Vol 2 No.2

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KAMFAQUEST
Uniting to Grow... Growing to Unite
The House Magazine of Karnataka Association of Mutual Fund Advisors
Vol. 2
No. 2012-13/ 2
President’s Message
Board of Management
Dear Fellow member,
President
K.V. KANNAN
Vice - President
GEORGE JOSEPH
Secretary
K.T. SURESH
Jt.Secretary
RAJIVKUMAR GUPTA
Treasurer
PIYUSH S. SHAH
Members
T.R. SOMA SUNDAR
NEELESH J SHAH
R. LAKSHMANAN
SHANKAR PATEL
K.V. MURALIDHAR
SHYAM SUNDER
Team Kamfa
GEORGE JOSEPH
94489 36248
K.T. SURESH
98860 02564
RAJIVKUMAR GUPTA
98455 59401
Karnataka Association
of Mutual Fund Advisors
#7, 2nd Floor, Walton Road,
Bangalore-560 001
Email: [email protected]
facebook.com/kamfa.bangalore
twitter.com/kamfabangalore
November 2012 - January 2013
Greetings from the management committee
I am very pleased to connect with you through this issue of KAMFA Quest The
last 3 months have been eventful with our Second Annual Convention breaking
records as a grand event which was well attended by over 450 delegates from all
corners of Karnataka. In addition we had representatives from IFA associations
based in Kerala and Tamilnadu gracing the occasion with their presence. Your overwhelming response
and support was the deciding factor in making this event a successful one two years in a row. I thank you
on behalf of the entire management committee.
I also take this opportunity to thank all my colleagues in the management committee for their effort, time
and sacrifice without which it would not have been possible to scale such heights.
The event had brought together an impressive array of speakers from the Fund Management industry
with whom our members had an opportunity to interact meaningfully on a broad spectrum of relevant
topics. Our website www.kamfa.in was launched on the same day to facilitate member connect and I
request all of you to use your website on a regular basis to make it dynamic and vibrant in the true sense of
the word. Your active participation and feed back in this regard is an absolute necessity as this website is
meant for you primarily. I take this opportunity to thank Mr. Neelesh J Shah, committee member and Mr.
Thiru Srinivasan, member, for making the website operational within a very short period of time.
Your association has been growing in numbers at a healthy rate which is essential to make KAMFA a truly
representative IFA association in Karnataka. This growth has been achieved in a reasonably quick time
frame. Today KAMFA's membership base stands at well over 300 members which makes it the largest IFA
association in India. Congratulations to all of you and thank you very much for this awesome display of
solidarity.
Your association has keeping in mind its objective to be the voice of Karnataka's IFAs, started
representing the fraternity on various industry related issues and regulations in a professional manner
befitting its stature as the largest IFA association in the country today. To cite an example, in response to
the recently proposed regulation regarding introduction of Direct Class of Mfs, your association
conducted a dipstick survey of its members. Based on your response KAMFA has corresponded to the
regulator expressing its anguish on the proposal and requested consideration of a rollback of this
regulation.
Further, your committee members meet the AMFI board along with other IFA associations and
represented your point of view on this proposed regulation. It is a small step towards IFA empowerment
but, a move in the right direction nevertheless. As we all are aware any long journey begins with the first
step.
While attempts are made to ensure that our voice is heard and included in making decisions which have a
telling impact on our practice, we should focus with renewed vigor on delivering value to our clients.
This will be the ultimate differentiation for our clients and will ensure that they continue to use our
services on a long term basis. Hence, let us endeavor to reach a level of usefulness to our clients which will
make it interference proof from the external environment. KAMFA Learning Academy modules go a
long way in training ourselves and acquiring skill sets to be a value proposition to our clientele. Hence, I
request you to attend regularly and derive maximum benefit from these sessions.
I request you to participate actively in all the activities of your association especially in the area s of
KAMFA Learning Academy, www.kamfa.in and increasing our membership base and thank you for your
cooperation thus far.
