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- Hi, I am Anant Ladha, a Chartered Accountant, a Certified Financial Planner, and a Certified Financial Analyst.
- Unlike other students, I developed a habit of reading advanced finance books like “Who Moved My Cheese” in 8th grade.
- I quit a well-paying job to start my own investment-related YouTube Channel, ‘Invest Aaj For Kal’ which went on to amass almost 3 million subscribers.
- Here is my journey with money.
How did your upbringing influence your attitude toward money?
I come from a family of financial professionals.
While most families watch TV shows and movies together, we used to watch CNBC instead!
I learned about budgeting and financial planning from an early age. I used to love reading books like “Who Moved My Cheese” and “One-minute Manager” while in 8th grade. ( They are still some of my favorite books.)
So, you could say I developed a passion for investments and finance, likely influenced by my family background.
Why did you pursue Chartered Accountancy?
Initially, I started as a Science student but I got bored soon. So, I decided to take up commerce and do CA instead.
I did my articles at EY Mumbai which gave me superb exposure to Financial Services. It further enriched my understanding of finance.
My 3 years of articles experience still comes in handy sometimes. I had great support from my friends in EY throughout my journey.
How old were you when you started investing and saving?
I learned a lot about investing when I was in 8th grade, however, I did my first trade in my first year of college. I used to save my internship money and invest it.
Here is an important lesson for everyone. Please don’t get into the share market before you become a CA. At times, investing in the stock market can take up a lot of time and it can distract you from your studies.
The stock market turned out to be quite a distraction during my studies.
Luckily I cleared CA in one go and was even a Rank Holder.
Why did you start the investing firm ‘Invest Aaj Kal’?
After qualifying as a CA, I got a job offer from a very reputed company. They were paying me a handsome salary of INR 18 lakhs per annum ($30,000) which was very good for a CA fresher.
However, I quit my job very soon to join my father’s business of financial planning.
It was then that I realized there is a need to spread financial literacy. Here we first started Financial Literacy Sessions. We started this in 2016 and we have conducted over 200 sessions so far addressing over 20,000+ investors.
We have even been awarded by the Rajasthan government twice for our sessions and for spreading financial awareness.
I love interacting with people and I am also a visiting faculty at the CA Institute in India. It was one of my students (rather I should say, a fellow CA), who suggested that I start a YouTube channel to reach more people to spread financial literacy.
So that’s how it all began. We started our YouTube channel named ‘Invest Aaj For Kal’ at the end of 2018. We have gone from 1 subscriber to 1.20 lakh subscribers in 1.5 years.
As of 2024, we have almost 3 million subscribers.
It has been a roller coaster ride.
Why do you want to make people financially literate?
There are some basic structural mistakes that many people make. If we can stop these mistakes, we can have a smooth financial life.
So, our objective is to spread awareness and understanding. Through our sessions, we explain the importance of financial goal planning, risk profiling, and investing.
Did you face any challenges initially when you started on your own?
In the initial days, it was difficult. I quit my Rs. 18 lakh job at the age of 21 and started this venture. However, I always loved helping people and spreading financial literacy.
Even when we started our YouTube channel, there were haters initially who kept posting negative comments. Now I see the same haters following me on all social media handles. So, I guess we can give something of value even to our haters. Our goal is simple and clear – Spreading financial literacy.
I am glad to have the support of my dad through all this. He still works even harder than me and still inspires me each day and each moment of my life.
Do you prefer to pay using a credit card or a debit card?
The debate between debit cards and credit cards has been a long-standing one. I feel both are important provided we don’t mishandle them.
I always request my investors to normally pay bills in cash. The reason is simple. Physical money carries more weight than digital money. We are more conscious when doling out cash for a purchase.
Swiping a card has no pain in it, but believe me, paying in cash has.
And as far as a credit card is concerned, just remember it has over 30% annual interest which we can never earn from any financial instrument regularly.
So if you are sure to use it minimally and pay off the dues promptly on the due date, then it is fine.
What mistakes do people make while investing?
Most people, not just finance professionals, still make the biggest mistake of investing in insurance products.
Insurance is important of course, but it is not an investment. However, they are being pitched so forcibly that people still invest in ULIPs, traditional plans, and policies.
Also, there is a lot of ‘misselling’ by bankers these days. No offense this misselling costs investors a lot. In the finance domain, it is very important to maintain integrity. And if there is misselling by one, it spoils the image of 100 others who are actually genuine.
Financial advisors just need to think about the benefits to their investors.
We need proper bifurcation between investment and insurance if we really want to have a beautiful financial experience.
Another mistake finance professionals make is that they start trading instead of investing.
What was your greatest financial mistake?
So, my one mistake is I started investing in the first year of college, I wish I had started much earlier.
When I did start investing, I did make a few mistakes along the way but a major mistake that I made was interpreting the business news and linking it with the share market.
In the initial years, I just invested based on the news I read and did not make any effort to interpret the market myself. It cost me a lot of money.
But it helped me understand how the human mind behaves and how to control it to make money.
I am still learning and improving my analytics of the financial information available to arrive at more accurate predictions of the movement of the stocks.
Any pointers to CA articles on how to start saving and investing?
I have a strict policy wherein I never encourage CA articles to open a trading account. I feel that once an article starts investing in the share market, his focus shifts from studying to making money!
Every CA student has to be good at investing his own funds but first, he needs to make sure that he clears his CA exams in one go. Investing is important but not as important as your career.
If they have some savings, they can invest in mutual funds or FDs.
What investment tips would you give to our readers?
- Always remember to keep your long-term funds and short-term funds separate.
- Never get into intraday trading, it is injurious to health and wealth.
- Never trade in a mutual fund long-term portfolio.
- Following the basics and maintaining control over emotions is the most difficult and important. Just try and keep it simple and invest with a proper goal in mind.
- Today most people invest just to save taxes, this is wrong. We should invest with proper planning and focus on achieving the goals with appropriate financial planning and risk profiling.
- Our target should be on saving a minimum of 30% of our earnings and also investing it into our future goals with a proper financial plan in place.
Now It’s Your Turn…
When did you start investing? How old were you? Do you have any tips? Comment below and let us know.
