Rich Dad Poor Dad Book Synopsis

Rich Dad Poor Dad is about Robert Kiyosaki and his two dads—his real father (poor dad) and the father of his best friend (rich dad)—and the ways in which both men shaped his thoughts about money and investing. He says that his poor dad went to Stanford and earned a Ph.D., and his rich dad never finished the eighth grade. The book consists of 8 chapters, lessons that everyone must learn. The central message conveyed by Kiyosaki is that you don’t need to earn a high income to be rich.

He says that many are too afraid of being branded as a weirdo, in order to exit the rat race. People let the two main emotions everyone has around money dominate our decisions which are fear and greed. He says this is the reason people should not just look for a job as no job is safe anymore. Example- If you get a raise in a job you should invest the extra money in stocks or fund that increases your income but because of the fear that we may lose some money by investing in these assets, many people resist investing.

The other opinion is when greed takes you over, a person might take the extra money that he/she receives from a raise and spend it on stuff that he doesn’t need like buying a fancy car and the payments for that car will eat up your money. These lessons tell us how important it is for us to be educated financially, the burden of this lies on the person itself as no school teaches us this.

The Book also mentions that we should start now to avoid falling into a debt trap and develop responsible financial habits. We should take a careful look at what we can and cannot afford so that we are able to set realistic financial goals for ourselves. The author recommends that we keep our job and build our asset column, meaning we keep investing and building assets and think of our dollars as employees who work for us. Rich people acquire assets. The poor and middle class acquire liabilities that they think are assets.

The author emphasizes the fact that knowledge is power and we should work to learn, not to earn. Money should work for you, not the other way around and do jobs that we do not know much about to learn different skills. “Money comes and goes, but if you have the education about how money works, you gain power over it and can begin building wealth”

He emphasizes that fear often suppresses genius in people and that the first step to building wealth is to manage risks, instead of avoiding them and learning about investments will teach you that it’s better to not play it safe because that always means missing out on big potential rewards. Don’t start big, just set aside a small amount every month or so to invest in asset building like stocks, bonds, etc.

He emphasizes that we should use our money to acquire assets instead of liabilities. Assets are stocks, bonds, real estate that you rent out, royalties and anything that generates money and increases in value over time. Liabilities can be cars or electronics with maintenance costs and monthly payments, a house with a mortgage, debt, anything that takes money out of your pocket each month

The author wants us to be patient and keep our job and to build our business over time and use it to invest in assets until your assets eventually become the main source of your income

The most important thing is that you start today. You are your own biggest asset, so the first thing you should do is put some money into yourself to develop your own financial knowledge. As the author says in the book, “Financial aptitude is what you do with the money once you make it, how you keep people from taking it from you, how to keep it longer, and how you make money work hard for you”

Yash Saksena
MBA (FA) 2017-2019

REFRAME YOURSELF

Reframing is making ourselves awake of the impact of negative Self-talk, which we keep thinking unconsciously, in our mind. Negative self-talk or negative statements about others increase stress, anxiety and health problems in our lives.

Reframing is about changing our perspective on a particular situation and giving it a more positive or impactful meaning to us.

Reframing can be used to help remove limiting beliefs, to help appreciate positive moments, or for any negative thought that we would like to change.

The first step in reframing ourselves is to examine our negative thoughts followed by replacing the negative thoughts with a more positive one.

To reframe ourselves with lots of positivity in us, we as a student have to improve our reading and comprehension skills to gain more depth. Through improving communication skill we are reframing our self. Reframing means adding something in ourselves which improves our personality and behavior.

1) Learn how to communicate
2) Learn how to present

For good communication, we have to be a good reader and it is very correctly said that “bigger the network is, bigger the net worth is”. Reframing means making some change in ourselves which enhances our nature, knowledge, and behavior like commitment we should show our commitment towards our work through completing the work on time.

Making some change in our routine and habits can help us in reframing ourselves.

We have to explore more to get more depth. Reframing can make a huge difference in performance and in presenting ourselves in front of others. We can reframe ourselves in any way but the main focus of reframing should be to make a person mentally rich.

At last I would like to end by quoting “YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE, BUT IF YOU DO IT RIGHT ONCE IS ENOUGH”.

