“The property which houses my clinic is on rent which I will have to vacate sooner or later. I had already taken a professional loan of ₹15.11 lakh when I started my practice. I needed money for setting up my dental clinic and also for meeting my personal financial goals,” Akshat Agarwal says.
Early investment journey
Gondia is also known as ‘Rice City’ due to the abundance of rice mills in the area. “People mostly invest in land and when they need money get into informal lending at a high interest rate. I did not want to do it,” he says.
After consultation with relatives and friends, Agarwal ended up investing in more than 10 mutual fund schemes. He also created a stock portfolio. “One of my friends connected me with a mutual fund distributor (MFD) who made me start systematic investment plans (SIPs) in mutual funds. A relative later told me that distributors get commission from mutual fund companies .My distributor had not shared details of the schemes in which I had invested. I did not know that I could track these investments by myself,” he says.
Meanwhile, Agarwal lost about ₹50,000 after dabbling in the stock markets in 2021. “I was clueless about how to set things right and I needed somebody to guide me,” he says.
A random google search landed him on the website of SahajMoney, a financial planning firm founded by registered investment adviser (RIA) Abhishek Kumar. Agarwal had no idea about Sebi-registered RIAs or fixed-fee financial planning model till then. To be sure, RIAs are authorized to impart unbiased financial advice and barred from earning commissions from the sale of financial products.
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“When I came to know that RIAs only charge a fixed fee for the advisory, I was impressed,” he says.
Personalized guidance was another big plus. “I had always preferred a personal tutor over coaching classes. And when Abhishek sent me an excel sheet in which I was supposed to share details of all my existing investments and also asked questions about my risk profile, it struck me that nobody had ever sought these details from me. The others would only push a product irrespective of whether it suited my risk profile or not,” says Agarwal.
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(Graphic: Mint)
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(Graphic: Mint)
End-to-end financial planning
RIAs follow a process before creating a financial plan. They seek details of existing savings, investments, liabilities, expenses and financial goals. They also analyse their clients’ risk appetite based on a few questions. It helps them allocate their funds in debt and equities in the right proportion. Not only do they recommend investment products, but also advise on loans, insurance and saving taxes.
Agarwal didn’t have much idea about insurance either. He did have a health insurance policy of ₹5 lakh coverage from a public sector insurer. “I wasn’t aware that insurance and loan advisory will be a part of the package,” he says. On Kumar’s advice, Agarwal bought a life insurance cover of ₹2.5 crore. His wife took a term life cover of ₹1.5 crore. She was paying an annual premium of ₹1.25 lakh for an unit-linked insurance plan, but surrendered the policy and replaced it with the term plan. Besides a family floater health insurance plan from a private insurer, Kumar also suggested that Agarwal buy professional indemnity insurance and property (clinic, machinery, fire) insurance.
The right direction
Kumar asked Agarwal to separate his personal and clinic expenses. “I opened a separate account for my business expenses and earnings. It gives me a visibility of how much I am earning and spending specifically for the clinic vis-à-vis my personal expenses,” he says.
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For instance, when he needed to buy medical equipment, he bought it on lease instead of dipping into personal savings. “Kumar suggested that there was no point in buying the machine as the technology will get obsolete in a couple of years,” he says.
Does he follow all advice from Kumar? Not really! “Agarwal wanted to buy a land on loan for his clinic. We initially asked him to defer the plan and focus only on building the corpus but when the couple insisted on it, we advised them to withdraw funds from the emergency corpus because they already had financial liabilities. Financial discipline was needed to move them away from excessive leverage. Moreover, being a small city, their expenses were limited against their cash flows. Their emergency corpus could be built again,” says Kumar.
Fees and process
Kumar charges ₹15,000 as first-time fixed fee to analyse a client’s finances, create a financial plan and recommend products. A renewal fee of ₹5,000 is charged after every six months to review the portfolio.
Did his fees deter the Agarwals? “The fee is surely lesser than the quality of financial advice they have given me,” he says. The process, however, could have been better. “I needed to fill up an excel sheet manually before they could on-board me. The sheet needs to get updated every time I get my portfolio reviewed,” he says.
The client implements the action plan by himself. “Abhishek shares with me relevant links but I make the investments myself. This contrasts with the MFD who had taken care of all the paperwork himself,” he says.
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The excel sheet problem, though, could be addressed through account aggregators (AAs). The aggregators act as an intermediary between financial information providers (FIPs) and financial information users (FIUs) and exchange customer data after taking their consent. “Once SahajMoney is live on AA as an FIU, I shall be able to automate the process for my clients. RIAs will be able to fetch the data directly from FIPs after getting client consent,” he says.
