20 August 2012

Cash flow & simplifying investment

Published in
THE TIMES OF INDIA, MUMBAI
TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2012

Two stories about successfully planning financial freedom for two women, each from a different background and both helped by a woman advisor, Sujata Kabraji. One is about changing the product mix in the portfolio to match an investor’s cash flow need, while the other is about simplifying the portfolio structure and changing the mix to instil confidence in the investor.


When Nargish Mistry (67)came to me, she was comfortably off, although she did not know it. Mistry, who belongs to a distinguished Parsi family, compromised on her spending and
worried about over-spending. To me, the mandate was clear:
She wanted a monthly cash flow that took care of her expenses and left her some fun money for holidays, presents for her children and grandchildren, and other such bits and bobs.

The first step was to work out her monthly expenses and an estimate of what she wanted to spend, in addition. Thereafter, I benchmarked her assets and found that 96% were in equity.
So her income was almost completely from dividends, because of which her cash-flow was inconsistent. Usually, dividends are paid between July and September and the amount of dividend
is also not consistent every year.

Given Mistry’s age, this asset allocation — primarily in equity —was too risky. So I re-arranged the portfolio and increased the debt component.For this, I chose a combination of bank fixed deposits, fixed maturity plans, and liquid plus funds in such a way that she not only gets a regular monthly income but also gets access to chunks of capital every month. Also, the debt component
has been invested in the most tax-efficient way. She now has the freedom to enjoy her money as and when she wants it. And this does not eat into her capital in any way.

When I met Meena Mansukhani (81), a well known Mumbai-based dentist,my primary mandate was to reduce the paperwork related to her investments. Mansukhani had left managing finances to her
financially savvy husband.When her husband’s health started failing, she had to take over but struggled to understand the basics of money management and quaked at the mountains of paperwork
she had to deal with.

After having gone through her asset allocation, I realised that her risk profile has to be adjusted. Mansukhani had stocks of 78 companies in the portfolio and hat left her to manage about 78
dividend slips to manage every ear. I sold the stocks and moved he money into three equity mutual funds. This reduced her paperwork sbstantially.

I also realigned her debt portfolio tocreate a money cycle which as tax efficient, and also did it in a way that cut out all the TDS certificates hat she struggled to collect.
At present, to have a view of her whole portfolio she has to look confidently just at a thin file,compared to six box files earlier.Now, as regards managing her portfolio, she smiles with relief.



The author is a Mumbai based financial advisor

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