Meet Mr. Maher Dhamodiwala, Mumbai
Maher is one of our leading and dynamic Partners from Mumbai. An ex-NJ employee, Maher started his advisory business in 2007 and has never looked back. Known for his soft demeanor and a smiling personality, it comes as no surprise that keeping a constant touch with clients is his top agenda. Becoming successful Partner in a relatively short time, Maher has some valuable learnings for other Partners. In this interview he shared his thoughts and experiences on Goal oriented planning and how technology based initiative taken by NJ is helping him.
It gives us great pleasure in bringing the interview with Mr. Damodiwala to our readers.
Q: How does the Family Needs Planning tool help you in your business? Please throw some light on the general advantages of the same.
Maher: Thumbs up to the Family Needs Planning Tool. The tools helps us in building our business in a number of ways. Firstly, it encourages the clients as with the help of this tool, we can practically visualize their goals. It shows if the client needs a top up investment in case of a gap, and the snapshot of the same can be shared with the client via a WhatsApp image or can be communicated through a telephonic conversation. By looking at concrete facts and figures, it builds clients' confidence, and they are more likely to keep on topping up their SIP's, thus bringing in more business.
Secondly, it not just brings in new money, but also helps in holding people from untimely redemptions. Recently, a client wanted to redeem his investment, so we showed him this report and that investment he was considering to redeem was mapped to his kids' education goal. When he saw the report he changed his mind and the investment which was on the brink of being redeemed remained intact. The tool reminds the investor of the gravity of his goal, and any untimely breaking of the investment would directly hamper the goal. And lastly, When we look at the Partner Desk, with the help of this tool, we get know about all the clients who are facing an investment gap, and our next step is to approach these clients with their family planning needs report.
Q: How do you handle different sets of clients with respect to goal based financial planning? And how the family needs planning tool gets incorporated in the process?
Maher: Different people have different types and number of goals and they need custom financial advice. Yet if we generalize, we can bifurcate clients on the basis of their Age, the younger the person is, there is greater scope for financial planning, and the older he is, more of Asset Allocation comes into the picture. A person in his 30's or 40's would have a number of goals which are yet to be achieved, and thence we would do a full fledged goal based financial planning, aligning each of his investments to his life goals. Whereas, a person in his 60's would need advise on asset allocation, considering his financial standing, should he be restricting himself to debt or if he can take liberty of investing in equities, or what should be the ideal ratio, etc. So, to conclude I would like to say that money is simply a function of time.
Q: Could you share any instance when the goal oriented financial planning as an approach has helped your clients successfully achieve their goals?
Maher: Goal based financial planning has significantly impacted my clients' lives, for good. Since the client is able to see and understand the connect between his investments and his life goals, to which he is emotionally attached, like his kids' marriage education, etc., this approach has helped in creating success stories. There is not just one particular instance, because of Goal based planning, most of my clients are happy. Many of them have acknowledged the fact that in absence of a goal based financial plan, they would not have been able to achieve their life goals. A client told me once, “If you didn't come into my life, things wouldn't be as perfect as they are today”, my clients' prosperity and their kind words fill me with pride and satisfaction.
Q: Some Partners may be unsure of adopting this approach for a number of reasons like lack of confidence, process, knowledge or understanding of technology. What would be your suggestions for such Partners to help them adopt and implement the goal based planning approach and the family needs progress report tool in conducting business.
Maher: If the Partner is keen on making his clients' lives better, if he is willing to impart a value added service to his clients, if to be precise he has his clients' interests at the center; then Goal Oriented Financial Planning is the only solution. And Family Needs Progress Report tool will aid the Partner in adapting to and implementing the approach better. The tool is simple to use, you don't need to be a tech geek for using it, it has a very simple and easy to understand interface wherein you just have to fill in the blanks pertaining to the client like his goals; the amount required as well as the investment horizon, and you are sorted.
Use it like a Cricket Score Board, the gap in the goal as shown in the report is like the Required Run Rate. If you are below the RRR, then you need to work in order to bring yourself at par with the RRR. It is a transformational tool, and its effectiveness can be attributed to the fact that it brings in objectivity in investing.
Q: Could you please highlight your experience, since the implementation of the Family needs Progress Report tool as against when there was none. How much has it been able to contribute towards your business in numbers?
Maher: Prior to this tool, most of our clients had SIPs in the range of Rs 25,000 – Rs. 35000, now these numbers have doubled and even tripled in many cases, to Rs 80,000 – Rs 1 Lakh. So, it is a win-win situation for both parties, we get more business and the clients' financial life is set on a smooth track.
The tool has been accepted widely and positively by our clients, because it is simple and automated.