Tag Archive: investments

Stranger on a Train

It’s not about the 1951 Alfred Hitchcock psychological thriller, but about my commute, and an invigorating conversation with a stranger 😉.

Few days back, while travelling home from the office, a co-passenger in metro asked me directions to an address. The chat started through an address, which I explained him descriptively. He shared some details about him business travel and told that he learns new routes every time he visits a new city. When he asked me about my whereabouts, I introduced myself as a Mumbaikar and a financial advisor.

He couldn’t wait for me to complete… and started discussing his equity and mutual fund portfolio. This wasn’t new for me, as I had many such experiences in the past. In India, whenever we see a doctor or financial advisor, we start with our illnesses or portfolio discussions.

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Investments – too much clutter in the marketplace!

cluttered marketplace

On one hand, we have Investment product sellers; like banks, brokers & individual consultants, who sell investment products, claiming to offer the best solution with detailed research reports.

On the other hand, we have manufacturers, like mutual funds & insurance companies, offering mouth-watering deals with smart TV & print commercials.

Who do we believe & trust?

As once a product is sold, one gets to know or understand the actual value of the product only after few years or later, that too when one meets a new advisor or spends some time on knowing the product 😉

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Power of Small Savings – Investment series 1

In my last article, I wrote on two key challenges, we as Robo-advisors face; i.e. “Customer mind-set” towards investments, where it comes as last priority and “Meaning of investments”, where quality is not understood.

To sum it up… how do you motivate customers?

Unlike e-commerce portals, based on current theme, it’s the deep discount that attracts. We have cases (many); where customer go to malls or retail outlet on look & feel, and finally will swap on their smart phone to check on availability & discount, and punch the order… which is obvious, where?

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