Managing millions: Behind 4Thoughts Finance’s unique wealth management strategy

Swati Saxena believes discipline is of utmost importance when managing wealth, whether you’re a salaried professional or an ultra-high-net-worth individual (UHNI). A career banker, she offers wealth advisory services to HNIs and UHNIs through her firm 4Thoughts Finance, which has Rs 500 crore assets under management (AUM).

“We have a sort of love-hate relationship with our clients because of our disciplined approach but most of them turned into long-term relationships,” says Saxena.

For Saxena, entrepreneurship was accidental. An alumnus of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, Saxena worked in HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and IndusInd in Mumbai across wealth management and corporate lending. She came to Bengaluru to look for another opportunity and a chance meeting with a startup founder led her to establish the wealth management firm in December 2015.

“They (UHNIs) are basically looking at us for managing their wealth from every perspective and always seek a trusted partner,” the founder and CEO of 4Thoughts Finance adds.

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Saxena bootstrapped her venture. Initially, it took her some time to understand the needs of HNIs and UHNIs go beyond a single point of service. She had to build trust and this required a lot of time and patience. She started offering certain auxiliary services which do not necessarily come under wealth management but the firm took three years to crack it.

Now, 4Thoughts Finance’s services extend beyond just managing and growing their clients’ wealth as it also oversees taxation, compliance, and concierge, along with setting up family offices and philanthropic initiatives.

With its expansive network 4Thoughts Finance has built over the last nine years, it also helps its clients raise funding. Around 70% of its clients are startup founders while the rest are established business families.

“Our clients always want to be on the right side of regulations. This is why we started offering compliance services,” says Saxena.

The idea is to provide a holistic service. The Bengaluru-based firm even gets requests from clients to look for property in a particular area of the city if some of their peers have invested in that locality. It has also offered advice to clients on what would be the best university for their children to study abroad.

“Our clients seek an integrated and personal approach,” she notes.

USP

The founder of 4Thoughts Finance believes her firm’s biggest strengths are the elements of neutrality and discipline.

“We always offer a product or service to our clients which is in their best interest. There have been many cases where we received zero commission on the products we sold as for us it is the clients’ interests that is most important,” says Saxena.

She also urges her clients to maintain a particular path without giving in to peer pressure, emotion or FOMO (fear of missing out).

This business of wealth management is highly competitive with the presence of large banks as well as boutique firms like 4Thoughts Finance.

A report by Knight Frank India notes that the number of UHNIs—with a net worth of $30 million or more—is projected to grow by 58.4% from 12,069 in 2022 to 19,119 by 2027. Meanwhile, HNIs, with an asset value of $1 million or more, are expected to more than double to 1.65 million by 2027.

“This business is all about word of mouth. Our clients are the brand ambassadors for 4Thoughts Finance,” says Saxena.

Expansion

The firm is now looking to expand both in terms of the size of the assets it manages as well as to other locations, including GIFT City, Ahmedabad and Singapore.

Saxena says the company aims to double the AUM in the next 4-5 years.

Like many financial services, wealth management is also a male-dominated industry. However, it never deterred Saxena. She also brings her own take on the concept of family office as she encourages her clients to bring their spouses while making the key decisions. “The spouses bring a completely different perspective,” she remarks.

Today, 4Thoughts Finance has around 20 employees and Saxena describes the journey as very experiential. “When we are advising very successful individuals, it gives us the confidence that they trust us a lot. We also learn a lot from them,” she adds.