The document summarizes the key benefits of engaging a financial professional to manage personal finances compared to doing it alone. It notes that professionals have extensive academic and practical training knowledge, while individuals only have surface level information. Professionals understand complex financial instruments and markets in depth. They are trained in legal aspects like contracts and succession laws. Overall, using a professional can help maximize returns, minimize risks, and ensure financial plans stay on track for long-term goals.

1. A MAGAZINE FROM THE GOPAST CENTRE FOR LEARNING
Inscriptions 28
TRUTH STAYS FOREVER
PANNEL 1 WALL 8

2. TOPIC BY
PAGE
NO
INDEX 2
Sculptor Inscribes Mr R. GOPINATH 3
Gurus speak Mr R. GOPINATH 11
Caterpillars’ Space Mr Praveen Kumar 16
Proud to be
associated
19
News and Gallery 25

3. SCULPTOR INSCRIBES
R.GOPINATH

4. THEY FIND A BIGGER EVEREST
R.GOPINATH
gopinathr@go-past.com
A teacher wants (expects) his students to respect him.
A leader wants his team to respect him
A professional wants his client to respect him
A parent wants his children to respect him
We humans want to be respected by our children, spouse, peers, associates, and society (there
can be many more in this list of expectation of respect from). And for some reason it is not
forthcoming from any of the above list, it pains us. The worst of the pain surfaces when people
ignore us. (There can be a few exceptions to this wanting, like saints or persons who have
denounced all attachments in life). There is an inherent need in a person to feel being respected,
admired and acknowledged.
The question is why should (or would) anybody respect us? Should they respect us for our age?
for our positions in organisations? for our lineage? for our possessions?

5. One sure way of earning respect is to “ADD VALUE” The more the value you add to this world, the
world in return will respect you so much. This value addition need not be free to the world, but if
the value is perceived as more than the price offered, the world still respects you. For example a
surgeon charging for the surgery done, is still respected for he saved a life, which is far more
valuable than the money that was charged. An advocate takes fees to defend a case, is still
respected for the freedom he got for the defendant is more valuable than his fees. A teacher may
get tuition fees, but the future he made for the student is much more valuable than the money that
was charged. In all the above instances these professionals are respected. (at times even
worshipped). But in all the above cases if they had tried to shortchange their clients, then they
would not be respected.
10gms of Gold will fetch you ₹41,000. 10gms of some other metal may fetch you a different
amount. Another metal of 10gms coated with gold will not fetch the amount that 10gms of gold
can get. That means to earn that ₹41,000 it must become truly gold.
In short pretending to be gold may not get us the value of gold.
A caterpillar becomes a butterfly. As a caterpillar it
does not have many takers. Children would not
like to hold it in their hands. But once it becomes
butterfly people love to hold it, keep it in their
garden and see them flying around. The process
of the caterpillar becoming the butterfly is called
metamorphosis. In this process the contribution
of the caterpillar if estimated could be 5% and
that of the nature (environment) could be 95%. If
for some reason the nature is not so kind then the
caterpillar doesn’t become a butterfly. And the
process happens in a fixed pace, say 21 days.
Let us take that analogy to fit human life.
Look at these great men:
Born as Mohandass Karamchand Gandhi, became Mahatma Gandhi. He brought in a new
awakening in the world. The incredible power of Truth and Non-violence became known to the
modern world.
Born in a family of six children and raised in an ordinary living conditions, became a nation’s
integrator, Sardar Vallabhai Patel. Even after independence India was still not one country as there
were 150+ princely states. With no big tele-communication facilities, no internets, no video calls,
he had to physically travel to meet these rulers, and talk to a few over long distance calls, appeal
to them, offer them some privileges and if required talk to them sternly. But he got all the states
integrated and come under the constitution of Indian Republic
Born into a lower middle class family Dr APJ Abdul Kalam had to work and study together. And he
did both so well, and earned the admiration of many even at tender age. Became a space
scientist, missile expert, a good orator, literary genius, a great motivator and served as the
President of India. He used that position to inspire millions all over the country and outside to
dream big and achieve big.
All these great personalities were born as babies just as much as you and I did. In that sense as
caterpillars. But they bloomed into butterflies. While we may equal all these great people in
physical stature, but are we equal to them in terms of the contribution they have made to this
world. Are we equal to them in the way they have influenced people around them?