Priyanka Chauhan
MBA (FP) 2019-2021

MBA Orientation August 2019

Finance Orientation

International College of Financial Planning welcomed its 18th batch of MBA (Financial Planning) on Friday, August 23, 2019, in Mumbai and Tuesday, August 27, 2019, in Delhi. The guests for the event were Mr. Kunal Ranjan, North Zonal Head, LIC Mutual Fund, Mr. Dharmesh Chauhan, Associate Director, CRISIL, Mr. Rahul Agrawal, Head (Financial Planning), ICICI Bank and Mr. Avinash Chandra, Senior Vice President -Strategic Business Unit, Yes Bank.

Financial Literacy Awareness program

The institution has taken initiative in spreading financial literacy among college students and helping them prepare for Life. The institution wants financial literacy to be a part of everyone’s life. To that end, we have focused our resources on providing support and education on financial understanding for all students. The more you know, the better prepared you will be for life. To meet its CSR objective, the institution has conducted various workshops in colleges of Delhi, UP and Punjab and to name a few the institution has visited PGDAV College, Delhi, Maharaja Surajmal Institute of Technology, Delhi, TIPS Dwarka, Delhi, A.P. Sen Memorial Girls College, Lucknow, Lucknow Christian College, Lucknow etc.

A trip to H P Singh outlet to study fabric

Fashion is so much more than the clothes on your back. The fashion students visited the HP Singh, Nehru Place outlet to study fabric.

Workshop on “Introduction to Colours”

A workshop was conducted for fashion students where they were introduced to colours. Students will learn how to think creatively and look at fashion through the eyes of a designer. Students were made to learn to use color creatively in apparel and accessories. This workshop has strengthens their ability to express themselves using correct color terminology in design.

India’s Roadmap for 5 Trillion Economy

India is currently a $2.8 trillion economy; to reach the $5 trillion mark by 2024, the economy would require nominal growth in dollars, of over 12% per annum. That is a challenge to accomplish, owing to the inflation, slow pace of investments and trade tension between the two major global economies. The union budget presented on 5th July laid down several ways for this target to be achieved till 2024.
How the budget laid down the road map:

Fiscal consolidation: Fiscal deficit of FY20 stood marginally better at 3.3%. Though lower, GST collection and income tax collection (increased tax on super-rich) will help the government to meet the targets.

  • 10% surcharge hike on 25% from 15% income of up to Rs.2Cr.; 22% surcharge hike on 22% to 15% on Rs.5Cr. and
  • Corporate tax with a turnover of up to Rs. 400Cr. slashed to 25 percent from a current rate of 30 per

Divestment target: Revised to INR 1050bn from INR900 bn and to modify the present policy of retaining 51% stake in PSUs. Strategic disinvestment of Air India proposed to be re-initiated.

MSME: MSMEs play a key role in economic growth, job creation and local development: The sector employs around 11.7Cr. people, constituting 40 percent of the workforce. Around 32 percent of the total jobs are created in the manufacturing sector, 35 percent in trade, and 33 percent in other services. However, MSMEs are not only important for employment; they can also be an engine of growth. Budget has:

  • Proposed easing angel tax for
  • Angel tax: Won’t require scrutiny from the I-T department for a startup.
  • E-verification mechanism for establishing investor identity and source of funds for
  • 2% interest subvention for GST-registered MSME on fresh or incremental
  • Stand Up India’ Scheme to continue until

FDI:

  • Local sourcing norms will be relaxed for the single-brand retail
  • Government to open FDI in aviation, insurance, animation AVGC and

Agriculture:
Government to promote innovative zero Budget farming.

  • 10,000 new farm produce
  • 80 Livelihood business incubators and 20 technology business incubators to be set up in 2019 – 20 under ASPIRE to develop 75,000 skilled entrepreneurs in agro-rural industries

Banking reform

  • In order to become a 5 trillion economy, the Government needs funds, for investments. An efficient credit system is required but the NBFC crisis shook the market.  Hence the Government needs to bring out reforms to strengthen the financial system.
  • On purchase of high-rated pooled assets of NBFC amounting of Rs 1 lakh crore in this FY. The government will provide a one-time 6-month credit
  • Propose to provide Rs 70,000 crore capital for PSU Banks. PSBs to leverage technology, offering online personal loans and doorstep banking and enabling customers of one PSBs to access services across all PSBs
  • Regulation of HFCs (Housing Finance Cos) to move to RBI from National Housing

