Financial lessons you may learn from Ramayana

An advisor can help you wade through financial maze like Hanuman helped Rama in his battle

The festive season is here, and there is no bigger festival than the festival of lights – Diwali. This is a time when people let their hair down, loosen their purse strings and generally have a good time.

A country, whose people know how to spend, will be a country whose people will eventually learn to invest intelligently. We are gradually migrating towards financial maturity rather than merely a nation of tight fisted spenders and savers.

Two of the most worshipped figures during this time are the Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Rama. Goddess Lakshmi is venerated across households in the country and people pray for a happy and prosperous future. Lord Rama is felicitated with lights and crackers on his return back home after vanquishing his nemesis Ravana.

While Lord Rama justifiably is venerated as the architect of good over evil, there is one entity which was key to the battle and who hardly gets noticed during this festival. It is the great Lord Hanuman. His contribution - whether it is intimidating Ravana in the warm up to the great battle, or performing the role of an emergency medic when Lakshman was injured to his forming of a protective ring around Lord Rama – is usually underplayed. However, none can deny that he was the force behind the punch which finally won Lord Rama the battle.

Pretty much the same way we tend to gloss over the role of a Financial Advisor in today’s world. Most of us think of him as someone who is assigned to carry out some simple, average tasks. After all, he is just getting you signed off on a form for an SIP, right?

Wrong.

Just as Hanuman sat with folded hands hearing Rama speak, and then leaped across oceans to Lanka, an advisor would have already assessed your risk appetite by engaging you with some simple questions which you would have answered instinctively.

Just as Hanuman gathered key fellow monkey warriors to fight the battle, your advisor would have already shortlisted the investment avenues which are best suited for the long term growth of your investments.

Just as Hanuman would have thought through the battle, an advisor would have thought about how to divide your dreams into simple, achievable goals with milestone payments at regular intervals. All this by Hanuman, so that Rama could vanquish the ‘evils’ associated with Ravana and take back Sita without worrying about her safety in future.

All this by your advisor, so that you can escort Goddess Lakshmi right inside your home and live life to the fullest without worrying about anything else.

An advisor is a must for every family. He is the one who takes a leap of faith to cross the proverbial Palk Straits to help you meet your goals. He is the one who has the responsibility of carrying the proverbial sanjeevani tree to you in the event of a medical exigency.

If he can stake his life’s ambitions on yours, isn’t it time you ask him to do so? 
 

Ask around for an advisor or just Google and talk to a few to see whom you vibe with the best – just go ahead and do it! Invite him over for Diwali and share a cup of tea with him at leisure. By the time you reach the weekend, he would be back with your financial plan for life.

Go get your personal Hanuman this Diwali. 

The writer is Chief Executive Officer of Edelweiss Asset Management