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Fees
- My current fees are:
- For new clients, Rs 1,22,500 for 8 hours and 45 minutes of effort
- For current / former clients that chooses to renew the engagement, Rs 38,500 for 2 hours and 45 minutes of effort
- The hours of effort are ideally for a period of up to 6 months but could be used over a period of up to 12 months
- The fees are effectively Rs 14,000 per hour of effort
- With new clients, this usually means a total of 4 audio calls of 1 hour each
- With renewal clients, this usually means a total of 2 audio calls of 1 hour each
- The fees are inclusive of any taxes
- Hours of effort includes hours of discussion and back-end work (Back-end work includes research that is specific to one / a few clients but it does not include research effort that is common across all / most clients)
- I provide clients with an updated Timesheet during the engagement
- Please see the point below that 'Because of this constraint caused by SEBI, new clients are likely to benefit from an optional one-time renewal of the engagement in the 2nd year'
- Please see the Contact page for an update that formal engagements can start only a few months later
- Since there are people who try to impersonate RIAs, please do not pay any fees till BOTH (a) you send a detailed introductory email to avinash@fiduciaries.in AND (b) I reply from the email address avinash@fiduciaries.in to the exact same detailed introductory email that you sent, we do a 45-60 minute introductory call, we sign an agreement and then I request for payment of fees
Details of Fees
- Fees are based on 8.75 hours of effort. This is a radically different from the Robo++ Process
- The fees are based on the assumption of 8 hours & 45 minutes of effort for new clients and 2 hours & 45 minutes of effort for renewal clients
- This Customized Process is radically different from the 2-hours-of-effort with new clients Robo++ Process that is prevalent in India (details are in the Approach page)
- The engagement with new clients is for 8.75 hours because of a side effect of SEBI regulations
- SEBI regulations are primarily focused on protecting Lower-Middle-Class clients and that has unintended side effects for Upper-Middle-Class clients
- SEBI's regulations seem to assume that Lower-Middle-Class clients should be served by a Fixed-Fee engagement while Upper-Middle-Class clients should be served by a 'Percentage of Assets Under Advice fee' engagement
- However RIAs such as myself are opposed to the 'Percentage of Assets Under Advice fee' and instead charge a Fixed-Fee to Upper-Middle-Class clients
- Hence, SEBI regulations do not allow me to offer an engagement with an even higher number of hours of effort to new Upper-Middle-Class clients
- Because of this constraint caused by SEBI (explained above), new clients are likely to benefit from an optional one-time renewal of the engagement in the 2nd year
- Clients could optionally choose whether they would like to renew the engagement (i.e. for 2 hours & 45 minutes) in the 2nd year to go into relatively less important / urgent details
- Subsequently, Passive Index Funds reduce the need to renew the engagement
- I recommend a simple portfolio of Passive Index Funds etc that the client can usually manage by themselves
- Clients that do not renew the engagement in the 2nd year may renew in the 3rd or 4th year when something changes in their life or if there has been a significant change in taxation of mutual funds etc
- Fees are the same for Resident Indians as well as NRIs
- I do not offer any other engagement with a reduced scope and lower fees
- In the context of NRIs, I primarily engage with NRIs who are likely to eventually retire in India
- The number of hours of effort mentioned above will not be sufficient for an engagement with a joint-family. So the scope will have to be worked out in such a case
- Fees are payable in advance
- The fees are payable in advance at the start of the engagement
- To clarify, the introductory audio call is free of cost. But I do not provide any investment advice during this introductory audio call
- Renewal fees will increase over time
- The renewal fee will increase over the years for all clients who choose to renew the engagement
- I was the first Hourly-Fee Financial Planner in India
Focus on clients with a net worth of Rs 1 to 100 cr
- Net worth in this specific context refers to a couple's total value of all assets including real estate (even if you live in it) and any very likely inheritance; minus total liabilities
- To clarify, it does not matter even if the client has zero Rupees free to invest over the next several years since that does not make any difference to me (e.g. if the client would like to focus on pre-paying a home loan)
- You are likely to get value-for-money from this engagement, if...
- Your age is 26-30 and your net worth is >= Rs 1 cr
- Your age is 31-35 and your net worth is >= Rs 2 cr
- Your age is 36-40 and your net worth is >= Rs 3 cr
- Your age is 41-45 and your net worth is >= Rs 4 cr
- Your age is 46-50 and your net worth is >= Rs 5 cr
- Your age is 51-55 and your net worth is >= Rs 6 cr
- Your age is 56-60 and your net worth is >= Rs 7 cr
- Your age is 61-65 and your net worth is >= Rs 8 cr (i.e. approximately USD 1 million)
- Note 1: In case you are entitled to a pension from your employer (i.e. not NPS) or you are a Doctor / Dentist who is less than 45 years old, then consider half of the above mentioned amounts
- Note 2: If your net worth is less than the amounts mentioned above, then the engagement will not be able to provide you value-for-money. Hence you would be better off contacting:
- (a) Hourly-Fee RIA Swapnil Kendhe who at least within Equity mutual funds, recommends only Index Funds; and who follows the Customized Process (approximately 9 or more hours of effort per new client); and whose fees are effectively Rs 4,000 per hour (which is exceptional value for money), or
- (b) Hourly-Fee RIA S R Srinivasan who at least within Equity mutual funds, prefers to recommend only Index Funds and who follows the Customized Process (approximately 9 or more hours of effort per new client)
- Context: I do not earn anything from this recommendation of other RIAs
- Note 3: If you are more than 65 years old, then:
- SEBI is expected to introduce a new process for clients to pay fees to RIAs. The process is expected to be very difficult in terms of the use of the technology platform and dealing with known bugs in the technology platform. Unfortunately this has forced me to stop taking on new clients who are more than 65 years old.
- Hence you would be better off contacting the two Hourly-Fee RIAs mentioned above since they are most likely in a better position to mitigate this technology issue
- To clarify, I continue to engage with existing clients who are more than 65 years old
