It Is Never Too Late To Start Investing

Having a financial advisor is important to guide you through your financial plans

- Girish Potdar

Dr. Abhay Shrihari Deshpande, 54, has been running a hospital in Panchgani along with his wife, who is an Anaesthetist. He had attended an Investor Awareness Program by independent financial advisor, Girish Potdar, in 2008 at Pune. However, mutual funds were not much popular then, and hence, the retail investors did not find much comfort in investing in the markets through mutual funds. Deshpande was also not an exception, and his investment portfolio was dominated by traditional investment products like Life Insurance policies, Fixed Deposits (FDs), and Recurring Deposits (RDs). A part of his investment portfolio also comprised of market-linked insurance products, commonly referred to as ULIPs. With his trust in savings and traditional investment in FDs, he usually opted for taking loans against FDs to meet the funding requirements for his hospital, rather than withdrawing the FD amount.

However, the shift in his investing preferences was destined to happen, and seven years later, Deshpande reconnected with Potdar in 2015 during the latter’s visit to Panchgani. Once Potdar explained about the importance of asset allocation and potential of better returns through mutual funds, Deshpande shed away his reluctance to invest in Equity through Mutual funds. While the financial discussions generally tend to involve a lot of technical terms, Potdar helped Deshpande digest it in an easy-to-understand language.

On discussing the financial plans further with Deshpande, it emerged that the existing savings are not going to be enough for the financial goals to be achieved. Such goals meant monthly savings of around ₹1.50 lakh, but Deshpande decided to start with SIPs aggregating to ₹60,000 per month in equity mutual funds for himself and his wife.