In uncertain times, get an advisor

Yesterday, I was talking to an IAS officer about his portfolio—and he realized some of his mistakes chasing returns.

Research can suggest a lot of things that a retail investor should do, but not all investors can invest rationally. ( Express Illustration)

Let me start by saying that I do not know of any investor with serious money (upwards of $1 million) who works on a DIY (do it yourself) basis. Just none. And the number of people I know in this set should be in excess of 100. That is not insignificant. I am not saying that such people do not exist, but I have not yet met them. With a 9-year bull run behind us, enough people think that they can manage their own portfolios, beat the market, and achieve their financial goals. 

I do know that there is a huge gap between what people say and what they achieve. Yesterday, I was talking to an IAS officer about his portfolio—and he realized some of his mistakes chasing returns.  Sometimes, it is necessary to talk about risk and sometimes about the expected returns. Research can suggest a lot of things that a retail investor should do, but not all investors can invest rationally. In the real world, an investor’s financial situation, attitude towards risk taking, and beliefs about the future direction of financial markets are always changing. 

The same investor who invested rationally at the age of 30, may turn irrational at the age of 40. Sudden shifts in their job, health, or children behaviour are all factors that can tempt them to make poorly timed investments based solely on emotions, not logic. One wrong or bad move can wipe out years of hard work.
People who have never managed other people’s money have no business saying “I can do it, so can you”.

Sure, it is tempting, but not everybody should attempt DIY. I know of some DIY advocates who have consistently under-performed the market. But hey! Beating the market is not what they set out to do.

They set out to do something else. So if your goal is to beat the market or just meet your financial requirements see if you can do it yourself! So, when I asked a few HNIs what their investor does for them, I learnt some interesting things:

•  Trust and Communication: People with a ‘don’t trust anybody’ kind of a mental frame cannot seek help. However, when a person is financially successful he/she understands how an adviser can communicate well to avoid the behaviour gap. I don’t see how an app can ever control this behaviour gap.  I have been able to talk to clients and cool them down. I have been able to keep people in equities far beyond the point where ‘theory’ says they should. I have been able to make clients more oriented towards happiness and relaxation than worry about the extra 1 per cent return in a scheme. I have been able to talk to big investors about being in funds with lesser standard deviation. I have moved money from mutual fund to fixed deposits when the client’s tax structure changed. No, an app cannot do that. That is clear.
   
•  Ability to separate the grain from the chaff and the ability to see news items in context of his goals. It is but natural to watch television or read something in the pink papers and get excited. It is necessary to keep calm and realise that everybody who writes does not have experience, knowledge, training or education in finance, human behavior, law.. and yes, personal finance is now the world’s most expensive hobby.
   
•  Having an automated or well thought out process and not just some ad hoc guess work!

PV subramanyam
writes at www.subramoney.com and has authored the best seller ‘Retire Rich - Invest C 40 a day’