The Agarwals, meanwhile, have made up their mind to stay connected with SahajMoney for their long-term financial planning. Their goal is to retire in their late forties before which they want their son to study abroad.
The up-and-coming fintech scored a pair of fourth-quarter beats.
Diversified fintech Chime Financial(CHYM +12.88%) was playing a satisfying tune to investors on Thursday. The company’s stock flew almost 14% higher that trading session, thanks mostly to a fourth quarter that featured notably higher-than-expected revenue guidance.
Sweet music
Chime published its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results just after market close on Wednesday. For the former period, the company’s revenue was $596 million, bettering the same quarter of 2024 by 25%. The company’s strongest revenue stream, payments, rose 17% to $396 million. Its take from platform-related activity rose more precipitously, advancing 47% to $200 million.
Image source: Getty Images.
Meanwhile, Chime’s net loss under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) more than doubled. It was $45 million, or $0.12 per share, compared with a fourth-quarter 2024 deficit of $19.6 million.
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On average, analysts tracking the stock were modeling revenue below $578 million and a deeper bottom-line loss of $0.20 per share.
In its earnings release, Chime pointed to the take-up of its Chime Card as a particular catalyst for growth. Regarding the product, the company said, “Among new member cohorts, over half are adopting Chime Card, and those members are putting over 70% of their Chime spend on the product, which earns materially higher take rates compared to debit.”
Today’s Change
(12.88%) $2.72
Current Price
$23.83
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Key Data Points
Market Cap
$7.9B
Day’s Range
$22.30 – $24.63
52wk Range
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$16.17 – $44.94
Volume
562K
Avg Vol
3.3M
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Gross Margin
86.34%
Double-digit growth expected
Chime management proffered revenue and non-GAAP (adjusted) earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) guidance for full-year 2026. The company expects to post a top line of $627 million to $637 million, which would represent at least 21% growth over the 2024 result. Adjusted EBITDA should be $380 million to $400 million. No net income forecasts were provided in the earnings release.
It isn’t easy to find a niche in the financial industry, which is crowded with companies offering every imaginable type of service to clients. Yet Chime seems to be achieving that, as the Chime Card is clearly a hit among the company’s target demographic of clientele underserved by mainstream banks. This growth stock is definitely worth considering as a buy.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Student athletes are now earning real money thanks to name, image, likeness deals — but with that opportunity comes the need for financial preparation.
Noah Collins Howard and Dayshawn Preston are two high school juniors with Division I offers on the table. Both are chasing their dreams on the field, and both are navigating something brand new off of it — their finances.
“When it comes to NIL, some people just want the money, and they just spend it immediately. Well, you’ve got to know how to take care of your money. And again, you need to know how to grow it because you don’t want to just spend it,” said Collins Howard.
What You Need To Know
High school athletes with Division I prospects are learning to manage NIL money before they even reach college
Glory2Glory Sports Agency and Advantage Federal Credit Union have partnered to give young athletes access to financial literacy tools and credit-building resources
Financial experts warn that starting money habits early is key to long-term stability for student athletes entering the NIL era
Preston said the experience has already been eye-opening.
“It’s very important. Especially my first time having my own card and bank account — so that’s super exciting,” Preston said.
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For many young athletes, the money comes before the knowledge. That’s where Glory2Glory Sports Agency in Rochester comes in — helping athletes prepare for life outside of sports.
“College sports is now pro sports. These kids are going from one extreme to the other financially, and it’s important for them to have the tools necessary to navigate that massive shift,” said Antoine Hyman, CEO of Glory2Glory Sports Agency.
Through their Students for Change program, athletes get access to student checking accounts, financial literacy courses and credit-building tools — all through a partnership with Advantage Federal Credit Union.
“It’s never too early to start. We have youth accounts, student checking accounts — they were all designed specifically for students and the youth,” said Diane Miller, VP of marketing and PR at Advantage Federal Credit Union.
The goal goes beyond what’s in their pocket today. It’s about building habits that will protect them for life.
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“If you don’t start young, you’re always catching up. The younger you start them, the better off they’re going to be on that financial path,” added Nihada Donohew, executive vice president of Advantage Federal Credit Union.
For these athletes, having the right support system makes all the difference.
“It’s really great to have a support system around you. Help you get local deals with the local shops,” Preston added.
Collins-Howard said the program has given him a broader perspective beyond just the game.
“It gives me a better understanding of how to take care of myself and prepare myself for the future of giving back to the community,” Collins-Howard said.