6. Are we equally being respected, as much as they were respected and being respected? If not,
then why not?
They added immense value, and they gained utmost respect.
Let us get back to our topic of metamorphosis. In terms of the butterflies the process takes, say
21 days, equal time to get transformed into a butterfly. But in humans we can speed up the
process of becoming great. Why should we become great? we can ultimately add value to others
only to the extent of the value that we possess. We can not give to somebody, what we do not
have. So to give, we must first get it. So to add value to others we must become invaluable first.
Is there any method of speeding up the metamorphosis? There should be some. Otherwise how
do the great people achieve what will take 4 or 5 life times in just one life time?
One of such methods, an effective one, is accepting challenges. A Challenge when accepted and
fought against to overcome, reveals our true self to ourselves, Hence a great opportunity to
discover our hidden potentials. How does that happen? Let me explain.
The essence of Newton’s first law of motion is that “For every action there is an equal and
opposite reaction”. Even though this was meant to be applicable to bodies and things, I feel it is
equally applicable to human’s progress also. While facing a challenge that is trying to push us
down, our inner mind responds with the discovery of a potential inside us and forces us against
that challenge in an equal magnitude. Look at this picture given here:

7. A college student who is volunteering to assist the president of the committee in conducting a
cultural program in his college, suddenly finds himself in a situation that he will have to anchor the
whole show due the unexpected illness of the president, discovers the orator, humourist, a poet
inside him. But for that challenging situation this orator/humourist/poet inside him would have
been hiding inside him forever.
Challenges are of two types 1) Forced on us by situations and 2) By willingly taking up a
challenge. The second mostly happens in the form of a big dream. But type 1 or 2 both are
equally effective. In both the cases we still have options to accept them or deny them.
Normally faced with the challenge 1) Situational or 2) Someone else motivating us to dream big,
humans respond in 4 ways. A car has the potential to move at great speed but depending upon
the gear in which is put to operation it will move. Using the same metaphor I can explain our
response to the challenge. See the picture below:
The first gear is called as “Denial”. Many times people deny the challenge and allow it pass by
sides. One major reason for this is fear of failure. They are afraid of failure. They have defined in
their minds failures as shame or pain. In fact this fear is unnecessary. Because there is no
champion in this who has never failed in any of the previous matches of unlikely of failing in any of
the future matches. Sachin Tendulkar who is called by his fans as “The God of Cricket” has also at
times got out on 0 score (duck). Muthaiah Muralidharan at one time the world’s highest wicket
taker by bowling has ended up in some matches with zero wickets (Dry). But people who are
scared of failures will put themselves in the denial mode.
The second gear is called as “Survival” gear. People who are satisfied with their present generally
operate this gear. They feel “enough”. The motive behind putting the second gear is “Fear of
paying the (big) price”. Some times it just sheer laziness that triggers this fear.
The third gear is called “Growth” gear. Here they accept the challenge, but either they part accept
it or they scale it down greatly. Because of this, they may be able to show some improvement in
their positions, but not a significant improvement as they complete the challenge. Lack of
ambition could be the reason.
The fourth gear is “Greatness” This gear makes the progress at the highest pace. This demands
all our potentials, therefore discovers the hidden potentials also, when the known potentials and
capacities does not equate to the magnitude of the challenge.
For example when Gandhi was thrown out the train, even when he was holding a first class ticket.
He decided to fight the injustice, not just for himself but for the whole Asian community there. He
wasn’t a very successful lawyer till then. He was mostly shy and could not voice out his
arguments in the open court. He had therefore taken up the job of drafting petitions. When he
proposed to fight against this injustice, to some of the leading businessmen and influential Asians

8. there in Johannesburg, people dissuaded him, saying that this has been there for years and we
will have to live with it. But Gandhi refused to accept that, and he gathered hundreds of Asians to
demonstrate against the government. From that struggle, he became known to the whole world
as a fearless person, forthright in expressing, and a great leader.
Now the question is what could be the process of achieving greatness in life? does this 4th gear
(greatness) just happen? or can it be made functional at our will?
Let me explain the steps for greatness in certain alphabetical order C,D,E,F and G.
C stands for Challenge. Accept a big challenge. For example if you are now in the range of
producing 30C business, take up a challenge of producing 100C business.
D stands for Deeds. Meaning working towards the challenge. Taking the necessary actions to
meet the C. The condition here is that D must be equal to C or even more than C but in no case
less than C. For example your present Deeds (Actions/efforts) are making 30C possible. If you
have taken up the challenge of 100C then your new D must be the one that will produce the 100C
business. C to D conversion is possible only when we have identified a strong purpose behind the
C. If the purpose is weak/small or mediocre then C to D conversion will also be small and much
lower than the requisite D. The stronger the purpose the better the conversion.
Once we start doing the D (deeds) we will start encountering problems/obstacles and difficulties.
It is a vulnerable period emotionally. It is likely that we can be tempted to under revise our C. For

