Tapan Bhagat, a member of The 1% Club, joined the community ten months back. Even though he is a Central Government Employee, Tapan joined the club as he needed help to learn about investing his hard-earned money in the right way.
In this interview with The 1% Club, he shares his mistakes before joining the club and how he currently manages his finances. Edited Excerpts
Please tell us the mistakes you made before joining The 1% Club.
I invested in money-back insurance schemes and ULIP along with sectoral mutual funds. I had also opted for balanced and debt options of mutual funds for minimal returns. After using tools from The 1% Club, I have understood risk appetite and organized my MFs exposure w.r.t my FIRE 🔥 number.
What were the specific changes you made to your investment after joining the club?
The main change I think is that I am now investing only in 3-4 types of funds:
1- Large
2- Midcap
3- Smallcap (aggressive with the plan to do SWP post-retirement)
4- ELSS
Also, I am experimenting with MFs having exposure to Derivatives during earnings season each quarter.
What plans have you made after joining the club?
Since I am a serving government employee, I have a substantial NPS tier-I contribution, which means my post-retirement is sorted. Hence, I calculated my FIRE number and my FIRE age as 55 years from the tools available. I decided to go aggressive and increased my contribution to Mid-cap and Small-cap along with some exposure to Gold through Sovereign Gold Bonds and Corporate Bonds.
Also, I have experienced that Treasury bills are a far better option than FDs for near and mid-term needs such as paying my son’s school fees and premiums of health insurance of parents.
With the live sessions organized in the One Percent Club app, I managed to take out Health insurance for my parents with the help of Ditto. I am also planning to take out term life insurance for myself.
For my girl child, who is just 8 months old, I am planning to take advantage of the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana.
If possible, please tell us the profits you made after adjusting your strategy?
My wife and I both follow investment strategies learned at The 1% Club and Shashank’s sessions. We have had a profit jump in the range of 20%-22% for both of our portfolios combined.
Which modules have helped you the most? And what are the financial tools you use?
The module on comprehensive financial planning with the master Excel sheet has helped me to have visible statistics of my finances. It truly helped me to quantify my efforts for financial goals for my family.
Do you interact within the community group and if yes, how has that helped you?
Yes, I have interacted with the community on a weekly basis during Shashank’s sessions and chat. I have asked doubts and helped other community members with their doubts.
Also, I am the winner of one of the Kahoot sessions and Shashank has gifted me books on Stock market investing which has helped straighten up my finances.
The club has also started to organize sports events in Pune and we at Pune have started interacting with different individuals from different backgrounds and came to know about different investment ideas and market updates
Also Read: Meet Kritika Bhatia, an Architect Who Started a Coffee Chain With Just Rs 10 Lakh!
What are the other benefits of joining the club?
I have helped out my dad with a housing loan, decided against the purchase of a new car to save money, advised people to invest in SGBs and ETFs rather than jewelry, etc. The community and sessions have ignited a sense and urge to save money, hence I have usually thought about opportunity profit and loss while making each decision.
Any advice to someone who is planning to join The 1% Club?
Every decision is a financial decision along the course of life, hence, guided help is needed at every step.
Want to manage your money better? The 1% Club can help. Details here
Disclaimer: The above content is based on the information provided by Tapan Bhagat. The 1% News doesn’t independently verify non-public data reported by interviewees.
