Always found it troublesome to keep track of all your financial records? Found it cumbersome to manually update your financial records to obtain your financial statements? Then, we might have just solved that problem of yours. We interviewed Manoj Chahar, the founder and CEO of Moneyfrog. Read the interview to know more about Moneyfrog and how it will help you in your financial planning and organisation of your finances.
Moneyfrog Team
Describe Moneyfrog in one sentence
Moneyfrog is an innovative technology & advisory company in the domain of Financial Planning & Investments.
Who are the founders? How many members make up the Moneyfrog team?
Manoj Chahar and Mushtaq Kazi are the founders of Moneyfrog. Manoj Chahar has previously worked with Kotak Securities, IIFL group, and Philips India. Mushtaq Kazi has been instrumental and also a key player in the designing and working of the Moneyfrog portal as well as the advisory desk.
20+ members form the Moneyfrog team currently with most of them working towards innovation, technology, and development.
How was the idea of Moneyfrog conceptualized?
The idea of Moneyfrog came about when the founder wanted a sort of financial planner which could be an ‘Under One Roof’ planner. The idea was to have an expert which would manage the finances along with screenshots of the financial status at any time. Also, the need was for a financial statement that would be easy to understand.
The primary requirement was to eliminate the need for manual updating of financial records each time a statement was required. Thus, the whole idea of Moneyfrog was born. Through a dry test run of an ‘All in One Financial Planner’, the founders realized that the potential for such a financial planner was immense.
How can users access Moneyfrog?
User can access Moneyfrog.in online by free sign ups. We have 3 plans, where user with expertise of finance can ideally use our portal free of cost. Users who need customized financial advice on a regular basis or yearly basis can subscribe to our Rs. 5999/- and Rs. 999/- plans respectively. Paid users also gets access to qualified advisors, with whom they can speak & take advice as per the subscription plan.
Who is your target audience and how do you reach out to them?
Our target audience comprise mass affluent customers & corporate employees.
We reach out to our target audience mainly through IFAs (Individual Financial Agents) who sell insurance or mutual funds on a standalone basis. Our product packaging covers the entire product basket for these IFA’s & above all, brings Credibility, Brand & Technology in the hands of Customers & IFA’s.
What are the facilities available to Moneyfrog users?
We have, through the use of technology and internet, built a proprietary model. This model enables complete financial planning and investment mapping. This is based on the needs of the customers, their profile, life goals and risks. The customer will be given a financial plan, through the use of an online dynamic dashboard which user-friendly and easy to understand.
The dashboard provides the customer with various insights related to his/her net worth, along with future projection, cash flow and protection analysis, and a host of other features. These are based on algorithms inbuilt into the dashboard. The customers are also given recommendations, but this is need based. Apart from the dynamic dashboard, our customers can also speak to financial advisors.
What are the current trends in financial planning?
To put it straight, most of us (customers) rely on multiple Financial Advisors or RM’s for our financial requirement & each of these Advisors cater to their product specific needs. No one is there to access & present a 360 degree financial model or plan, which covers all the products, which are as per customer’s requirement, profile, risk &life goals.
Currently customers are at the mercy of these Advisors (Bank/ Brokers/ CA/ IFA), where Advisors on the pretext of Financial Planning; end up selling or pushing products as per Advisors expertise, target & commission earned.
Even if plan is available (mostly physical reports), it runs into tens of pages, which is hard to understand, are very cumber some & makes one believe that…”Finance is not my cup of tea”.
Whom do you consider your competitors and how do you differentiate yourself from them?
Currently our competition is with the term “Financial Planning”, as same is used or rather abused by anyone & everyone, to sell their end products. Whereas Financial Planning is not about selling financial products or investments, but it’s an analysis & advice on customer’s finances & Life Goals.
As of now we only see one player, who offers similar services – Arthayantra.com as our competitor.
What are your future plans for Moneyfrog?
We plan to be a national player with presence in top 20 cities by mid-2016. We also plan to build a network of 500+ franchisees and 2 lac+ customer mark by mid-2016.
What would you advice aspiring entrepreneurs?
Follow your dreams and work hard. The most important would be this – do not chase money or start dreaming of the same. Just work with passion and money will follow you.
The next time you are looking for an all-in-one financial planner, remember to check Moneyfrog and do not forget to like Moneyfrog on Facebook. You can also follow Moneyfrog on Twitter. If you have any questions or thoughts you would like to share with Manoj or us, please do leave us a comment below.
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