Money Talk

Having been in the ‘money business' for a long time, Mr Ritesh Jain, Head - Fixed Income, Canara Robeco Mutual, sure knows how to stay detached from the ‘papers' , much as he tries his best to build wealth for others. With a Post-Graduate degree in Business Economics and a Diploma in Capital Markets under his belt, he started out his career in a bank, before moving to the mutual fund business. In an interview with Business Line, he shares his philosophy on money.

What does money mean to you?

Money for me is a means to an end. It is an instrument to achieve one's goals. Money also poses a strange dichotomy and the earlier you realise it the better. At one end, you have to understand its importance and put in efforts and make disciplined decisions so that you are prudent in your approach towards money.

But at the same time you have to realise that there should be a level of detachment towards money, to ensure that your life does not become a wild goose chase.

What are your top financial goals? What proportion of your money is invested in savings bank, deposits, bonds, stocks, real estate and gold?

My top financial goals are driven by both short-term and long-term visions. I have mainly invested in gold with real estate being a distant second. I prefer to do SIP over doing stock allocation myself.

Tell us about your most successful investment, the one which made the most money for you.

My most successful investment was in a traditional instrument done in contemporary form i.e. gold ETF.

One mistake on investing or saving that you regret.

Investing is all about taking long-term decisions. When you take decisions based on short-term expected gains, it naturally hurts.

In the early part of my career, when I was unfamiliar with capital markets, I learnt my first lesson because I went after short-term trading gains.

Have you thought about building your retirement corpus? How are you creating this corpus?

Yes, I started with the thought of building a retirement corpus quite some time back. I am creating my retirement corpus by regularly contributing to my mutual fund SIP.

How do you plan your investments to beat inflation?

With inflation becoming more structural in nature and return on fixed income assets not covering inflation-adjusted returns, precious metals form a significant part of my investment portfolio.

What is your message on saving and investing to young people just starting out on their career?

Young people want to make large amounts of money in a short span of time. I would advise them, keeping their medium and long-term goals in mind, that SIP in mutual funds would be a very good avenue. Secondly, they tend to get into financial markets, especially equities, without much knowledge.They should understand the fundamentals and technical aspects of the market first.