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Financial Literacy: Women Can Learn and Start Their Investing Journey With DSP Winvestor

In India, typical women generally tend to invest in jewellery, Gold, Silver or real-estate based investments.

Trading Women Finance capital markets

In India, Women, especially mothers, are synonymous with savings. Women love to save, be it for the future, family or any unforeseen situations. The Indian culture already holds a respectable, honourable, and also a comparable position in the form of goddess Lakshmi (who is the supreme goddess of wealth and purity) to women. Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped on the day of Diwali as she symbolises wealth and prosperity in the Hindu mythology. Having said that, there is no need to reiterate the importance of women in the financial decisions of Indian households.

In India, typical women, including the young ones, generally tend to invest in Jewellery, Gold, Silver or properties (real-estate based investments). It is very uncommon to hear from women about investing in market-based instruments such as stocks, equity MFs etc. 

So, with an aim to increase the financial literacy among women, we take this chance to present our email interaction with Ms Aditi Kothari Desai (Vice Chairperson, Head – Sales and Marketing, DSP Investment Managers) where she presents her views about educating women from Homemaker to working women, in taking apt investment decisions and making them financially independent.  

Aditi Kothari Desai
Aditi Kothari Desai, Vice Chairperson, Head – Sales and Marketing, DSP Investment Managers

Aditi is passionate about the digitization of the financial sector and was instrumental in the launch of all DSP’s digital platforms including its investment platform, education platform, corporate platform and its distributor platform. She is very focused on the future of investment management and its distribution and is therefore very engaged in fintech for the wealth space. Aditi also leads financial wellness initiatives at DSPIM and was instrumental in launching Winvestor, a special initiative aimed at empowering women with confidence and financial knowledge to plan for their economic and long-term security. 

DSP WINVESTOR
DSP WINVESTOR

Q1. What obstacles/challenges do women tend to face when they start earning and are just beginning their investing journey?

Ms Aditi Kothari Desai – DSPIM:

I feel most women do not invest when they start earning money. Money is just to spend, is what the initial feeling maybe, which is fine. That’s what you want to do in the beginning. But we need to understand why they need to learn how to invest. One reason is that they are working and it is their money, and eventually they will not be able to spend all of it when they earn a lot more. Secondly, they may even inherit money. It is theirs, so why should they give the investing part over to someone else? In the long term future, you will need the money for emergencies or even for retirement. So you need to invest. Saving it is just leaving it in the bank. Another reason is that, unfortunately, the divorce rate is increasing. There could be other mishaps in life. Women do outlive men. 

So women need to take control of their finances, and they are just not doing it. It could be because they do not have the confidence or the know-how. Neither taught in the schools, nor one has told them from the very beginning. And I think it is a very important thought for women to know that they are as smart as men. Men can be beginners at finance, and so can women. 

You can take the first steps by going to dspim.com/learn, select competency levels of a beginner and start your learnings from the basics, and it is not hard. 

So, firstly women need to take that ‘limitation’ out of their minds that it is hard, increase their confidence and then put some interest in it. The second thing they need to understand is the 50:30:20 rule. So, as soon as you start earning, 50% goes in for your rent, food and the basics, 30% goes into entertainment, movies, shopping and whatever else. And the remaining 20%, you must make it a habit to save. You can even do a SIP, invest that 20% every month periodically into a fund allocated by your advisor or a dynamic asset allocation fund. Go on investing because that will help you in the long run.

Q2. According to you, what is the general attitude or stereotype towards women and investing?

Ms Aditi Kothari Desai – DSPIM:

Some of the stereotypes would be on the lines of women don’t know how to invest. Women don’t care about investing. Women are reckless with money. Women are irresponsible when it comes to money. Women are not interested. We need to bust all those myths

Some of them could even be true because I’ve seen that a lot of women aren’t really interested. They think investing is all about numbers, but it is about psychology and discipline and getting yourself just to learn the basics, which is really easy to do. 

One has to get started via online resources like ours, as I mentioned earlier. It is not just that women need to learn, even men need to, and women and men are equal in those respects. It is just the interest, confidence and encouragement that women need because of these myths that are in our minds. 

Q3. What is the most important thing for you when it comes to making investment decisions?

