Where There Is Will There Is A Way

We require financial advice throughout our life, either from financial consultants, colleagues, friends, or maybe from teachers. Lakshit Bhatnagar, 29, an Information Technology (IT) professional, working for a well-known IT firm in Pune considers himself lucky to have reliable financial advisors in the form of his father and brother-in-law.

Although he started earning professionally from the age of 22, in college, Bhatnagar started earning through providing tuitions, consultancy and also performing gigs. Through these activities he would make a handsome Rs10,000-15,000 in a month. He would charge Rs4,000 and in some cases Rs10,000 for performing at a musical show.

By the time he was 21, Bhatnagar had already saved around Rs9,000, which was six months’ saving. This inculcated in him the idea and power of saving money. It is at this point that his father advised, “You are earning well. You can spend money and enjoy your passion too. But you should save at least 30 per cent of your income.”

In 2015, two years after graduation, Bhatnagar started investing Rs3,000 per month in SIPs. However, due to financial constraints he withdrew after three years and got a return at 7.8 per cent. Now, he has restarted with his investments in SIPs worth the same investment amount, as he was unsure of an investment mode. Though he has been fascinated with stock market, he needs to learn the rules of game before participating, he said.

According to Bhatnagar, “SIPs give you an advantage of saving money by starting from a lower amount, which one can increase gradually with passage of time. SIPs give you an advantage to invest a  fixed amount of money at regular intervals. It also gives the advantage of averaging the cost of units besides providing benefits  of compounding.”

Bhatnagar attributes his ability to earn money without a nine-to-five job to his earing hobby. “Saving comes with your will, not with plans,” he concluded.