9. example in the above case make it 40C. This were E (E stands for Environment) plays a major role.
If the Environment is very supportive then the D will continue for long. Persisting with D becomes
easy. If the environment is not supportive then to persist with D even after faced with problems is
very difficult. Environment includes the people around us with whom we are associated. If our
family is encouraging us, or our close friends encourage us to continue with the D, then we get an
emotional boost to persist. If for some reason our family or friends or colleagues are discouraging
then the chances are that we will be tempted to quit the D. Environment also includes the books
we read, the clips/movies that we watch and the tapes that we listen to.
It therefore pertinent that we create a very conducive atmosphere for ourselves. Construct
encouraging and supporting environment. It is all the more required, when there is big time span
involved for the D to fulfil the C (Let us. say a few years).
F represents Finesse. Over a period of time we must keep improving and adding sophistication to
our D. The outside world is changing. If we continue to maintain the same standards that we had
set in the past, in the changed world that is looked upon as underperformance. To bring in finesse
we need to constantly upgrade our competence through RLT Reading, Learning and Training. We
also need to upgrade our infrastructure to bring-in this finesse. If we do all these C,D,E and F then
G- greatness is achievable.

10. If we achieve the G then we become more valuable. With this value, we can add value to others,
as we keep adding value, the world will in return respect us, adore us, admire us and even
attempt to model us.
Historically in any aspect of life, business, politics, arts, science and literature, the most respected
people are the ones who have added great values to others in their respective spectrums. For
decades and even centuries their contributions are talked about with great respect.
But the greatness of the great men is that once they have achieved a challenge successfully, they
now move on to find another challenge and thereby pace-up the metamorphosis. This is what I
mean by THEY FIND A BIGGER EVEREST.

11. GURUS SPEAK
R.GOPINATH

12. WHY ENGAGE A PROFESSIONAL TO GUIDE US
IN MANAGING OUR PERSONAL FINANCE
R.GOPINATH
gopinathr@go-past.com
A prospect asked an agent/advisor, “Why would I need your services? I think I know
most of what you are going to talk about. Even if I want more information I can as
well browse through some websites and get it. As it is, I have been doing well
financially, all the decision I have taken so far have prove correct, both in the
personal front and in my business also. I don’t see any gain in engaging your
services.”
The agent patiently answered his question by drawing a table of the difference
between using a professional to guide/assist and using personal knowledge and
time to manage their personal finance as a common man to the science of financial
management.
The remaining portion of this article is designed as if the client is talking to his
soulmate, about the benefits of engaging the professional, after listening to the
presentation made by the agent/advisor. We have for the sake of the story taken the
client to be a builder. But this dialogue is true for any other occupation as well.
My dear, I was thinking should I get some professional to guide us in managing our
finance, or should we do it by myself. Then I met this agent, who explained to me
difference between using professional help and doing it by myself. Let me explain the 5
major differences:
The first difference is that a professional would have gained academic knowledge, as a
common man I would be having lots of information. But i must appreciate that information
is not knowledge. Apart from the prescribed qualification for obtaining and continuing the
licence to practice, the professional undergoes hours, days, weeks, months and years of
training. While in my domain area, if i were to be a builder then in the area of civil
construction i would be knowledgeable, but if i were to decide on matters related to
finance i must avail the benefit of the knowledge of the professional in that domain area.
I might still have gained information about financial instruments through media, or my
friends over a coffee table discussions but i must appreciate that can not be equal to
what a professional would be knowing about the same instruments. Moreover i may have
information about the few items that i got to search for are of those which fell on my ears
are by chance appeared in my sight. Whereas a professional would be knowing more
about the same instruments and also about other instruments plus he would also know
the relative advantages and the disadvantages of the products under discussion from the
universe of the financial markets.

