Tech in Your Wallet: How Digital Finance is Reshaping Personal Wealth!

What are the key advantages of technology in personal finance? Let me just share some of the changes and the resulting benefits, which are self-evident. Let's talk about the speed of information, first. When I founded Value Research in 1990, I used to wait for the postman. Mutual funds used to calculate their NAVs every three months, and they would publish them in some newspaper, which was very difficult to get a hold of. So, imagine, I was getting a five-month-old NAV-calculated over three months, and published two months later. The next progression came with the invention of fax machines, and there was an open-end fund where the NAV was calculated every day. At first it was sent to me on a weekly basis. Now it happens daily via email. I no longer have to wait for the postman. So, imagine the speed at which the value of your investment is now calculated. Earlier, we used to wait for the next morning's Economic Times, open the stock pages, and figure out how prices had moved. Economic Times had a system where any stock hitting a 52-week high or low would be bolded. If you saw the stock pages were very dark, it meant there were many highs or lows. You'd look at things and try to make sense of the numbers, whether they were close to the highs or lows or where the market was. So, information exchange and access to data have been transformed beyond imagination. The next change is the speed at which you can remit money. Earlier, you had to go to a bank to make a draft. Now, you can do it through UPI (Unified Payments Interface). Not only that, but authentication has become much easier. In the early 90s, KYC wasn't even required, and a PAN number wasn't mandatory either. Only when the Prevention of Money Laundering Act was implemented did these things become mandatory. That made validation complicated and anxiety-inducing. After the implementation of the act, you had to fill in two pages of information - your name, address, father's name, and other details. Even today, KYC causes friction. Although I've lived through the days when I had to fill in two pages just to make an investment, my children would stop investing if they had to go through that. I still remember how difficult it was - getting an application form itself was a privilege. When Morgan Stanley and Mastergain were launched, people queued up on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg just to get a form. Suggested read: The fund that stirred a frenzy like no other in 1992 Now, imagine everything happening digitally. Back then, setting up an SIP (Systematic Investment Plan) required post-dated checks, and people were always afraid that their checks might bounce. Investment isn't an obligation, but a bounced check could impact your credibility or violate a contract. There

This article was originally published on October 11, 2024.