Meet Mr. Suresh Patel
khambhat (Anand ) - Gujarat
Mr. Suresh Patel is a soft spoken personality, and hails from a very small town of Anand district in Gujarat. Mr Patel completed his Masters in Science in the year 1989. He made his debut in the field of advisory after his education, with stock broking services. Mr. Patel has seen many ups and downs in his business including the 2008 market plunge. Mr. Patel is now working with and serving 800+ satisfied customers, advising them in their financial needs and fulfilling their life aspirations.
Team e-Saathi takes immense pride in bringing Mr Patel's success story for our readers. We wish him luck for all his future endeavors.
ES: Please introduce yourself and also share your vision and mission or goals in life.
Suresh: I completed my M.Sc. in 1989 and started a business of stock broking. Later I joined NJ as a Partner and started offering Mutual Funds and other products. I can say that I became a financial adviser in true sense after joining NJ. I understood one thing very clearly that even a small investor can become wealthy by following a regular & disciplined investment approach.
My mission is to give financial freedom to all my investors by providing better investment services & guiding them in meeting their financial needs and goals.
My vision is to make all my nearby villagers wealthy through my investment advisory, after all India is a country of villages and I want to make all villagers wealthy.
ES: What inspired you to choose the career of a financial advisor / distributor?
Suresh: I didn't want to become an agent but a good adviser for investors' wellbeing.
According to my past experience, small investors many times fail to make a good amount/gain by investing in direct equity. I did an investment in MF in 2010 through SIP. Being a stock broker it was easy for me to compare the price fluctuations in Stocks viz a viz SIP. And what I experienced through SIP, became a life investing lesson for me. SIP is a financial instrument which gives flexibility, convenience and tax free returns. It's a way of investment which beats inflation without any tension. As an advisor, I always advise SIP's to all my clients and provide them better financial planning according to their situations. I also keenly work for effective tax planning for my clients.
I would also like to add few things about my practice:
Being an adviser I always keep a close watch on my clients' investments and analyze what is in favor and what is not. Understanding that it's the hard earned money of my clients, I always keep myself updated with the latest happenings in areas of advisory and financial planning, so that I always remain in a position to create wealth for my clients. Many a times, I also invite other MF advisers to impart knowledge on investments to my clients.
In my advisory journey, I always feel that it's a profession of trust. Many of my clients have blind trust in me and give me their money without even asking me. I often get to hear, " Sureshbhai, invest my money for mine and my family's better financial future. Where or Why? Your discretion".
Before going to sleep I always remind myself that there are a lot of people who have placed their trust in me and I have to do better for them.
ES: Do you promote the idea of savings through MF SIP among your clients?
Suresh: Absolutely, because SIP is the only tool which helps us achieve our financial goals easily by converting our saving into investment.
As I already said, SIP is a financial instrument which gives flexibility, convenience and tax free returns. It's a way of investment which beats inflation without any tension.
ES: Client communications is an integral part of your business. Please share any best practices / services related to communications adopted by you.
Suresh: I use flyers, MCS and other printed materials to share updates, knowledge and other information with my clients. I share with them at a personal level and also in clients meets.
ES: How much importance do you give to Insurance in your advisory practice?
Suresh: I explain clients about the need and importance of Insurance in one's life. The concept of Sampoorna Suraksha is the best to give them a detailed understanding on the subject. I advise them to have life, mediclaim and term plans as per their needs. I always advise my clients that health is a very important element in one's life, to enjoy life and to achieve all life goals/aspirations, so its ideal to protect your health financially through insurance.
ES: How do you educate and convince your clients for mutual funds, especially the first time investors?
Suresh: In the first personal or group meeting with my clients, I never ask them to invest, but provide them a kind of a feeling that you should think and plan for your own and your family's dreams. It takes maximum one hour for the conversation and I am able to provide them a detailed understanding about investments. I try to cover all queries related to investments in one meeting so that the clients can start investing regularly thereon and they also share their experience with their relatives and friends, so half the work is done by them before I meet a new client.
Lastly, I want to say that I don't practice any differential treatment between small investors and HNI's because the base of investment for both are equal for me and for my profession as an advisor.