Hailing from a middle-class family in a village near Vellore, Tamil Nadu, Chandrashekhar was the youngest of seven children and grew up with limited financial means. His father retired when he was young, a class IX student, prompting his elder brothers to support his move to Mumbai at the age of 15 to pursue higher education. This shift from a village to a city opened Chandrashekhar’s eyes to a world of possibilities and instilled in him a deep appreciation for the value of money.
While Chandrashekhar managed his own investments initially, he sought assistance of a financial expert when the portfolio size grew. In 2018, he started investing in stocks apart from the investments made via Portfolio Management Services (PMS). But in 2021, he hired a Sebi-licensed research analyst, who provided personalized advice and helped optimize his portfolio by reducing the number of stocks in it and focusing on small- and mid-cap stocks for better returns and switched from PMS to managing his investments directly that allowed him to lower costs.
Early brush with investing
After completing his education, Chandrashekhar started his career as a back-office executive at 20th Century Finance, a company specializing in automobile finance. It was here that he gained insight into the importance of financial planning. His career trajectory next took him to Tata Finance, where he met his wife, Srividya. They got married in 1995. Despite coming from different financial backgrounds, they shared a common vision, that of focusing on their finances early in their married life.
“We both worked in finance and in the same company. Moreover, my father was a banker and used to give us insights into our financial future. This helped us understand our finances in the early phase of our lives. We gave utmost importance to both health and money. Fortunately, our thoughts matched quite well. Every decision related to our finances so far has been taken jointly.” says Srividya Chandrashekhar.
By the late 1990s, they were saving diligently, despite their modest incomes (Chandrashekhar earned ₹7,000 per month then and Srividya ₹5,000). They invested in recurring deposits (RDs) and fixed deposits (FDs) at a time when interest rates were high, thereby laying a solid foundation for their financial future. “Since we also received support from both our families for buying our first house, we decided to invest about 30-40% of our income. We started treating investments as expenses,” says Chandrashekhar.
Their only child, Sidhant, was born in 1997 and Chandrashekhar started investing early for his son’s higher education. He opened a bank account in Sidhant’s name and deposited the money gifted by well-wishers into it. This initial amount, though small, served as seed money for Sidhant’s future financial security.
Subsequently, Chandrashekhar started a ₹1,000 per month systematic investment plan (SIP) in MFs for Sidhant. He increased the SIP amount every year based on his growing income. “This disciplined approach to investing helped create a substantial corpus of ₹85 lakh by the time Sidhant was ready for his MBA, eliminating the need for an education loan,” he adds.
From equities to real estate
Chandrashekhar’s career took a significant turn when he transitioned from a corporate role to that of an independent consultant in the automobile dealership business. This move marked a shift in his investment strategy towards building a diversified portfolio. He started investing more in mutual funds and later ventured into real estate, purchasing commercial properties in Boisar and Kandivali.
In 2007, when the couple were looking for a new house because Sidhant had grown up, they carefully considered their options. About 80% of the funds for the new house came from their MF investments, and they took a loan for the rest to take advantage of tax benefits. They retained their first house, a 2BHK flat in Vashi, Navi Mumbai, for rental income. However, in September 2023, Chandrashekhar sold this house and ploughed the proceeds into debt mutual funds.
In terms of health insurance, Chandrashekhar and Srividya initially relied on their employers’ health cover. However, in 2005, they secured their own medical insurance policies. When Chandrashekhar turned 50 in 2017, the couple decided to increase their health insurance cover to ₹50 lakh, considering the increased medical expenses, with an annual premium of ₹60,000. “I ensured that the family is adequately covered against medical emergencies, because health issues can be significant wealth destroyers,” he says.
When the equity markets started performing well, Chandrashekhar gradually increased his exposure to stocks and cut down on real estate investments. By 2021, his portfolio was 40% in direct equity, 30% in MFs, and the rest in real estate. “Because I came from conservative family, I always gave importance to real estate investments. In 2015-16, I started fully investing in equity markets as the returns from real estate was very low” he says.
By 2018, he was using the services of a PMS. Three years later, he hired the research analyst. “The analyst offered research reports and insights at a lower cost compared to PMS funds, making it a more cost-effective option for managing my equity portfolio” He says. As advised, he reduced the number of stocks in his portfolio from 115 to 35 stocks. “I moved to small-cap and mid-cap funds because I needed to create more wealth. And it was a good opportunity at that time, because the markets had started correcting,” he adds.
Financial protection
As for life insurance, Chandrashekhar was not keen on a term life insurance policy at this phase of his life. While he had some mixed plans that offered life insurance and investments in the past, he eventually moved the money out from these plans as they were making lower returns and had high costs. “Money-back policies or endowment insurance plans were popular back in the days and, fortunately, I did not block much money there, I noticed that the IRR (internal rate of return) of these products was barely beating inflation. MFs wer doing better.” he says.
Chandrashekhar maintains an emergency fund equivalent to 36 months of expenses, which is invested in FDs and debt MFs.
Retirement planning
Chandrashekhar’s approach to retirement planning has been meticulous as well. Retirement had always been a goal since the day he got married. The couple wanted to ensure financial independence and travel during their retirement. Towards this end, They have made long-term investments. This includes a monthly SIP of ₹1.45 lakh. Additionally, Chandrashekhar recently encashed ₹1.2 crore from his MF investments, which had doubled in value in three years, and invested it in an alternative investment fund floated by Boring AMC – Manufacturing Fund.
Since the investments are almost ready, the couple are now looking forward to their retirement life. And, Charashekhar wants his financial legacy to be carried forward. He is eager to inculcate financial discipline in the next generation.