Epsilon Money Mart Pvt. Ltd, a new age fin-tech based wealth management firm focuses on managing the financial life cycle of their clients and believe that managing wealth is an art as well as a science
With a vision to convert goals into financial success stories with trusted expertise and best in class products and services, Epsilon Money Mart Pvt. Ltd, is setting out to make a difference in the world of finance and aspires to be the trusted partner of their investors in their journey of achieving financial success with their range of capabilities and technologically superior solutions. Epsilon Money is an integrated new age wealth management firm, building their presence across India and eventually key Asian markets.
Focus and Goals
A study published in The Economic Times in October 2021 clearly showed that Indian professionals suffer higher stress level than most workers globally and nearly 44% of the respondents in India stated that they were struggling financially. People feel that they don’t have enough to meet monthly expenses and also for the long-term goals for e.g. their children’s education and marriage. This is why managing your finances the right way and having a financial advisor that you can rely upon is the need of the hour. With less stress comes better mental health which leads to overall well-being.
Money is the number one source of stress all around the world, if we have a plan in place to ensure that we have enough to meet our goals and a reliable guide to help in case things go awry, we feel more confident about the future and less stressful about our finances.
Building wealth for the future is no rocket science – provided we are disciplined, and we stick to basic principles – then it is simple and easy. All you need is the right partner to guide and explain the pros and cons of each investment and explain the path that one needs to follow to achieve one’s financial goals – that’s where Epsilon Money, comes in.
In a freewheeling chat with Business Goa – Abhishek Dev explains the vision and mission of Epsilon Money – and details his plans to make his clients wealthier.
Abhishek Dev is the co-founder and CEO at Epsilon Money Mart Pvt. Ltd.
and CEO at Epsilon
Money Mart Pvt. Ltd.
A management graduate, Abhishek has spent the last 21 years of his professional life in pursuit of excellence in asset and wealth management. He has been associated with reputed companies like HSBC GAM (India, South East Asia), PGIM AMC, AMEX Bank, HDFC AMC, and UTI in various roles including board membership and leading business management, sales, marketing and product development.
He explains how Epsilon Money plans on helping their clients achieve their financial goals
“At Epsilon Money, we believe that managing wealth is an art as well as a science. We are a new age fin-tech based wealth management firm focused on managing the financial life cycle of our discerning clients with care and an unwavering focus on helping our clients achieve their financial goals thereby helping them reduce their stress levels – by creating simple yet powerful financial solutions that will help our clients meet their goals.”
To that end they have tied up with some of the biggest brands in the financial domain – from MorningStar for asset allocation portfolios, to Vistra for Trust Services and the best fund houses in the country for mutual fund solutions and many more such alliances – to ensure that they are able to create a comprehensive product suite for their clients. “Our suite of products include simple mutual funds, bonds, fixed deposits, loan against securities to tax services, trust and estate planning, insurance referrals, equity research, global investments – direct and through feeder funds and many others to help fulfill our clients requirements. By building this strong product suite, we would like our clients to know that they do not need to look beyond Epsilon Money to help them fulfill their long term and short term financial goals,” he adds.
Abhishek addresses a few crucial questions regarding financial planning
- How should one start saving for a better future?
It is good that the idea of saving for the future is uppermost in one’s mind. There are, however, a few things you need to keep in mind before you take the plunge. The reason I am using a swimming phrase is that I have seen that is exactly what people do. Not knowing the depth of the water or whether it is safe, people jump in because a friend, colleague or well-wisher has told them to.
This does not work in the field of finance, where one has to be serious about building wealth. It is your future at stake after all.
There are three things that I encourage everyone to keep in mind before deciding where to save and invest:
- Map your financial goals
- Know your risk appetite
- Fix the time horizon for the goal
It is very important to save and invest keeping a goal in mind. Goals can be long term, like one’s retirement or the marriage of a child – or short term, like putting down a deposit on the car of your dreams 2-3 years down the line. You need to invest for a goal; just investing for the sake of it will be sub-optimal.
