Shashikant has taught hundreds of middle class families fine lessons of investments and brought them to the zone of safety and better returns. They have collectively invested 150 crore across various schemes run by reputed asset management companies.
Shashikant Patole has more than 700 families in his list of financial planning advisory services. Most of them belong to the middle class with no prior knowledge of financial products and investments, beyond their familiarity with term deposits, real estate, etc. First, he enlightens people about available investment avenues where they can safely park their surplus. Then he opens for them a portfolio suitable for their future requirements and earnings, besides offering them personalized services.
As a staunch investment advisor, he has a full basket of investable products run by insurers and asset management companies. Now, from the families, he has generated roughly 150 crore investment funds across various schemes of leading mutual funds, which otherwise would have gone to unplanned or risky schemes. “I keep the interest of the people on the forefront and make sure that they get better yields from their investments,” he says. “Safety, higher return and painless plans over a particular life cycle’, there are the three factors I consider for my clients,” he adds.
Shashikant is known for offering services which can offer better comforts and fetch higher returns for his clients rather than what benefits he makes out of the services. He has a thorough knowledge of each mutual fund and insurance product and stays ready to serve anyone seeking his services. So admirable has been his service that each one is satisfied with the plan he opens for them on the basis of their saving capacity and future needs.
Ganesh Kadam, working in Reliance Industries, says, “Person like me got to know about financial planning and necessity of opening an investment portfolio only after hearing the presentation of Shashikant. I could see a world beyond life insurance products only after I heard him talking about other financial products.” There are many individuals, like Ganesh, who praise Shashikant for his loyal service and pleasant rapport. He considers his clients as extended family members.
In the last three years, he has made more than 100 advisory sessions in various places including some high profile corporate offices with his mission of enlightening middle and lower level executives. “They are the people who require sincere investment advice and reliable financial planning.
Besides direct interaction with him, all his clients also get update of their portfolios and what is happening in the market through a well-designed communication network that he has created exclusively for them. In fact, he is fully dedicated to the mission of enlightening middle class people to help them see safe investment avenues. His wife, Shraddha and son, Aneesh, a management graduate who is close to finishing CFP, work with him full time.
Ultimately what Shashikant’s company Addon Investments does is to help people channelize their hard earned surplus into right direction, averting their way from ponzy schemes. Often, it is unfortunate to see many people park their life-time earnings into forbidden schemes, getting carried away by pictures of rosy returns that never come to them. Their greed ultimately lands them into traps and downright losses of life-time savings. This happens because of the poor awareness about investments, Shashikant rightly points out.
He wants people to stop making miscalculations about their money and keep away from taking wrong decisions on the basis of self-motivation without adequate knowledge of the investments. He keeps his board clean so that he can start writing up the points for his guests to note and ponder. He teaches the uninformed minds the lessons that make them richer on their own thrifts.
By education, Shashikant is a draughtsman. In 1999, three years after his marriage he lost his job following the shutdown of the company he had worked. He felt doomed in deep financial misery. He and his wife stared at the crisis seeing no way ahead. Getting a job was not easy. Uncertainty prevailed. He didn’t know how many more days he might have to wander for a placement.
The only hope he could stay with was his desire to work hard and take up anything that came to his way. The young couple didn’t stop exploring ways that would help them stay financially safe. His wife stood by his side with all moral supports. To support him, she became an authorized agent of Post Office Savings and began her work at the grass-root level. Soon Shashikant became an insurance agent and started selling policies to ensure some extra income. Yet, he didn’t stop hunting for a fulltime job. Sometimes later, he got a fulltime job with handsome salary. The insurance sector was not yet opened. Mutual funds were not so popular. But he could foresee a radical change in the market, people’s mindset and also what people in future might require for their financial wellbeing.
He stood prepared for shaping his business in accordance with the emerging possibilities, while working in another company. His business grew through clean relationships. Then he wanted to leave his job as he found his advisory venture growing that needs greater attention. He worked for 15 years until he hung his boots last year to fully dedicate his time on his passionate investment advisory job. Shashikant has no qualms about his busy life that has drawn a picture of hope for others. Addon Investment is a symbol of optimism that makes others also optimistic.