CHALLENGES ON THE WAY

  • Achieving such an aspirational growth target calls for pulling all the economic growth levers—investment, consumption, exports, and across all the three segments of agriculture, manufacturing, and services. To achieve the objective of becoming a USD 5 trillion economy by 2024-25, as laid down by the Prime Minister, India needs to sustain a real GDP growth rate of 8
  • The first problem is the depressingly slow pace of infrastructure development in the last decade: the government estimates Rs 100 lakh crore infrastructure investments over the next five years or an average Rs 20 lakh crore a year. India does not have powerful institutions that can fund long-gestation infrastructure projects. Banks do not have enough long-term liabilities to match such loans. Lenders have gone terribly wrong in the past by not following healthy lending practices.
  • The government’s excessive involvement in businesses. The government remains a majority shareholder and an active participant in several entities including banks, airlines, and infrastructure firms. It controls 70 percent of the banking
  • The government will have to work out an exigency plan to get private investors back. This is even more critical now since domestic consumption is dropping to dangerous levels. Mint quoted a CMIE report that said investment in new projects plunged to a 15-year low in the quarter ending June 2019. Both private and public sectors announced new projects worth Rs 43,400 crore in June 2019 quarter, 81 percent lower than what was announced in the March quarter and 87 percent lower than during the same period a year ago. According to the finance ministry’s data, projects worth almost Rs 11 lakh crore remain ‘stalled’ or are having issues. Railways, roads, and power sectors account for more than half of these stalled projects.
  • The instability of global economies like a trade war between China and the USA will impact the exchange rate depreciating rupee will make it even more difficult for the economy to reach the 5 trillion figure.

MARKET TUNRS RED POST BUDGET

The stock market has logged its worst post-budget one-month performance since 2001.  NIFTY has declined by 7% since July 5th.  The fall in the market has been triggered by a bunch of budget proposals such as an increase in tax surcharge on FPI the introduction of 20% tax on share buyback and the move to increase free float by 10 % to 65 %. Though the surcharge was aimed at the upper rich, FPI with non-corporate structures has also been caught in the crosshairs.

The dream of doubling the size of the economy in five years is a laudable one. But it is imperative that the Modi government carry out bold reforms and work at breakneck speed to achieve it.

Ms. Manjit Kaur
MBA FA (2018 – 20)

UNWIND

ALL WORK AND NO PLAY, MAKES JACK A DULL BOY!

UNWIND – an HR led Employee Engagement Initiative aimed at breaking the monotony and driving some fresh energy, enthusiasm, and excitement amongst team members.

By way of experiential learning and fun games, the program was focused on meeting some key objectives including fostering effective communication, teamwork, working with limited resources, innovation, and creativity.

The staff members were organized in groups of 4-5 and given time-bound tasks. Some of these activities included building the tallest tower with straws that could hold the weight of a punching machine, dressing up one of the team members with newspapers and coming up with the most fancy dress design, presenting a 2-3 minute ad commercial on a range of products given to each team and more.

Moreover, hilarious fillers were thrown in after each activity that required team members to randomly pick up chits and either mimic a fellow colleague or sing a song in varied emotions, or stare at their partner without breaking into a laughter and so on.

This was one day when the activity room was filled with contagious laughter, thrill, high energy, and unending fun.

UNWIND – truly lived up to its name! What a great way to loosen up, relax and engage in some fun activities!

Nishant & Neha

The life we chose, the life we lead

And there is only one guarantee: none of us will see Heaven
Two friends were on a picnic on the lake in a boat. One of them took out a hand drill from his pocket and began to drill the hole in the floor of the boat.

His friend shouted ‘Are you crazy? What are you doing? The water will flood in, the boat will sink, and we will drown.’

The friend with the drill replied, ‘Don’t worry. I am just drilling the hole under my seat.’

We all have become very self-centered and have forgotten that we have been put on this planet for a purpose. Even if one of us behave selfishly, we would end up demolish everybody else. And that’s what the above story exactly depicts the truth of today’s world.

