Maharaja Agrasen Technical Education Society (MATES), New Delhi organised a campus panel discussion today on the topic “”Empowering your Finances: Strategies for a Better Tomorrow.” in collaboration with  Financial Planning Standards Board Ltd. (FPSB Ltd.). The event was organised to celebrate IOSCO’s World Investor Week 2023 which was held in conjunction with India’s G20 Presidency.

MATES is celebrating its 25th-year Silver Jubilee and today’s event had a special significance. This collaboration marked a significant step towards promoting financial literacy and responsible investing practices amongst the students and our society at large.

The event was attended by Dr. Nand Kishore Garg- Founder & Chief Advisor MATES, and Chancellor of Maharaja Agrasen University, Sh S.P. Aggarwal- Executive Chairman MATES, Sh. Rajneesh Kumar Gupta- Secretary MATES, trustees of MATES, Prof Neelam Sharma- Director MAIT, Sh. SS Deshwal- Dean MAIT, Faculty, Staff and Students of MAIT, MAIMS and MABS.

The distinguished experts who participated as the Panelists and shared their invaluable insights on financial empowerment included Dr. Nand Kishore Garg, Founder & Chief Advisor MATES, and Chancellor of Maharaja Agrasen University, Mr. Krishan Mishra, the CEO of FPSB India, Ms. Teena Jain Kaushal, the Editor of Personal Finance at Business Today and Dr. Sanjiv Marwah, the Director of Maharaja Agrasen Business School. The panel discussion was moderated by Mr. Pankaj Dhingra, the Co-founder and Director of Fintram Global, and the former Global Finance Director at Boston Consultancy Group.

The panel discussion was initiated by Dr. Sanjiv Marwah who emphasised that youngsters should start investing early. Their first investments should start with their first salary, this will help them in reaping long term benefits of investing and will help them in maintaining a healthy portfolio. He mentioned that in a rapidly evolving financial landscape, it is crucial for students to be aware of developments that impact their futures and invest wisely with informed choices at hand.

Ms Teena shared very insightful thoughts for the students that they should clearly understand what finance and consumerism are. She said that the best way to know how much to invest is to first calculate your income and expenditure and then invest with the amount at hand. She added that investment planning is not a one time act, it ia a lifelong practice and should be done regularly.

Mr. Krishan Mishra shared that it is crucial to know the right time to start planning for investing. Investment planning should keep retirement planning primarily in mind. The best way to do it is to start investing at an early age as it would also give the leverage to paying lower premiums. He added that if we do not learn to manage money, money starts managing us. He also mentioned that CPF certification helps in not only informed and healthy investment practices , however also trains individuals to guide others to do so.

Dr. Nand Kishore Garg emphasised that today, people are not spending on their needs as earlier times. People are spending a lot without any disciplined approach to managing finances. He said that impulsive buying practices in younger generation without the basic need for goods and services leads to a lesser disposable income for better things like donating to society at large to uplift the needy. He said if each individual will become self disciplined, financial empowerment of the society will happen by default.

Mr. Nikhil Dhingra, while moderating the session mentioned that we should always try to split our investments in different baskets like Gold, Mutual Fund, Equity, FDs etc. This takes care of the risks and benefits of each investment instrument. He said that we should not get greedy to spend a lot because others around us are spending a lot. Instead we should spend as per our income and disposable income at hand.

The panelists also addressed the queries of the students of Maharaja Agrasen Business School.

The panel discussion ended with a vote of thanks and national anthem.

Author:

Jeetanshi, Mohnish and Arushi
PGDM Students, MABS
Members, Click Catalyst (Digital Marketing Club)