Rohan left a comment on the first post about investing for beginners about how much that post resonated with his experience, and I asked him if he’d be interested in sharing his story.
He responded to me last week, and here’s what he had to say (with minor editing).
First, a bit about me.
Age: 26 Years
Education: Computer Engineer
Current Job Role: Senior Software Engineer
IT Experience: 5 years 8 Months
Project: Derivatives Product Control
Marital Status: Married
Story :
Phase 1 Beginnings
I started my investment career when I joined HSBC on 24 July 2006, had a habit of investing minimum 10,000 every month since my 1st salary. I used to invest all that in stock market (I know it’s too bad to jump too early into this without much knowledge, but I really some how got attracted to it due to my gujju blood may be 🙂 )
I also did a 7 day stock market class in Pune for better understanding and gave 3-4 NCFM exams including derivatives one.
By the end of 2007Â I had invested Rs. 3,30,000 in the stock market (including 50% mom’s amount) and total output value was Rs. 5,20,000.
Most of my investments were done based on my internet search / local broker tip / IPOs etc. It’s too bad that I didn’t sell anything at the time , because I had never heard of selling the stocks till then, and waited for them to go up , up and up 🙁
Phase 2 Bubble Burst
In Jan 2008 came the Reliance Power IPO with much hype, and I got carried away and filled 2 applications of 1 lakh and rest we all know 🙁
After that I didn’t invest in a single stock and as I said I was just witnessing all investments value getting reduced day by day.
I lost confidence in stock market at that time and got distracted from it for next 2 years or so.
I wasn’t even reading any financial articles or talking about it to my friends 🙂
It’s just that in 2010, stock market was on recovery mode and I also needed money for my marriage so I sold most of my investments.
Phase 3 Marriage
I got married in Dec 2010 and since then I felt the need to start investment again for my family’s secure future.
As I had already burned my hands in the 2008 crash, I was sure that I will not take that route. By now, I had realized that it’s not possible to concentrate on day trading till I do my day job.
So this time I decided to take mutual funds SIP route and started searching for good mutual funds with track records.
Around similar time (March 2011), I found out about your’s and Hemant’s blog through internet and got attracted to it.
Then I had gone through many of articles from both of your websites and got convinced that only mutual funds SIP is not sufficient and what I need is complete financial planning. But only thing that was stopping me from doing it was fees for financial planning. This financial planning concept is still very new in our country and to pay for the advice is something for which I was having hard time to convince myself.
Later around April 2011 , Hemant announced the scheme of complete financial planning in 10k and at that moment I decided that this is time I should go for it.
I called him and we had discussion about the current situation and my requirement. Within span of 2 months, we completed all the formalities and I shared maximum information about my financial life to him.
He had plan ready for me and once we agreed to it then we started the implementation on it since Jun 2011. I can say that it is very good plan made by him, catering to all my objectives. It covers retirement planning, goal planning (child education, child marriage, vacations, car purchase , insurance planning).
Also he divided all the goals into 3 categories like short term, medium term and long term for my better understanding.
So I am very happy with this phase right now and planning to continue in it for long long time.
About stock market, I still have fascination about buy/sell of stocks but I have decided to gain lot of knowledge about its nuances before i jump again and that too with amount which i can afford to loose.
Also currently I am also pursuing the MBA from ICFAI and into its last stage , its my company sponsored program and i have taken it to enhance my knowledge about finances.
So, this was my story starting diving deep in the market to taking a very planned approach. What do you think of it? Does it sound familiar to your story at all?
I have a general question. What is the best way to invest if you have 4-5 lakhs liquid cash? Are Bank deposits a good idea? Or is there any option?
Thanks for any ideas
Lot of great options right now – fixed deposits with good rates, tax free bonds with good yields, other bonds NCDs with good yields and there are good intermediate bond funds also but I’m not so sure how one goes about narrowing down that option. If I wanted to look for fixed income options then I would invest in a mix of these.
This post is so Unique, Thx a lot Rohan:)
I must compliment Rohan for sharing his story. Usually, success is a public affair and failure is a private funeral. But Rohan’s courage to share his investment journey will surely inspire many youngsters and those who have recently started their professional career. By devising and implementing a financial plan, and that too at such a young age will definitely benefit him and his family in long run. Proper financial plan is a must for successful management of one’s finances. Just a word of caution: he must review the plan vs. actual performance on periodic basis, say quarterly or half yearly because the financial universe is very dynamic in nature and the assumptions made in initial plan change over the period of time. But I am sure his financial planner must have already advised him about it. Good luck Rohan and God bless you.
Thanks for such generous feedback Shirish.
Its really motivating !!
This is nice feature manshu. I will really look forward to reading further reader stories.
Thanks IT – I’m going to reach out to people something which I haven’t done till now. How about one from you? About financial planning with respect to a baby? You had some good insights on this and I’m sure have learned more with the experience you’ve gained. Let me know if interested. Thanks!
I will surely do it as and when I get time. Will let you know.
That’s great 🙂 Thanks very much!
As pointed out earlier it is really gutsy to publicly confess your mistakes. Thanks for sharing your story with us.
Welcome 🙂
Interesting post, Mr. Rohan. It shows how we should diversify our financial plans and planning our goals.
Thanks Manshu for sharing reader stories which helps beginners like me who are starting investments.
It is a fascinating story and even more fascinating is the will to come out and share it. I’m not sure how many people will be ready to talk about their losses so openly.
Thanks manshu for giving me chance to share it other readers !!
Even if single reader get helped due to this story and puts his finances in order,
Then we can say that our purpose of sharing this story achieved.
You are welcome Rohan and thank you very much to share your thoughts such candidly! I think it is fair to say that this post is a hit! 🙂
Thanks Rohan for sharing your story. Most of us have similar journey we try to get into the stock market without doing due diligence and burn our hands. Unlike others who quit after making mistakes you took time off to lick your wounds and then started the financial journey with help which is commendable. At times we are penny wise and pound foolish. Spending 10K for sound advice is an investment which will reap benefits.
Just wondering how your portfolio is now: Does it have Insurance and Mutual funds or more?
I started on my financial journey with help after my kids were born. My journey till realizing that I am financially illiterate is at My experiments with money
I burned my hands the first time I entered as well 🙂
Hi Rohan,
It is really tough to confess our failure publicly but it shows how strong you are internally.
More than this, writing anything brings commitment – so this write-up shows that you are committed for improvement of your financial health.
Hemant I was pleasantly surprised to see your name show up in Rohan’s write up 🙂
Hi Manshu,
You were surprised but I was shocked to read Rohan’s name in Title 😉
haha I hope to give you more such surprises! 🙂
Thanks Hemant !
for helping me with improvement .. 🙂