Psychology of Money

On October 21, 2023; a fantastic session on improving financial literacy was organised by Indus Capital & HDFC Asset Management Company and hosted by the Women Development Cell under the Institute of Architecture & Planning at Nirma University. The session was led by Ms. Prarthana Dave who is a Financial Educator. Ms. Dave has over two decades of experience in the asset management industry, and she has trained more than 50,000 investors and financial advisors. She imparted her experience, knowledge & learnings from her career with the audience which was composed of students as well as senior faculty members. With the goal of increasing literacy and awareness regarding financial planning and investments, the topic of the session was – Psychology Of Money. The key leanings from the session were as follows: 

• Any investment one makes should beat inflation (increasing the cost of living) in the long term
• One should start saving & investing at an early stage 
• One should earn, then save, then spend instead of earn, spend and then save
• One should have adequate insurance to protect our savings & dependant family members against health & life         emergencies
• With each generation, the economy & markets change, so our investments in products & choices should also evolve with time. Instruments which created wealth in the past might not be the best instruments for the future. 
• The world today is of specialisation & expertise, for better financial health, one should always consult an expert
• One should think about their investment decisions & patterns objectively. Keep emotions out of the calculations as much as possible.

One should make investment decisions based on financial goals, risk appetite, investment horizon and, most importantly, asset allocation.