13. A professional advisor in the financial market, is trained not just in selling techniques. He
is trained in the legal aspects like law of agreements, Contracts, differences between
Caveatemptor and Uberima Fede contracts, Acts related to successions like nominations,
assignments, wills and special acts like MWP acts, Limitations of appeals, Jurisdictions of
the authorities of appeal. He trained in aspects of psychology, so as to understand the
clients’ real needs differentiated from the superficial wants that are dominating his mind
and inducing his buying behaviour.
The second difference is that the professional will use tools to make the estimates, while
as a common man i will be guessing or using thumb-rules to approximate the
calculations.
For example when child appear to be dull and tired, i put my palms on her forehead and
tell her that she is having fever. Whereas a doctor might use a thermometer to find out
what is the exact temperature. Based on my guess that she is having fever, i might use
my common sense and buy a Crocin tablet for her, while the doctor based on his
inference from the readings of the diagnostic tools might put her on an antibiotic.
A financial professional uses various ratios, charts, calculations and projections. For
example i as a common man feel that 5,00,000 insurance cover should be enough for me.
The advisor will be using tools like A/H ratios to decide the risk zone of my family, then
further tools like Capital Needs analysis, Human Life Value calculations, Even draw my
personal balance sheet to find the gap in my net worth and suggest the cover i will be
requiring.
I might even feel that after my retirement, me being a very simple person, enough for me
to make a provision of 25,000 per month. Whereas the professional advisor might use
tools like Expenses Provision Method, Replacement Ratio method to advise me how
much to provide for those golden days. FV estimates simple, FV estimates inflation
considered. NPV estimates, PMT calculations, Risk adjusted returns, Standard deviation
on volatile instruments. Sortino Ratios, Trynor Ratios, Sharpe ratios etc. This is just a
sample list of tools and estimates an advisor will be using. I as a builder might be using
tools related to my domain area while dealing with my clients, but i may not (most of the
cases) be equipped with above tools.
When estimates are made using tools, i can feel safe and secure. If it is just a guesswork
then i am not sure about the results, or even feel insecure progressing towards such
targeted amounts.
The third difference ( A major one) is that he is living by serving me (client), while i am
living by serving in my domain area. So, to the extent i can use him, i will be able to better
serve in my domain area. Since this is his livelihood, he will be trying to give his best to
the profession, as much as i am doing in my profession/occupation. He has developed
the infrastructure to provide the services. He will be well connected with the relevant
authorities both within and outside his organisation to provide the best to his clients. If i
have to develop that infra or connections it may be too costly for me and might be
impossible also. Even the few minutes or hours it might take me to get myself served with
the products i can buy from him, if i am able to give to my domain area, i would be much
more benefitted. Since this is his profession, the passion with he does this is to my
advantage. For him this job is his mission. For me my personal investments are one

14. another important aspect of my life amongst the few more aspects of my business and
life.
The fourth difference is that he would have met thousands of prospects like me or unlike
me. Richer than me, not so richer than me. Senior to me, junior to me. Risk takers, risk
averse people. People with similar needs, people with different needs. All this experience
in advising them and designing solutions for them and in handling situations that i would
not have experienced in my financial life will be a great advantage to me. I have only one
financial life experience whereas he has so many. This experience gives the intuition of
foreseeing the future that may not be visible to me with my single experience. He would
have handled film stars, politicians, businessmen, women, children, young, old,
employees, organisations, Government departments. This experience would have
ingrained in him, as much as my experience in my domain area has helped my clients
with surprising (to them) solutions.
The fifth difference is that when handling my own finance my emotions can overshadow
my rationality. Because of that i can make mistakes, my ego will not permit me to admit it.
As it is told people loose money in the market not because of the market behaviour, but
because of their behaviour in the market. Most of such people are as educated,
knowledgeable and experienced like me, but when emotions dominate, usually people
become irrational. Whereas as a professional he will play by rules of the game. He can
easily de-link emotions from the processes and keep the progress on the track. His
guidance will be governed by the principles governing the financial science. He will be
system oriented and procedures anchored. Whereas my behaviour will be influenced by
my emotions, situations and constraints.

15. After understanding all the five big differences between me handling my finance and
availing professional guidance in doing that, I am fully convinced that i must happily
engage his services. I am also aware of the gains that i am likely reap by allowing him to
guide me. So my initial opinion that finance is just a common sense matter, and it might
take hardly few minutes to take the decisions, and i may save the professional charges
involved is now completely changed. I am now aware that some portion of financial
management is common sense matter but a bigger part of that is a science. I might be
able to take decisions in minutes, but it could turn out to be impulsive rather than based
on data and facts. I don’t have to save the professional charges, for I gain a lot by
investing that on an expert as much as i am engaging the best talents in my own
company to assist me in running it profitably

