your age story which I know irritates
every young person anywhere in the world
so then I decided I would do that a
little bit later when I got you guys on
my side the brief that was given to me
was to talk about investing before I
start doing that I want to do a small
dipstick survey how many people present
in this room are currently invested in
anything but a mutual fund Gold real
estate anything at all okay that’s less
than 10% so let me start with what the
numbers threw up so research done by UBS
shows that Millennials today have the
same approach towards investing as the
World War two generation stunning right
part of this could be down to the fact
that many of you were witness to the big
market collapse that happened in 2008
the job security issues that followed
the financial crisis these were really
the formative years for many of you now
sample this there is a study by Forbes
by UBS I beg your pardon
that shows that 16 percent of
Millennials that’s the age group of 25
to 35 have $100,000 or more saved right
now in their savings account just to
translate that into our good old Indian
currency that is 65 lakhs or more than
that so that’s really what’s happening
in terms of the other side of the story
so truth be told I am confused about
what it is that Millennials are up to
when it comes to investing I’m gonna try
and move ahead yeah this is the one I
was talking about
as you can see 16 percent have $100,000
and nearly 47 percent have $15,000 so I
don’t know what it is that Millennials
are doing with their money
are you too cautious or is it that
you’re actually very smart about this
unfortunately there isn’t enough proper
data about the Indian context and what’s
happening in India with savings but I
think a good starting point to have this
conversation about investing is that
it’s not about how financially savvy you
are or how much money you have versus
the other guy investing is giving
yourself a voice I was 17 when I started
my first job I worked in a small hole in
the wall television channel so I would
attend college all day grab lunch take a
bus ride
then go to work and then spend long
hours doing very meaningful reports on
issues like the importance of greeting
cards on Valentine’s Day I’m not trying
to throw the hard work live at you the
line I’m trying to throw at you is the
one about independence earning the
living and being financially independent
is the most exhilarating feeling in the
world nothing compares and if you had
the opportunity to do that and also feed
your dreams Wow
as a prototype gen-xer or whatever it is
that I am part of the fatty daddy set my
goals included a lot of the boring stuff
a home a car furniture curtains but
that’s not what it needs to be for you
an amazing course you’ve been dying to
study a trip to see the Northern Lights
taking a break from work and figuring
out what it is that you want to do and
having something to tide you through
that period financially that’s what
investing could have the power to do
just for fun here’s another graph also
of how we spend as we save as you can
see a lot of the stuff across
generations is actually quite similar
and we do love to eat out that’s our
favorite thing to do I wonder though why
we are all naturally disinclined to talk
about investing or why we get intimate
when people start showing financial
jargon Atta’s risk appetite
growth-oriented compounding xìng xìng
xìng but I think that I’ve slowly
understood the problem or part of the
problem before I talk about that I want
to talk a little bit with you about my
other great love which is education so I
spent the last few years educating
myself and I now spend time volunteering
in a school working with children who
are dyslexic that basically means
reading and writing is very difficult
they also come from economically
challenged backgrounds double-whammy
and here is my big problem with
education we spend 12 years in school
then we all heard like sheep into
colleges because that’s what’s expected
of any self-respecting young Indian
adult and 15 years later we’re still
completely and utterly unemployable and
that’s because through our growing gears
we’re never really taught the skills we
need as adults today we have courses in
calligraphy in embroidery all of which
is great but why isn’t there a class on
financial investing this is a study done
by Forbes where seventy percent of
Millennials claim to have high financial
knowledge but only 8% of them could get
all five answers on that financial
literacy test correct and that’s what we
need education needs to include
conversations about financial investing
something as simple as how I open a bank
account how do I work within a budget
why is it important to save this stuff
isn’t incidental this is crucial for
each and every one of us and that’s what
we need to start talking about so what
am i doing at this prestigious talk with
all of you besides making fun of
calligraphy my experience in interacting
with
is that preaching is a very poor form of
communication so I’m going to put forth
a few thoughts something for you to
think about after our interaction number
one technology Millennials are drawn to
technology you guys have grown up around
it far more than the generations before
you use that use it to navigate the
stuff that’s difficult whether it’s
digital wallets buying a mutual fund
whatever make technology your best
friend
number two lists are a good second best
friend this is your life you get to
decide how and what you want to spend on
but you do need to have a sense of your
short-term and slightly longer term
goals you need to jot that down you need
to have a sense of which way it is that
you’re heading number three risk is a
not so bad four letter word there are so
many options out there but with regards
to investing to your research Explorer
understand and then take that deep dive
and go ahead and do it in fact I’ve been
reading stats that show Millennials have
caused or seen an explosion of interest
in areas like cryptocurrencies and
cannabis stocks so I’m not judging go
ahead make your choices number four like
everything in life it’s okay to make
mistakes in the glory soft years of the
stock market before 2008 my job involved
commentating and reporting on what was a
raging stock market it was invincible it
defied gravity it was permanent so I
took it upon me to preach to my best
friend whose interest in investing
ranges from zero to nothing about the
importance of buying stocks I went on
and on and on and after much
enthusiastic prompting she did it she
went and bought a whole bunch of stocks
a week later
a big company in the United States of
America Lehman Brothers went bankrupt
and everything went to hell led from the
front by the stock market did I get the
timing wrong oh yeah
was I wrong about the idea of investing
I don’t think so and number five
investing actually seeing your money
grow is going to be boring and tedious
and repetitive for this my only advice
to you is to practice backward counting
and finally here’s what I think is the
most powerful thing about investing I
often hear millenials being described as
instant gratification seekers very
unsure isolated but you guys are also
the generation that has produced a
wealth of social innovators and
entrepreneurs a study by Deloitte shows
that a majority of Millennials refuse to
compromise on their personal or family
values and ultimately make or revoke
investment decisions in companies based
on whether they fall in line with those
values social cultural environmental
simply put you believe in the need to
invest ethically so I say this to you
with a belief that you understand the
emotion that I bring forth investing and
wealth is in great measure about giving
give to people you think you can help
two organizations whose work you admire
and support give in whatever way you can
and do this especially for the women who
work in your homes and offices teach
them how to open a bank account show
them how to use an ATM encourage them to
save because they’re the individuals who
will use that extra money towards a
better education for their children
what’s better healthcare give a teeny
tiny part even of your earnings and
savings to people who are so far back
the economic curve they cannot even
begin to dream about the kind of lives
you are living I think what I’ve done
today is quoted a lot of numbers and
data around the idea of investing but
what I hope you take back from our
interaction is the fact that investing
is giving yourself a voice and your
voice matters thank you very much [Applause]