Mr. Sadruddin A Khetani ,
K-Mint Financial Services LLP, Pune
Mr. Khetani – A Chartered Accountant by Education is practising Wealth Advisory as a profession since 2004. He started working as a sub broker with Kotak Securities in the journey of wealth creation, but later he turned for Mutual Fund advisory when he and his partner gained an experience during stock market crisis in the year 2008. Mr. Khetani is passionate about educating clients on personal finance related issues and that passion also one reason - that brought him into this noble profession. He thinks Education is a Great Tool to bring awareness among clients however its not a one-time process and hence requires consistent efforts from advisor in this direction.
Mr. Khetani with his partner working with a single minded vision to act as a coach for their clients in wealth creation journey. He believes that this profession will give an immense satisfaction and material benefits in the long run to every advisors. He also pointed out about the lesson they learnt and must be a learning for every advisor is that "Communication with the client during the market downturns is the most important and its always going to remain a differentiating factor in client relationship".
Team e-Saathi gladly presents an interview of a Partner who believes that "when we advisors advise investors to have patience; We advisors also need learn to have patience with ourselves in the process of growth in the business."
ES: Please introduce yourself and also share your vision and mission or goals in life.
Answer: Having completed my education and having gained some work experience in Mumbai, I decided to shift to Pune to slow down the hectic pace of Mumbai life. I initially worked in a Manufacturing Company at Pune for some years. Post which, I decided to put my education to use for myself and started as a sub-broker for Kotak Securities in 2004. The period between 2004 and 2008 was a heady period for the stock broking industry. We made obscene amount of money from the broking business during this period.
We had never imagined that the happy days were ever going to come to an end. But to our utter shock and disbelief, the broking business became almost zero and we lost out all the money in double quick time. During this period, the mutual fund advisory business was not on our radar at all. Whatever little corpus we had accumulated was done by default by clients themselves.
In 2006, Shailesh Agarwal had joined me as my business partner. Post market meltdown in 2008, Shailesh and I sat together to take stock of the situation, analysed what had gone wrong and came to a decision to immediately discontinue the speculative broking business and instead focus on long-term wealth creation for the clients through the mutual fund route.
Based on the ongoing training of NJ, we kept refining and evolving our business model and strategies. Today, we are very clear that our mission is to act as a coach in our clients' long-term wealth creation journey.
ES: What inspired you to choose the career of a financial advisor / distributor?
Answer: We started as a stock broker first. Over a period of time, we realized that in the broking business, our interest was not aligned with the clients' interest. As such, the business model was not sustainable and more importantly ethically acceptable to us. Hence we took to mutual fund advisory for the clients' long-term wealth creation.
ES:Setting the financial advisory business takes some time. How did you handle the challenges on the financial front in the initial period of the business?
Answer: In fact, this was one of the factors which attracted us to this model. As the clients make money only in the long term, so do the advisors. This acts as a big entry barrier for the new distributors thus limiting competition. Our meetings with Mr.Swapnil Admane and Mr.Sarfaraz Patel had prepared us to be ready for the long haul. The inputs provided by Mr. Sarfaraz Patel and Mr.Swapnil Admane proved invaluable and helped us to create a clear long term road map for the advisory business. These two gentlemen act as our mentors and keep us focused on our long term goals.
ES:What made you to join NJ as NJ Partner ?
Answer: The technology platform, continuous training and business support, focus on long term, ethical business practices, putting the clients' interest first, accessibility of the top management - These values and principles were aligned with our own values and hence it has been a mutually rewarding relationship with NJ all through. Whatever we have been able to achieve would not have been possible without NJ's support.
ES: Do you promote the idea of savings through MF SIP in your clients?
Answer: Certainly. We strongly believe that long term wealth creation, with least amount of volatility, is possible only with the SIP route. If an individual has to plan for his financial goals like children's education or his own retirement, he has no choice but to go through the SIP route. SIP investments are also the most appropriate investment tool as most of the clients generate income on a monthly basis. Also, the investments done through automatic route (like SIP) are likely to continue consistently and for a longer period.
ES:How client communications is integrated into your business strategy. Please share any best practices / services related to communications adopted by you.
Answer: Our clients mostly comprise of HNIs who are owner/directors of SME industries. We have also segmented our clients and we stay in touch with the top 25 families (our platinum clients) on a regular basis (once a month or once every two months).
In addition, we keep sharing some nuggets of information / NJ MCS images / Market Gyan through WhatsApp on a weekly basis with all the clients.
Most importantly, whenever there is a sharp correction in the market, we make it a point to call (and if possible personally meet at least the platinum clients) and advise them to top up their investments. Such hand-holding and communication during the difficult times, we have experienced, are invaluable experiences and create great confidence amongst the clients.
ES: How much importance do you give to Insurance in you advisory practice?
Answer: We are infinitely grateful to NJ for providing us an additional source of business through Insurance. Not only we have been able to cross-sell insurance to our existing clients, it has also opened up a relatively easier entry to acquire new clients. Since our clients are basically industrialists, providing them factory fire insurance, staff health insurance etc opened up an additional revenue stream for us which is more steady, predictable and attractive (at least in the short term) compared to mutual fund practice. Through this, we have been able to build a decent premium book which is growing at a fast pace.
ES:How do you educate and convince your clients for mutual funds, especially the first time investors?
Answer: "Education is a great tool". But its not a one-time process. The message has to be consistent and has to be ongoing if one desires a lasting mental impact on the client. In the end, it's the clients own experience which convinces him. However for this, he has to stay invested for atleast five years.
"I think communication with the client during the market downturns is the most important differentiating factor."
ES:How you evaluate NJ's technology initiatives such as various On-line Desks & Mobile Solutions ?
Answer: The technology tools provided by NJ are invaluable. The clients come to appreciate them over a period of time. The recent addition of Financial Tools App is something we cannot do without now. It provides all the info on our finger tips. These can also be very easily shared with the clients immediately. MCS images and videos too are a great value addition and help to spread our message and build our own brand image in the minds of our clients.
ES:How do you assess /see the future of financial advisory business in India? How can we as Partners be ready / prepared to make the most of it?
Answer: First of all, our own confidence in the Indian economy and equity markets. Secondly, consistent communication and message content to the clients. Third, ongoing updation of knowledge and skills. Fourth, putting the clients' interest first. I think, these qualities will help a partner to grow his practice irrespective of the regulatory challenges and changes.
As we advise investors to be patience, the advisors too need to be patience. This is a business which will give an advisor immense satisfaction and material benefits in the long run.
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