Each one of us is behaving like a cancer cell. A cancer cell is an organism that has no reference to the whole body. It lives separately and does not cooperate with the other cells of the body. Ultimately, the whole body dies along with the cancer cell. Who gains? Nobody!

So, a question rises, ‘Why are we behaving like cancer cells?’

How many of us have ever heard a tree saying, ‘the oxygen is only for the people I like?’ An apple tree saying, ‘Apples are for those whom I like the most.’ So, whatever the trees have to offer, offer it to everybody without being biased and selfish.

It is only we human beings who are biased and selfish in sharing what we have. We always choose who deserves and who doesn’t and this leads to separatist psychology. Separateness is the essence of humanity and this is what has been taught to us by our so-called cultured society. Our brains have been conditioned to believe right from our childhood in boundaries, customs, religions, and traditions. So, precisely we were born to be a human but we become something different but simply no humans.

We feel proud in calling and labeling ourselves as male, female, upper class, lower class, Indian, American etc. which separate us from the ‘others’. So, these ‘others’ are our competitors who have to be ‘battered’ at any cost so that we prove our superiority to them. And, such feeling of separation allows us to do all such things to each other which we would never do to ourselves.

So, instead of co-creating life TOGETHER, we are co-creating life APART. And this is the reason for conflict, war, hatred, and disagreement. This is why we hurt, compete and argue with each other. This is why we live in an unhappy world.

None of us sees life as it is. We all see life WE are. We look at others through our own likes and dislikes, prejudices, desires, and interest. Such an attitude has conditioned our mind ‘To divide rather than to unite’ and this has a history where we were always at war with one another. If humanity is always choosing to be at war, then how can human beings be ever happy?

Rishi Taparia
Head – Academic Affairs

ARTICLE 370

A CONSTITUTIONAL OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR
Jammu and Kashmir is a mountainous state located in the northern part of India covering an area of 2,22,236 square kilometers and comprises a population of 12,541,302 as of 2011. It is one of the most popular travel destinations and consists of three divisions – Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh.

Article 370 of the constitution came into effect in 1949, which was drafted in Part XXI of the constitution, according to which the constitution pardons the state to grant independent position. It bounds the Parliament’s control to make laws of the state. Matters like proprietorship of property, fundamental rights, and citizenship are sheltered under a discrete rule for Jammu and Kashmir.

Resolution to scrap Article 370

On 5 August 2019, a resolution was driven by Home Minister, Mr. Amit Shah to scrap Article 370 of the constitution to reorganize Jammu and Kashmir to serve as a Union territory and also Ladakh region to stand as a separate entity in the capacity of a Union territory.
However, it is imperative to understand what actually constitutes Article 370 and how it affects the vital aspects such and governance in Jammu and Kashmir.

What is Article 370?

Article 370 is considered to be the first article drafted in Part XXI of the constitution explaining about the ‘Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions’. This Article could be understood as temporary in the sense that the Jammu and Kashmir Constituent Assembly had a right to modify/delete/retain it. However, Jammu and Kashmir as a state chose to retain it. Another interpretation was that agreement was temporary until a referendum.

History of Article 370

The provision of Article 370 was drafted in 1947 by Sheikh Abdullah, who had by then been appointed Prime Minister of Jammu & Kashmir by Maharaja Hari Singh and Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru. Sheikh Abdulla had argued that Article 370 should not be placed under temporary provisions of the constitution. He wanted “iron clad autonomy “for the state which the Center didn’t conform with.

Provisions of Article 370

This article mentions that state government’s consensus is necessary for applying any law other than defence, foreign affairs, finance and communication. Hence the resident of this state lives under a separate set of laws related to citizenship, ownership of property, and fundamental rights as compared to other Indians. As a result of this provision, Indian citizen from any other state cannot purchase land or property in Jammu & Kashmir.
Further to mention that under this Article, no power resides with the Centre to declare financial emergency under Article 360 in the state. However, emergency in state can be declared only in case of war or external aggression. Union government can therefore not declare emergency on grounds of internal disturbances or imminent danger unless state government desires.

Conclusion

The abolition of Article 370 of the constitution would terminate Kashmir’s special status as compared to other states in its 1st schedule of our constitution. The demand to the eradication of Article 370 has been continually enunciated by the BJP.

