His investment advisor Harsh Roongta, founder of Fee Only Investment Advisers LLP, noticed this and asked over a Zoom call why he was doing so. It turned out Ghate’s colleagues were being fired one by one and he was having panic attacks, wondering when his turn would come.
“I was diagnosed with high blood pressure, had panic attacks, and had to see a psychologist and take medications to calm myself,” said Ghate, talking about the time just after the pandemic in 2020 when his former employer was carrying out mass layoffs.
Ghate worked at a company in Singapore that organised MMA fights and other events. He eventually lost his job in May 2023 and was unemployed for almost two years. But having built a mutual fund corpus with 10 years of systematic investments, he was able to navigate this difficult period with no financial hardship.
Many employees in the gaming sector are now in the same position. Mint reported recently that two lakh jobs at 400 gaming companies are at risk because of the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Act, which bans ‘real-money gaming’ online. Experts said that when the law comes into force, it will kill the real-money gaming industry and cost lakhs of people their jobs.
“Having an investment advisor by my side also helped,” said Ghate, who continued paying his advisor ₹24,000 a month even when he had no regular salary.
“He acted as a sounding board during my gloomy days, and it helped to know that I had someone accountable on my side,” said Ghate, who is now vice-president of user-experience (UX) design for an AI startup in Gurugram.
Ghate shared with Mint how leading a frugal lifestyle and investing 50% of his salary with the help of an investment adviser helped him cope with losing his job.
What were the circumstances around losing your job?
The Singapore company I was working at was set to host a record number of events in the coming year, but covid struck. Since combat sports could not be conducted virtually and travel was restricted, the company had to cancel many events. And just like that, the money-making part of the company came to a grinding halt.
At first I took a 30% salary cut, but when things didn’t improve, we knew layoffs were coming. As my colleagues were being laid off, the anxiety of when my turn would come was unbearable.
I was diagnosed with high blood pressure, had panic attacks, and had to see a psychologist, and take medications to calm myself.
My other colleagues also went through the same thing. A colleague had brought his wife and his daughter, and she had already started school here. He lost his job in less than a year. One colleague cycled three hours a day to deal with the stress of losing his job.
Things started getting better but the business could not reach its former glory. I was laid off in May 2023. I was really torn. Spending each day in an expensive city like Singapore felt like a ticking bomb. A single day’s expenses in Singapore could last me three weeks in my hometown of Nagpur. I decided to sell my furniture and move out.
How did it hit you financially?
The mutual fund portfolio I had built over the past 10 years helped. I used to frequently open my mutual fund account to check how much money I had.
Returning home after losing my job was not a great feeling either. I was without a job for nearly two years. I tried doing some freelance gigs but couldn’t get myself into work mode immediately. I took up a role as a part-time faculty member at a college, teaching a design course. It gave me some income to meet my daily expenses and also kept me intellectually occupied.
How did mutual funds help?
I started investing in MFs around 10 years ago. One day, I saw my manager coming to the office in a BMW. I never thought UX designers could earn enough to afford luxury cars. A few days later, she arrived in a new BMW!
She told me she was able to sell the shares she received from her previous company for handsome gains when it was acquired. However, she said getting the payout was not the main thing — what really mattered was that she invested the proceeds in mutual funds. She introduced me to her mutual fund distributor.
I took his advice and invested in two mutual fund schemes, one large cap and one in large-and-mid-cap.I started with a ₹20,000 monthly installment and quickly increased it to ₹25,000. I increased it to ₹75,000 when I joined a VC firm in 2015. Currently, I set aside 50% of my income to invest every month.
I decided to shift from an a mutual fund distributor to an RIA in 2021 as I wanted to plan my overall finances and not just the investment part. At the time I was anxious about my job because of covid. It was the same time that people were being laid off, and I did not want to just maximise my returns. I started valuing safety and long-term planning.
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How was the RIA experience?
In 2021, I decided to take the help of Harsh Roongta, an RIA in Mumbai. I realised after talking to him that my portfolio was too concentrated. I sold the two mutual funds that I had and spread the corpus across six or seven funds. Apart from adding more debt and fixed income instruments, we also diversified the portfolio across various market caps and invested in international and gold funds, too.
Roongta also helped me with all aspects of financial planning, not just investing. He helped with things like converting my NRI bank account to a resident account. He also told me my ₹6 crore term life cover was too much and suggested I buy accidental disability cover. Such plans offer financial support in case I am suffer an accident. He also suggested that I take critical illness cover, but it was rejected by the insurance company as I had a history of high blood pressure.
I also took Roongta’s help to buy a house during the period I was unemployed. We lived in a rented apartment and always wanted our own space, especially since my mother had cancer. When a flat was put up for sale and we liked it, the place, the first thing I did was call Roongta and ask him if I could afford it. I didn’t have to worry about taking the right financial decision since I had an accountable person beside me.
I took out ₹60 lakh from my mutual fund portfolio for the down payment. By the time the renovation was done, 70% of the cost was recovered in the form of gains from my mutual fund portfolio.
Did you sell your MF portfolio?
I sold ₹7 lakh of my mutual funds to fund part of my mother’s hospital expenses. Apart from that and the house purchase, I did not touch the portfolio much. Since my expenses were low, I could manage with the side income from my teaching role and my Singapore bank account.
The hardest part was having to pay advisory fees from my mutual funds or bank account when I lost my job. I was investing in direct plans, but I had to pay around ₹24,000a month, and it hurt more because the money was goes from my pocket. Earlier, the mutual fund distributor used to earn annual commissions from my portfolio of regular funds (which have commissions built in), but I didn’t have to go through the pain of seeing money flow out of my account.
But I think it was worth it. I thought: ‘Why should I bind myself to my own intelligence when I can take help from experts like Roongta?’ I got help in not just financial matters but all areas. For instance, we planned the ideal place for me to live and work. He had gone through a similar phase himself so he was a great sounding board when my anxiety was high.
Any parting thoughts?
I still drive a Nano. I realised the importance of leading a frugal lifestyle and spending only on the things that matter. I’m not telling you to be stingy, but to spend money on valuable things. For instance, I hired a driver even though we only have a Nano as I felt it was needed.
Having a financial advisor with experience in dealing with people like me was invaluable. In fact, I have people who I pay regularly for advice on fitness, health and work, too.
Roongta told me I could use my free time to learn knew skills, which made me feel a lot better. Now I put half my salary into SIPs so I’m prepared for whatever comes next. My mother passed away last September, and I would have missed spending time with her in the last moments if I hadn’t lost my job.