Sunil Ghai used to be a traditional saver until he met Sandeep Garg, an Independent Financial Advisor (IFA) in early 2014. While Sunil had a regular investible surplus, it found its way into the traditional investment products and insurance policies. As Sandeep helped Sunil frame his investment strategy for long term wealth creation, his first step towards his financial planning was to chalk out an investment plan suiting his financial goals and risk appetite. Since Sunil was familiar with mutual funds through the ‘Mutual Fund Sahi Hai’ campaign by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), convincing him to invest was not a challenge.

Pleasant investment experience is indeed vital, especially for the new retail investors. Initially, in 2014, Sunil had to shift a lump sum from traditional investments to mutual funds. Later, a Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) of Rs 20,000 per month was registered to help him continue with his regular investing habits. The positive beginning encouraged him to increase his investment and today his SIP amount is Rs 1,00,000 per month.

Extreme market volatility did not affect his persistence and conviction in financial plans. His regular interactions with Sandeep for periodic portfolio review have helped him remain focused on achieving the goals instead of fretting about the intermediate fluctuations in the financial markets.

His trust towards mutual fund investing, further aided by his IFA’s guidance, has been instrumental in his family, relatives, and friends. However, there was no single investment strategy that could be adopted by all alike. Sandeep formulated suitable strategies for different people best suiting their financial goals, investment horizon, available investible funds, and risk appetite. While a few opted for lump sum investments, SIP mode found its place in almost all the investment plans. This was considered prudent, as SIPs required investment over time and not in one go and further mitigated the investment risk to some extent by investing across market movements. With a healthy accumulation and growth over the period, Sunil could also persuade his domestic help towards regular investing.

While Sunil could have a pleasant experience aided by a sound investment strategy, one can indeed learn from his experiences and learnings and move towards making the right investment decision.

Enriched with an investment experience of around six and a half years, Sunil shares his experience and learnings across his investment journey:

• ‘One Size fits all’ strategy does not work with investments – Investing is always relative, and there is no existence of ‘one size fits all’ strategy. While one may not be comfortable with short-term market fluctuations being a conservative investor, another may like to have a higher allocation towards equities due to a longer investment horizon. The role of IFA is indeed important here to formulate a wise investment strategy best suiting different investors. 
• Adopt a systematic investment strategy - It is often said, ‘small drops of water make an ocean.’ When one does not have an accumulated corpus to invest a lump sum, one may register an SIP for regular investing in mutual funds. SIP helps the investors to move steadily towards their financial goals, accumulating healthy amounts over a period. Further, the investments were continued to be made over market ups and downs, thereby eliminating greed and fear psychosis from the investment plans.
• No amount of investment is a small investment– SIP offers the flexibility to the investors to invest an amount as low as Rs 100 per month. Such flexibility helps the investors to conceive their financial plans with sincere intent, even if the amount may not be significant in the beginning. It is always crucial to set the first foot right, which is often the hardest. The investment journey that started with Rs 20,000 per month has effortlessly grown to Rs 1 lakh per month. Similarly, it was his farsightedness to convince his domestic help and maid to start their respective investment journey and gradually save towards their better financial future.
• Stay focused on financial goals – It is essential to stay focused on financial goals, instead of getting affected by the market noise. While equities are inherently volatile, they have greatly rewarded the investors over the long term in the past. This is where the role of financial advisors is tested the most. A periodic review of the investment portfolio also helps the investors to take a stock of their goal achievement objectively. Investors can also take steps towards course correction within the time to achieve the financial goals over the desired time frame.

Sandeep Gar, Independent , Financial Advisor