The next is to know your risk appetite. How much risk can you take without panicking and how much discipline you have to stay the course. If you are someone who is conservative by nature then it would be incorrect to invest in a high risk asset class. Similarly, if you have a good risk appetite then a low risk-low return product may not work for you.
Lastly, is the time horizon. If your goal is say 2-3 years away from now, then it will be very tough to get there with an ultra-conservative approach. Whereas if your goal is a few years away then a slightly more aggressive approach which may give better returns down the line may be a good idea. A lot, therefore, depends on the time horizon of the goal.
Once we get a grip on these three factors then comes the tough part of choosing the right investment vehicle. I always recommend that you get in touch with a professional financial advisor for this. After all, it is your future and professional advice that will go a long way in helping you.
- Is this the right time to enter the market?
If I made `10 every time I was asked this question, I would be a millionaire! Levity aside, there is only one answer to this question and that is a resounding yes.
The major hurdle investors face is over thinking, what if the market falls tomorrow? What if it rises so high that it becomes prohibitive? Will my principal be safe, etc.
Firstly, as an investor you need to understand shades of grey. There is no black and white. There is no asset class that is completely risk free and there is no asset class that will always give bumper returns. There will always be a grey area – where assets performing brilliantly today will be terrible tomorrow and back to their brilliant best the day after. Markets will swing. Markets will be volatile. But that should not deter you, ever, from investing and here’s the numbers to tell you why.
The BSE SENSEX, on an average, since inception has given returns of approximately 16%. The BSE SENSEX started in 1979 at 100 and today at 60,000 – a growth of 600 times in 44 years!
There are years like 2008-2009 when the SENSEX hit the lows of 9,716 in March 2009 crashing by -52% and rose to all-time highs within 2 years to cross the 20,000 mark in September 2010. Today, 13 years later, the SENSEX is at 60,674! So don’t worry – markets will never always be at all-time lows. Similarly, they will also never always keep breaking new highs.
Secondly, the potential that is India. At Epsilon Money, we are firm believers in the ‘India Growth Story’. We believe that the future is here. Given the demographic dividend that we have and the orientation towards encouraging startups are few amongst several factors that lead us to believe that India is ‘The’ place to be for the next 20 years, minimum. A young, educated population with aspirations of touching the sky, consuming products and services and improving their lifestyle is a huge opportunity for companies to grow – and what better way to be a part of this growth than to invest in these companies – directly via equities or lending to them via fixed income instruments.
So if the markets go up or down today should not worry you. Stay invested, stay disciplined and you should benefit in the long run.
- What is your advice to the youngsters of today, starting their first jobs? What is your advice to someone who is on the cusp of retirement?
Good question since my advice to people in both these age groups is as different as chalk and cheese. And it is tough advice to follow.
For Youngsters:
I would like to tell them to start investing early. Start investing from the time you finish reading this article. Your challenge is going to be to stay disciplined – do not get tempted to splurge on the latest gadget or the new brand of clothing in town. It is tough today as you would want to splurge what you earn but will help you a lot in the future. Beware of instruments that allow you to buy now and pay later – you will pay later but a lot dearly than what you had bargained for.
Being young and having your whole life in front of you means you may be able to take a little risk and invest in equities – since equities has the potential to give you good returns in the long run, with a slightly higher risk. SIP is the best way for you to invest since it will help you inculcate the discipline of setting aside a little for investment while allowing it to compound and grow.
Also remember to diversify in fixed income and gold.
Chalk out your life’s goals, further education, marriage, buying assets, retirement etc. Find a good financial advisor who can help you plan for finances which has a judicious mix of asset classes to help you achieve your goals.
For those about to Retire:
To this segment my advice is just the opposite. Stay safe, invest in relatively safer assets like fixed income since the time horizon to achieve your goals is relatively soon and not decades away. This is the stage where you will start to redeem existing investments as your goals are getting closer to completion. Do not make the mistake of getting lured into products that promise high returns in a short time frame, chances of such investments going awry are high.
Look at something which can give you a regular income to take care of expenses when you retire. Also know that medical expenses will have to be kept in mind as well. Resist the temptation to give a large chunk of your investments to any friend or relative if you have not planned for the expense – tough advice again I know, but it will stand you in good stead in your golden years.