“Greetings of the festive season ahead to you and every member of your family"
Yours Sincerely,
Kannan K.V.
From the desk of the Secretary –
Dear KAMFites,
Heartiest congratulations to each one of us for the grand and successful completion
of KAMFA 2nd Annual Convention held in Bengaluru on 22nd Sept 2012. What an event it was.. Grand
ambience, great food, wonderful speakers and a bountiful welcome kit. And above all, gracious
participation by you all – more than 400, with a large contingent of 150 people from outside Bangalore.
All the AMCs supported us in great measure. The unity of the industry is very much intact. The Souvenir
was a collector's item – you will preserve it for reading again and again! The AMC directory was another
unique and thoughtful idea. In short, KAMFA is rocking and it is showing! Thank you all.
The remaining part of the KAMFA year will be mainly spent on two things –
1. Organise KAMFA chapters in all districts in Karnataka.
2. Activate the existing chapters with more guidance and participation.
3. More and more events (both in and outside Bangalore) from KAMFA Learning Academy.
Do keep in constant touch with KAMFA through our website www.kamfa.in
Please feel free to write to me on any relevant topic and suggestions.
K.T. Suresh
Secretary.
" Money and matters of Mind"
Contributed by - T R Somasundar
1. No point using limited life to chase unlimited money.
2. No point earning so much money you cannot live to spend it.
3. Money is not yours until you spend it.
4. When you are young, you use your health to chase your wealth; when you are old, you use
buy back your health. Difference is that, it is too late..
your wealth to
5. How happy a man is, is not how much he has but how little he needs.
6. No point working so hard to provide for the people you have no time to spend with.
Remember this -- We come to this world with nothing, we leave this world with nothing!
"Coin always makes sound. But the
currency notes are always silent. So when
your value increases, keep yourself calm
and silent "
“ If Friendship is your weakest point,
then you are the strongest person in the
world "
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Charity Begins at home
I have a secret for all of you, but before I tell you the secret I have a brief story (very filmy) to narrate:
There was a scientist who was working hard on an idea; he was experimenting day and night on this idea. This idea if it clicked, he would not
have to work again. He had to crack this idea and he was almost there. This was a important innovation, and there were others also after his
research, he had to protect this information from others at any cost. There was hard work & time involved; there was the process of actually
making the break through and protecting your hard work against the people after this information.
The Secret: You are the greatest scientist of your life time and your advisory business is the break through idea you are working on!
As you will go through this article you will note that I have nothing new to say. I just have one thing to say, you are the most valuable resource of
your business, you are as important to your business as Steve Jobs was for Apple.
They say charity begins at home, I say in case of a financial advisor - advising begins at home. Let's look at our life as a financial advisor. The
risks we face:
a) Health & Critical Illness: Like most other human beings we are also suspect to the vagaries of fluctuating health. But
considering that we are mostly entrepreneurs, if we are down our business can really slow down and add to that the ever fluctuating
markets this could also mean that we lose important clients during such trying times. Covers available upto Rs. 50L
b) Permanent Disability & Accidental Death: I know many of our friends drive around using a two wheeler and possibly are really safe
drivers. But frankly when you are driving you don't need to be unsafe to be hurt, someone else's mistake can also hurt you. I guess
some of you can actually recollect such examples, now how about insuring against those? Covers available upto Rs. 50L
c) Life Insurance: Let me tell you one real life example that my family experienced. My cousin was all of 29 years old, on Diwali day
he was travelling back from his shop after conducting Laxmi Pooja. There were crackers bursting on the road, he was
always safe wearing his helmet
full covered stopped his two
wheeler. Two kids came racing
on their bikes and banged
straight into him, he passed
away the next day. He had a total
sum assured of Rs. 5L, he was
survived by a baby girl. I don't
have to say you anything
m o r e . Yo u h a v e a n
opportunity to decide your
value?
d) Professional Indemnity: Very
soon some of us will have to
register under the
investment advisor regulations;
we may also become liable
under our profession and need
such covers like doctors.
e) Po r t f o l i o A l l o c a t i o n : O u r
investment portfolio unlike our
clients is not decided by
our goals, rather our portfolio
(i.e our business AUM) is an
aggregate of all our client goals.
