I wanted to do my internship in an investment banking company preferably something that would teach me on Mergers and Acquisitions or any firm that specializes in Business Valuation. The first company that I gave an interview for was Wadhawan Wealth Managers Pvt Ltd and I got placed in it. I was really happy as my family was never positive or bullish toward investing and I have always wanted to learn more on investments. Who better to learn about investments than from the expertise who manage HNI client's portfolio. The company is into wealth management, asset allocation and portfolio management.
They had a very warm but formal way of welcoming their interns. On my first day I had my orientation from the company experts. This went on for a week where they brushed upon basic concepts of investing and asset classes. Then they taught me the importance of compounding and investing at an early age with an investment objective. We were assigned mentors right after the orientation and my mentor was the Vice President of the company, who was an IIM B graduate. So, I knew I would get to learn a lot but I had to be at the top of my game, as that was expected of me. I had to be aware of how the market in Chennai was- whether the HNI clients are bullish or bearish. There were a lot of wealthy clients who were happy to invest in real estate properties but not into the equity market as they did not have the financial literacy. They considered it as gambling. So, there were a lot of clients who we could get aboard and educate them about the perks of investing.
The elections were during my internship so that had a huge impact on the market and on the share prices. The client sentiments were playing a huge role. There was this one time where my mentor showed me a client who wanted to sell a good stock and buy a risky stock in its place, as he was their portfolio manager he had to advice against it. But the clients have to trust your advice for investing their money. What I realized was this trust can only be built over a period of years. When the client does a lot of transactions on your advice and earns good returns- his trust will grow. Even if at times, he loses some money but makes it up with some other profitable trading transaction. The client has to know that the mistake was unintentional and not on the account of being careless or due to lack of technical expertise. Only then his faith in you as a financial adviser won’t be broken. It is very difficult to gain faith from the investors as they give you their money to handle and let you make their portfolio so no rash or emotional decisions can be made.
My mentor taught me to align the client’s investment objective with their risk bearing capacity and match it with the time period and accordingly invest in securities. The office atmosphere was very lively, we had our senior manager and other senior executives who would help the interns with any task and at times they would also eat lunch with us. Every week on Friday there would be a potluck, where all the members of the team would bring a home cooked dish and we would have it together as a team lunch. There used to be a team outing once a month like to play a sport or watch a movie as this would increase team spirit.
In all my internship was a good learning experience. It was very resourceful as I gained the guidance of a mentor who has given me a head start in making wise investments.
