Is your wealth adviser actually an adviser or just a distributor? The answer to that question is important for your long-term financial health. Don’t think it is important? Then do you think chemists should put out boards proclaiming that they are doctors? In our heads, the difference between a doctor and a chemist is very clear. A chemist sells medicines that we ask for over the counter, either on the basis of a prescription or over-the-counter drugs that are available without the need for a prescription. Who writes the prescription? The doctor. The doctor is much better qualified as compared to a chemist, and has spent years learning and then practicing the profession. When you present your medical problems to the doctor, she will ask some questions, may conduct some tests and then come up with a diagnosis that is specific to your medical condition.
One comment
Vikrant Singal
October 17, 2016 at 1:24 pm
On this issue, I find the SEBI attitude myopic and MInt coverage lazy. There are so many bigger problems in the Indian MF space, and even more so in the Indian household savings space. TV channels and newspapers offer stock tips, insurance is bundled with investments, KVC / NSC / GoI bonds offer 8% in a rate environment of 6.7%, chit funds and the like are sold because regulation is not enforced. AMCs push new close ended schemes every week, sell debt schemes disguised as equity schemes, have similar portfolios in supposedly different schemes, find innovative ways to pay commissions higher than allowed and have unnecessarily high TERs. The top 10 commission earners are banks which ‘push’ MFs on unsuspecting investors without any regulatory or fiduciary responsibilities. In this scenario, SEBI is going after the distributors. It is simply because the distributors are not united and SEBI doesn’t have guts to take on the Finance Ministry, the RBI, IRDAI, AMFI and the banks. If Mint really supports financial betterment of households, there are many more things to focus on than wait for SEBI to come out with consultation papers and report on them without much thought. Disappointed, because earlier Mint standards were higher.