After 109 successful seminars across the country, Moneylife Foundation, India’s largest independent voice of savers conducted its flagship non-partisan financial literacy seminar at Goa. The workshop, conducted at the International Centre, was well attended by savers across all categories, including youngsters and senior citizens.
The full-day seminar delved in to a complete range of issues on money such as how not to lose money, how to be safe with your money, responsible borrowing and women and money. These sessions were conducted by two well-known journalists Sucheta Dalal and Debashis Basu, trustees of Moneylife Foundation and Mohan Jayaraman, MD of Experian India, a leading credit rating agency . The first session on “How to be Safe with Your Money” was conducted by Sucheta Dalal who took the audience through the menace of pyramid or chain-money schemes, various Internet-based scams, credit card related issues, importance of credit history, etc.
The next three sessions on asset classes and inflation risks; various behavioral and external influences that prevent people from investing safely and smartly and how to grow wealth through mutual funds was conducted by Mr Basu. The programme is aimed at making people aware on how to have a safe and secure financial life, by explaining various instruments like bank deposits, insurance, gold, credit cards, real estate, mutual funds and other tax saving instruments. It also informed the participants on how to look at each of these asset classes and the risks involved. But, without an understanding of the wealth-creating and wealth-preservation aspects of each investment product and also their possible pitfalls, one can end up with serious losses.
Mr Jayaraman of Experian conducted a unique session titled Credit Crossroads, to help people understand the role of a credit bureau and to help them understand their credit rating and the consequences of a bad credit score. Specifically, it identified several life events that we are likely to face as individuals and how to deal with our finances, especially our credit/ borrowings during those times. For example, if one plans to buy a house , Mr Jayaraman informed the participants on the importance on credit score and how it would affect them if they would apply for a loan in different banks. Since this programme is being held just two days after International Women’s day, Mr Jayaraman focused on life events that are more likely to be faced by women. But again, his advice applies to all, because men and children often share these life events with women! In the same way he spoke of other different life events like getting married, in case of a serious illness, divorce, etc. He also discussed on how one could manage her/his report and get it corrected in case of any error.
Ms Dalal conducted a special session on “Women, be Smart with Your Money”, focusing on women and their financial needs. The session motivated women on how they could take charge of their family finances and why their spouses should give them freedom to do so as well.
