Aarti Tibrewala Darooka
A chartered accountant and MBA, Aarti is an entrepreneur and financial literacy advocate. She has over 15 years of combined experience in the consulting, advisory and travel industries. A national ranker in CA, Aarti is a published author, who has written a plethora of books for children’s financial education and is currently helping build awareness for financial literacy for women through her platform, Sthreedhan.
Rama has been teaching at a secondary school since she finished her M.Ed. She had known since she was a child that teaching was her calling in life. Her parents tried to dissuade her, saying that they felt that teaching as a profession was not as remunerative. They felt that a brilliant student like her could easily take up much more financially rewarding professions.
Rama didn’t agree. She felt that the pay-off from teaching was not only financial but multi-faceted. It was the most important job in the world! She not only finished her masters with flying colours, but also got a job with one of the most reputed schools in her city. As a tech-savvy person, she found it easy to adapt to whatever new technology the school adopted, be it an online teaching platform or the touch-screen board that was now the norm. Her husband was very proud of her approach and felt that she should apply it to other fields of life as well.
The primary field that Rama’s husband suggested she adopt technology for was their finances. He, being in the merchant navy, found it difficult to take the time out to plan their finances or invest the money that they were both earning. It was his suggestion that since Rama was the more updated person in terms of technology and current affairs, it should be she that decided where their money should be put. Clearly, not only did she have the ability to read and understand financial concepts, but she also would be able to dedicate more time to it.
When Rama spoke to some of her friends on what their situation was when it came to finance and investing, she realised that many of them were already the one responsible for the same in their families. A fellow teacher told her about how since her husband was not as educated as her although he was running a family business, there was no option for her but to be the one to be financially literate and active in running their personal finances.
A school friend of Rama’s told her that being active in finance and well-read had helped her navigate a nasty divorce and not only get the settlement she rightly deserved but also ensure that she was compensated for the emotional trauma that she had to face at the hands of her husband!
Talking to a few other close friends and family, Rama further unearthed stories that not only surprised her but also convinced her that she should take serious responsibility of her family’s investing. One of her cousins was widowed recently. Her husband had passed away in an accident. The wife had no clue where their money had been invested, what bank accounts her husband held, who owed them money or to whom they owed money. It was a complete mess for her when she tried to put things together. She told Rama that she truly regretted not being financially literate and taking an active interest in her family’s financial matters.
Rama finally spoke to a friend of hers who was a chartered accountant and an active investor in the stock market. Her friend explained only one thing to Rama. She said that if you put money into a fixed deposit which is earning you hardly 6% per annum, but the cost of things is increasing at 7% per annum, i.e. inflation is 7%, then you are reducing the money you have today instead of growing it for your future needs. She said that unless Rama was to wisely put her money into investments that gave her a higher rate of return than an FD, she would not have enough money to meet her family’s needs after she retired although she had been saving all her life.
Rama finally concluded through these conversations that only is investing mandatory for a woman but that it would be irresponsible of her to not be financially literate and take an active role in the financial decisions of her family! As actor Priyanka Chopra once said, “Financial independence is paramount. My mom always said that when a woman is financially independent, she has the ability to live life on her own terms!”
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