20 November, 2017

The power of Two!




A pair is a recurring feature in life. We have a pair of hands, legs, eyes, ears etc. which we take for granted. Take one out & the other is not half as effective. With one eye, we will not get the depth, with one hand a simple thing like tying a shoe lace will be an ordeal. With one leg we would just be hobbling around like, say, Long John Silver!

A pair can be very effective & in some cases is complete & will be usable only if it is a pair, like - a pair of scissors, a pair of socks, a pair of jeans etc.

In life, we have pairs alright. The institution of marriage pairs up people and makes them constant companions for life. They are to share the joys and sorrows, the ups and downs of life - their life is inextricably linked with each other,the family they create & to the larger, extended family.

Society has built expectations from males & females. Males are supposed to be the ones who provide for the family & the female aspect is supposed to focus on nurturing, care-giving, taking care of the home front & raising the kids. This cliched expectation is not really valid any longer and they have moved beyond traditional roles and has resulted in increasing participation of women in the workforce.

Still, women are yet to break off the shackles in one area - money. Finances are seen as a male bastion and most women have simply accepted that as a given. However, their participation in the area of finances would be greatly helpful. Let us see how.

Plans work well when all agree -  When the husband engages a financial advisor and creates a plan for the family, it may not capture the aspirations of the family correctly. For instance, the lady may have ideas on the child’s education, marriage, home renovation or even a new home at some future point, which may not have been properly factored in the plan. Had the lady participated in the planning exercise, the perspective would have been far more richer. When a plan is created with both spouses present, there is a good alignment & buy-in and the chance of the plan success goes up. Execution of the recommendations happens fully as they have both been party to the plan.  

A balanced perspective - The man may be the one taking most of the money decisions - may be he is better informed on financial matters & is more involved in planning for the family’s future. When he is the only person involved , the risk inherent in any decision is a factor of his own risk bearing ability & there is a possibility that it is not in line with the required risk for the family. That is where the lady of the house comes in. She has a high stake in the well being of the family. When she too participates, she is a stabilising influence and the plan and the portfolio built will be more in line with what may be most appropriate for the family.

The bugbear called Execution -  Many well meaning clients who have taken the financial planning seriously, stumble upon the portals of execution. If the client has taken on the mantle of executing the recommendations, it is a onerous exercise which would need diligence & doggedness which a busy executive would find difficult to bring forth. That is where the spouse can play an anchor role. The spouse can take on the executor’s role and can ensure that the plan moves smoothly along recommended lines. In case, they have hired someone to execute, the spouse can play the role of a facilitator & ensure they derive value from the planning exercise.

Knowledge empowers -  Many women may think they are investing in Gold when they are buying ornaments & may think investments in property are the only way to build wealth. They may also have a view that Mutual Funds are & stock markets are gambling dens. Once they start participating, they start understanding the area of finances & the various nuances, enough to break out of outmoded constructs. Over time, they develop enough sophistication & confidence that they understand the domain well enough to take informed financial decisions which will stand the family in good stead.

Initially they may be unwilling participants. But, over time, we have seen women shaping up wonderfully well, that they become the primary points of contact for anything to do with the family finances. In some cases, they also are the only ones the advisor is interacting with as their spouse is too busy and have developed enough confidence in their abilities to play the anchor role.

We have seen it work. Women can play a pivotal role, instead of being a passive spectator when it comes to finances. They say, it takes two to tango. In finances, it works wonderfully - the power of Two!

Article first appeared on Moneycontrol :


Author  -   Suresh Sadagopan  | Founder | www.ladder7.co.in

#SureshSadgopan #FinancialPlanner #FinancialAdvisor #Fiduciary #LifePlanning #FeeOnly #HolisticAdvice #Ladder7







16 November, 2017

Living life & loving it!


We all think about what life means to us. While thinking about it, I’m reminded of a hindi film song from the movie Aandhi. This song showcases a slightly different context.

But, for me, it kind of told the life planning story in a nutshell, which is - A life just lived is life, but truly that’s not the life it was meant to be.

Let’s get to the song -

Tere bina zindagi se koi shikwa toh nahin
Shikwa nahin, shikwa nahi, shikwa nahin

Tere bina zindagi bhi lekin zindagi toh nahin
Zindagi nahin, zindagi nahin, zindagi nahin.

