To be honest, When I had this opportunity to write about this topic, I had to think very deeply because I have a very comfortable life where I don't have to think about my financial situation thanks to my parents. I was a good student throughout my life so, I never had to worry about studies. It is said that everyone has his/her own challenge to overcome. So it also happened to me.
My father is a stock market investor. He started investing when he was just 17 years old. He had to face a lot of troubles to be where he is today. Now, you must be thinking why am I talking about my father, Right? Well, I also wanted to be like him to start investing & trading in the stock market.
So, you must be wondering "what is the challenge here?". Let me give you my introduction. I am an IT engineer with 0 experience in finance or the stock market. You must be thinking " What is the big deal here? An engineer wants to trade & invest in the stock market. It is very common, Right? Think this from the perspective of a father who wants to protect his son from the challenges he faced. The reason is quite simple that the stock market is very volatile. I was ready to face it but my father was quite skeptical about it. I faced the challenge to convince an orthodox Indian father.
Now, you must be thinking, I would have pleaded my father & he would be convinced just for the sake of it. But to your wonder, it was not that easy task. It was a walk on fire. I had to prove my talent to him to get his blessings. I was no finance wizard. I had to put my personal experience of using any product of any company to top priority. I had a fixed deposit of 50,000 rupees that I had saved from my pocket money. It was giving me an interest of 7%. So I thought rather than breaking the fixed deposit, I took the road of FOD (Fix Over Draft) where I would get 80% of my deposit & would have to pay 2% interest per annum. So I got my capital to start my investment journey.
My 1st investment was Reliance Industries Limited (RIL). I would happily share my reason. RIL had launched Jio services that year. It got a good response from the customers. So, I bought 20 shares of RIL. The quantity was not much but my only target beat my obligation of 2% interest. After 1 year, I exited the RIL position & was able to meet my obligation of 2% interest. Moreover, I got a net profit of 20%. I know with the small amount of money the profit is not much in terms of cash but I was able to beat the benchmark. Along with this I also gave some suggestions to my father which proved to be profitable overall. At last, he gave me his blessings & some additional funds to manage.
Today, I am able to convince him to let me pursue my passion. I am doing my PGDM- BKFS from TAPMI so, I can also get fundamental knowledge of finance. The biggest challenge, a student faces in India is to convince his/her parents. Every B-school prepares you to conquer the corporate world yet, we are unable to convincer our own parents. Today, I can proudly say that I was able to convince my parents especially my father, not by forcing him or refusing his point of view, but by my understanding & the sheer will to take my first step towards my ambition of being one of the best stock market investor.
-TAPMI