The salesman was right at the door of the supermarket and he was promoting potatoes . On one side he was telling about the massive advantage of buying in bulk of potatoes . I told him i dont run a hotel . He again persisted on the health advantages of potatoes . I told him i was a doctor . Then he spoke about the freebies . You know what typically happens . I bought 100 kgs of potatoes and for the next whole year i was eating potatoes three times daily .
Of course this story is fictitious , I hate potatoes . But assume instead of a sack of potatoes you are offered a financial product be it a moneyback policy , an apartment ( as investment ) . a mutual fund the chances are sooner or later you will buy it . Its not because you are unwise because most of the consumers of financial products are very good at their field of work . And especially in the field of healthcare professionals whom i teach finance also as a module , each one of them is very good in their field be it surgery or dermatology .
Its because healthcare professionals generally are not familiar with financial products and how to evaluate them unlike business etc where finance and present value ,future value concept of money , compounding , risk etc are taught . But when doing personal investments all these professionals do not understand money in the same way .
I still remember the first investments i made decades back when i was making notes of every word of the insurance salesman . For me he was my teacher . It was years since i realised principles of finance is not taught by insurance salesmen . They sell products . If you dont know how to assess any product and more importantly dont know your risk profile , risk appetite you cannot blame anyone when you get stuck with any particular financial product .
Just like the beauty of the supermarket is in going inside and knowing and shopping wisely depending on your needs every financial product should be approached with knowledge and after understanding your risk profile . And as they say if you dont take care of your money no one else will . This is all the more important for healthcare professional . On my next blog will write about the 1000 Rs per Cm square land for sale . Comments are welcome and please click on poll on the right . Thanks
