On November 10, 2020 a webinar was conducted by the Media Studies Association (MESTA) and featured the speaker N Nagaraj. With the pandemic wreaking havoc and chaos in the economic realm, there has never been a more pertinent time to acknowledge the importance of financial inclusion and literacy and financial planning
A problem highlighted was the fact that many people won’t have enough retirement money due to the scrapping of the National Pension Scheme. We need to figure out our short term financial plans and long term financial plans. He discussed the various ways we could go about it like Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs), Bank deposits, Stock Market, Mutual Funds, Real Estate and Cryptocurrency. Mr Nagaraj engaged in a big discussion about cryptocurrency and its role in the Indian context, he discussed its beginnings and what it entails.
He also explained the basic concepts of cryptocurrency and what it exactly is. Assessing the risk-reward part of saving, he moved on to talk about what the best way of saving was. He left it up to the students listening in to choose what they thought was the best way to save money.
Talking about the scams and certain things that happen in the banking industry, he noted that it is the responsibility of banking institutions to educate those who come to them about the risks and rewards of the kind of method they plan on investing in.
People / Experts Met and Interacted with: Mr. Nagaraj introduced familiarity with the students and the faculty members of the Media Studies Association to make them feel comfortable to ask questions anytime even within the sessions. He dove into the topic discussing financial literacy and how important it is important to know where we stand financially, further inquiring about the students’ savings and investment partners, Mr. Nagaraj provided insights into achieving and maintaining one’s desired financial situation.
The speaker discussed the differences between financial education and financial literacy, the former being the simple basics and the learning of key concepts while the latter is using these concepts in real life, applying them to daily events.
Discussing this, he moved further and linked the topic of Financial decision making to the topic, we need to be financially literate to be making decisions about our financial life. This is because income is limited and money is scarce so we need to park our savings prudently so we can be financially ‘well’. Further enforcing the importance of saving, he remarked that we shouldn’t stay in deficit for all our lives, we should figure out where to save, what to save and how to save. Depending on our goals, we should choose a plan for saving money and for that, it’s important to know where you stand and what your goals are.
A question-answer session was held after an informative 1 hour 45 minutes. Students asked questions about UBI as a concept being viable, correlations between the unemployed and the have-nots, decline of the traditional system of currency due to cryptocurrencies, fiscal policies and influence by political parties and cryptocurrencies. Students were eager to answer the speaker’s question and engage in the conversation. This webinar opened an avenue for students to consider the right choice for them when it comes to saving and investments.