This Valentine’s day, let’s talk about how financial planner couples manage their own money

These planners not only advice others on how they should manage their money, but are also busy running their own ship.

What happens when couples work together in the same office? Is too much closeness a blessing or a shortcoming? This Valentine’s day, Moneycontrol brings you tales of three couples that specialise in giving financial advice to others. These financial planner couples come from different backgrounds. But somewhere in their life journey, they decided to come together at work, too. These planners not only advice others on how they should manage their money, but are also busy running their own ship. Do they implement the advice that they give to others? Let’s find out.

Vishal Dhawan and Shalini Dhawan of Plan Ahead Wealth Advisors

Life partners turn couplepreneurs

In 2003, Vishal and Shalini quit their corporate careers together to set up this strategic financial planning business for investors.

Who takes the money decisions?

They prefer to take the personal finance decisions together. “We both have our two bits to share with each other before we come to any financial decision,” says Shalini.

Vishal also says that they make sure they do not sacrifice their individual goals, either.

Review your income and expenses regularly

Vishal and Shalini say that it’s important to fix your goals at the start of your financial planning journey. Then, keep reviewing once a year. Review your income and expenses twice a year. This ensures you are on track with your investments. Vishal and Shalini says all their investments are made jointly. “We share the login information related to the bank, investments, insurance, etc. with each-other,” says Vishal.

He adds, our asset class investment choices are driven by the end goals that we are trying to achieve. Both of them have a term insurance plan and review it ongoing basis.

Invest, before you spend

The one principle that Vishal and Shalini strictly implements is to first invest before spending. “As soon as our income hits our bank accounts, we make sure that our systematic investment plans (SIP) are funded. What remains can be spent on monthly expenses,” says Shalini.

Couplepreneurs: A high risk financial journey

It’s fun to work together in the same business venture, but there is a flipside. Both their fortunes are linked to the same business. If the business makes profits, the house is well fed. But if the business makes losses, then entire household income takes a hit.

“Our income may come from the same business. But we have a fairly diversified pool of clients. So our clients are not from the same industry,” reassures Vishal.

Keeping a part of the capital aside to take care of business uncertainties, is another way out for the Dhawans. This, they say, ensures that salaries are not disrupted.

Mistakes made, lessons learnt

The Dhawans say that when they started their financing planning firm, they did not segregate their income from business. They didn’t withdraw their own regular salaries at times. “This process didn't allow us to structure our personal finances very well at the beginning,” says Shalini. She says it is very important to draw a regular salary even if you are an entrepreneur. “The founder’s goals and finances are different from those of the business. These are two different entities,” she says.

Advice to new millennial couplepreneurs

Create a startup provision. This has to be higher than what you might have budgeted for initially. It could take longer to succeed than what you might have planned for.

Do not give up your corporate job too early in your career to found a start-up. That might not be such a good idea.

Focus on cash flows. That is the lifeline of your venture.

Prathiba Girish and Girish Ganaraj of Finwise Personal Finance Solutions

Life partners turn couplepreneurs

In 2013 Prathiba started financial planning firm Finwise Personal Finance Solutions. After business scaled up by December 2018, Girish quit his corporate job and joined Pratibha.

Who makes all the decisions?

Prathiba and Girish take financial decisions together. Being financial planners themselves, they jointly select the mutual fund schemes they wish to invest, jointly.

Girish says that two thinking heads put together have helped them take the right investment decisions and plan for their long-term.

Both of them, individually, have a term insurance plan. “We top it up when the income grows,” says Prathiba.

Couplepreneurs: A high risk financial journey

They have built contingency corpus of about 18 months, invested in liquid funds. This would come in handy if business gets disrupted. Another way to reduce business risks is to “constantly look out for new revenue streams and diversify the income flow,” says Prathiba.

Mistakes made, lessons learnt

In the initial 10 years after marriage, they mostly invested in the real estate properties. “In the last 12 years, we have consciously built wealth through financial assets,” says Girish. He adds that they have repaid all their loans.

Advice to new millennial couplepreneurs

Couples in the same business have a bigger risk. “It's extremely important for them to have a personal financial plan. They should separate personal wealth from the business,” says Girish.

He adds, both should have different operational responsibilities, but accountability should be joint. Equally contribute to the business and acknowledge each other’s work while working together. Avoid too much of demarcation of money, as it will lead to not taking the right financial decisions.

Anupam Roongta and Neha Roongta from www.anupamroongta.com

Life partners turn couplepreneurs

In 2019, Anupam Roongta and Neha Roongta started the business as a portfolio services firm. Eventually, they have started with the stock advisory firm and online training program for investing in mutual funds and stocks.

Who makes all the decisions?

The Roongtas invest separately, but have complete access to each other accounts. “The decisions on how much to invest, saving for emergency corpus and other financial goals are being taken together,” says Neha.

Monitoring the expenses

There is no demarcation on who will take care of monthly household expenses. “But we track our cash flows, personal expenditures and business expenditures separately,” says Anupam. During the COVID-19 pandemic, our monthly expenses have reduced. The additional savings were used to top-up existing investments.

Couplepreneurs: A high risk financial journey

The Roongtas’ fortunes are linked to stock markets. Anupam says that if they would have started the business today from scratch, they might have been a bit worried. But Anupam says that they are well covered as they have been investing in equities for over 15 years now. “We earn dividends from stocks and have an emergency fund to take care of our expenditures in the unfavourable times,” he says.

They were late in building an emergency fund. “We thought that our income would be there every month and it will continue the same way,” he says. Now, he swears by an emergency fund and says it’s absolutely crucial to tide over business uncertainties. He adds, the creation of an emergency fund was an excellent step for us. It added a lot of relief and peace at our end in terms of our finances.

Advice to new millennial couplepreneurs

Make regular investments. Don’t just depend on your business income.

Do not stop your investments. And do not withdraw from your personal corpus entirely to bring capital to your business.