Wedding vows, festivals, and a housie: How Priyanka Acharya wants to redefine the way money is taught to women

Priyanka Acharya has been a silent spark, financially empowering women since 2016.

Priyanka Acharya is one among many financial coaches who conducts financial training camps. But aside from conducting camps specifically targeted at women savers, Acharya prefers to take a slightly different approach.

Slightly out-of-the-box, if you will.

For instance, if you are a young woman getting married, Acharya has a session specially designed for you and your spouse: The ‘7 Financial Vows’. That’s loosely based on the seven sacred rounds that the bride and groom take around the holy fire in a Hindu marriage. Similarly, come Diwali and Navratri, she holds forth a discussion among her women listeners on 9 financial vrata. That’s a take on the 9-day Navratri festival where devotees fast for nine days to seek the blessings of Goddess Durga.

Demystifying finance using concepts that touch everyday lives of women, Acharya has been a silent spark, financially empowering women since 2016.

Products used

LaxmiGyaan Housie (elaborating 90 financial concepts), Financial make-up, Recipe to good financial behaviour, and even Financial etiquette are some of the programmes in her armoury to fight the glass barriers placed in financial roles adopted in the country.

“Financial awareness campaigns are usually academic in nature. Instead, I started using these analogies to bring money concepts closer to women communities and college students. For all those women who say ‘finance is important, but I don’t have the time’, concepts were presented in a micro-learning format,” says Acharya.

Among other games and concepts sit a financial gratitude journal, which was created when a lady listening to a session in Marathi pointed out, “Even though I have this big dream of buying a house, there may be other smaller aspirations, which I want to save for, achieve and celebrate.” There are monthly charts about your dreams, plan for expenses and emergencies, and bite-sized financial insights that one can grasp each week.

“Finance is a way of life; it is a psychology more than anything else. I observe people and try to get to the root of why some financial decisions are taken, and then think about how that can be brought to the table differently,” says Acharya.

Also read: Five reasons why it is important for women to take charge of their finances

Getting over language and social barriers

After attending the sessions, women wanted to know more financial concepts through their simplified lens. Acharya used an audio library and a voice note delivered everyday through social media messaging services to keep them engaged.

Apart from the intimidating financial jargon, language was another barrier for women to learn about finance. Hence, Acharya used financial content in eight languages ― some on her own and few others with partners.

“The stories that work with Gujarati audience, wouldn’t work with Kannada listeners. We need to use the local language to make finance less complicated to ensure people don’t associate fear and finance together,” she says en route to Bangalore for an awareness event.

Despite using a fun way to teach finance, Acharya claims that she has hardly received three requests for “7 Financial Vows” - that she conducts offline and online. She blames this on the negative connotation that money conversations have, when bundled with a wedding ceremony.

“While people prepare for pre-wedding shoots, and food, they forget money, which made these dreams come true too. What they are going to manage a lot more after marriage takes a back seat in the whole affair,” says Acharya, hopeful of breaking the bifurcation in gender roles around managing money.

Also read: Two investments that women should urgently get rid of

Tough road ahead, but the walk continues

Acharya says that financial awareness sessions are still not taken seriously in India. One question that she is often asked in seminars is: “Which product are you selling?” This, she blames on numerous investor education camps that are typically organised by product manufacturers like mutual fund houses, insurance companies, and others. “Indians aren’t used to listen to non-promotional unbiased financial content,” she says.

But that doesn’t deter Acharya. In 2022, she registered her company LaxmiGyaan. Since then, she has had a few success stories to share. Even if it is to put their financial house in order by keeping track of all documents or getting the nominations and know-your customer (KYC) updates and wills in place, she says that women participants in her seminars have taken the first few steps towards financial awareness and independence.