Network FP Thinktank

Insurance & Risk Management – Financial Advisors need to get it Right

Rahul Agarwal

December 16, 2014

Reading Time: 4 minutes When you go to the doctor and get medicines for your stomach pain, you don’t go back again after a year and ask the Doctor for interest or return on the fees you paid. The fees you paid is the cost of getting a professional advice. Similarly, insurance premium is the cost being paid to the insurance company for taking over the financial risks from us.

While this sounds simple, clients don’t get it. They expect a ‘return’. Courtesy, how the insurance products have been sold so far. Risk Management is a key focus area in financial planning and while we help clients to grow their wealth, we also need to help them identify the possible financial exposures and design right insurance solutions.

In this article, Rahul Agarwal, Founder Director at www.121policy.com explains the basics of insurance, reviews the current challenges and shares his thoughts on how we can move forward. He asks us to take a client focused approach and work for long term benefits.

B.E.S.T Traits: Personality Based Client Handling in Personal Selling

Sadique Neelgund

December 12, 2014

Reading Time: 4 minutes As advisors, we meet different kinds of people. Some engagements work out and some don’t. Like the way client’s choose advisors to work with, we as advisors also choose clients to work with. Getting familiar with the thought process and decision making traits of clients can help us to better manage the engagements. In this article, Shibaji Bose, Director at Consultree India Pvt. Ltd. suggests that clients can broad be categorized in four traits i.e. Bold, Enthusiastic, Steady & Technical. He analyzes each type and offers suggestions on managing these clients. Transaction is human and takes place between two people while the successful outcome of the transaction is the engagement, says Shibaji.

Professional Liability Insurance for Financial Planners & Advisors

Sadique Neelgund

December 10, 2014

Reading Time: 4 minutes Given the nature of the engagement, large framework, dynamic market situations and changing regulatory forces, we may end up with a financial exposure with clients possibly dragging us in a dispute over an unfavorable outcome. The kind of service we provide, needs us sometimes to make judgement calls. While we advise robust risk management practices in our clients financial plan, we too have financial exposure in such circumstances. Swam Saurabh, Research Analyst at Pulse Lab explains the Professional Liability Indemnity suggests us to consider taking this. What do you think?

The Super Efficient Planner – by Brijesh Dalmia

Brijesh Dalmia

Founder, Dalmia Advisory Services Pvt Ltd

November 14, 2014

Reading Time: 4 minutes “Hey there. I am a super efficient planner. I have worked hard and I know the best way to charge a reasonable fee. I have been through ups & downs and I have figured out my business model. I know my target segment and I know my growth path. I read decent and I learn every day…. do you wanna join me? ”

Brijesh Dalmia, founder of Dalmia Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd. shares his insights on what makes a Super Efficient Planner. Read on !

How to Conceptualize & Conduct an Investor Awareness Program

Kanak Jain

November 6, 2014

Reading Time: 3 minutes Consumers celebrate when they buy house and car but often lack a financial goal. Advisers find that conveying financial messages is always difficult. Kanak Jain. CEO Suskan Consultants Pvt Ltd, Founder – asknirvana.com shares his experience, asks to use investor awareness programs and financial games to reach out and suggests that in the superior equity growth that is likely to come, the one thing which will strongly define the next ten years of our life is the input we put in next two to three years. “It’s time to gear up for new ventures, market and strategy. Just one mission, one vision and that is moving towards the collective good, Kanak says.

think about it…

Sadique Neelgund

November 4, 2014

Reading Time: 3 minutes So far in India 21,688 candidates have enrolled for CFP Certification out of which 2,923 have cleared final exams and 1,409 are CFP Certificants*. Most probably ‘you’ are one among these numbers – just like me. Now the tougher part, how many of us are actually practicing financial planning and have established ourselves as professionals? A […]

Are you on the right direction?

Sadique Neelgund

Reading Time: 10 minutes Many financial planners & advisors from across the country contact us simply to get an insight to their question “Am I on the right direction?” with regards to their financial advisory practice. With SEBI advisor regulations, technology advances, new financial products, market volatility, shrinking commissions, new advisory models emerging this kind of a fundamental question is obvious. Environment is changing too faster than an independent advisor can handle.

After a long time I actually sat down to write an article to address this question. And it has ran into around 3000 words! …which is too much according to me. But seriously I am not able to cut it short. Do read it at your leisure and if this question troubles you now and then. Or at least start with reading the sub-headings!

The Kurkure, Mobiles, Colas & Mutual Funds

Amit Bivalkar

Director, Sapient Wealth Advisors

November 3, 2014

Reading Time: 4 minutes Have you ever wondered that a typical villager faces hours of power cut but has cell phone and consumes cola and kurkure. So the FMCG companies seem to have managed to crack the distribution puzzle and ensured a very deep penetration with a profitable business model. What do we learn from this? Can we reach out to masses and ethically distribute financial products?

Amit Bivalkar, Director, Sapient Wealth Advisors & Brokers thinks that this is possible if we leverage technology. He asks the MF Distributors to make technology their extended arm of business, as a cost effective strategy to expand the business.

Partnerships for Growth ! 9 Benefits of Advisor Collaborations

Subhabrata Ghosh

Director

October 20, 2014

Reading Time: 3 minutes Go to market, Delivery, Customer Service, Compliance, Segmentation, Knowledge Upgrade, Systems & Technology are few key areas that Financial Planners need to focus and over manage. In this profession, most of us tend to be on our own for various reasons.

In this article, Subhabrata Ghosh, Director at Step Ahead Investment Advisors Pvt. Ltd. lists out 9 advantages of collaborating, our of his own experience. Step Ahead Investment Advisors Pvt. Ltd. is jointly formed by few financial planners in Kolkata, realizing the need to collaborate, as a growth strategy.

Time’s Up – Advisors should hit the ground running now !

Karthik Jhaveri

Director

October 1, 2014

Reading Time: 5 minutes Kartik Jhaveri, Founder & Director of Transcend Consulting thinks that time to experiment is over. Advisors need to consider themselves as an industry and focus on key challenge areas. The regulations are getting trickier, there is a lack of financial education, robo advisors are a real threat and clients expect value additions. We not only need to work on a fee based pricing model but also have some uniformity in the pricing.