated his stance. The many lessons learnt during this period ( between 2003 and 2009 where he went to work with Edelweiss and Sharekhan) has re-affirmed his faith that if one puts clients interests first, it will be a win- win situation for all. The biggest validation of this came through in 2011, when he was able to attend the Financial Life Planning course from Money Quotient, U.S.. Financial Life Planning focuses on values based client centered approach to financial planning.
Though during his initial days in financial services, he had worked with clients from different segments, he now works with HNI clients. Presently, Accretus Solutions provides wealth management and portfolio solutions to affluent individuals, both resident and NRIs on fee only AUM model. Neither Accretus nor Partha hold mutual fund or insurance licenses or have a tie up with any product manufacturer.
Partha feels that advisors need to empower their clients to develop a better understanding of money management focused on cash flows and financial planning. This is possible by having frequent conversations, sending interesting articles written by them or others and short sessions for their children and others in the family. He believes “a successful planner always delivers financial knowledge to his clients that clients can understand and apply it in their day to day lives. This increases transparency and trustworthiness among clients”. Gradually, all of these activities will help change the mindset of clients from 'returns' focused to 'goal orientation' and help them achieve their personal and financial goals. Due to this, the amount of time one needs to dedicate for each client in the initial years of relationship is enormous. The pay offs are also enormous as clients move more assets under advice and one develops deeper and sustained relationships with clients.
Business Philosophy
Unlike other advisors who focus on building a wide client base, he is happy to deal with a handful of clients. He is selective about choosing what type of clients to work with. “For eg. If during the first meeting I find that the client has a trader mindset and not a goal focused long term investor, his focus will be only on returns. I suggest them to a broker rather than trying to work with me. There are also some clients whose personal and financial goals are not in line with their values and priorities and I indicate that we need to work the first year on aligning their values and priorities with their personal and financial goals. Many of them do not understand this aspect of getting the basics right and I know this client is not ready and hence we do not sign up. I always chose my clients rather than the other way around,” says Partha
Partha holds extensive discussions with clients in order to understand their different aspects of life through the financial life planning process and tools before designing their financial life plan that can help them lead their 'rich' lives. He believes that the focus has to be on helping clients attain their personal and financial goals rather than on returns. “The more you allow clients to talk, the more data you can collect on their lives and their attitude towards money, you understand them better and construct a holistic plan. They automatically buy into the financial plan and action it. From there on, we have to gently nudge them to implement their action plans. We as Financial Advisors should gradually change the mindset among investors from 'returns orientation' to 'goals orientation' and by doing so we truly become 'Choice Architects' for our clients" Partha proclaims.
At present, Partha’s advisory firm has 2 employees and 2 partners. He takes clients with a minimum AUM of Rs 1 crore and charges a fee of 1-1.2 percent per annum.
Partha also volunteers for the FPA and is currently co-chairing the well-known global committee of Finance Planning Association (FPA) USA. The FPA is the membership organization for CFP professionals in US and also includes members who support the financial planning process across the world.
When asked to summarise his business approach, Partha says, “My business model is very simple. I just focus on delivering best services to my handful of clients. I believe in listening to clients a lot to understand and define their values and priorities, align it with their personal and financial goals and gently nudge them to action it and achieve it. I get the greatest amount of satisfaction when they come back and say that they achieved their personal and financial goals".