16. CATERPILLAR SPACE
Mr M Praveen Kumar TOT

17. MY JOURNEY TOWARDS TOT by M.Praveen Kumar
mpraveen123@gmail.com
While starting my career I never thought that I will become an Insurance advisor, since I belong to a
business community and Jewellery as our main business
Right from my young age I was doing jewellery business,. After my school, I use to spent
my time usefully in assisting my father in the jewellery shop .
One day my development officer Mr.N.Narasimhan, convinced my father to take up L.I.C
agency for me.
Till 2000 the IRDA Exams were not mandatory, we need to pay fees of Rs15/- and can
become an L.I.C Agent
On a Friday morning 10.15am my father told me to meet Mr.R.Narasimhan at his L.I.C office
and, sign the agency form. Without knowing anything I also went and filled the application
form by paying Rs.15/- and became an L.I.C agent after few days my development officer
came and briefed me about L.I.C and its plans
I was quiet impressed about the plans and the benefits of life insurance. I was so eager to
start immediately i wanted to start. To start with our staff Mr.Tejaram was my first prospect
to kindly accept my proposal Jeevan Mithra and followed by him one of our customer
Mr.L.G.Krishna moorthy Jeevan Charaya plan.
From there onwards my journey started. My uncle residing at Tambaram was the first person
to take long term, for his son 55 years endowment policy for 1 lac sum assured.
Then by word of mouth I got many reference through him and I utilised that opportunity by
meeting his friends and that was an eye opening which made me to have an insight and
acquire more knowledge about this industry In my first March closing I was able to do
finalise 12 policies and earned my first month commission of Rs.9967/-
Journey Continues......
For next two - three months nothing happened. When I approached my Dev. Officer he said it
is a lean period.
Slowly again I started my canvassing for Jeevan Shree policy. On those days 5 lac sum
assured with 25000 premium is a big business some how I managed to sell one Jeevan Shree
policy with 25k as yearly premium, and was qualified for a meeting at Pondicherry,

18. For me going Pondicherry for a meeting was very new experience. In the meeting hall I met
one of my branch agent Mr.G. Mohanraj and we shared our experience.
By Janauary, I was told that jeevan shree plan is going to be withdrawn so do maximum
selling.
After hearing this I geared up and started meeting lot of people, many of them asked different
questions like about the yield, Returns, how the company will pay & many objections.
In spite of many objections I should
by March 2001 I managed and completed around 67 policies, with more than 1 crore sum
assured and became No.1 agent of the branch with the highest sum assured.
In the year 2002 March, one day prior to the closing all my paper work completion
formalities were going on and at that time my development officer told me to complete
another 10 policies to achieve Centurion agent.
I told him sir, we have only one day left with, and how to do 10 policies, having faith on me
he encouraged by saying we still have 24 hours. Do your best, and you will quality for
Centurion agent.
That inspiration and motivation instigated and ignited me to work hard and vigorously and
one of my good friend Mr.C.Gowtham chand, helped me to hit 100, he gave lot of references.
That was the beginning of getting references and came to understand the importance and
seriousness and it gave confidence in me saying that each and every reference is valuable and
as an agent we should not neglect it.
The sales process started sailing smoothly, Like the proverb “A Friend in Need is a Friend in
Deed” my friend paved me the path
Next day was my day I completed and got qualified for Centurion agent with . more than 2
crore sum assured.
It made me so humble and gave me satisfaction of completing 100 policies with more than 2
crore sum assured
Branch Officer and my friends appreciated me for bringing high sum assured policies.
I really thank my father and my development officer in having faith on me . I always wish to
serve my clients and the society through this industry and my journey continues……….

19. PROUD TO BE
ASSOCIATED
Ms Samruthi student

20. Mr Vishal s/o Mr Narayanan and Mrs Aiswarya winner of the 'Hack in Hub' 28 hour Hackathon
conducted by Sri Sai Ram Institute of Technology. He shares this with 3 other team mages
from the college

21. PROUD TO BE
ASSOCIATED
Ms Samruthi student

22. Miss V. Samrithi D/O of Mr N Vaidyanathan FCHFP studying in X std of Bharathi Vidyalaya Sr. Sec.
School at Chennai, had recently won the winner title in Badminton sport in her school competition.More
over she also got the best singer award in the latest musical competition held at her musical school in
Chennai .

25. NEWS AND GALLERY
EVENTS AT GOPAST

26.
37th Batch Mission MDRT at Gopast Chennai
Mission COT TOT 4th Batch at Gopast Chennai
Self Actualisation Batch at Gopast Chennai

27. Super sixer for DOs group exercise

28.
Omnipotent ALICA group exercise on risk management

29.
Thane sixer dev officers

30.
Crown yourself Thane

32. LISC Kolkata Crown yourself
Like a diamond in the sky Chennai Gopast