Every Arjuna Needs A Krishna

 

In one of the stories from Shalya Parv of the Mahabharata, after the war of Mahabharata was over; Lord Krishna took the chariot to a deserted place and asked Arjuna to get off the chariot. Arjuna obeyed and thereafter, Lord Krishna asked Hanuman to leave the chariot along with his flag and Hanuman obliged. The moment Lord Hanuman left the chariot and Lord Krishna descended; the chariot exploded with a loud bang as if a massive weapon had collided with it. The deafening sound of the detonation and the blazing incandescent had burst the chariot into flames and reduced it to ashes. Completely shocked and awed, Arjuna asked Lord Krishna the reason behind this destructive bang. Smiling, Lord Krishna explained to him that the weapons that were used by Maharathi Sage Dronacharya and Maharathi Karna were immensely powerful and divine, and they were intended to create the havoc. The divinity of these weapons made them extremely efficacious. Lord Krishna told Arjuna that it was the presence of Krishna himself along with Lord Hanuman on his chariot that had barred these weapons from creating the desired effects by the enemy army. Krishna had made those weapons effect-less for the time being and that was the reason they could not harm Arjuna and his chariot. This was one of the multiple acts of Krishna in the war that led to the victory of Pandavas.

We respect the bravery of Arjuna; however, the importance of right advice at the right time leading to Pandava’s victory cannot remain unnoticed. This is how an advisor thinks and advises to ensure that his clients emerge victorious in their life despite the challenges and extreme situations faced. There are multiple scenarios an advisor keeps on visualizing by keeping the client’s financial life vision in his mind and accordingly he renders his advice. Advice on reducing debt, monitoring cash flows, not taking undue risks and avoiding market-related noises ensures the client are not committing mistakes and tread the right path on his financial journey. To provide a better perspective, think through the below-mentioned client situations and the solutions we suggested as an advisor:

  • We were uncomfortable with one of our clients’ intention to invest in a corporate fixed deposit as the interest rate was 300 bps higher. We found the company to be risky and suggested otherwise. Luckily, he listened to us, did not invest, and later, the corporate defaulted.
  • When one of our lady clients came to us for the advice of buying a house since she had a comfortable cash surplus and EMI seemed affordable. We advised her to postpone this decision for a decade (since there was no pressing need) and accumulate a corpus which can be used to buy an appropriate house nearing the retirement time. Two years later her employer went through a major crisis and she worked without a salary for four months before being asked to leave. Imagine her plight if she would have had taken the loan and there would have been the pressure of paying loan instalments.
  • Six years back we were approached by an acquaintance who was in a vicious debt trap. Although he was earning a very high income, he had multiple loan instalments to service. We helped him prioritize his financial life and foreclose the loans by selling such assets not complimenting his financial objectives. All the resultant savings were channelled towards financial investments. When his employer declared bankruptcy, the client was not worried as the financial investments and the emergency fund we created sailed him till he found a new job. This transition took seven months.

The job of a prudent advisor is not to help you earn maximum returns on your investments but to ensure that you earn the optimum risk-adjusted return. Like Krishna, he also ensures that there are enough airbags around you which can absorb the impact of any unplanned event and you experience the smoothest ride with minimum bumps. Consequently, you remain focused on your target and achieve your financial vision.

 

Arjuna had found his true advisor in Krishna. Have you found yours?