How a doctor swapped high-risk bets for a secure financial future

Patil's turnaround shows financial planning is less about maximizing returns and more about building clarity, resilience

- Jash Kriplani

Prashant Patil, 45, a gynecologist who runs his own hospital, began his financial journey with limited capital two decades ago. "My father supported me with ₹1 lakh. I began my practice in a rented clinic for ₹6,000 a month. I used to commute daily on my scooter from my village to the city," he recalls. Petrol was ₹40-50 per litre then. "I would often hope that I had at least enough patients in a day to cover my monthly fuel expenses."

He understood the value of investing early. Watching his father, a teacher, struggle in retirement with limited savings and inadequate support shaped his outlook on money. The experience convinced him that financial security had to be planned much earlier in life, not left to chance. He began making investment decisions on his own, but with little awareness and almost no guidance, he found himself experimenting with products he did not fully understand.

Those early missteps cost him valuable time and money, reinforcing how important proper advice can be. The repeated mistakes finally pushed him to seek out a financial planner, someone who could bring structure, discipline and a long-term view to his finances. That step marked a turning point in how he approached money and future planning.

Early mistakes

Patil, who is based in Sangli, Maharashtra, hails from a humble background, growing up in the small town of Tasgaon. His initial experiences with investing were far from encouraging, as he was pushed into subpar products and even fell victim to a fraudulent scheme.

In his early years, he invested in a company that promised '10% monthly returns through stocks'. The arrangement seemed simple and tempting: an investment of ₹1 lakh fetched ₹10,000 a month; raise it to ₹1.1 lakh, and the payout became ₹11,000, and so on. After two or three months of steady payouts, investors were coaxed into rolling back their returns into the scheme, lured by the promise of compounding at the same '10% monthly return'.