Bloganand

With globalization and open trade and economic policies, there is a consistent rise in India’s per capita earning. With this, we have the biggest pool of middle and upper middle class households. As a result there is an ever increasing need for better management of individual’s funds, resulting in a need (hype?) for financial advisors. The real question is, ‘do we need a financial advisor?’. I do not think so. I happened to read an analogy for justifying the need for financial advisors. A TV manufacturer, say SONY, can manufacture a TV for a few hundred dollars whereas if we want to individually assemble a TV, we can do that with a lot of efforts but the end result far from what we can go and buy from a SONY showroom. I think this analogy is too far stretched for a extremely specialized area. When it comes to managing our own funds (and making sure they work for themselves), I do not think there is a need for a professional financial advisor. Here are the reasons –  ...

Over last few days, three things deeply disturbed me about India’s social and political future. 1.        Child Labor – While looking for a shoemaker for a quick shoe polish, I visited a local road side footpath stall and surprised to see the job handed over by a father to his 4 year old kid. When the child started polishing the shoe, I asked his father, “Why don’t you send him to a school instead?” the man replied, “He does not want to go to school”. This is the state of affairs in India 2012. I do not know the exact numbers but, there are millions of small kids kept away from education, and some of the basic human rights. On the other hand, there is a generation of growing middle and upper middle class kids spending more than 3 hours a day on Facebook and other non-productive activities, spending (wasting) money on luxuries and addictions. There is a widening gap between haves and have-nots which in turn disturbs balance of the society. The ever i...