Radhika Gupta, MD and CEO, Edelweiss Mutual Fund, has put out a Twitter thread that is winning hearts on the internet. In the thread, Gupta explains five things about money she would want her child to learn first.
(1.) ‘It does have a real purpose’: Money, according to Gupta, helps people live their dreams, makes little and big things in life easier, adds comfort, and brings moments of joy both for individuals and for those who care for them.
(2.) ‘Money cannot define you’: People must, however, not let money affect their self-worth and confidence, how they are, and how they behave with others.
(3.) ‘Gratitude, most important money attitude’: In a family, for example, if members from each generation have more money than their respective previous generations, then this is because each generation worked hard to earn that much. One must, therefore, use they what they have, and create opportunities others never had.
(4.) ‘Greed takes you down’: A person must know how much money is ‘enough’ and never take shortcut towards it. This is because finance, despite being one of the best-paying industries, is also where individuals fall hard because of greed.
(5.) ‘Your parents earned a living managing money…’: People must, however, focus on managing their biggest asset – talent – and learn to read, write, think, fall, rise, dream, create and build.
Who is Radhika Gupta?
Gupta was born to a diplomat father and was, therefore, moving to a new country ‘every three years.’ She lived in New York, Nigeria and even Pakistan.
Her first job was in the United States, with McKinsey, and which came after seven rejections, which, in her own words, almost drove her to suicide before a friend’s intervention prevented her from taking the drastic step. In fact, she appeared for the McKinsey interview later that day and bagged the job.
In 2008, Gupta, then 25, survived that year’s global financial crisis, but with the ‘itch’ to do something new, resigned from McKinsey, moved to India, and opened her own asset management firm with her husband and a friend. The firm was eventually acquired by Edelweiss; years later, at 33, she became Edelweiss’ CEO, and was among the youngest CEOs in the country.
She is also a Vice Chair at the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) and holds World Economic Forum’s (WEF) recognition as a ‘Young Global Leader.’
