The Wisest Owl: Be Your Own Financial Planner

by Anupam Gupta

India is witnessing a major change in the way we look at money. Having reached the middle income status as a country, a vast section of the youth is now aspiring for higher financial goals. This large population is breaking away from its parents in almost every way, including financially. But the new generation of Indians entering the workforce demand more knowledge on their investments. They constantly grapple with complicated questions surrounding What do they do with their money? How do they plan for their future? Most of the time, they get bad advice. Mutual funds have not really delivered meaningful returns, stock selection is extremely complicated and sophisticated investments like PMSs, AIFs, etc., are only for the wealthy.

This book tries to help these young investors by offering them a framework they can use to create wealth in the long run. Using the wisdom and experience of Indian's top personal finance professionals, the book answers critical questions, such Should I rent a house or buy a house? Passive investing versus active investing? Stocks versus mutual funds? Debt funds or FDs? And finally - crypto or no crypto?

Genres: Personal Finance, Nonfiction, Finance

176 pages, Paperback

Published November 4, 2022

Reviews

[Hrishi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Felt too short and surface skimmy

Decent book that presents core ideas behind financial planning in a nice accessible way. This would be a good read for any newbie looking to set off on their financial planning journey. It busts some myths well and I enjoyed the RIA interviews. In the end it left me wanting for more meat, not in a good way. Can't object to anything in it, but just wanted more

[Sonali Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

🔺New generation of Indians entering the workforce demand more knowledge on their investments.
🔺They constantly grapple with complicated questions surrounding money: What do they do with their money? How do they plan for their future? Most of the time, they get bad advice.
🔺 Mutual funds have not really delivered meaningful returns, stock selection is extremely complicated and sophisticated investments are only for the wealthy.
🔺This book tries to help these young investors by offering them a framework they can use to create wealth in the long run.
🔺 Financial planning is a need, not a choice. Especially in this fast moving world, finance has made it's core roots as a necessity to sustain life.
🔺This book entirely focuses on financial planning. It is more than just equities, Mutual funds, goal planning and SIP's.
🔺 Personal finance is something that every one of us are getting aware of. And why not? Afterall, awareness drives in the clarity to decision making.
🔺The book also gives insights from 6 Veteran RBI RIA's (Registered Investment Advisor), it tells the importance of having a right advisor who can guide you through your investments.
🔺Some concepts were known to me as I've already read other books around finances and investment, it was a simple and quick read for me.

📌𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻
A simplified technical book on "financial planning". Don't get confusing amongst the two. You can manage finances once you plan them. This book serves as a base for creating a sound financial plan.

🤔𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱?
If you are someone who's getting aware and conscious about financial planning and investments🤑a perfect pick for you, it has an entire chapter depicting and explaining the sample of financial plan.

[Sri Raman.R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nature of Book
This is a foundational book - something beginners in personal finance & wealth creation journey can get started with. We can read this book in parallel or after books like "Richest Man in Babylon", "Lets Talk Money" by Monika Halan, etc. The book reinforces the key principles in personal finance & wealth management (need for emergency corpus, need for life insurance, need for health insurance, need for listing financial goals & objectives, etc.) & adds some layers on top.

Key Value Addition from the Book (from my perspective)
1. It made me realize that "Financial planning" is different from investment planning/decision making. Financial Planning is the broader goal & investments in specific instruments is 1 component of this broader goal.
2. The checklists & case studies on financial planning in the book have been simple to implement
3. For people who want experts advice, the book throws light on how we can approach SEBI Registered Investment Advisors & start doing financial planning under their guidance. RIAs are very different from advice we would get from AMC/MF Distributors - they do holistic planning based on individual's needs/risk profile, etc.

What this book is not?
This book is not for understanding - how to make investments in equity & mutual funds (Which stock to pick? How to do portfolio construction? How to do valuation?)

[JK · Rating 4 out of 5]

૧. પાયાની જરૂરિયાત: સુરક્ષા (Protection First)
કોઈપણ રોકાણ શરૂ કરતા પહેલા તમારી પાસે આ ત્રણ બાબતો હોવી અનિવાર્ય છે:
હેલ્થ ઇન્શ્યોરન્સ: જે તમારી બચતને તબીબી ખર્ચથી બચાવે.
ટર્મ લાઈફ ઇન્શ્યોરન્સ: તમારી ગેરહાજરીમાં પરિવારની આર્થિક સુરક્ષા માટે.
ઇમરજન્સી ફંડ: ઓછામાં ઓછા ૬ મહિનાના ઘરખર્ચ જેટલી રકમ જે લિક્વિડ ફંડ કે સેવિંગ્સ એકાઉન્ટમાં હોય.

