Master the money game: ‘Finfluencer’ Anushka Rathod makes financial literacy easy

(July 11, 2023) As she began her career as an investment banker, Anushka Rathod noticed her friends, who were working as engineers, architects and designers, were saving up for the first time – and had no clue how to go about it. The would come to her with basic questions on personal finance and unaware of the content out there, Anushka would simply say, “Google it.” However, the path to financial literacy would complex and full of jargon, too much for the layman to digest. Anushka decided to something about it, and began making short, funny videos that made personal finance more engaging and accessible to a wider audience. Today, the 24-year-old is a known name in the finance infotainment space, as she converts complex, often dry financial topics into entertaining videos.

Her efforts have earned her over 5,00,000 followers on YouTube, and close to a million on Instagram. The Global Indian was also part of the delegation of India’s top content creators who met with Commerce and Industries Minister Piyush Goyal, where she discussed challenges within the creator economy. She even teaches smaller hacks like, how to ensure restaurants don’t inflate your bill. Her YouTube content is more in-depth, as she analyses various industries, discusses startup stories and talks about business developments around the world.

Now, financial literacy doesn’t have to be a drag any longer. Anushka Rathod makes it all palatable – with videos like, “Do you want to buy a Louis Vuitton bag,” where she breaks down the number of hours you would have to work to finance that splurge. These little parcels of know-how are her Instagram content – you can learn how to file your IT returns, or get a headstart on your child’s finances.

 

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An early interest

Anushka’s family ran their own textile business and for as long as she can remember, dinner-table conversations were always around finance and business. “My family is in textiles so our talk was all about fabrics and funding. That’s how I became interested in business,” she said. Her interest, however, lay more in analysing companies rather than in investing. “That brought me to finance and my entry point into the profession was as an investment banker,” she explains. When she was around 16, she became interested in world economics, geopolitics and finance. “I was reading a lot about that, doing debates and stuff. When I was 18, I was introduced to stock markets and finance.”

Growing up in a conservative household, Anushka’s journey to content creation came with its share of trials and tribulations. “As I kid, I would hear that the woman’s job is to look pretty,” she said. “I was always worrying about what society wanted, about making decisions that were seen as ‘respectable’, and worrying about who was saying what.” The decisions she made were always the ones that would bring her approval and validation. She managed to do this to some extent, but it was never fulfilling.

The struggle for self-acceptance

By the time she hit her teens, Anushka had trained herself to believe that her only duty as a girl was to look pretty, and she had failed. It robbed her of her self-confidence. “I would sit inside the house all day because I was ashamed of how I looked. I wouldn’t go to social functions, I had no hobbies. I would just sit at home with my nose in a book – which my family would comment on also.” Anushka Rathod has come a long way, from being scared to leave the house to sitting in front of a camera and being seen by millions around the world. She’s still not fully at ease, she admits, but she perseveres, because the process itself gives her great joy.

One turning point came when she was in sixth grade. She was doing well in school and was featured in the local paper. “Everybody congratulated me,” she recalls. “My grandfather wsa so proud he was calling everyone he knew to tell them to look at the newspaper that day. I was so proud of myself and for the first time in my life, I was happy,” Anushka says. “But from that moment on, I began performing for approval. I gave up swimming, which I loved, because it would ruin my hair and my skin. Everything I did was for validation – for acceptance, really. But this is always short-lived. If I didn’t achieve anything for a while, I would feel that void again.”

“I wanted to do well in Grade 12 and make it to India’s  top university. All of it was to protect my image,” she said. She studied all day, getting increasingly stressed out and finding no joy in what she was learning. And at the end of it, she didn’t make the cutoff for the university of her choice.

Anushka was at another crossroads, forced to make a decision about her life. “I decided to go to a smaller university and spend some time learning who I am and what I like,” she said. She could name one thing she enjoyed – reading. So, she read all the time, this time without guilt. “I wasn’t reading for marks but out of interest.” This is what led her to the stock markets and to finance. She also found good mentors who told her what to read and what workshops to attend, she learned investment strategies and how to invest in the stock market.

Making the unconventional choice

“I was reading entire stories of companies and their history with the stock market, then writing reports on them,” she said. “I would participate in conclaves and conferences as much as I could.” She enjoyed equity research so much she decided to go into investment banking. It was a big moment. Anushka took great pride in learning that she was the youngest person – and the only girl on the team. “I was proud of this but I didn’t like the work. I loved research but I was spending my time working on Excel sheets,” she says. “But I stuck with the job because people were proud of me.”

Finfluencer Anushka Rathod paves the way for financial literacy

Finally, she mustered up the strength to quit, and around the same time, Covid-19 hit. Anushka had the time now to do what she loved – reading and research. That’s when she found content creators on YouTube who were doing research and creating content. “I gave it a shot and I absolutely loved it,” she says, describing her entry into financial literacy through engaging content. Her CFA exam was coming up and her old company asked her to rejoin but she “decided not to fall into that trap. I was genuindly happy now, doing what I was doing.”

Making an impact as a content creator

Making videos for a personal social media account is all very well, but doing so for a living was a different matter. “But I didn’t bother. You have to do the things you like,” she says, firmly. By October of 2020, she was getting recognition for her videos.

Success had found her, she was doing what she loved and making an impact by bringing financial literacy to everyone. That’s when she discovered the challenges of being onine. “Negative comments would make me cry for hours,” she recalls. “I was always a people pleaser. If people criticised me I would delte the video. Then I thought, if i want to be a successful content creator, I knew I had to get used to the fact that people would criticise me.”

Anushka Rathod now lives in Bengaluru, and is also educating young people on the realities of living alone and managing their finances as they do so. “I’m one of the few lucky people who wakes up in the morning and decides what the day will be like,” she smiles. The mornings are spent on research and talking to people for inputs. “I’m most passionate about my YouTube channel, where I dissect business stories. In the evenings, I shoot my reels and videos and spend the rest of the day editing,” she explains. “Everyday is brand new, there is no monotony. It’s a challenge to make a new video everyday – there are ups an ddowns, you have great videos an dbad ones, but just the energy and volatility is super exciting.”

Takeaways

Advising young people on how to make a career in finance, she says, “If you’re right out of college, do a CA or an MBA from a reputed university. There are other additional courses as well. Or, you can research industries and write reports, learn Excel modelling, network on LinkedIn and meet people from the field. These practical skills will help you get a foot in the door.”

Follow Anushka Rathod on YouTube and Instagram.

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