From handling home finances to enabling India’s financial development and stability, women have come a long way in carving a niche in the perceptibly male-dominated finance sector, including financial consulting. There is also a growing number of women entrepreneurs in the domain who have been at the forefront of the digitally led world. With 18 years of industry prowess, Sheela Alurkar, a commendable and award-winning personal financial advisor, has been one such harbinger of change. Leveraging her proven business acumen through her brainchild, Abhivruddhi Financial Consultancy (AFC), she has effectively helped over 300 clients in Mumbai and over 100 clients in Bangalore make informed decisions about the right financial plans to achieve accretion in their assets, thereby living up to the name ‘Abhivruddhi’.
Regardless of gender, there are very few financial service providers who genuinely focus on helping clients achieve their goals. Many testimonials of AFC paint a picture of attribute that makes Sheela stand out from the rest. She is also widely acknowledged for her extensive knowledge, patience, holistic approach towards financial planning to achieve client goals and, best of all, her dedication to directing people towards financial independence. Under her stewardship, the company has grown to offer comprehensive and customized solutions, including portfolio evaluation and management, asset allocation, mutual fund investments, retirement planning, life and health insurance, and ETFs(Exchange-Traded Funds)/Equity PMS.
Sheela believes that investment is a long-term journey with no shortcuts and is contingent on the values of relationships, trust, and confidence. Often clients may not have a full perspective of all the avenues and options of investment and most importantly what is right for them. There is rarely one solution that works for all clients, in fact, the trick is to find the one that works for the pressing needs of the client. At Abhivruddhi Financial Consultancy, we offer personalized financial planning services that aid our clients achieve their financial goals. Every client is unique to us, and we provide personalized wealth solutions. What we ensure is that we listen carefully, understand financial goals, assess Liabilities and Assets and then, based on the client's risk profile and goals, devise a wealth strategy. We put a lot of emphasis on Asset Allocation as that is the key to generating consistent returns.
In today's global investment world, opportunities are not just in domestic market but also far away in international markets. We ensure our clients’ hard-earned money works for them 24/7 to achieve their financial goals.
The Journey to Success
Having grown up in a middle-class family in Mumbai, Sheela is an avid reader with keen interest in the process of investing, a habit and a trait that she attributes to her parents, her siblings, and the ethics-driven culture ingrained during her child hood.
Her mother, “Aai”, was a homemaker, but an extremely intelligent and creative lady, who supported Sheela’s father by selling her beautifully hand-crafted artifacts. She sowed the seeds of entrepreneurship that motivated
Sheela to start some thing on her own.
She started working in “Blue Star” post-graduation and started pursuing Company Secretary correspondence course but had to pause due to her marriage and house hold responsibilities. Later she completed a Diploma in Financial Management from the University of Mumbai at the age of 40 while taking care of work and family. Post this, she joined the largest global commodity marketing company, 'Glencore', and served for 18 years. Eventually, after retiring from Glencore as a DGM - Accounts and Finance, she decided to turn her passion into an investment firm. Thus, she has rich cumulative corporate experience of 40 years.
Sheela is widely acknowledged for her extensive knowledge, patience, systematic approach, and, best of all, her dedication to helping people
In addition, Covid presented a fantastic opportunity by shifting the financial consulting industry online. “I embraced this medium to set up online engagements with my clients. Today, location is not a barrier for me to interface with clients on a pan-India basis,” shares Sheela.
Spearheading a Difference
“My favorite aspect of being a woman leader is my mission to make women financially independent,” proclaims Sheela. Financial independence is such a strong force that propels an individual to explore their talents and live a fulfilling life. While practicing consultancy, I realized that women take a back seat when it comes to managing their own finances. Before marriage father takes care of finances and post marriage husband takes over. But times are changing, women are making strides in all fields, ambition levels are increasing, so it is important that women build their own financial safety net, whether she is married or unmarried. Through AFC, Sheela prepares women on a journey of financial independence.
She remarks, “Future for India are its youth and what I have observed is that, our school curriculum does not prepare young generation to tackle their finances when they grow. My next mission is to educate young kids about money and make them understand the power of compounding which will help them kick start their financial independence journey". The company organizes seminars and awareness campaigns through simple games during the summer holidays and the results to date are incredibly encouraging.
The current financial consultancy market has a bright future in India. Post pandemic, people (retail investors) started taking interest in the stock market. In fact, many started their investing journey during this period. India has the best demographic characteristics in emerging countries and plenty of growth seen ahead as the infrastructure is being built. This creates several avenues for individual investors to participate in this growth story. Financial Planners are furthering this penetration at many levels of society.
Sheela believes that in today’s interconnected world, there are a myriad of choices for investments. A Financial Advisor helps you choose the right investment products according to your financial goals, helps you monitor and assess the investment performance, rebalance the portfolio to navigate through volatile market conditions while you are busy at your work. In the global business landscape, exciting investment opportunities can be effectively tapped through the help of an advisor. Conditioning one’s thought process about this journey can create a lot of wealth and afford financial independence to investors.