“The goal of simply making more money is, of course, good, but a little meaningless.” How iPlan.ua teaches IT professionals how to manage money wisely and helps them become effective investors

Financial plan

It’s no secret that it’s quite difficult to structure knowledge about money management and use it wisely on your own. A lot of temptations, fears, and lack of experience are the main obstacles in this matter. This was the case with Bohdan.

«I met Lubomyr at one of the lectures where he presented his new startup, and I was immediately interested in the idea of ​​receiving professional advice on money management. At that time, my „strategy“ was limited mainly to deposits, because investment opportunities seemed complicated and inaccessible. E-licenses had just begun to appear, opening the way for Ukrainians to foreign markets, and the word „broker“ was more associated with Hollywood movies than with reality,» recalls Bohdan.

He admits that he had many ambitions: he wanted to renovate his apartment and a car (or better, two), secure a promising education, and, of course, take care of his own pension for the distant future. «And after the first meeting, Lyubomyr asked me to write down all my financial goals, and in the process of discussing them, I realized that my desires require realistic planning and clear steps towards implementation,» Ponomarchuk shares.

First — knowledge, then — income

«First we plan, then we invest,» says the slogan of iPlan.ua. Among the services provided to clients by the project’s specialists are training, corporate trainings, events, and individual support for new investors. Service users also have access to a useful library on financial literacy and money management, as well as to a community of investors who have been helped by service users. iPlan.ua specialists and clients interact in the following way.

After that, the client receives a detailed plan from specialists with specific amounts and an annual savings plan necessary to achieve their goals.

And indeed, the first two years with iPlan.ua for Bohdan were primarily educational — the man quickly closed his gaps in financial education. «I studied and understood the available financial instruments in practice, the principles of their operation, and potential risks. Over the years, I managed to try many instruments (stocks, funds, land investments, business, REIT), but I definitely, and most importantly, not to try any more,» says the IT specialist. «I was especially attracted by the iPlan.ua model: advisors help me choose instruments that suit my needs and risk level, but I make the final decisions myself. This allowed me to feel safe and at the same time maintain control over my funds.»

Many of the IT guy’s ideas were revised, prioritized in terms of risks, and some were canceled during the training process. «I especially acutely felt the usefulness of working with iPlan.ua in 2020, when my portfolio „drowned“ by 20% in one day. Thanks to the support of advisors, I maintained a long-term approach — and soon the positions regained their lost value. And to this day, I see great value for myself in the fact that our joint work helps me to approach the issue of financial management in a more disciplined way and steadily move towards my goals, protecting me from mistakes,» says Ponomarchuk.

And this saves time on studying the entire variety of tools that exist, allowing you to keep your focus on what is important to the specialist.

«Each of my financial desires has a certain cost and a certain horizon. According to my willingness to take risks, income, and planning horizon, I can choose tools for myself and change them depending on changing circumstances. The goal of simply earning more money is, of course, good, but a little meaningless. And in this light, the phrase that money is just a tool for achieving the goal becomes closer and clearer to me,» Bohdan summarizes.

Useful tips from iPlan.ua for those who want to understand money

dev.ua asked Ulyana Grinchevska, senior financial planner at iPlan.ua, what advice she could give to IT professionals who are just thinking about increasing their funds through investing.

How to prepare for investing

Investments are a good way to ensure financial stability and increase capital. Many people think that success in investments is about finding an investment instrument or investing in promising global companies, but in reality, it is not. Before investing, you need to:— understand and define your financial goals (short-term, medium-term and long-term), because this will determine which instruments you should invest in;

• create a reserve fund (the amount of money we would live on if income was absent or significantly reduced for a certain period of time). It is recommended to have funds that would cover expenses for 3-6 months;
• determine your risk profile (willingness to take risk in investing);
• analyze what investment instruments are available (deposits, government bonds, stocks, ETFs, target date ETFs, real estate, crypto, etc.) and for what purposes such instruments should be used. Here you can either study this information yourself, or take training courses on the relevant topic, or enlist the help of financial planners;
• set up the investment process so that investments are planned and regular. Open the necessary bank accounts, for example, for the purchase of government bonds, you can consider Privatbank or Sense Bank; open a brokerage account for the purchase of ETFs and other assets (Interactive Brokers, Swissquote, etc.); open accounts in payment systems such as Genome, Zen, etc. for regular replenishment of the broker’s account and purchase of assets;

And yes, investing is not about «investing an amount that you can afford to lose.» After all, if you follow these steps, investing will definitely benefit you.

What investment areas are the most promising for Ukrainian IT professionals today?

The direction of investment depends very much on the financial goal, or rather, on the time frame for achieving this goal. For example, government bonds (in hryvnia or foreign currency) are perfect for the «Reserve Fund» goal or for short-term goals. After all, when buying government bonds, we have no tax risks and additional purchase fees.

ICU, Privatbank or Sense Bank offer a fairly large selection of securities and an easy way to buy. However, for long-term goals, for example, retirement (Financial Freedom), children’s goals, etc., you can choose ETF funds. ETFs are a good option for long-term investors, as they provide diversification, low fees and ease of portfolio management. If you have a goal of «Real Estate», you can try using the eOselya program or the new program «Renting apartments with preferential right of redemption for the city of Kyiv».

What mistakes do IT professionals most often make when starting to invest, and how can they be avoided?

In practice, I have encountered the following common mistakes:

— turning the investment process into guessing promising companies. For some reason, there are more negative such experiments than positive ones;

How to avoid it? — Determine your financial goals and choose investment instruments for these goals. If you still want to experiment, you can use the sandbox (a small part of the capital for experiments — up to 10%)

• lack of discipline and regularity in investing;

How to avoid it? Make investing a habit. For example, immediately buy government bonds after receiving income or transfer funds to an international brokerage account to buy ETFs.

• desire to invest all available funds (yes, even funds from the Reserve Fund);

How to avoid it? Agree with yourself that a reserve fund is NOT for long-term or random investments. It is a base that will insure us in unforeseen situations.

• there is no plan to exit the investment.

How to avoid it? Keep an investor diary, clearly stating the reasons for the investment and the plan for exiting such an investment

Manage your money correctly, plan, invest, earn!

Підключай Megogo зі знижками за акційними тарифами.

від 99 гривень на місяць