A SWP or Systematic Withdrawal Plan may help you tide over regular expenses.
Whatever your life stage ensure that you have a contingency fund that covers at least 12 months of regular expenses. This will go a long way to ensure your peace of mind.
Young or old – stay disciplined, do your homework before you make any fresh investments and stay away from something that doesn’t suit your risk profile – even if it means swimming against the tide.
- What are you doing to increase financial awareness in India?
Epsilon Money started in August 2022 and one of the main reasons that inspires me and the team is to increase financial awareness, which we feel has a long, long way to go, especially in Tier 2 cities; and the need is starker as we go deeper into India.
Our plan is to increase financial awareness through articles and quotes in the press, informative guides, videos, master classes etc.
One of the segments that we are focusing on is women investors. Since covid, we have seen the number of women investors explode with more and more women wanting to take control of their financial destinies and manage their own money. Gone are the days of indecision and dependence – the woman of today is strong, independent and wants to invest for herself. This is not me just saying it but an online survey that we conducted has given us this and much more data and great insights into the way women are looking to invest.
Aptly titled ‘The Finance Diva’ – through a series of articles, videos, a dedicated guide on women investing, offline events, partnering with women’s associations across India and many more such initiatives, we will strive to educate women on the plethora of investment options available and which one is the best for them.
Another important aspect of investor education is the systematic investment plans. Many investors are yet unaware that they can participate in the India growth story for as little as `500 to `1,000 per month through SIPs.
Over time `1,000 per month at 15% and over 25 years has ability to compound to `32,84,074! For the older generation systematic withdrawal plans work the other way where a fixed amount can be received by the investor on a monthly basis helping investors tide over monthly expenses post retirement. At Epsilon Money, we want to take this concept of systematic investment to all corners of the country.
In metro cities, we see a distinct lack of information on global investing. Sitting here in India, and being an Indian citizen, one can invest directly in world class companies like Amazon, Alphabet, Tesla, Shell etc. the fact that one can easily make these investments from the comforts of one’s homes needs to be promoted.
Most of us dream of sending our children abroad – and one thing that could hurt us is the volatility of the currencies. Imagine if we could invest in USD today and use that pool to fund our children’s education. The ability for us to do so is there – just the awareness needs to be spread further.
This is something the regulator has allowed many years ago through the Liberalised Remittance scheme (LRS). Global diversification helps the case for true diversification and we help our clients with seamless solutions for the same.
The Goa Story of Wealth Creation
Goa is one of the first set of markets identified by Epsilon Money and they have an office in Panaji since July 2022, with a team of four members.
Goa as a financial market presents some great variables and opportunity.
With amongst the highest banking and para-banking penetration in the country, Goa has long been known for its high penetration in the Fixed Deposit Investment and Life Insurance segments. In the past decade, the state make rapid strides in the Mutual Fund penetration and today boast of an Assets Under Management (AUM) of more than INR 20,000 crores. The retail segment AUM forms almost 50% of this figure.
Given the increased financial awareness in the market and also the insights on financial management that NRIs in Goa have, it is becoming an even more vibrant market for wealth creation. The Goa market presents all segments of potential investors: from retail households, business owners, corporate employees, high-net worth individuals to institutions of all scales.
Epsilon Money’s approach on wealth creation revolves around a strong, evolving product offering and a structured process to creating wealth. The emphasis is on goal planning and asset allocation. These form the “HOW” part of the investing process. Also, Epsilon Money has proven partners on their platform and offer best-in-class avenues to their customers for wealth creation.
Given the savings and investment legacy in Goa, Epsilon Money believes that the key is to build trust and repute as a credible wealth expert firm and differentiate themselves with quality inputs, an enriched product and digital proposition and a ‘customer-first’ approach to service. Also, they are a market participant, with an important role to play in increasing the financial awareness in Goa and helping cultivate a wealth growth mindset amongst their customers and the larger ecosystem. Epsilon Money strongly believes in the ‘India Growth Story’ and look forward to taking the same to their customers across Goa.