The committee formed by BJP to voice the elimination of Article 370 explained that serves no significance and causes unnecessary suspicion to many in Kashmir. But most importantly, it is this article that gives a constitutional finality to the entire region of Jammu and Kashmir being an integral part of India.

Vaishali Gupta

MBA FP 2019

Role of Advisors/Distributors in Mutual Fund Industry

Advisors/Mutual Fund Distributors have always played a vital role in making clients invest money in Mutual Fund schemes rather than putting all their surplus money in fixed income instruments, gold and real estate. Initially, investors lacked knowledge about options available in Mutual Fund Industry in the form of Equity, Debt, Hybrid, Sector Funds and Liquid Funds etc. Distributors have added number of clients and AUM to Mutual Fund Industry by playing an important role in advising clients to grow their wealth by investing in various schemes of Mutual Funds as per their time horizon of financial goals and risk appetite.

Distributors drive mutual fund SIP story:

The latest AMFI data shows that of the total Rs.8,055 crore SIP contribution received in March 2019, 88% or Rs.7,082 crore came through distributors. This shows that distributors have played a key role in promoting SIPs among investors.

The trend is similar if we analyse the number of SIP accounts. Of the 2.62 crore SIP accounts in the industry, 89% that is 2.33 crore SIP accounts were activated under a regular plan(through distributor). Similarly, regular plan SIP AUM stands at Rs.2.4 lakh crore which is 90% of the industry’s SIP AUM.

National distributors like Bajaj Capital, India Infoline, Motilal Oswal and Individual Financial Advisors have contributed in educating clients about the benefits of investing via the SIP route through various initiatives like Investor Awareness Programs, social media and personal meetings. Their efforts have made SIP the basis in an investor’s portfolio.

With the great efforts of distributors, many first-time investors have entered the equity markets in the last 3-4 years. They have played a crucial role in guiding these investors to invest in equities with a long-term view of over 5-6 years. However, equities being a volatile product they have helped clients manage the volatility through SIPs as they get benefit of Rupee Cost Averaging and Power of Compounding.

The crucial role of distributors in growing the industry

Indian mutual fund industry has grown a lot in last 10 years. From Rs.5.41 lakh crore as on July 31, 2008, the industry has grown to 25 lakh crore as on May, 2019. Distributors have played a major role in this. Almost all Mutual Funds, who were earlier dependent on National Level Distributors and IFA’s for investment in various schemes have started direct channel of sale where their employees directly interact with individuals and companies to invest in schemes.

Most of the times, investors do not have the requisite knowledge to be able to take right investment decisions independently. This is where the role of distributor is important. He also helps prospective investors understand how these investments in Mutual Funds can take care of their overall financial plan.

They help them to invest in Equity Schemes if time horizon is long term, in Balanced schemes if time horizon is medium term and Debt schemes if time horizon is short term. They also get their money invested in Sector funds if investor can take more risk and withstand short term volatility. There are Index funds if investor is passive.
What is the way forward for the distributor community?

There are technology based investments like online portals available where investment is direct and no distributor is required. The expense ratio is also less in case of direct channels, but only a tech savvy investor can adopt this route. However, it lacks human interaction and does not handhold customers in times of market downturn. Robo advisors are also available which give advice and investors invest through direct plans. For guidance and handholding of investors, the mutual fund intermediation community has a tremendous role to play in developing the investment culture in India.

Madhu Sinha
Campus Director
ICoFP, Mumbai

‘Jugaad’ is our most precious resource in India

The word ‘Jugaad’ originated in Punjab and is used for the locally made motor vehicles. These vehicles are like wooden bullock carts, and are made by carpenters by fitting a diesel engine to it. ‘Jugaads’ are used in all villages of Punjab. Now the word ‘Jugaad’ has become synonymous with low-cost, innovative quick-fix solutions invented by creative and imaginative persons by out-of-box thinking to solve difficult issues by simple common place methods. Two Examples of ‘Jugaad’ are as under:

Once an Army truck was stuck under an old bridge at the back of Red Fort, New Delhi. This truck was loaded with a huge generator and was required to reach India Gate at the 26th January Parade. Neither the bridge could be broken nor could generator be reduced in size. The problem was to be solved within one hour. All engineering talent failed to offer solution. Finally a passerby, an ordinary truck driver, suggested the Army Personnel to deflate the tyres of truck by 3 inches. The concerned Army officer did it and the truck crossed smoothly under the bridge. This is called ‘Jugaad’.

