Mukund Seshadri of M.S. Ventures focuses on developing financial plans for his clients. has spent most of his career in imparting training to wealth managers and advisors. Jayshree Pyasi tries to capture the knowledge enhancement zeal of this management college lecturer
What was the motivation behind starting M.S. Ventures?
There has always been, somewhere within me, a latent desire to start something of my own. I realized that my skill-set has the power to help people achieve financial freedom and this realization led to the birth of M.S. Venture in 2005.
After your MBA, you were working with HDFC Standard Life Insurance in business development. What made you start your own venture?
After MBA, I had a lot of offers. Even then I could see myself setting up my own business. I wanted to deal with many products and when you work in an organization, your role and the products you sell are restricted.
The career change happened as I felt that I would be able to touch people’s life through financial planning. In financial planning, you get to know a lot about people’s needs and aspirations and you get an opportunity to help them live their dreams.
What do you want M.S. Ventures to be known for?
It is already a brand. We want to make it an organization that is known for its ethics and value system.
Before becoming a CFP you were into advisory. How different has advisory been from financial planning for you?
For me, advisory was more sales and marketing oriented. Everyone was a client; the business was all about being fast and acquiring as many clients as we could. Right now we select a client as much as a client selects us.
What kind of a client base do you have?
When we were into advisory we had a lot of clients and now we are trying to draw those clients into our financial planning model. It is process and will take time. Right now we have a total of 250 clients. We are getting a good response and calls from clients outside Mumbai as well.
How did you get your first client?
During my MBA days I have been conducting training programs and workshops and it was during one such program that an interesting client came my way. His problem was that he was not able to save anything in spite of a high income. This gave me an opportunity to write a financial plan for him.
Tell us something about the training programs?
I have trained wealth mangers and advisors and have been a part of the training programs of mutual fund companies over the years. I started by approaching companies for product training. Now we do two-three hours of workshops that are solely on financial planning. The whole idea of training is to leave people with a little more knowledge about what they are doing with their finances.
Would your expansion model be based on the same?
Yes, right now our criteria is to first teach people and make them understand that how different a CFP is from an advisor. We believe in telling people what we do and if someone is interested they come to us. And so far this approach has worked and we hope that it continues to work the same way.
How has the changed regulatory environment affected you?
With the ban on entry loads there was a reduction in the number of advisors but the need for financial planning increased. So, we certainly benefited.
How do you see the industry shaping up?
Changes in the regulatory framework will help the advisors get in shape and I believe after some time, the regulatory environment will stabilize. The industry is becoming more customer-centric.
Seeing your passion for financial planning, what steps are you taking to pass on that expertise to the newer generation?
I make sure that I pass on every bit of knowledge I can. I always emphasize the point that the industry has a lot of opportunities. And I tell the new IFAs that they should look at a person at the macro level and make asset allocation recommendations accordingly.
Which incident has been a turning point in your career?
I was inspired to enter the financial business because I saw many fritter away their income. In this, my role model was my father who has always been very well organized and meticulous in his financial affairs. So I thought that I would like to help others manage their finances well.