EXHAUSTIVE CURRICULUM - SELF DIRECTED PATH

Personal Finance curriculum

The many paths to wealth - Asset classes available to an investor

  • A detailed dive into the different asset classes available to Indian investors: Stocks, Bonds, Real Estate, Gold, Mutual Funds, Bank Deposits, etc.

  • Taxation of investment income and investment gains/losses for different asset classes

  • Risk-return characteristics and suitability of these asset classes for investors of different ages, employment situations, income levels and net worth.

  • The utility of these asset classes in an investor’s portfolio with regard to investment time horizon

  • Effectively diversifying your wealth, both within and across asset classes

  • Assessing Mutual Fund attractiveness to facilitate comparison and decision making

Where’s all my money going?

  • Budgeting, managing your cash flows, net-worth tracking, maintaining financial records and preparing/reviewing your personal financial statements

  • Financial moves to make at a young age to secure your future self

The earlier in your career you learn the above skills, the better. More money often leads to more problems if you don’t know how to manage your cash flows.

Credit, debt and the dangers of the consumerist economy we live in

  • An engine for financial growth? Acid that burns through your wealth? The difference between good debt and bad debt

  • Making informed decisions about incurring debt and maintaining credit-worthiness.

  • Making optimum use of credit cards and consumer finance facilities

  • Getting out of debt - strategies to ensure a fast, efficient and maximum impact reduction of your debt burden

  • Evaluating whether to use surplus income to either pay down debt or invest

  • Your legal rights and responsibilities as a borrower or credit card customer

Credit score - Build it. Maintain it. Take advantage of it.

  • Elements of a credit score and what you can do to improve yours

  • The ways in which a credit score can significantly improve or degrade your quality of life

  • Monitoring your credit score, identifying mistakes on your credit report and taking action to correct any discrepancies

Put your growth on autopilot! Blending money and technology

  • Automating your periodic contributions and withdrawals to/from your investment account through SIPs and SWPs.

  • Asset-liability matching - ensuring your investments mature at the same time major commitments come due

  • Balancing the twin objectives of reducing personal debt and investing in high growth assets to increase your net-worth

Approaching personal finance as an entrepreneur or self-employed professional

  • Setting up internal controls and firewalls to separate personal and business money

  • Legal safeguards to ensure your personal finances are untouched by business claims

  • Diversification of your assets as an entrepreneur and the importance of having an exit plan

Approaching personal finance as a salaried individual

  • Taking advantage of the stability of a recurring paycheck to grow your wealth

  • Passive investing strategies for individuals who don’t have the time to stay tuned to the financial markets

  • Common mistakes salaried individuals make with their money and how to avoid them

  • Maxing out the benefits of retirement accounts

Forecasting your own misery and protecting yourself from life’s storms

  • An overview of the various types of insurance: Life, Health, Property and Liability

  • Assessing your insurance coverage status vis-a-vis your needs. Avoiding the disastrous costs of being under-insured and the financial inefficiency of being over-insured

  • How your insurance needs change as you progress through life

A strategy for bad times - responding to a financial crisis

  • What if you’re in trouble? What are your borrowing options? Which assets do you tap into first, and which assets/accounts should you avoid touching altogether?

  • Dealing with a reduced paycheck or a complete loss of income: Re-structuring your debts and EMI payments and avoiding long-lasting damage to your finances

  • Involving your family members while taking tough financial decisions and how to avoid household conflict over money matters.

  • Hitting the reset button: filing for personal bankruptcy in India

Keeping your money safe

  • Protecting your personal finances from identity theft and fraud

  • Safe online banking and use of credit/debt cards and mobile banking apps

  • Fraudulent transactions from a legal standpoint and the regulatory redressal mechanisms available

Tax planning, tax-aware investing & tax saving strategies

  • Structuring your personal finances in a tax-efficient manner

  • A primer on income tax and capital gains tax

  • Tax saving investment vehicles, their risk-return characteristics and suitability for different investor profiles

Estate planning

  • Ensuring a smooth transition of wealth down the family line: a primer on Wills, Trusts and Co-ownership

Investing curriculum

The practical basics of investing

  • Setting up your financial infrastructure - how many bank accounts do you need? How do you open a demat account? How do you select the right broker for your investments?

  • Tax and regulatory considerations to be aware of as an investor

  • Common scams targeted at first-time investors and how to avoid them

Home ownership vs. Renting - the economic arguments for/against

  • Evaluating the financial considerations of either (i) owning a home or (ii) renting a home and building wealth through other assets

Understanding the stock market

  • What makes the stock market fluctuate in value? Why and how is the stock market correlated to the broad economy?

  • Principles of a disciplined, profitable approach to investing in the stock market

  • Rupee cost averaging

  • Active Investing vs. Passive Investing

  • The role of the government and the central bank in the stock market’s performance

  • The biggest and most defining moments in stock market history

Investing - Do it yourself or hire an advisor?

  • The legal certifications to look for while hiring an advisor

  • The different remuneration structures of financial advisors, potential conflicts of interest and how to address them

  • Technological innovations in financial advisory: robo-advisors and algorithmic investing

Safeguards and precautions while investing

  • Behavioral biases to guard against while making investment decisions

  • Investor protection laws and regulations

  • Using reliable resources to conduct investment research and make investment decisions

Retirement Investing

  • The various retirement investment vehicles available to Indian investors, their suitability, risk-return characteristics and tax benefits

  • The concept of a Safe Withdrawal Rate (SWR) and return-sequence risk

Offshore investing

  • Importance of geographical diversification and overcoming home country bias in the construction of a portfolio

  • Opportunities for offshore investing available to Indian investors

  • Regulatory constraints and taxation issues involved in offshore investing

  • Currency risk involved in offshore investing

Valuation of company stocks

  • Reading and understanding the financial statements of a company and using these statements, along with other publicly available information, to value the company’s stock

  • Determining the factors, both micro and macro, that affect a company’s profitability and value

  • Analyzing the financial strength of a company and the resilience of its operations through ratio analysis, forecasting a company’s bankruptcy risk with the Altman Z-Score, and reviewing the company’s adherence to ESG norms.

Investing in REITs and Real Estate + Valuation methods

  • Understanding the drivers of a real estate property’s value

  • Analyzing the financial statements of a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) and determining its intrinsic value in relation to its publicly quoted market value

  • The different methods of investing in real estate, and the pros & cons of each