Providing DIY tool sets that enable users to make key financial decisions: Cashvisory

On a mission to empower every single individual irrespective of their knowledge, skills, or background to make financially savvy decisions and achieve their goals. We realized early on that the key to achieving your dreams is a comprehensive financial plan. Cashvisory aims to fix the deeply entrenched systematic issues at play, from the sheer complexity of it to the inaccessibility of quality advisory. Especially for people who do not have access to decision-making tools for holistic planning.

Incubees: Tell us about yourself and your journey as an entrepreneur. What made you start a platform in the finance sector?

Both founders have an engineering background from NTU Singapore.

Utkarsh: As an engineering graduate, finance was not something that came naturally to me. So, for the first 3-4 years of my career, I just let my savings sit in my bank account. I only realized what a huge mistake that was when I started to educate myself about personal finance. After managing automation projects for 3 years at Micron Technologies, I quit my corporate job to get out there and find my calling. I dabbled in multiple things – from B2B sales to working as a consultant to automation companies before I decided to pursue financial advisory as a career with AIA Singapore. This was a game changing decision for me. I educated myself, got certified as a financial advisor and started acquiring and managing portfolios for people of all ages (between 25-65). Within two short years, I had perfected my playbook of getting a customer through the entire journey of managing their finances and as a result, acquired 150+ clients in a very short span.

Arpita: I moved to Singapore at 16 on a full scholarship. That was when I had my first brush with personal finance as I had to manage all my expenses myself. I completed my tertiary education on scholarship and went on to work in corporates including P&G. A couple of years into my career, I stumbled upon Personal Finance as a career and went on to work as an advisor in AIA Singapore for >8 years. There I built a portfolio of 200 clients, 70-80% of them being HNI. I realized that regardless of the number of money people have, they struggle with taking the right financial decisions because of the lack of know-how. Personal finance is not something that is part of our education system.

Utkarsh joined me in my team and that’s when we started having our coffee catchups. We realized there was a huge gap in financial advisory, especially for the youth who are not able to afford quality advice. Although we were helping people 1 on 1, we wanted to do something at a much grander scale. We wanted to touch more lives. Especially since India is poised to become the next $10 trillion economy, we wanted to contribute to this story. That’s when we set on a mission to solve financial advisory for the youth of India.

Incubees: Since you are in a people business, how do you utilize technology for your clients?

Utkarsh and Arpita: We aim to leverage technology to make quality financial advice affordable and accessible to the young professionals. We provide DIY tool sets that enable users to make key financial decisions without any human involvement. It’s real time, personalised and helps you visualise your finances like a strategy game. Our super algorithm simplifies the complexities of financial planning into an easy and hassle-free process. You no longer need to spend hours with a financial advisor, or refer to piles of documents.

At Cashvisory, your smart financial plan is ready within 3 minutes, and is a live dashboard that keeps pace with your life, instead of a static document. Imagine it as a financial GPS that charts the path towards financial goals.

Incubees: Tell us about the challenges you faced while starting a business?

Utkarsh and Arpita: There have been many challenges along the way, right from getting the technology up and running, to figuring out the compliance around our business. Digital advisory is picking up really quick, but is still at a nascent stage, so the regulations are still in a very dynamic state. We’re glad we figured our way, even though it took a bit of time, and are finally close to releasing the full product.

Incubees: What do you think is considered as a roadblock for financial advisors in today’s time and where do you see the industry in the next 5 years?

Utkarsh and Arpita: A major roadblock is lack of financial awareness amongst the population. The presence of new digital platforms, regulator efforts in spreading financial literacy, and rise of “fin-fluencers” has definitely piqued people’s interest in personal finance. However, there is still a lack of clear direction in terms of seeking the right guidance and a huge population still depends on unqualified advice from family and friends.

We at Cashvisory are making efforts in spreading financial literacy through conducting financial wellness sessions for corporates. Having personal finance as part of education system will provide the much-needed starting point to youngsters before they start earning.

In the next 5 years, digital advisory is going to explode 3-4 folds, as the market has already evolved in the digital execution space. The next stage is people turning to digital tool sets to avail all kinds of financial advice, and the human involvement for basic financial advisory will significantly reduce. The young generation are digital natives and prefer to avail services online, not only because it saves the middle-man cost, but also because it’s convenient and instant. Human advisors are likely to focus on HNIs and complicated situations which might be out of the purview of scalable technology in the near future.

Incubees: Tell us about your team and what keeps them motivated?

Utkarsh and Arpita: We are a young team of about 7-8 people. We have plans of expanding our team this year post our fundraise. With a strong sense of mission to empower every single individual to make financially savvy decisions, motivation is the easy part of the job.

To add that much needed final push, we are constantly motivated by the feedback we receive from our users. The audience that attends our corporate financial wellness sessions has been very generous with their appreciation and ratings. From time to time when we interview our users for feedback, knowing that we have made an impact to their lives makes all the hustle worthwhile.

Incubees: Do you plan on innovating Cashvisory in the coming years?

Utkarsh and Arpita: At Cashvisory, we believe in constant innovation. It’s a very fast evolving space and we have to keep up with the industry dynamics. We have a very robust product roadmap, and with each enhancement we aim to make, the financial recommendations more and more customized to the users. Very soon, we will enhance our algorithm to cater to seemingly complex nuances that a human financial advisor provides. We’re just getting started.

Incubees: Would you like to give any suggestion to upcoming entrepreneurs?

Utkarsh and Arpita: Our only suggestion would be to keep your users and customers in the picture right from day 1. We have been testing out our product right from the first version of our MVP and got great insights to incorporate into the product. Our product building journey has been an iterative process with taking customer insight into account at every stage.

To know more, visit: https://www.cashvisory.com/about-us