There are surely some lessons for advisers – and I am sure many people have already written a lot, so here is my contribution to the cacophony!

1. Talk to your clients – especially if you think they are vulnerable to some panic reaction. If your clients are cool, relaxed and clear about what they want or what they will do, DO NOT INITIATE A conversation. A good doctor, dentist of a financial planner should be initiating a talk ONLY if there is some thing to worry about. If the client has not initiated a talk, it means the client is cool.
2. If the client initiates the talk, talk long, hold hands, talk to his wife, children – what have you to assuage the feelings.
3. Remember you cannot control what the media says, so explain to them about the situation as clearly as you can, if you can!!
4. Learn from the Kiranawala (Grocer) – be close to the customer. I am getting far better service from my grocer than I am getting from D’Mart, Reliance Fresh, and Big Bazaar. Far better, to reiterate.
5. As an IFA you can be flexible – you can do Skype calls / Zoom meetings for your clients. No BFSI big company can react at the speed at which you can.
6. Till a cure for the Chinese Virus is found, we are playing BLIND – so the bets have to be small. So if you have a client who has say Rs. 50L investment in total, he should not be investing more than Rs.50,000 till the vaccine is found. Sure the client can trade, but no fresh money which is more than 2% of the net-worth. So once 50k is invested another 50k is available for another fall if at all.
7. For direct equity investors the market is giving a lot of trading opportunities -take it. Psu shares were beaten down so badly that I got trades with dividend yields 2x the 10 year Gsec. Such deals are still available, but if you are not a regular equity investor, this is a HORRIBLE time to enter the markets.
8. If a client has say Rs. 3 crores net-worth and Rs, 75L lying in short term funds should you transfer Rs. 50L to some equity scheme? The answer is no. Stick to a figure of 10% – so 30L would be the limit for such a client (for a client of 50L we said 2%). As AUM increases, the %age on which you can take risk also increases.
9. Gold, cash, low yielding short term bonds will look attractive TODAY. However it would be the worst asset classes -in April 2021. Learn to look forward.
10. Stick to funds you know – don’t try anything new, and don’t guide clients to buy funds that they don’t understand…
11. Clients view of Risk keeps changing – too scared and too brave. Make sure you keep the equilibrium!
12. Asset allocation never goes out of fashion. However, that is the clients prerogative. Be firm and kind – but not arrogant.
13. Mean Reversion will happen – none of us know when.
14. We have no clue when we will see the top or the bottom – have the brains to play moderate.
15. Meditation helps!!