Therefore our personal
investment portfolio should be
designed in a manner that
complements our business
portfolio. If we have mostly
equity clients,then our personal
investments should be debt and
vice versa.
A doctor cannot operate on himself and
he should not try it. My request to all my
friends choose a colleague who can do
justice to your portfolio and let him
review it for you. Our priority is our
clients, let someone else have us as a
priority. Remember you are the scientist
on his biggest discovery!
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“ Glimpses of the 2nd Annual Kamfa Convention" , 22nd Sept 2012 "
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Srinivasan Tiru Seshacharya -CFPCM
Chief Consultant & CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™'
WealMan Associates,
Wealth Management -Financial &Training Advisory Services
Relationship Management & Meeting Client/Investor Expectations
Hello Friends,
With the backdrop of the Current SEBI regulations on Investment Advisors and so much being debated & discussed ,I will share with you my
thoughts and perspective of how we all can manage better our Clients and assist you to reflect on:
1. Relationship Management
2. Investor/Client Expectations
The fundamental approach I propose to take here is, while the Regulators do what they are supposed to do, in the larger interest, some or most
of which, we as IFA's don't have any control, we however on realization and acceptance to ourselves have FULL CONTROL on managing
RELATIONSHIPS & Expectations of our Clients who are with us and help us to Grow with or without regulators!!
To begin with:
>
Can you honestly say that you have a High Esteem as an IFA?
>
Do you accept and have a sense of worth of Your Self as an IFA that you do add Value to your Clients/Investors needs & Goals?
>
If so, what do you bring on the table to the Client/Investor?
>
In short what is your Value Proposition?
In order to proceed further on Creating Real Relationships which hopefully will last long:
Here's a quick exercise.
[
Write down your five most important clients (how you define "important" is up to you).
[
You may define Clients by Total AUM, No of SIPS, etc.,
[
Then, write down as many things you know about those clients that have nothing to do with their business or the work you have done
for them.
[
What are their hobbies or passions?
[
How many kids do they have?
[
How old are those kids, and what are their names?
[
Where do they like to vacation? Things like that. So, how long is your list?
If you're like most people I speak with, probably not very long at all.
We learn everything we can about a client's business, but we often fail to discover anything substantial about our
clients/Investors as people.
If we do not engage with our clients in a real, personal way, then we are just another Advisor/Distributor However, clients are
much less likely to consider replacing IFA's with whom they have real relationships.
So, how do you start learning more about your clients?
Simple: ask them questions about themselves and their lives, Goals and not simply how much they have to invest (which any way they
know, why you have come for)
Lots of you may now be thinking, how do we get personal with clients?
G
What do clients think of me if I were to get "personal"?
G
Am I not invading his/her privacy by asking personal questions during my business/personal visit?
G
If these are the thoughts in your mind, well, you never know till you ask? Isn't it?
G
Do you restrict yourself to matters only to Mutual Fund Industry and wasting energies in fighting out what should or shouldn't be?
Or look beyond and see where the Bread & Better comes from and learn to how to keep providing Value to your Clients in whatever
manner the Clients/Investors expects & appreciate?
Once again the need of the hour is to be Broad Based in matters pertaining to overall Financial Services (not necessarily restricted to
Mutual Fund Industry) and also Client Interests being always on the top ( should I say centre ?)of everything!!
When we do that and manage our relationships, we can say with pride that we the IFA'S are good "facilitators" for Clients well being
(therefore our well being too) be it as a 'Distributor" or as an "Advisor".
SrinivasanTS-CFP
WealMan Associates Bangalore
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Printed & Published by T R Somasundar on behalf of KAMFA at LEGAL TIMES Bangalore
For Private Circulation amongst members only.