Last year I went for the Financial Planning exercise with the help of PersonalFn. I paid close to Rs 11,000 for Initial subscription of 1 year.
* This amount in my opinion was too high given my networth, the total AUM of * laks in MFs, my pretty simple financial profile and financial goals.
* When I asked specifically, I was surprised to know that there are *only* TWO executives in PersonalFn to support the ~400 clients in Chennai/Bangalore/Hyderabad.
* When I compared the data for Annual charges for Financial Planning services, PersonalFn's charges are relatively on the higher side.
Inspite of these negative reasons, somehow the Executive managed to convince me assuring lot of long term benefits and discount in future renewal charges.
It turned out to be a horrible experience. I had multiple rounds (4 or 5) of discussions with their Executive. Two of them in person and the remaining over phone / emails. The Financial Planning document I finally received was way below my expectations. I was wondering why I paid 11k for that.
Finally I escalated the issue to the Head of the Division and PersonalFN CEO.
With their intervention, complete rework was done and I got a very good Financial Planning Document which had,
1. Cash Flows till my retirement
2. All my long term goals during my lifetime including Retirement, Kid's Education, Child's Studies and marriage etc.
3. The money to invested year on year and in what avenues like MFs, FDs etc.
4. My income levels and the increments needed year on year to meet the requirements.
Now the subscription period is about to be over. For renewal, again I had to pay 12.5K per year. With the initial plan sorted out already, in the coming years, all I need is just their recommendations on which Mutual Funds I should invest in and the once in 6 months review of the portfolio. Just 2 meetings for the whole year.
Obviously I don't want to pay 12.5K per year for this service.
Don't we have Firms offering Financial Planning Services at reasonable prices ?.
In case you have suggestions, please do let me know.
3 comments:
Dear Anand
We respect your view and concerns that you have raised.
Financial Planning is a subjective area and the effort that goes in building a plan depends upon the client's financial details and the goals he/she is trying to achieve.
The value of a financial plan lies in not just getting a set of recommendations but the awareness that it brings towards one's finances and the disciplined steps that one needs to takes to achieve financial goals.
Multiple discussions are required initially to understand properly the needs and the aspirations of an individual which then are used to prepare a plan.
Once the action steps are defined within the plan, one only needs to ensure that they are adhered to.
Without execution, no plan, which lies just on paper, can do anything.
May be we failed to communicate the plan adequately to you and that is the result of the discomfort that you witness.
I would urge you to allow us to have a relook at the plan and see if we can explain it better.
Let me assure you there would be no charges for the same.
Please do write to me at vipin@personalfn.com and help us take care of your concerns.
Also, the price of a plan is not the only criteria to evaluate a planner.
How strongly it can fulfill the needs is what has to be evaluated.
I will exhort you to have a look at our two latest articles that we put up on PersonalFN.com addressing the same issue. We would like to have your feedback on the same.
Best Regards
Vipin Khandelwal
Dear Anand
I miss the article Links, to our two latest Articles, which explains the concepts of Financial Planning and, how you should hire a Financial planner.
Is your bank or broker your financial planner?
How to Hire your Financial Planner
Hope these two articles will make an interesting Read to you.
Best Regards
Vipin Khandelwal
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