Siddhanth Jain, Viraj Vora & Sanyam Jaina: A Team Of Young Turks Ameliorating The Wealth Management Industry
Siddhanth Jain, Viraj Vora & Sanyam Jain
Co-Founders & Partners
Here's an exclusive interview of Siddhanth, Viraj and Sanyam with CEO Insights.
Tell us about your professional background and experiences. What inspired you to venture into the wealth management domain?
Siddhanth: Educationally, I’m a CA & CFA, while Viraj is a CFA, and Sanyam is a CA, CFA, & FRM. We three hold experience in diverse fields of finance. Professionally, Viraj and I have worked in one of the largest listed wealth management companies in India, managing assets worth over $4 billion. Sanyam has been in equity research, and has worked as a core part of the portfolio management team in a couple of equity funds for over five years, including a Hong Kong based billion-dollar hedge fund. Viraj and I specialize in a holistic approach in managing clients & their portfolios with wide knowledge across asset classes, investment strategies, relationship management, and portfolio monitoring. Parallelly, Sanyam brings with him in-depth product knowledge, having been on the other side of the fence,now applying it towards comprehensive portfolio management.
Our inspiration to venture into the wealth management domain is on account of the gap we noticed in the industry during our professional tenure. The wealth management industry is still quite underdeveloped in India. We realized that much of this industry is concentrated with banks, and they followed a product selling approach rather than giving a holistic service as per the client’s financial requirements. We thought it would be a good opportunity for a young team like us to begin some thing in
the wealth management space, and hence BlueFort Financial came into being.
Define BlueFort Financial as an organization. What are the company’s greatest strengths and unique propositions that it offers to its clients?
Sanyam:BlueFort Financial is a wealth management firm built with a laid emphasis on investor education, consistent growth, and dependable protection of assets. In terms of the target market and the people we’re working with, it’s not only established HNIs but also emerging HNIs. We are also working with many NRIs across different countries, advising them on gaining productive exposure to the India growth story.
We position ourselves as holistic advisors, providing end-to-end services catering to an array of our clients’ needs within the broader scope of wealth management. The intent of our business is work in a way where we are educating our clients to help them make informed decisions. To that end, we committedly work towards explaining why and how we select particular financial products. Further, being a young team, our goal is to work with our clients and be there for them for the next couple of decades, forming very long term relationships. This aids us in devising portfolios that are entirely specific and relevant for them. While doing so we also wish to ensure that they're growing both in terms of their financial expanse and financial literacy.
What are the fundamental factors you consider while suggesting your personalized financial/wealth management plans to your customers?
Sanyam:Principally, we try to understand the client and our counsel is driven by the clients’ requirements. Every client is different and has different needs respective to their income & expense patterns, risk return requirements, and near term & long-term goals. There are no two clients that are the same, hence we approach portfolio management from an individual client's perspective, taking all such criteria into account to try and formulate a strategy that best suits them.
Viraj: In the wealth management space there are hundreds of products out there,all possessing different fundamental features and characteristics, be it equity mutual funds, debt investments, insurance products or more. We undertake
Define BlueFort Financial as an organization. What are the company’s greatest strengths and unique propositions that it offers to its clients?
Sanyam:BlueFort Financial is a wealth management firm built with a laid emphasis on investor education, consistent growth, and dependable protection of assets. In terms of the target market and the people we’re working with, it’s not only established HNIs but also emerging HNIs. We are also working with many NRIs across different countries, advising them on gaining productive exposure to the India growth story.
We aim to curtail the reckless selling of financial products within the industry and intend to approach wealth management in a very informative way
We position ourselves as holistic advisors, providing end-to-end services catering to an array of our clients’ needs within the broader scope of wealth management. The intent of our business is work in a way where we are educating our clients to help them make informed decisions. To that end, we committedly work towards explaining why and how we select particular financial products. Further, being a young team, our goal is to work with our clients and be there for them for the next couple of decades, forming very long term relationships. This aids us in devising portfolios that are entirely specific and relevant for them. While doing so we also wish to ensure that they're growing both in terms of their financial expanse and financial literacy.
What are the fundamental factors you consider while suggesting your personalized financial/wealth management plans to your customers?
