Learn how to be a good trader then pay your teacher forward by teaching others
By Helena Nyau, Business Coordinator Namibia for Grand Capital.
Grand Capital’s renowned investment advisor for Russia and Europe, Goutam Das, is back in Namibia on 02 March to conduct a day-long investment seminar at the Grand Capital Business Expo.
Mr Das is a passionate investor, believing that the skills he has nurtured since a young age, can be profitable to any other person who wants to trade financial markets.
One of his unique traits is his focus on combatting financial illiteracy, and by extension, empowering people in economically vulnerable social strata to take the financial sphere of their lives into their own hands.
He actually encourages his most successful clients to start providing advice and teach their friends and neighbours. “In this business,” he said, “you can’t really thank your benefactor by paying them back. Instead, you’ve got to pay forward. What are they going to give me what I don’t have?” he asked rhetorically, adding “what they can do, is to go on with my work and teach trading and investment to their acquaintances. I can’t possibly teach everyone on Earth!”
Most people outside financial circles cringe at the idea of investing on their own behalf. When they hear the words “financial coach” and “investment advisor”, people tend to assume that it involves multi-million dollar accounts.
“On the contrary,” said Mr Das, “90% of my clients are people with small-to-medium capital. Their success makes you wonder why almost everyone avoids working with small accounts, and even says that it’s impossible to make profit this way. I’m right here, and I’ve proved them wrong.”
Of course, it isn’t just a noble calling. The business has made him wealthy, and he doesn’t shy away from the attention. He is a frequent main speaker and special guest at numerous financial education events all around the world. He has an army of clients, former students and friends who trust him completely when it comes to forecasting the weather on financial markets.
And he’s not stingy at all with his advice. Goutam has a rare skill of explaining trading and investing in plain language, which has made him popular with clients online and at on-site events. He and his usual co-hosts (other wealth advisors) answer questions from motivated listeners and usually don’t follow any particular script. In mid-January, when Theresa May’s Brexit deal was about to be voted on by the British Parliament, his smartphone was buzzing with notifications, texts and calls: “Don’t rush it, I kept telling them. Hold on to it, and eventually you’ll see the pattern”. Most of those who listened walked away with a 20% profit in a single week.
An important part of his approach is getting clients to think long-term. Even if a client is very well-off, it’s vital that they don’t compromise their overall capital with wrong short-term moves, Mr Das stated. Someone may have generated enormous wealth, enough to fully fund their retirement, yet they still have to think carefully. “I find it ironic that in our field, of all places, people seem to lose the ability to think long-term,” he said.
As someone who’s committed himself to such a global challenge as raising financial literacy, he is surprisingly modest: ‘I’m not some kind of financial guru who knows everything and makes mountains move. All I do is make people see the world in a way they didn’t think was possible, which enables them to take their destiny into their own hands and make money. Really, it’s all about them, not me.’
For Mr Das, engaging in educational activities is a way to ensure that his values outlive him.
“Everyone at some point realizes that they want to give something back and leave a legacy. People get older, you know, they see that they aren’t going to be here forever, and maybe they want to teach others what they are good at, to share what they know, so they can pass the skill and knowledge on to others,” he reflects philosophically.
He said he always encourages his clients to spread financial literacy among their friends as much as possible. “This is not only charitable but healthy for society as a whole. As years pass by, a lot of people realize that life is much more than simply accumulating capital,” he said.
And if another great economic recession arrives, he is confident to turn to his years of experience and take inspiration from words that he himself often used when clients called, even on weekends, during the 2008 financial crisis. “Stay positive and keep working,” he told them.
He has developed a keen interest in cryptocurrencies as the blockchain has grown. “It’s one of those things that you immediately know are real game-changers. There will always be people wary of change but cryptocurrencies are here to stay. Moreover, blockchain holds great promise in terms of transparency and security in financial markets,” he advised.
At recent seminars in Cyrpus and Japan, he explained to local traders how to trade cryptocurrencies and benefit from it. Now, he intends to do the same for aspiring Namibian traders.
You can hear Mr Goutam Das speak about trading and investing at the Grand Capital Business Expo at the NIPAM head office in Olympia, Windhoek, on 02 March 2019, starting at 10:00. Registration can be done online at https://grandcapital.net/promo/namibia_business_expo/.
