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What are the key business lessons that the year taught?
I remember when markets rallied in 2022, everyone was talking about switching to safer asset classes like fixed income and gold. However, the market touched all time high in 2023 again. One key lesson here is, ‘Never underestimate the power of equities.’
Is there anything that you feel could have been done differently last year?
We could have introduced our multi asset allocation fund earlier that invests across asset classes to take the advantage of the opportunity after the finance bill.
What are the key trends that MFDs/RIAs should watch out for in 2024?
In my view, MFDs should re-evaluate risk profile of their clients as the valuation of mid and small cap stocks have gone up sharply. MFDs should continue to focus on asset allocation and guide their clients to stick to their financial goals.
Another important role of MFDs in this bull market is managing emotions and biases of clients. Investors need handholding of MFDs/RIAs to ride through volatility and achieve financial milestones.
What are the three must-have business skills for MFDs/RIAs in the coming year? And why?
The three must have business skills for MFDs:
- Customer risk profiling – Assessing risk profile to align their investment portfolio with current life situation
- Scenario modelling – Thinking through all possible situations to deal with challenging times
- Behavioural finance – Managing emotions and biases of clients
