I meet several investors on a daily basis. What surprises me is the fact that most of them have never given much thought towards their plan of wealth creation. Most of the wealth that they have created is purely by accident and luck. Typically it is windfall, most likely, due to some property bought and held on to as there was no other option and as such exit was difficult, would suddenly surge and a huge lumpsum would get credited into the investor’s account. However, when you scrape the surface and dig deeper, you find, had that same amount which was locked into an unyielding, unproductive property was invested into a diversified business investment (read equity), the returns would have been much greater, more productive and liquid.
Here we need to understand and respect the key factors which can lead to the wealth creation in a more predictable, productive and stress free manner than how it has been done till now by most investors.
Plan: This is the most critical part of creating wealth. One needs to prepare a broad road map for the wealth one wants to create and by and large stick to the plan. There would be ups and downs but one need to be strongly committed to the plan. In my opinion, there is only one plan and that is creating wealth. All other sub financial goals are met if wealth gets created.
Advisor: To help you reach you broad goal of wealth creation, your advisor plays a key role. It is important to choose your advisor wisely. The factors that should influence your choice of advisor are qualification, years of experience (depth and breadth of product spectrum), temperament (should match your comfort) and definitely ask for references (make it a point to speak to them).
Involvement: It is very important to give time to your advisor in the beginning and regularly to understand the plan and to track progress. Also, one needs to debate and discuss with the advisors about his choice of allocation and product to test his level of conviction. The relationship with your advisor has to be viewed as a long-term relationship and all your financial forays must be discussed with him so that you do not deviate from your long-term wealth creation goals. Even though your involvement is critical, you should trust your advisor to do what he does best and you should focus your energies in your profession which is equally critical to your wealth creation goal.
Risk: No plan can be fraught of risk and one unforeseen situation can completely derail the plan. Identifying and discussing the risks are critical to achievement of wealth creation goal. The biggest risk to your goal is you, yourself. The fickler you are about your plan, the more it will not yield results. Apart to the risk of decision making process, there are life, health and asset (house, car, valuables in your possession) risks. One needs to sensibly use insurance to cover these risks.
Let your wealth creation journey be a planned one with minimum accidents. This way you would drastically reduce the probability of failure and the journey and goal will be far more fulfilling.