Women are often accused of being relentless hoarders. They keep everything from shopping bags, to used wrapping paper, old clothes, even older utensils and even the odd broken toaster. Men deplore this habit but they have to sit back and accept it.
Especially in a household where women called the shots. Yes, there are some matriarchal families like that of Mr Madan Rao (name changed) where women wear the pants.
No these women don't go out and work, they are simple housewives who command enormous respect from the household.
Mr Rao approached me to help him save for his daughters' weddings. He is 52 years old and his priority was the wedding of his two daughters and he had estimated a cost of Rs 15 lakh (Rs 1.5 million) as on today for each of them. So he would need around Rs 40 lakh (Rs 4 million) in about eight to 12 years after accounting for inflation to give them a wedding as per his community standards. He also wanted to know if he had enough to ensure a completely non-compromising retirement.
Mr Rao belonged to the mid-cadre of management and had worked for about 25 years in the same company. His financial status currently was as follows:
1. He earned about Rs 35,000 per month and could save Rs 10,000 per month i.e. about 30% of his income after all his expenses and taxes.
2. He had no debts so liabilities were zero and for assets, he had a small house in which he would continue to live post retirement.
3. He had accumulated around Rs 8 lakh (Rs 800,000) in his provident fund (PF).
4. His public provident fund (PPF) was worth about Rs 5 lakh (Rs 500,000),
5. Fixed deposit (FDs) were around Rs 4 lakh (Rs 400,000).
6. And postal savings of around Rs 3 lakh (Rs 300,000).
7. Finally his bank balance was approximately Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000.
His life's savings amounted to approximately Rs 20 lakh (Rs 2 million) and his goals were far out of reach. I was in despair, wondering how I could help him salvage the situation at so late a date.
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Offhand, he mentioned that he had invested in 70 odd companies since 1980 but he hadn't really sold any of them because the women, who instinctively hoarded everything, forbid it and held on to the share transfer certificates without letting him get his hands on them. So without really understanding much he invested in a flurry of IPOs or Initial Public Offers and from whatever meagre savings he has had over the last 26 years and has held on to them ever since.
I scanned the list, not expecting much since it wasn't an actively managed portfolio. There were a lot of missed opportunities, so many companies that had shut and quite a bit of money that was lost.
With the shares that were still active I could see the market value of his holdings in the range of Rs 20,000 to Rs 80,000. There were hardly two to three company stocks he had that were worth over Rs 1 lakh (Rs 100,000) and suddenly my eyes fell upon a few stocks who had seven figure market values.
I was shocked and could not believe what I was seeing. I continued scanning and much to my amazement I saw the total value at the bottom of the fourth sheet. His stock portfolio was worth Rs 1.4 crore (Rs 14 million) and his total investment cost in this portfolio was barely Rs 1.5 to Rs 2 lakh! (Rs 150,000 t0 Rs 200,000)
With his blind investment strategy, his performance had put the most savvy fund managers to shame. He had his fair share of losses but his gains were phenomenal - and all because he was made to follow the hoarding instinct of the women of the house.
I'm not saying what he did right or wrong. I am once again only convinced once again of t , and the innate superiority of the matriarchal system in family life!
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