Prateek Jindal’s Post

What’s the often-overlooked cornerstone of financial independence? It’s insurance.  Your financial fort needs these 3 shields: life, health, and even disability insurance. In the latest episode of Power Pioneers, Sumit Ramani, FIAI, FIA, BTech (ICT) talks about how ‘insurance’ is key to all Financial independence journeys.  𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐭-𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. Some key points worth noting: 1️⃣ LIFE INSURANCE Make sure that your financial independence corpus and life cover align. It will serve as a retirement corpus for your dependents, ensuring their financial security in your absence. Don't be misled by large-sounding numbers like 1 crore. 𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧’𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝? 2️⃣ HEALTH INSURANCE Make sure you have critical illness cover for your health. It provides additional financial support in case YOU get severe health issues. Adding this to your policy means you can focus on recovery without the added stress of how to finance it. 3️⃣ DISABILITY INSURANCE This one often gets overlooked and is new for me as well. It covers income loss due to disability. It's also typically much cheaper than term insurance because the risk of disability is much lower compared to death. I cannot stress enough how much prioritising buying the right types of insurance is key to your wealth creation journey. Do this thing today: Take a look at your insurance cover and check what it offers & what it doesn’t. And if you don’t have these, plan to get one immediately. Link to the podcast in the comments.

✅ Started at 50 and achieved financial freedom within 7 years. ✅ With a 100% Equity portfolio.  This is the inspiring story of Lakshmi Narayanan Srinivasan. Mr Narayanan realised at 50 that if something were to happen to him, he wouldn’t be leaving anything behind for his family. This shook him. And he had to optimise his investments to create wealth within a short period. He started with an aggressive portfolio made up with: → 80% Equity mutual funds → 20% Stocks 𝐈𝐧 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 7 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬, 𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦. And no, he didn’t invest exorbitant amounts (~1.6 lakhs each month). To me, the most inspiring part of his journey was his resilience during the 2008 market crash. He saw his earnings drop by 80%. You’d expect him to panic. But he didn’t react impulsively. → He believed in the market and stayed put → He didn't know when it would rebound, but he was confident it would People often say that after 40-50, your risk appetite diminishes. But Mr. Narayan proves that when you commit to a goal, you can’t let a little turbulence throw you off course. I really believe: 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠; 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬. Tune in to the latest episode of Power Pioneers to hear more about Mr. Narayan's incredible journey, hosted by Navdha Khera. His story is a reminder that it's never too late to start, and with the right mindset, financial independence is within reach. Link is in the comments!

My investment strategy largely stemmed from what I saw growing up. Like any indian middle class family, investments weren’t discussed at my home. Except for the yearly PPF ritual, occasional nod to FDs, and frequent discussions around buying our own house. In my early years of earning, I followed suit and only considered the investment options my parents and peers trusted. This behaviour was common among those around me. So, this reinforced my reluctance to explore anything new. Eventually, I started meeting people who invested actively and made much better returns. I realised that I was missing out on so much. 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬. These are the steps I took to make the change: 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭. You have to decide that you need to invest better and create wealth for yourself. No one else can. Setting a goal for when I can be Financially Independent really helped me. 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡. Read or watch videos to get started. A lot of content is available out there. A great start is mutual funds SIPs - there’s nothing else that’s as simple to understand and yet has high returns potential. 𝐙𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐢𝐧. You don’t need to do it all. Just do 1 or 2 things well. I decided to focus on MFs. I’d recommend reading - 108 Questions & Answers on Mutual Funds & SIP. This really helped me get better at MF investing. 𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞. Look amongst your peers for those investing well. Have conversations with them to learn their views and validate your strategies. 𝐁𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠. I’ve learnt the hard way that the best investment strategy is actually the simplest - be consistent with your investments and invest for the long term. I realise the cultural silence around investing is very real, difficult to break, and especially daunting at first. Did you also face a similar experience? I’d love to know what helped you overcome your inertia in the comments.

Our financial decisions are shaped by emotions, biases, and shortcuts. Recognising these early can really help in making informed choices. I’m sharing some common behaviours in personal finance that I’ve seen around me below: 1. 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞: From the moment we receive our first salary, we're inundated with investment advice—usually from family and friends. Social proof plays a huge role. Seeing everyone around us invest in FDs and real estate drives us to do the same, regardless of whether it's the best choice for our financial goals. This often leads to investments made without a clear understanding of long-term gains or underlying principles. 2. 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐁𝐢𝐚𝐬: We often prioritise immediate rewards over long-term benefits. While it is natural to focus on immediate achievements such as promotions or salary increases, it is equally important to invest efficiently for the future. 3. 𝐋𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞: Usually, when we lack confidence in some areas of life, we put in the extra effort to strengthen our knowledge. But this doesn’t happen with our investments. We rely heavily on advice from more knowledgeable friends, not realising that this dependence leads to inadvertent delays and therefore inefficiencies in our own investments. — At PowerUp Money, we don’t want anyone to lose out on their potential wealth due to these behaviours. And that’s why we built Power Age - a comprehensive planner for your future wealth. With Power Age, you can : → Get a future view of your wealth  See how your investments today would pan out in the long run → Sharpen your investments plan Know the effect of each factor and how it impacts your future wealth → Account for major life events Simulate the impact of key life events (like buying a house, car etc), before making these financial decisions What behavioural biases have you noticed in your financial decisions? Do share yours personal experiences in the comments or email me at [email protected]