Meet Srinivasan Balasubramaniam, a 1% Club member since August 2023 and a Software Developer in Chennai.
In an interview with the team, Srinivasan shared that saving has been his habit since childhood. He used a piggy bank to save money gifted to him by older people in the family.
Although he started saving early, he started investing only when he got into his first job at Zoho Corporation. He recollects reading about Warren Buffet in his college days but the financial terms sounded like Latin and Greek to him. And he didn’t even have a Demat account at that time to experiment.
His investment journey took off on the right track after joining the 1% Club. Read further to know how he started and how far he has come with regard to investments. Edited Excerpts
When did you start investing and the mistakes you made?
Initially, without fundamental knowledge, I started doing forex trading on MT5 by seeing a random Instagram post. The page I followed on Instagram for forex trading assured me I have a relationship manager of my own. That person was supposed to guide me on everything related to forex trading. As a beginner, the guidance didn’t help me much which resulted in a loss of almost Rs 15,000.
What was your asset allocation before and after joining the Club?
Before joining the club, I had zero investments and everything apart from my monthly budget in the savings account.
After joining the club, my current allocation in equity is low since I started in March 2024. But I do have a few allocations in liquid savings, FDs and RDs (post office). I have also started to invest in gold since last month i.e. July 2024.
As soon as the salary is credited into my account, I’ll allocate a part of it to buy one gram of physical gold every month. Here’s an approximate figure for each asset.
Equity – less than 20% (since started only in March 2024)
Debt – More than 70 %
Gold – Around 10%
In the upcoming months, the equity ratio will grow as I’m now investing almost 40% of my salary in equity. I am also planning to buy term insurance soon.
Any short-term and long-term financial goals you are working towards?
I am working to buy my first car and my wedding. Long-term goals can be said to retire early, kid’s education & kid’s wedding.
Also Read: From Reckless Spending to Sincere Investing: How Harikamini’s Relationship With Money Changed!
What are the major learnings after joining the club?
I started my investment journey because of the 1% club. I have learnt a lot about how to choose a mutual fund, what is FIRE? What are the things that need to be considered while taking health, term and vehicle insurance? Which credit card can give good rewards, how to save more taxes and even more.
I also made small improvements in all those things. Since I’m a beginner, my net worth is not that much bigger for now. Hoping to surpass my FIRE number soon.
What value has this journey added to your life?
One thing which I value the most in this journey is I get to meet a lot of new people from various sectors. Apart from the course modules and tools offered by 1% Club, it is the network which is the biggest asset for all of us. It is the community that drives us on the right path and the tendency to help each other and grow together is the biggest boon. And all this came to me through the 1% club. Also, various networking events are not like a typical gathering. The events planned are very refreshing and like a recreation amidst hustle and bustle.
Disclaimer: The above content is based on the information provided by Srinivasan Balasubramaniam. The 1% News doesn’t independently verify non-public data reported by interviewees.
