The Nobel Prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman puts loss aversion in this way: for most people, the fear of losing $100 is more intense than the chance of gaining $150. When it comes to stock market investments, loss aversion drives people to emotional reactions in volatile stock markets. It could be anything, from the desire to chase the next hot stock in a full bloom Bull market, to the fear that drives the wish to move their equity portfolios to safer assets during market declines. But in truth, abandoning a planned investment strategy more often than not ends-up as a costly mistake. While providing comprehensive financial solutions, the behavioural coaching working with clients to protect their portfolios from emotional reactions has been a DIAMOND tool for NiveshIndia to engender and preserve a loyal customer ecosystem over the past 15 years.

“During the great recession of 2008, I have personally witnessed many of investors letting their emotions rule them in decision making, and made mistakes that permanently damaged their financial well-being. Throughout my career, I have always been successful when I am able to convince my clients to stay the course without making portfolio changes due to market related volatility. It takes building huge trust and strong relationships with clients to help them keep emotions out of investing and thus deliver true value to investors,” asserts Marzee Kerawala, the young awardwinning founder of NiveshIndia.

Marzee & Maher built NiveshIndia in 2005 from scratch and thereafter he scaled this

business over the subsequent years. No wonder he has been consistently awarded in NJ PBC (India’s largest Mutual fund industry event) for outstanding performance in MARS, Equity, Debt & SIPS year-on-year since 2010. One of the top CFPs (Certified Financial Planner) in the country today, NiveshIndia now manages few hundreds of crores of AUM with its clients spread across nine countries and 18 different cities of India a legacy built on trust and relationships with client.

A well-designed investment plan for each client based on his/her financial goals and risk appetite has made significant contributions to NiveshIndia’s success

Trust Matters the Most
Building trust has no shortcuts. Marzee manages his clients’ money through MARS, a model portfolio which is dynamically managed and rebalanced every six months. To ensure foolproof accountability, transparency, and optimum performance, he has indeed invested most of his own savings, his entire family (including parents & in laws) savings and most of his employees money into this portfolio. “By doing that, I like to have my skin in the game. My clients feel a lot more comfortable and confident when they see their money being managed in the same way and through the same schemes with the same Asset Allocation as I manage mine,” adjoins Marzee.

Furthermore, the process of customizing a well designed financial plan for each client in accordance with their financial goals begins with a consultation session to understand their most exclusive needs. A well-designed investment plan for each client based on his/her financial goals and risk appetite has made significant contributions to NiveshIndia’s success. Since its clients majorly comprise Doctors & NRIs who stay miles away from their homeland, this extremely client centric consultative approach towards wealth management keeps them away from the world of misselling.

Changing the Thought
In India, the challenges go way deeper than falling prey to mis-selling. People still believe that Real Estate is a better investment than equity in the long term. It makes experienced consultants like Marzee sit with them and share the data collected over the past several years to create awareness. It propels him to wear many hats, including that of an asset manager, financial planner, psychologist and marketer in order to succeed. “The clients’ interests always come first. To me, financial planning means being personally involved with my clients’ families in their financial journey, and I attribute my success to the faith and trust they have posed in me and my abilities. That’s the biggest Asset of our firm,” concludes Marzee.