Ask Readers: Let’s Advice President Pratibha Patil on her Investments

By
Hemant Beniwal
10

Ask Readers: Let's Advice President Pratibha Patil on her Investments
Recently President Pratibha Patil made her assets & investments public – same on the lines of prime minister & few other ministers in recent past. She is holding assets worth Rs 2.49 Crores.

Money Mantra Magazine asked me to share my views on her portfolio & I loved this. I am sharing what actually I advised – you can also share your ideas.  I was having some word limit & few other limits 😉 but you don’t have any restriction.

Pratibha Patil’s Assets

My advice to President Pratibha Patil

Pratibha Patil was Governor of Rajasthan before being elected as President of India. As I also belong to Rajasthan, we have noticed her simplicity as a Governor – even as a President, she has been the same. Her simplicity also reflects in her portfolio, which matches a portfolio of average Indian – 30-40% in real estate, 40-50% in debt, 10-15% in gold and almost zero equity.

Ask Readers: Let's Advice President Pratibha Patil on her Investments Click to Tweet

Let me simplify Assets

Immovable Amount Amount in  lakhs Percentage
House at Amarvati

39.60
Farm house

9.82
Ancestral property

7.81
Ancestral property

20.00
Agricultural property

3.64
Agricultural property

2.90
immovable properties

83.77

83.77

34%
Movable
Bonds

4.71
FD

68.80
PPF

12.60
Investment

29.00
Share

0.22
SB accounts

16.33
Sanjivani savings

0.67
Cash in hand

1.87
Movable  properties

134.20

134.20

54%
Precious Metal
Gold

31.00
Silver

0.69
Commodities

31.69

31.69

13%
Total

249.66

100%

Recently many politicians and bureaucrats have shared their assets, either voluntarily or by force but most of them had no exposure to equity. Even Mr P Chidambaram, our ex-finance minister, promoted equity as an asset class on various platforms but he had negligible equity exposure in his portfolio. Even the current finance minister’s biggest asset is his residential house and again no equity. When these people advocate that India is a great growth story, they should put their money where their mouth is. Nevertheless, they shy away from putting their own money in equities. I think this question will remain forever unanswered.

I have assumed that President Pratibha Patil will leave her post next year and will not contest for second term. Points that she should think over:

  1. Her retirement is still a year away so she should not keep so much of money in savings bank account. Thanks to such a high inflation, the value of this amount is eroding rather than increasing.
  2. Prima facie, her risk appetite looks low but if we talk about her retirement benefits, she may not actually need to touch most of her current corpus. Therefore, her investment should depend on the beneficiaries’ profile rather than her own.
  3. If she wants to do some social activity after retirement she should make an irrevocable trust – which will actually reduce her tax liability and the money can be maintained in a separate compartment.
  4. Good part about her real estate is that it is not in shape of House – she is having some agriculture land. Most of it in Jalgaon and around– Jalgaon is famous for drip farming and even if the farm’s size is small, it can give better yield. If she does not want to get involved in day-to-day work, she can give this on contract.

Pratibha Patil gave almost 45-50 years of her life to our nation – with having a vision to see India as one of the greatest nations. Now the whole world is seeing India as an upcoming power – she should sit back and enjoy her remaining life. Moreover, she should always keep guiding & motivating people of this nation.

I will love to see your advice to the President. 🙂

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

10 COMMENTS

  1. Our President will get pension form the Govertment.. so she does not have to worry about her old age.. a trust may help.. but..

    I think her portfolio as per her age is perfect… 60 yrs

    • Hi Sunil,
      Her portfolio is not perfect even if I assume that she is going to use this money – zero equity is a very big risk in high inflation environment.
      But here the case is different – as you mentioned that she may not require the money. Check 2nd point in my suggestions “her investment should depend on the beneficiaries’ profile rather than her own.”

  2. Hi Hemant.
    1st i thanks to our President for sharing her assests details.
    being in good position they are not using Equities , i think it means that they dont have any long term goals to full fill, as a middle class person perspective 🙂
    apart from Equity and Land she had clear portfolio.

    thanks

    • Hi Vijay,
      Don’t you think “they dont have any long term goals to full fill” & “middle class person perspective” are contradictory.

  3. Wow I didn’t know that she has declared her assets like that. Amazing! My advice to her (not that she needs it) is to hire you as an adviser!

    • No thanks – I am not interested 😉
      Problem is people with such a profile will never appreciate what you are doing for them. So I only want clients who actually needs me.

  4. Hi Hemant
    I had read the article in Money Mantra much before you shared it.There was advice from other financial planners also in the article.But only your advice made sense to me.However I have doubt regarding the value of the immovable property given in the article.If it is the present market value then it is much less than the value of the similar property in Ludhiana.
    The point is whether such high profile people will ever think that they really need the services of a certified financial planner.

  5. Hi your web site is interesting. keep up the good work.
    I have no advise to give the honourable president but do humbly contest your rather flattering observation about her simplicity. Well she dresses not like simple citizens, she does not live simplistically in the rashtrapathi bhavan like her predecessor did as news reports tell. she looks gaudy always. and i do hope she is not draining the exchequer in leading this simplistic life.

  6. Dear Hemanth,

    One important factor which we often do not consider is the “official clout ” which persons retiring from such positions often continue to enjoy by way of more than one honorary position that they are even invited to assume ! This can ease their life a lot even without any financial plan for retirement ! Moreover, the proposed plan, an excellent one as it is, being suggested by you may not be seen by them at all ! So, why should we bother ? !!

Comments are closed.