૨. સમયની શક્તિ (The Power of Time)
રોકાણમાં 'ક્યારે' શરૂ કરો છો તે 'કેટલું' રોકાણ કરો છો તેના કરતા વધુ મહત્વનું છે.
કમ્પાઉન્ડિંગ (ચક્રવૃદ્ધિ વ્યાજ) નો જાદુ જોવા માટે રોકાણને લાંબો સમય આપવો પડે છે.
ફુગાવો (Inflation) તમારો સૌથી મોટો દુશ્મન છે; તેથી એવા સાધનોમાં રોકાણ કરો (જેમ કે ઇક્વિટી) જે ફુગાવા કરતા વધુ વળતર આપે.

૩. ટેકનોલોજીનો સમજદારીપૂર્વક ઉપયોગ (Fintech Wisdom)
ફિનટેક એપ્સનો ઉપયોગ માત્ર રોકાણને સરળ (Execution) બનાવવા માટે કરો.
એપ્સના કારણે થતા અતિશય ટ્રેડિંગ કે 'નોટિફિકેશન' ના ઘોંઘાટથી બચો.
રોકાણ એ 'મનોરંજન' નથી, તેને મોબાઈલ ગેમની જેમ ન રમો.

૪. FIRE અને નિવૃત્તિ (Financial Independence)
વહેલી નિવૃત્તિ (FIRE) માટે તમારે તમારી આવકના ૫૦% થી વધુ બચત કરવાની અને અત્યંત સાદગીભર્યું જીવન જીવવાની તૈયારી રાખવી પડશે.
નિવૃત્તિનો આંકડો નક્કી કરતી વખતે આગામી ૪૦-૫૦ વર્ષનો ફુગાવો ધ્યાનમાં લેવો જરૂરી છે.

૫. એસેટ એલોકેશન અને રીબેલન્સિંગ (The Framework)
તમારા તમામ પૈસા એક જ જગ્યાએ ન રોકો. ઇક્વિટી, ડેટ અને ગોલ્ડ વચ્ચે સંતુલન રાખો.
વર્ષમાં એકવાર તમારા પોર્ટફોલિયોની તપાસ કરો અને નક્કી કરેલા રેશિયો મુજબ તેને ફરીથી સેટ (Rebalance) કરો.

[Srikantadatta Tagadur · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very practical, no nonsense and easy to follow financial guide for anyone wanting to develop a grasp on their personal finance. The author’s unique approach to disseminating the myths around the topics of finance through interviews of registered financial planners is very interesting and effective. The book also provides a very clear action plan at the end and also provides some templates which can be used as a starting point. My key takeaway from the book is the importance of having specific financial goals with varied timelines and being extremely disciplined towards achieving them.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book shares the personal finance perspective from financial advisors point of view rather than simply pushing what the author thinks is right. The interviews are with some the leading RIAs in India and it’s interesting to read their backgrounds. Some of the new areas that I will explore further include Life planning, kindergarten institute, importance of planning for life transitions etc.
The only point is that the book seems to be moving all over the place - chapters could have been better arranged and themed.

[Anjana Bhat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative and helps to find financial advisor

Educates the reader on present options available to handle personal finance.

Also in brief gives general opinion on various investment options.

[Vittal Kamath · Rating 2 out of 5]

The books focus is more about the advisors biography than personal financial planning

After reading the books it feels like I know more about the advisors biography than personal financial planning. I think the checklist in the last chapter is very valuable addition!

[Vishaal Db · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful for the names of the financial planners and an insight into their planning methodology. The plans themselves seemed a little simplistic to me but it would work for someone who’s just beginning their career

[Shailesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book for people starting to learn the basics of financial planning.
It’s has excellent list of references for future reading.
Very worthy investment in terms of price & time.

[Anurag Tiwari · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's for Beginners.

[Moksh Juneja · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are financial planner or planning to be one this should work as a reference. Anupam (@b50) has taken the effort to understand and articulate the thought processes of all of them.

If you are starting out into a job, would recommend picking up this book to get a balance in life, specially financially.

[Pankaj · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book has been written in a fairly simple language so that even beginners would be able to comprehend this. It also contains various external reading references which makes the understanding of these topics comprehensive. The undertone of the book lays emphasis on financial planning and most possibly doing it through a registered financial planner. I read it in one entire weekend.

[Vanita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to start your own financial planning . Liked the sample financial plans at end of the book, it also introduced me to experts. Lot of my questions were answered in the interview itself, hence very useful for me