There is a saying – when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh RIA Suda Prasad Bhanu truly justifies this line through his never say die attitude.
Suda was affected by polio when he was just 9 months old. He was operated 5 times and can walk with the help of crutches.
Suda faced many financial constraints and travel difficulties through his journey but he never gave up. During his initial days as MFD, he travelled on a tri-cycle for 20 km daily to meet prospective clients. In fact, he travelled 1200 kms every week for one year by train to pursue CFP.
Today, Suda runs his advisory business - Paisa Health and has clients across geographies. He also runs a Telugu YouTube Channel which has over 20,000 subscribers.
Recognising his untiring efforts, Cafemutual featured Suda on ‘Umeed Bani Udaan’ at Cafemutual Ideas Fest 2022.
Let us look at his story in his own words:
Initial days challenges
Many people told my family that I could not do anything in life as I could not walk. However, my parents never give up and used to carry me on their shoulder to school. By then, I had 4 operations but they weren’t successful. All these operations were critical that could have claimed my life and hence, I refused to undergo another operation. However, when I turned 11 year old, my parents told me to undergo one final operation as it was getting difficult for them to carry me to school due to my age. I underwent the fifth operation and now I can walk with the help of crutches.
Journey to become RIA
I started my career as an insurance agent. I sold a policy based on recommendation of a development officer of the company. I trusted him and sold the policy. However, the policy document did not match the claim made by the company official. This incident taught me that we should do our own due diligence and research before recommending any product.
Later, when I came to know about mutual funds and its benefits like transparency, professional fund management and inflation beating return potential, I took up its distribution.
Over the next three years, I acquired over 1000 clients. However, in this transition process, my income went down substantially. While distribution of life insurance policies offers decent upfront income but mutual funds distribution takes time to yield results. Another problem that I faced was redemption. Many people redeemed their money or discontinued investments.
Finally, I realised that instead of simply selling financial products, I should do goal oriented sales and become a money doctor. This is when I decided to become SEBI registered investment advisor.
Currently, I offer fee only services to clients.
YouTube channel
It was difficult for me to obtain fee only clients. This is when I decided to increase awareness about my offerings.
I approached traditional media but they did not entertain me. I also used mass media advertisement by putting hoardings but to no avail.
Eventually, I realised that I should not spend money on marketing and instead reach out to people where they seek knowledge. I launched my Telugu YouTube Channel called Paisa Health to address concerns of people related to finance. In this channel, I talk about money and share real life case studies related to personal finance.
Today, I have over 20,000 subscribers and I have acquired many NRIs clients through my channel.
What keeps him motivated
When I started off, I approached only auto rickshaw drivers to seek small business of Rs.100. I don’t have confidence to reach out to affluent clients.
Today, I am getting annual fee of Rs.7 lakh from one of my clients. So, I can say that I am drawing inspiration from myself.
I think if you believe in yourself, you can achieve greater heights in life.
Suda’s story is truly inspiring for many MFDs and RIAs. He is honest and has said and done things that require a lot of courage.