There is another such interesting case. Once a couple was coming to Delhi from Chandigarh. The tyre of their car got burst. They parked the car on road side to change the tyre and replace it with stepney. They removed the four nuts of the wheel. Suddenly one monkey came and took away all the nuts. The couple really got stuck up the highway where there was no workshop nearby. However, one villager gave them a ‘jugaad’ idea to remove one nut from other three wheels and fix these three nuts to the fourth wheel. With three nuts on all four wheels they slowly reached the destination. This is called ‘Jugaad’.

Global management experts attribute India’s rapid economic growth to ‘Jugaad’. In a recent survey by the Legatum Institute, 81% of Indian businessmen said ‘Jugaad’ was the key reason for their success. This term is now used as much by enterprising street mechanics as by key business men and professionals and is understood all over India and abroad.

The word ‘Jugaad’ has entered the Wikipedia also. Refcently Oxfort English Dictiontry has also added this Indian word “Jugaad” in it, desribing it “as a means involving the use of skill and imagination to find an easy and cheap solution or alternative to the problems”.

So, you can also ‘jugaad’ your way to success.

K.K. Bajaj

Founder, ICoFP

Trending 5 unusual Checks organization conduct for new recruits

Gone are the days when applicants were reviewed based only on their academic scores and professional work experiences. The organization is not just hiring the right candidate but they are now keen to hire a candidate with the right attitude. Behavioral sensitivity becomes the key parameter for recruiting new employees for which Organizations do rigorous reference checks.

5 unusual checks conducted for new recruits

  1. Social media check: The inquiry of a candidate’s digital footprint is becoming a new trend to check the potential behavioral issues in the candidate. There were few incidents reported by renowned search firms where candidates were outrightly rejected based on their social media post and engagement as the organization found their posts to be racial and unacceptable ethically. So as candidates, we need to be very careful of what we are posting on social media as it may reflect traits which are unacceptable by hiring managers.
  2. Substance abuse: There were times when the company was only looking for desired skills set to hire a candidate. Now when organizations are becoming more and more value-based place, any kind of unhealthy habit can cost your job during the screening process. Many companies have zero-tolerance toward substance abuse i.e. the addiction to any kind of illicit drugs which may trigger negative behavior at the workplace. Companies do keep track of the candidate drug addicted behavior and instantly raise the red flag if the candidate is caught in the incident of misbehavior or brawling under the effect of alcohol or drug during the reference check.
  3. Indifference attitude: It is rightly said by someone that, true gentlemen would treat the waiter the same way as he’s treating his own guest. A recent incident reported in Times of India (July 2019), states that how rude behavior of CEO candidate toward the company’s driver cost his own job. Such action of an organization reveals that how management has zero-tolerance toward hostile behavior of their prospective employees at a leadership role. Further, hiring spoke person revealed that the company felt if the candidate cannot maintain calm at such level how he’s going to run the business further. So your attitude towards any person can be a parameter of hiring assessment. Be cautious and learn to be calm!
  4. Physical Fitness – Companies invest a lot on their employees throughout work life, so it becomes essential to review the candidate’s physical fitment during the hiring process. Rejection of candidates based on poor physical fitness can be seen as how companies are keen to hire physically fit people. Most of the companies have pre-medical checkup which assesses various health parameters based on candidate work profile. So before applying for any jobs, it is advisable to consider your physical health.
  5. Racial Behaviour: Companies have zero-tolerance for any kind of discrimination toward any caste, creed, religion or gender. A recent report of rejection of candidate at director level owing to his racial post on social media is an affirmative example that how organization closely review the engagement and behavior of their prospective candidate towards the society. Ms. Shailaja Dutt (Founder and Chairperson) affirmed that the easy accessibility of candidate information’s through digital footprints assist corporate to review potential risk during the hiring process.

So we have to understand that companies are keen to hire constructive minds rather than a disruptive one!!!!!

Rightly stated, “Hire right, because the penalties of hiring wrong are huge.”- Ray Dalio (Founder – Bridgewater Associates)

Soumya Sahadevan

Research Associate, ICoFP