Once a mis-selling victim, Priya Sunder now runs a successful financial advisory firm

Priya Sunder, Director and co-founder, PeakAlpha

Note to readers: In this special three-part series, Moneycontrol personal finance profiles three women who are not only in control of their own personal finances but also guide several other women and families in managing their wealth.

It was “toxic” investment advice from bank representatives that motivated Priya Sunder and her husband Shyam Sunder to start their own financial advisory firm, PeakAlpha Investment Services, in 2005.

Today, Priya Sunder, Director and co-founder, PeakAlpha has over 5,000 clients and manages Rs 1,300 crore in assets with 40 percent of the total client base being women.

Sunder says her style of managing money hasn’t changed over the years, which remains very structured and true to investment basics.

Poorer, but wiser

Sunder spent her formative years in Kolkata (then Calcutta) and went on to do her Master's from Northwestern University in Chicago, US. After passing out, she worked for a law firm Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP in the US, where she helped people in getting green cards (EB1 petitions) in a fast-track manner.

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In the US, her husband Shyam Sunder, an MBA in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, worked for Andersen Consulting (known as Accenture today), as a strategy consultant.

Priya and Shyam returned to India in 2003 after their respective job stints in the US and the UK. Upon returning, among the first things they wanted to put in order were their finances.

In a new city (then Bangalore) and on their own, the Sunders went to a bank for investment advice.

“They gave us all kinds of bad advice, and we ended up buying insurance policies, with commissions as high as 60 percent. These products were quite toxic and there was no structured financial plan,” said Sunder.

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“We felt so gutted by what had happened to us. Something like this happening to me and Shyam, who had capital market experience, left us baffled and in pain,” she said.

This experience motivated the Sunders to leave their jobs in 2005 and establish PeakAlpha, where Priya says a diagnosis of an individual's assets, goals and aspirations are done in an objective and ethical way.

Sunder says at PeakAlpha, they like to generate returns for clients that are above benchmark returns (alpha). The firm today has close to 35 employees on board.

The power of listening

A key learning that Sunder employs from her corporate job is that the devil is in the detail. “I'm always looking out for mistakes.”

Sunder rues that fact that she missed the shortcomings of the financial products that they first bought after coming to India.

For her clients at PeakAlpha, her process of designing a financial plan begins with a conversation. “It is really about understanding what makes you tick,” she said.

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Her key questions to a client include, “what do you want your money to do for you and what do you want to accomplish?” According to Sunder, her style of managing money has not changed in 18 years, since the time she started PeakAlpha.

“We have a very structured process, where we do the diagnosis. But primarily, our portfolios are created through mutual funds, because these products are best suited for long-term financial planning, and actually, even for the short term. I don't think anything matches up to something like a mutual fund-based portfolio, which is tax-efficient, transparent and well-regulated,” she said.

Apart from mutual funds, peripheral products advised by PeakAlpha include some commodities, real estate, and insurance — life or general.

Why are women hesitant in managing money?

Sunder believes the biggest problem women face is starting trouble.

“When women get involved in managing the finances of their families, they are really very good at it, because they intuitively get financial planning. This is because their orientation is always goal-based and they are not perturbed by short-term market movements or volatility, and they're emotionally attached to their goals,” she added.

According to Sunder, women have all the makings of becoming good investors, but the stumbling factor is the perception in their minds that they're not good with money or numbers.

The financial expert’s advice to women investors is to dip their feet into managing their money and start with a liquid fund, and move on from there.

“You will see that the journey is enriching and you learn a lot. It is all about starting and it doesn't matter how much you invest. If you're young and you start small also, that's fine, because compounding is on your side,” Sunder said.

Sunder believes that at PeakAlpha, financial planning is not just about saving for the future and retirement. “It's so much more about making sure that you enjoy the money today while you can.”

When it to comes to wealth, the financial expert believes that it is all about making as many lives as possible happy and wealthy.

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One of the key responsibilities of a financial advisor, says Sunder, is managing the emotions of a client as investment is a function of greed and fear.

She is of the opinion that patience is a great equaliser and it separates a true investor from someone who's a speculator. “Discipline is a big factor in investing.”

When it comes to unwinding after a tough day, Sunder loves to cook. Her specialties include north Indian and south Indian cuisines as well as Italian dishes.

“Usually, I don't get the time, but when I do, I end up in my kitchen. So, I have a breakfast table there, where I place my laptop. I love spending time there cooking, and of course, I love to read as well,” she said.