September 28, 2016
Financial Advisor – The Vital cog
Sadique Neelgund
Why I feel a Financial Adviser / Distributor continues to remain vital despite several options mushrooming up?
Since Vegetables are purchased online, books are purchased online, air tickets are purchased online, clothes are purchased online, going by this online momentum, policy makers are seriously thinking ‘investments/ financial plan’ too can be purchased online.Soon they may say medicines can be purchased online and doctors are not required.
Here I intend to intervene and bring some clarity to this one sided momentum. We love living by inertia of motion, isn’t it? Why think? Why slow down? But here we shall both slow down and think.
I see a humongous difference between products like food, clothes, soaps, toothpaste, tooth brushes etc and financial instruments.
I guess nobody named them as ‘financial instruments’ just like that. Instrument like medical and engineering instrument is serious business.
My arguments are based on the following two counts:-
1) Products such as vegetables need no education, in the same vein clothes or other popular goods needs no education, buying air tickets needs no education. Hence buying them online makes sense in several of the cases if not all.
In all the examples the intermediary’s role is to reach the goods to the depths and corners of geographies.
It is, however a lot different with financial products where nobody knows anything. Our own spouses and children more often than not have little knowledge at best.
2) Also a blunder in buying vegetables, clothes, mobile phones, air tickets is tactical at best while a blunder in investing can destroy lives as I can hear the wails, way in the future, of an entire generation who think they are sitting pretty holding onto their FDs.
If at all,we need to compare ourselves with doctors. Despite a scarcity of doctors all over why does the government not promote DIY options like buying directly from Chemists etc.
The only reason, I can think of, is because health accident causes immediate destruction whereas wealth accident causes destruction with a lag of several years.
Hence in my view, financial intermediary is very different from non financial intermediary and will continue to grow rapidly in the future.
Your major doesn’t matter as much as exhibiting your willingness to stick with
a plan and meet deadlines, though degrees in finance, accounting, economics,
mathematics and computer science can appear great on a financial advisor’s curriculum
vitae.
Completely resonate to this thought process!!
Completely agree, Financial Distributors/Advisors are in fear only due to lack of self confidence, actual problem is they don’t want to upgrade their skill and education level, they just want to sale as per old regime, when there was no competetion and access to investors.
I AGREE. WE ALWAYS RESIST CHANGE WHICH IN TURN RESIST OUR PROGRESS. RULES OF THE CRICKET HAS CHANGED OVER THE TIME BUT SACHIN (FOR EXAMPLE) HAS NOT STOPPED PLAYING CRICKET BUT ADJUSTED ACCORDINGLY BY UPGRADING HOIMSELF. SO IS OUR CASE. JUST TAKE IT EASY AS EVOLUTION IS TAKING PLACE IN EVERY FIELD.