Why this 24-year-old trusted a fee-only adviser for financial guidance
Young age is often associated with fun and frolic, while investments and financial planning are typically seen as the realm of married couples. Many young people, gripped by FOMO, focus on expensive gadgets, clothes, vacations and weekend parties. Investments rarely cross their minds when they start earning.
However, 24-year-old R. Jeevitha from Bengaluru is committed to helping her parents repay loans and plans to invest a portion of her monthly salary to meet her financial goals.
“It hit me hard how financially illiterate students from non-finance backgrounds, as I am, are," says Jeevitha, a technical writer at a tech firm in Bengaluru.
“Although we have heard about stocks, mutual funds and bonds, we are unsure how to make them work for us. I wanted to organize my finances with a proper system in place. The money should work for me instead of lying idle in my bank account," she says.
Jeevitha had always been wary of the commission-based financial services industry. “It made me feel that those people will only suggest products with vested interests in mind," she says.
She discovered a podcast where Melvin Joseph, one of India’s first fee-only financial planners and Securities and Exchange Board of India-registered investment advisers (RIAs), spoke about independent financial advisers who are not associated with any company but only charge for their financial advice.
“I was unaware that such advisers existed. I had spoken to some advisers who charge a percentage of profits as a fee. That did not sit well with me," she says.
In the podcast, Joseph mentioned Ajay Pruthi, the founder of PLNR, a Mumbai-based fixed-fee advisory platform, among others. Jeevitha reviewed their profiles and decided to proceed with Pruthi.
“What
Read more on livemint.com