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“These high school kids need someone to legitimately advocate their skills, their character and help them pick the right space. Everything has changed now,” Hyman added.
NIL opened the door. Programs like this one make sure these athletes walk through it — with a plan.
With the introduction of the Employee Ownership Development Act , Illinois is poised to create the largest dedicated public investment vehicle for employee ownership in the country.
State Rep. Will Guzzardi’s bill, HB4955, would authorize the Illinois Treasury to deploy a portion of the state’s non-pension investment portfolio into employee ownership-focused investment funds.
That would represent a substantial investment of institutional capital in building wealth for Illinois workers and seed a capital market for employee ownership in the process. And because the fund is carved out of the state investment pool, it doesn’t require a single dollar of appropriations from the legislature.
Silver tsunami
The timing of the Employee Ownership Development Fund could not be more urgent. More than half of Illinois business owners are over 55 years old and are set to retire in the coming decade. When these owners sell their firms, financial buyers and competitors are often the default exit – if owners don’t simply close the business for lack of a buyer.
Each of these traditional paths risks consolidation, job loss and offshoring of investment and production. These are major disruptions to the communities that have long sustained these businesses. Without a concerted strategy, business succession is an economic development risk hiding in plain sight, and one that threatens local employment, supply chain resilience, and the tax base of communities across the country.
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Employee ownership offers another path. Decades of empirical research show that employee-owned firms grow faster, weather economic downturns better (with fewer layoffs and lower rates of closure), and provide better pay and retirement benefits.
The average employee owner with an employee stock ownership plan, or ESOP, has nearly 2.5 times the retirement wealth of non-ESOP participants. That comes at no cost to the employee and is generally in addition to a diversified 401(k) retirement account.
Because businesses are selling to local employees, employee ownership transitions keep businesses rooted in their communities. This approach can support a place-based retention strategy for state economic policymakers.
Capital gap
Despite the remarkable benefits of employee ownership and bipartisan support from policymakers, a lack of private capital has impeded the growth of employee ownership: In the past decade, new ESOP formation has averaged just 269 firms per year.
Most ESOP transactions ask the seller to be the bank, relying heavily on sellers to finance a significant portion of the sale themselves, often waiting five to 10 years to fully realize their proceeds. Compared to financial and strategic buyers who offer sellers their liquidity upfront, employee ownership sales are structurally uncompetitive in the M&A market.
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A small but growing ecosystem of specialized fund managers has begun to fill this gap. They deploy subordinated debt and equity-like capital to provide sellers the liquidity they need, while supporting newly employee-owned businesses with expertise and growth capital (see for example, “Apis & Heritage helps thousands of B and B Maintenance workers become owners”).
This approach is a recipe for scale, but the market remains nascent and undercapitalized relative to the generational pipeline of businesses approaching succession. To mature, the market needs anchor institutional investors willing to commit capital at scale.
State treasurers and other public investment officers could be those institutional investors. Collectively managing trillions of dollars in state assets, they have the portfolio scale, time horizons and fiduciary obligation to earn market returns while advancing state economic development.
Illinois’ blueprint
Just as federal credit programs helped catalyze the home mortgage and venture capital industries in the 20th century, state treasurers and comptrollers now have the opportunity to help build the employee ownership capital market in the 21st.
Illinois shows us how. The state’s Employee Ownership Development Act is modeled on proven investment strategies previously authorized by the legislature and pioneered by State Treasurer Michael Frerichs. The Illinois Growth and Innovation Fund and the FIRST Fund each ring-fence 5% of the state investment portfolio for investments in private markets and infrastructure, respectively, deployed through professional fund managers. Both have generated competitive returns while catalyzing billions of dollars in private co-investment in Illinois.
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The Employee Ownership Development Fund would apply that same architecture to employee ownership. The Treasurer would invest indirectly by capitalizing private investment funds deploying a range of credit and equity. The funds, in turn, would invest a multiple of the state’s commitment in employee ownership transactions.
The employee ownership field has matured to a point that is ready for institutional capital. The evidence base is robust. The fund management ecosystem is growing. And the business succession pipeline is larger than it will be for generations.
Yet the field still lacks the publicly enabled financing interventions that have historically built new markets in this country. State treasurers, city comptrollers and other public investment officers have the tools and resources at their disposal to provide that catalytic, market-rate investment to enable the employee ownership market to scale.
Julien Rosenbloom is a senior associate at the Lafayette Square Institute.
Guest posts on ImpactAlpha represent the opinions of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of ImpactAlpha.
