Spring Your Way To Financial Freedom

Spring is in the air - a season of new beginnings, of blooms, blossoms and growth and rejuvenation. A season of optimism and hope. Quite befitting that Women’s Day is celebrated in Spring, a day when we celebrate the accomplishments of successful women and focus our energies to bring about a positive change in the lives of women.

Is one day in the year enough to bring about a change? Clearly not. But I believe this day acts as a little reminder. A little nudge that helps us get out of the rigmarole of our everyday routine and take ownership of empowering and enriching our lives.

One of the primary and most impactful ways to empower ourselves is by attaining financial freedom. As rightfully said by Reema Saud, the Saudi Arabian Ambassador, “I truly believe that liberty for a woman comes from the ability to make financial decisions for her life”.

Financial freedom means different things to different women. For some, it is having an awareness of their financial needs and their financial situation. For others, it is the ability and confidence to take charge of their finances and take financial decisions. Financial freedom essentially stems from the knowledge that we have enough to take care of our needs and make our desired life choices.

Having interacted with women investors for over last two decades, I have summarized below some pointers that will guide you through your investment journey and help you become financially independent and free.

1. Become involved and aware: This is the first step towards attaining financial freedom. Today, women have achieved great heights in various fields but many of them still shy away from taking charge of their finances themselves. It’s fine to let family members take care of our finances and investments but the least we can do is be aware and make an effort to participate in the evaluation and decision making process. Life is unpredictable and in an unforeseen and unwanted situation, being aware of your and family’s finances will hold you in good stead.

2. Do not get intimidated by investments: Investing is not rocket science. Just as we don’t need to be a Mechanical Engineer to drive a car, we don’t need to be a Mathematician to make investments. It may seem boring or complicated to begin with but as one starts getting involved, I have seen the confidence and comfort level grow. There is enough information and professional help available to take informed decisions. Discipline, rationality and patience play a far bigger role in the success of our investments than personal knowledge of products and markets.

3. Investments need to be personal, do not be influenced by others: Women tend to get a lot of free advice from their family and friends regarding their investments. I have seen so many conservative women investors getting advice to invest in risky products by their friends and vice versa. Your friend may be comfortable with a high-risk, high-return approach but if you are someone who loses sleep on market corrections then clearly your risk profile is conservative, and a risky product may not be suitable for you. Always remember that your investment objectives, tenure, and risk tolerance level is personal to you and your investments need to be in sync with that. Following someone else’s investing style or preference is akin to buying clothes as per someone else’s size, fit or preference.

4. Direction, Diversification and Discipline – The 3 D’s for successful investing: Have a big picture approach towards investments. Instead of starting with which product to invest in, start with defining what this investment means for you. Make a financial plan wherein you can list your financial goals, categorize them as short, medium, and long term, understand your risk tolerance level and define your asset allocation. This will give a clear direction to your investments and help in selecting the most suitable products.

Diversification is the biggest mitigant to risk and your asset allocation helps you in diversifying across different asset classes in line with your requirements. Many investors tend to have lop-sided investments. Too much in real estate or too much in fixed deposits. Too much of anything is avoidable…both in life and investments! Balance is the key and asset allocation helps us reach that balance in our investments.

The secret to successful investing is following a disciplined approach. Starting investment journey early in life, making regular and consistent investments, sticking to the plan, and not getting swayed by noise around you…all these things go a long way in making your investment journey rewarding.

Our finances are an integral part of our lives and in so many ways influence the kind of lives we lead. Let’s face it…where we live, where our children study, where we work and how long we work, whether we continue to work in a non-enjoyable role - most of these decisions are influenced by our personal and family’s financial situation. Anything that is so critical to the way we live our life obviously should merit our full attention.

Financial freedom brings peace of mind. It opens myriad doors and choices and sets us free from any worries or fear. The journey to our financial freedom cannot be completed in one day in a year but let us use this day to assess where we stand and what steps we can take to become financially independent.

Vinita Idnani

Guest Author The author is Partner at Capital League,a boutique financial services firm. She is a Seasoned Financial Services Professional with extensive experience over two decades across Wealth Management and Banking.