Atul Naval Your Personal Finance & Money Coach

We were saving reasonably well but had no idea whether it was enough. Atul started by listing what we owned, what we owed and what our two big goals actually cost in the year we would need them — our daughter's education in 2034 and a home upgrade before that. Only then did we talk about funds. He moved our idle savings into a proper emergency fund, cut us down from eleven overlapping schemes to four, and set SIPs against each goal by name. Two years on we review every six months and rebalance instead of reacting to the news.

I came in wanting a 'best fund' recommendation and left with something more useful. Atul refused to start with products — first term insurance sized to my income and loan, then health insurance of my own instead of relying on my employer's, and only then my first SIPs. He explained equity versus debt in plain language and why a three-year goal has no business being in equity. When the market fell last year my instinct was to stop; one call and I stepped the SIP up by 10% instead. That single decision has probably made me more money than any fund choice.

As a couple we argued about money for years — one of us wanted fixed deposits, the other wanted equity. Atul sat with both of us, separated the short-term goals from the long ones and gave each its own asset mix, so neither of us had to be wrong. He set up individual folios with nominees registered, put our whole plan on one page my wife can find, and insisted on the emergency fund and insurance before a single rupee went into equity. The coaching is the real value; the portfolio is just the output.