Ms Aditi Kothari Desai – DSPIM:

Well, one can do risk profiling – What is their income, how many people are dependent on them? – They can then understand their ability to take risks. If they have a lot of dependency on them, which implies they can’t take too much risk. They may probably need the money in the short term and can’t afford to invest it for the long term knowing that there are short term fluctuations. Especially so, because they may need that money in the short term given they have a lot of dependents. 

So one has to know oneself. One has to, even if they don’t have dependents. They may be single or earning good money, but if their tolerance to taking risks is low, then they have to be really, really careful in the way they invest. Because if one knows that the market goes down 20-30%, they feel agitated. When someone has invested Rs. 100 and suddenly it falls to Rs. 80, they start freaking out, and take the money out at the wrong time, that is not okay. In the very beginning, one should be prepared that their Rs. 100 may even go to Rs. 70. The mindset should be prepared this way – What I am investing now will go down 30%, but I know in the long run it increases to Rs. 150 and that is why I am in the market. Because I never know when to put the money in there. So, just keep investing the money in a disciplined manner.

So, the most important thing is to know your risk tolerance and risk-taking ability. If the market goes down, you can invest in less risky products. Higher the risk you take, the probability of higher the returns. Nothing is given. But the probability of a higher return becomes more. So you have to be patient. When you are okay to take risks, it means you are patient and you are less anxious. So, you have to know yourself very well. 

The other thing is you should know why you are investing. If I am just investing to build my wealth, great, that is why most people invest. But if you are investing to buy a car in 2 years or a house in 5 years, then the way you invest the money has to be a little more different, again keeping your risk-taking ability and your risk-taking tolerance in mind. A financial advisor can help you with that. You can also teach yourself on dspim.com/learn because it has all of this information. 

Q4. Is there a tool that’ll prove to be immensely useful for women kick-starting their investing journey?

Ms Aditi Kothari Desai – DSPIM:

There are many online resources where one can find knowledge on investing. Ours is dspim.com/learn. If you are a beginner, you can select the beginner level, and then after that, you graduate into the intermediate and advanced levels. I can tell you that once you have finished the course, you will have a pretty good knowledge of investing. 

Q5. How important is education about the different investing options for being a successful investor?

Ms Aditi Kothari Desai – DSPIM:

You must educate yourself before you invest. Use all available resources at your disposal. Do not go in blind. I suggest having a basic understanding so that even when you have a financial advisor, you can ask the right questions. 

Q6. What tips would you give to women who are looking to start their investing journey?

Ms Aditi Kothari Desai – DSPIM:

Women who are looking to start their investment journey should first start. Have your good times, spend your money when you earn, but take a little portion of the earnings and just keep saving. Get into the habit of saving. Once you get into the habit of saving, immediately invest it. Don’t leave it in the bank.

You can also invest in a liquid fund whose returns are similar to what you could get in a savings or a current account. But you know, eventually, you can get into a dynamic asset allocation fund, which is a good fund for beginners. Start slowly, as you don’t want to burn your fingers in the beginning. Start with conservative products and then go into more risky ones. 

You must remember that you must be long term in your thinking. Some money, of course, you may need for the short-term. You have to keep that for less risky investments. Risk in our language means volatility. Investments that don’t go up and down too much mean more sure returns. The rest of your money you must invest for the long term, especially when you are starting because you are young. You have many years for the money to compound. 

Remember, your money makes returns or interest, and then you make interest on that interest. That is called compounding. The longer you stay, the more interest you can make on your interest or returns you can make on your returns. So, stay invested for the long run. Don’t disturb compounding. Some money should just be kept for 20-30 years that you are not going to touch. Sometimes maybe 40 years too. 

A certain amount of money must be kept for short term goals like buying a house or a car and a certain amount can be kept as an emergency fund. So bucket your money like that. Be patient. Don’t get anxious when the market goes down. It will go down.

There will be market fluctuations. Know yourself, do your risk profiling, and go out there and make a few mistakes. Doesn’t matter. That is where you are going to learn. But it’s better if you make mistakes in the early days with smaller amounts of money than later with larger amounts of money. As you earn more, you will be having more to invest, and at that time, you don’t want to make mistakes. So make them now. And have a good time. Happy investing! I really hope to see all of you build your wealth through investing.

What do you think?

Written by WSL Desk

WSL Desk brings you the updates that are worth reading, straight from the Brands.

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