International Women’s Day: Meet Four Stay-At-Home Fund Managers 

The Author is Aprajita Sharma.

Meenakshi Kochar is a 41-year-old Kolkata-based stay-at-home fund manager. Lack of financial training has not stopped her from taking charge of her family’s finances, a responsibility that her husband was shouldering earlier.  

Always A Good Time To Learn 

It all started when Meenakshi decided to overcome her hesitation in dealing with finances and signed up for a paid financial literacy workshop that clarified a lot of misconceptions she had about the investment world. For instance, she learnt that the high-premium insurance policies they had would provide very little return or death cover. So, she surrendered all the expensive policies they had and opted for a term plan and a health insurance plan instead. “I learned about insurance, index funds and direct mutual funds. I learnt to calculate the future values of my existing goals. This is how I started goal-based investing for my child’s (14-year-old son) foreign education, our family vacations and our retirement,” she says. 

What about her own expenses? “I charge my husband for my financial services,” she says. 

Investments are not difficult at all, she adds. “If I could do it, anyone can.” 

Read about how homemakers are taking over the family’s fund management and you can do it too.

Looking At All Options 

Delhi-based Sujata Mudgill Dargan, 39, not only manages her family’s money but also earns from the stock market. Sujata got interested in the stock market during the dotcom bubble around 1990 when most of her colleagues and friends would talk about the internet bubble and the Y2K wave. “(At the time), a lot of my friends opened their demat accounts, but I wasn’t confident enough about it, so I didn’t open one. I consciously decided to pursue stock market investing only after my marriage when I became serious about savings,” she says. 

Sujata’s husband was equally conscious about financial planning but did not explore beyond fixed deposits, Public Provident Fund (PPF), insurance plans or real estate. “I knew that real wealth creation lies in the stock market. I started learning about it. Not only do I invest directly in stocks but also in mutual funds every now and then.” Sujata also convinced her husband to start systematic investment plans (SIPs) in index funds. The couple now has a portfolio that is well-diversified across equities, fixed income, gold and real estate . “Take interest in money matters and discuss it with your spouse. It is as important as any other family matter.” 

A Shared Burden 

Malaysia-based Vareen Gadhoke Ray, 41, knew that it was critical to invest in a planned way and encouraged her husband to get serious about investment planning. Vareen decided to shoulder the responsibility as she was conversant with financial products and concepts. When Vareen was young, her father would send her to the nearby bank to withdraw money, write cheques or start a fixed deposit. “I was not scared of going to the bank or filling up financial forms, unlike other girls of my age,” she says. Now, she periodically mails her husband an Excel sheet that contains details of their ongoing investments, their value and key passwords and data. “I do it because in case something happens to me, he will have a ready-reckoner of our finances,” she says.  

DIY Way Of Investing 

Apoorva B. Ashok, 32, who lives in Bengaluru, was on the same page with her husband regarding financial planning. “Realising that we would benefit from expert help, we decided to seek a financial planner’s support,” she says. The couple now goes to the planner once a year for a portfolio review. Apoorva has educated herself on various financial concepts from Facebook groups and other sources. One of the things she has learnt is that investors can also use direct plans to invest in mutual funds. “We are invested in regular plans. Now that I know about direct plans, we are willing to switch to DIY investing.”