Exclusive! You Need to Have Patience While Investing in the Stock Market: Anushka Rathod

Anushka Rathod is on a dedicated mission to unravel the complexities of finance, making them accessible to everyone while addressing the financial education gaps left by traditional schooling. With an innate understanding of the interests of young learners, she has become a trusted source, assisting countless individuals in solving their financial queries. In this exclusive interview, Anushka talks about what inspired her journey as a finance influencer and debunks misconceptions within the finance industry, offering invaluable insights that promise to transform financial comprehension.

What inspired you to become a finance influencer, and what motivates you to continue sharing your knowledge and insights in this field?

So what inspired me is that during the 2020 Covid, many of my friends had free time and even had been working for a year or two by then and had some surplus money. It was the time when they were looking to invest money or identify what their goals were, they would come up to me and ask, and I would always say, it's all there on Google; why don't you just check that? They would say the already existing content is very long and boring. And they wanted quick and actionable tips. 

That's when I realized that the way the young audience consumes information is changing. There is a bright or big market for actionable, digestible content in finance that young people can relate to. These are the problems that they're facing every day. And what motivates me is purely the kind of response I am getting. Every day, I have some comment or some direct message from people telling me how I have helped them solve their query, how they have taken positive action in their personal finance journey because of me, or how someone was trying to sell a financial product to them, but they had the necessary information to ask them the questions and take the decisions in favour of themselves. So that is something that continues to motivate me to upload content.

How do you stay up-to-date with the latest trends and developments in finance, and what resources do you rely on for your research?

The basics in finance, I would argue, are still the basics, so nothing much occurs or changes there. But yes, I've compiled a list of sources that arrive in my inbox daily for trends and developments. Those are essentially divided into two categories: one is facts, so I've subscribed to a few publications that report the news and things that are happening, and second, I've subscribed to a lot of sources where I can read opinions from respected experts because I want to know how they are interpreting things. I'm quite selective about the viewpoints I accept.

What are some of the most common misconceptions people have about finance, and how do you address those misconceptions in your content?

People hold many small misconceptions and may get technical, but one that has lately arisen is the idea that jewellery is a fantastic investment. Now, in my opinion, jewellery should be regarded as a luxury item because, first of all, it is made from gold that has been alloyed. Secondly, manufacturing costs range from 10% to 25%, which is a significant outlay of money. So if you want to wear jewellery, consider it a luxury purchase. But for investment purposes in gold, sovereign gold bonds and Gold ETFs are better options than physical jewellery. 

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What do you think are the most important skills for individuals to develop to be successful in managing their personal finances?

Two skills, in my opinion, are crucial: first, you must be logical while making decisions. You can't base your decisions on greed or FOMO, which is something that many individuals do while making decisions. You must make an informed conclusion and maintain objectivity. 

Second, you need to have patience while investing in the stock market because there will inevitably be ups and downs because variable asset instruments generally have them. However, if you have accurately assessed a stock, mutual fund, or asset class, identified opportunities, and comprehended the risks and underlying principles, stick with it, have faith in yourself, and be patient, knowing that over time, things will balance out and you will receive your returns.

How do you balance your own investment strategies and personal financial goals with your responsibilities as a finance influencer?

Well, my own strategies and known personal finance goals are pretty clear to me since I come from a wealth management background. I think this was the case even before I started making content. I have identified what my financial goals are, and I know what my temperament is as an investor. I tend to be a little risk-averse, and I'm happy with making moderate returns while getting good sleep at night and being tension-free rather than taking a lot of risks and chasing higher returns. So that is how I have devised my strategy, but balancing that with my responsibility as a finance influencer, as a finance influencer, you have to give very generic information because personal finances, at the end of the day, are very personal. So whenever I am putting out information, I don't only consider it from my point of view, but I think of it from multiple points of view. So then I can get to know if a particular piece of information will be helpful to a larger audience or not.

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What role do you see social media playing in the future of finance, and how do you think it will continue to evolve in the years to come?

What was happening till now was that there was a lot of information in books and on Google, but people were primarily reliant on either their bank managers, their parents, or their agents for making or purchasing a lot of their financial decisions.

But the agents and bank reps may not have your best interests in mind. And your parents have their own prejudices, their own biases, and their own experience with money and investments, which influence their decisions and may or may not be the best for you since the world of finance and the products that have come, also the way the asset classes perform have also changed.

So what has happened with social media is that a lot of different viewpoints and a lot of information have been going out in a very digestible and easy manner, which is helping people become more aware of how to make decisions. And they are able to ask the right questions to the people who are selling to them or pitching to them and then make a decision that works in their favour.