Next steps
- To contact me, please email me at: avinash@fiduciaries.in
- Update: Due to a backlog of work with existing clients and a large number of regulatory constraints, unfortunately the formal engagement can start only four months later. Since that is far away, it makes sense for most potential clients to contact the RIAs who are recommended at the bottom of the Fees page on this website. However, if for some reason you strongly think that I am likely to be the only suitable RIA for you, then please add one sentence explaining why, in your email to me (i.e. in addition to the information requested for below) and I will get back to you about the next steps.
- 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
- In your email, please send me:
- 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 sure about this decision.
- 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.
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