Sanyam:Principally, we try to understand the client and our counsel is driven by the clients’ requirements. Every client is different and has different needs respective to their income & expense patterns, risk return requirements, and near term & long-term goals. There are no two clients that are the same, hence we approach portfolio management from an individual client's perspective, taking all such criteria into account to try and formulate a strategy that best suits them.
Viraj: In the wealth management space there are hundreds of products out there,all possessing different fundamental features and characteristics, be it equity mutual funds, debt investments, insurance products or more. We undertake
intensive research, leveraging our diverse backgrounds and various areas of expertise, in narrowing down this huge assortment. This then forms the basis for our selection of specific products that we recommend. Further, as a wealth manager it is our duty to then match these products with the relevant needs of the client.
Reflect on some of the major challenges you have experienced in your journey so far? How did you overcome them and what did you learn from them?
Siddhanth:The recurring challenge we face has been in promoting a mindset towards investment in financial products as wealth management is quite nascent in India. People are still waking up to the benefits of financialization of savings. We work with the HNIs and emerging HNIs, but their mindset can still be very traditional, bound with the old assets classes like LIC policies, FDs, PPF, property, and gold. Changing their biases can be very difficult, but as our website motto says ‘An investment in knowledge pays the best interest’. We overcome this disposition by using substantiated data & research to assure the client taking decisions. The goal is to over come these preconceived notions that have been carried for generations to collectively move towards more aware investment decisions.
Sanyam:The other challenge that we generally face is the cognitive human biases that everyone has when it comes to investing. But, it's our job to ensure that the discipline is maintained and we make consistent efforts to encourage our clients to be patient and stay invested. We manage theirexpectations by assiduously answering their questions, and helping them get in the right mindset for long term wealth creation.
What are the future goals that you wish to invest in and how do you plan to take them further?
Viraj:The goal is to continue with what we're doing and keep expanding our network and work with more clients growing through word of mouth. Equally importantly we aim to continue to increase people’s understanding of the financial products by creating awareness and focusing on financial literacy in the country. We aim to curtail the reckless selling of financial products within the industry and intend to approach wealth management in a very informative way.
Siddhanth Jain, Viraj Vora & Sanyam Jain, Co-Founders & Partners, BlueFort Financial
A versatile trio of pioneering professionals that aspire to develop into catalysts of change in the Indian wealth management space. And through their commitment to never compromise on the quality of their offerings, they are aiming to develop into standard-bearers in the industry.
Reflect on some of the major challenges you have experienced in your journey so far? How did you overcome them and what did you learn from them?
Siddhanth:The recurring challenge we face has been in promoting a mindset towards investment in financial products as wealth management is quite nascent in India. People are still waking up to the benefits of financialization of savings. We work with the HNIs and emerging HNIs, but their mindset can still be very traditional, bound with the old assets classes like LIC policies, FDs, PPF, property, and gold. Changing their biases can be very difficult, but as our website motto says ‘An investment in knowledge pays the best interest’. We overcome this disposition by using substantiated data & research to assure the client taking decisions. The goal is to over come these preconceived notions that have been carried for generations to collectively move towards more aware investment decisions.
Sanyam:The other challenge that we generally face is the cognitive human biases that everyone has when it comes to investing. But, it's our job to ensure that the discipline is maintained and we make consistent efforts to encourage our clients to be patient and stay invested. We manage theirexpectations by assiduously answering their questions, and helping them get in the right mindset for long term wealth creation.
What are the future goals that you wish to invest in and how do you plan to take them further?
Viraj:The goal is to continue with what we're doing and keep expanding our network and work with more clients growing through word of mouth. Equally importantly we aim to continue to increase people’s understanding of the financial products by creating awareness and focusing on financial literacy in the country. We aim to curtail the reckless selling of financial products within the industry and intend to approach wealth management in a very informative way.
Siddhanth Jain, Viraj Vora & Sanyam Jain, Co-Founders & Partners, BlueFort Financial
A versatile trio of pioneering professionals that aspire to develop into catalysts of change in the Indian wealth management space. And through their commitment to never compromise on the quality of their offerings, they are aiming to develop into standard-bearers in the industry.