03 September 2016
Mr. Marzee Kerawala - Nivesh India, Mumbai - Dadar
Marzee Kerawala started his full time financial advisory business in January 2008 right at the peak of the last bull market. The entire period from Jan 2008 to Aug 2013 was a difficult time for financial planning profession. Equity markets were sluggish and the period was marred with Lehman crises, Satyam fiasco, weak macroeconomics, dollar trouble just to name a few. In this same time period when more than 14000 IFA's shut their shop, he has scaled his business to new highs and is now having more than a BILLION of Assets under management.
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?
Marzee: First of all, let me tell you that I have not achieved this feat overnight. It is my years of dedication and passion to create wealth for my clients that has got me here. I have devoted my significant time, money and energy to constantly upgrade myself. So after resigning from my well-paying job as CFO India Aeroflot Russian Airline, I had to start from scratch. When I started my practice it was Jan 2008, that only made matters worse for me as the markets had crossed 21000 and thereafter it came down to 9000 by march 2009 and it wasn't easy to get clients confidence. It was my period of learning and I had my share of failures as well. What helped me stay ahead in difficult times was my philosophy that my "clients interest comes first". My advice has always been client centric and not Company or Product centric.
ES:What made you to join NJ as NJ Partner ?
Marzee: When I was working with Aeroflot Russian Airlines as their CFO, my brother Mr. Maher Dhamodiwala had got a campus recruitment and was appointed as branch manager for NJ pune branch. While he was in the process of doing partner acquisition for NJ, he bounced off his ideas to me and made me understand the potential of this profession in long term. I liked the idea but initially was little hesitant to leave my high paying cushy job. But he supported me and guided me well. Today in hindsight I think I have done way better for myself and my family than what I would be doing as a CFO of an airline company.
ES:Client communications is an integral part of your business. Please share any best practices / services related to communications adopted by you.
Marzee: yes I do believe that we are in profession were we need to constantly engage clients by way of communication. Three things which I religiously follow with all my clients irrespective of their AUM is
- Wishing them on their Birthdays
- I have subscribed to newsletters/mcs so once a month I sent newsletters to all my clients.
- I fix up review meetings with clients on regular intervals depending on the size of the portfolio. This is one of the most effective way of keeping in touch with them.
- I do lot of Business in MARS so whenever there is a rebalancing call it gives me an opportunity to call them and communicate with them. Me and my clients both have found the relevance of rebalancing the portfolio at appropriate market levels.
Also would like say that as always I have maintained NJ platform is one of the best what an IFA can get. We have seen rapid and continuous innovations not only on technology front but also new product innovations like MARS. Infact I would like to say that there is more on offering from NJ side than what we can actually avail of.
ES:How do you educate and convince your clients for mutual funds, especially the first time investors?
Marzee: To me financial planning means being personally involved with my client families in their financial journey. It also involves lot of hand holding in difficult times when markets are volatile, especially when an investor is naïve and the family has never had exposure to equity as an asset class. It is difficult times like this when you meet them, provide them with correct information and make them successfully sail through the ups and downs of markets that they become your clients forever. I attribute my success to the Faith and Trust my investors has posed in me and my abilities, and that to me is the biggest Asset of our firm NiveshIndia.
ES:What advantages do you feel NJ E-Wealth offers to both Clients and Partners?
Marzee: The importance of e wealth account to me can be gauged from the fact that I don't take up a client if he/she is not willing to open an e wealth account. If I sit an analyse my top 30 clients I see that 17 of them are out of Mumbai i.e. they are not residents of Mumbai. Moreover I have now more than 40 clients who are based in different cities of India (other than Mumbai ) or they are NRI's who are out of India. To service them and to give them seamless smooth experience and for me to be rest assured about the transactional queries, I have made up a rule for myself that I will let go of that business/client who don't open a e wealth account than to work with him in physical.
ES:How much importance do you give to Asset Allocation & Risk Profile while offering solution to clients need ?
Marzee: whenever I sign a new client I always run his detailed financial plan, I gather lot of financial and personal data and then come up with reliable solutions. These plans are customized for each and every individual and I charge them fees for it. I normally charge 8000 – 12000 depending on the work and complexity involved. Once I have done this exercise than I know my client well. For me making a detailed financial plan for my clients is my KYC "KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER". I give lots of importance to Asset allocation which reflects in my style of working and is evident from the fact that I picked up an award in recent PBC for MARS.
ES: Winning the trust of a Client is not an easy task. How do you think you can win the trust of the Clients?
Marzee: The best way to win clients trust is to show them what I do with my money. How I save my money. Where do I invest my money? Once he knows that I do exactly the same thing with my money what I advise him to do there is a level of confidence. One thing that I have learned with my over ten years of experience, is that you should accept your mistakes. Whether it is a transactional error or a tactical error I have always owned up my mistakes and I have realized that clients are more than happy to work with honest advisors rather than engaging financial mavericks that they don't trust.
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