Introducing Money Mindful; Mutual Fund Distributor video prep course
We are happy to announce the launch of Money Mindful, a new financial education series that aims to help anyone enter the financial services industry.
While we believe in offering stocks and mutual funds at the lowest possible costs for DIY investors, we also understand that many investors need financial advice. Not just a fintech offering pre-packaged or AI-driven solutions, but someone with a real human touch that can listen, guide and coach. Real financial coaches.
India’s financial advice industry has not grown as fast as it should have. The number of mutual fund distributors appears to be stuck at 1.2 lakh AMFI licensees, While some licensees have thousands of employees, such as banks, the number of licensed individuals still adds up to only 2.3 lakh. About 50 percent of these are from the country’s largest cities.
If we want to spread financial education to the whole population, we need millions of financial advisors spread across the country.
So why aren’t more people joining the industry? There are probably a number of reasons. While the lack of awareness and training contribute, the most significant reason is probably the long gestation period while the trail commissions build up. Most individual ARN holders earned less than 5 lakh rupees in a year.
Hansi Mehrotra approached us with an interesting solution. Could we encourage thousands of people, especially women, to become part-time mutual fund distributors?
If women are staying at home anyway, could we get them to learn about mutual funds so that they start managing not only their own family’s portfolio but also their social circles? If they enjoy learning about mutual funds, they could build a job or build a career in finance. Women are under-represented as investors, both as individuals and professionals. Hansi wrote about this here.
Similarly, students and retired people may want to consider a part-time, flexible way to turn their interest in finance into a source of income.
We had seen and liked Hansi’s financial education content on social media as one of the more intellectually honest content creators. Her CFA charter qualifications combined with decades of industry experience helps. We thought the experiment was worth it.
We wanted a solution that could help address the problem at scale and without unnecessary friction. So we partnered with Hansi to create a video series – the Money Mindful Mutual Fund Distributor track, available on the Zerodha YouTube channel.
The playlist almost covers the full NISM Mutual Fund Distributor curriculum. Consider it as a preparatory course. Not only are the nuts and bolts of mutual funds covered, the first chapter provides useful personal finance.
After watching the videos viewers still have to register and appear for the official NISM Mutual Fund Distributor V-A examination. For more information on the exam and MFD business, you can consider reaching out to AssetPlus, a Rainmatter portfolio company that provides a business platform for Mutual Fund Distributors.
Financial education should have multiple voices appealing to different people. Our own efforts now have a range – Varsity, Zero1, and now Money Mindful.
About Hansi Mehrotra
Hailing from a small town in UP, Hansi started her financial career as an investment adviser in Australia in 1993 (with a similar entry-level license). She went on to become a research analyst, investment consultant, and business leader working for the most influential firms in Australia and globally. In her last corporate role, she was responsible for the wealth management practice in Asia Pacific for Mercer as well as the investment consulting practice for India where she advised on the National Pension Scheme. Her qualifications include an Australian Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investments and the globally recognised CFA charter. Hansi has been blogging on the CFA Institute blog as well as LinkedIn for many years for which she was recognised as a global Top Voice in the inaugural list in 2015.