The above lines translate to -

Without you I don’t have any complaints about life,
No complaints, No complaints, No complaints…

Without you there is life… but this is not life
Not life, Not life, Not life.

This song is from the well known movie Aandhi, a typical Indian Political Drama from 1975 played by Sanjeev Kumar and Suchitra Sen as the lead actors. The plot goes like this - A hotel manager and a politician’s daughter fall in love and get married. Due to certain differences, they get separated. Years later, they meet again and decide to give their relationship another chance…

The film shows how Sanjeev Kumar ( and Suchitra ) felt that about life and wanted to mend ways by bringing back his lost love, his wife, and get meaning back into his life. We may not all be in the same situation; but don’t we all feel like that about life, sometimes… that the life we are living is a wasted life & has no real meaning.

Don’t we all feel like this sometimes-

The life we are living is good by itself with no reason to carp.
No real reason to complain, no earthly shortcoming, no pain.

Looking a bit deeply we feel -

But the life we are living is not a life worth living,
not a life worth living, not really a life worth hanging on to.

What’s missing in life?  How many of us are even willing to examine life seriously ? Many people tell me there is nothing missing. How would we ever know what we are missing,if we fail to contemplate and reflect on how we want our life to be.

For instance- Did we ever realise the importance of being connected before we embraced the mobile phone?  McKinsey had famously predicted that there is at best a market for 40,000 phones, that too among truck drivers! But mobile phones are everywhere today.

We never know what we are missing till we discover what it would be like having it. When Russian people discovered freedom after Gorbachev & then there was an army coup, people came out on the streets to quell the army that was trying to take back their freedom. The army had to retreat in just three days! Once you discover it, it becomes precious & something that one cannot live without!

Lots of times we have securely locked our heartfelt desires deep within, and many times we are unwilling to even acknowledge them. Such instances are common - we do not want our goals to jeopardize our family members dreams, our goals seem too hare brained, the moment for that goal is long gone and so on.

But these heartfelt goals/desires that can make our life fulfilling, do not go away. If they are unaddressed, they remain deep within us, as a lingering regret, a vacuum in life that could well have been realised which could have resulted in deep contentment and a sense of achievement.

The truth is, we all long for the freedom to live our life in the way that would help us achieve our potential, do those things that are meaningful, be that person we always wanted to become- in short, we want to live life to the fullest, with no regrets. How wonderful life will be if this were possible!

But, it is possible. Life Planning is a field that has the answers.

Life Planning - How does it work -  A good life planner would be able to facilitate this process and enable the client to connect with their heart’s core / soul’s purpose & nudge them to take the steps needed to make their new, wholesome, dream-life a reality. That would raise life to an entirely new level, filled with vigour & vitality and a sense of purpose.

The primary thing in Life Planning is to understand, what is that one really wants from life. There are exercises and sessions to facilitate this to bring out the true heart’s calling. Once the real goals become evident, the client will be able to develop a new vision of the fulfilling life they can now lead. This leads to a surge of excitement and a sense of urgency to move forward rapidly. The client may however need to surmount problems in the path leading to such fulfillment. The life planner would play a vital role in keeping the client focused on the end objective and keeping them on course to achieve their ultimate freedom of finding a life worth living, and looking forward from one day to another with excitement.

Once these are in place , a financial plan that would be needed to make all these happen, is drawn up. In fact, the life planner would have been working on the financial aspect right from the beginning to ensure that he/she will be able to come up with a workable plan, at the end.

Then the plan is put to action and the recommendations are implemented for the client. The Life Planner would have to stay in touch with the client to ensure that their enthusiasm for the new path they have chosen does not dim and their torch is burning with a steady flame with undiminished intensity.

In a nutshell -  In the end, we all want to live a life imbued with meaning which liberates us… we crave for real freedom to do the things that would delight us & pump up our energy… We want to become the person we always wanted to be, live to our fullest potential. We always wanted to live a life brimming with vigour, vitality and enthusiasm to look forward to the next day with thrilling anticipation. That’s exactly what life planning can deliver

Life Planning can deliver a life worth living - a life that you would love living!  


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Author  -   Suresh Sadagopan  | Founder | www.ladder7.co.in

#SureshSadgopan #FinancialPlanner #FinancialAdvisor #Fiduciary #LifePlanning #FeeOnly #HolisticAdvice #Ladder7