Next steps
- To contact me, please email me at: [email protected]
- Before emailing me, please read through the Fees page (particularly the Fees and the suggested minimum net worth for each age group) and the Approach page
- Note: I continue to do Introductory calls. But due to a bandwidth constraint at my end etc, the formal engagement can start only on 1st April 2025
- Only if you are a new potential client, then in your email, please send me all of the following information (If you are an existing / former clients then please do NOT send me this information):
- 1. A link to your LinkedIn profile. Only if you do not have a LinkedIn profile, then please send me a link to your profile on your company website or something equivalent
- 2. Your mobile number
- 3. If you are married or engaged to get married, then: A link to your spouse's LinkedIn profile. Only if your spouse does not have a LinkedIn profile, then please send me a one sentence description of your spouse's occupation, if any (To clarify, I do NOT require your spouse's contact number nor email address)
- 4. If you are not married or in the process of getting divorced, then: Please mention that you are single
- 5. If you are not resident in India, then please let me know whether you are likely to retire in India. I understand that you may not be completely sure about this decision.
- 6. Your confirmation that your net worth meets the criteria mentioned on the Fees page (Note: Since my fee does not change based on the net worth of the client, this criteria is for the benefit of the client)
- 7. Whether you know how to execute investments in Direct Plans of Mutual Funds.
- If the answer is yes, then which website(s) / App(s) are you using to invest in Direct Plans of Mutual Funds?
- If the answer is no, then (a) it might be better to contact the Hourly-Fee RIAs recommended on the Fees page and (b) if you however decide to engage with me, then please send me a confirmation that your net worth meets the criteria mentioned in 'Note 2' on the Fees page and we will have to figure out a suitable scope for the engagement (Note: This is due to the side effect of SEBI regulations as explained on Fees page)
- 8. Is there any important reason why your particular situation / context makes it important for you to engage with me instead of engaging with the very good Hourly-Fee RIAs recommended on the Fees page who charge a significantly lower fee. If there is no such reason, then please say 'None' for this point.
- There are many different reasons why some clients finally decide to engage with me. So these illustrations cover only a few examples. Some of the reasons why some clients have finally decided to engage with me in the past include (a) because the client was very knowledgeable about personal finance and has put in a lot of effort into studying personal finance or (b) because the client has a net worth that is many multiples of the criteria mentioned on the Fees page or (c) the client has a very complex situation (e.g. significant portion of assets in the US and India) or (d) the client has to make a life-changing decision or (e) the client's friend / relative who is very knowledgeable about personal finance told the client to engage with me
- If your answer to this question is 'None' then (a) it may make sense to engage with the Hourly-Fee RIAs recommended on the Fees page and (b) based on the information that you send me, I might suggest that you contact (or as a first step, contact) the Hourly-Fee RIAs recommended on the Fees page
- 9. Your confirmation that you can wait till 1st April 2025 for the formal engagement to start
- Note: If the email does not contain all of the above information, then I might choose not to reply to it
- In the unlikely event that you have sent me all of the above information but you do not get a response from me within one business day, then it could be because your email or my email went into the spam folder. Only in that case...
- Please send me a WhatsApp message at +919538950469 (Please send me a WhatsApp message only if you do not get a reply one business day after you emailed me)
- Please do not call this number
- If we take this forward, then we could schedule an introductory audio call, which will be free of cost (I do not provide any investment advice during this introductory audio call)
In closing...
Human nature pushes all of us to feel that paying an amount explicitly is more painful than paying ten times that amount in an indirect and hidden manner. But 'feelings' are a poor basis for financial decisions. Hence, Charlie Munger (the wisest investor in the world, according to Warren Buffett) summarized the secret to his success in one word as being “rational”.
A good way to understand this in the context of Investment Advice is the following example.
All of us understand that it’s rational to directly pay a doctor a fair fee. And that it is irrational to pay a doctor a low fee or no fee and instead ask the doctor to indirectly earn their fees from commissions paid by pharmaceutical companies (e.g. for chemotherapy) or diagnostic labs or manufacturers of implants. In case we are irrational, luckily, doctors are fiduciaries. And hence, the law specifies that doctors should put the patient’s interests ahead of the doctor's own interests.
However, the law allows all Distributors of financial products (who earn a commission) to put their own interests ahead of the client’s interests.
Further, the law demands that SEBI RIAs put the client's interests ahead of the RIA's own interests. But there are only 8 RIAs in India that follow this in spirit by having a transparent and cost-effective Hourly-Fee. Most other RIAs that typically charge 1% p.a. of the client's Assets Under Advice are tricking their clients into transferring around 26% of the client's net worth to the RIA over 30 years.
Hence, it is even more important to be rational in how one pays for investment advice.
Next section:
