Financial Planning, Simple and Pragmatic
I am Swapnil Kendhe, a SEBI-registered investment adviser (RIA) and a fixed-fee financial planner.
13+ years. 600+ client families.
I work with investors who prefer simple portfolios, low costs, and long-term discipline.
I help clients understand money well enough to eventually manage it on their own.
I help clients put their financial house in order and align investments with their goals.
I follow a defensive, passive approach. Portfolios are simple, low-maintenance, and designed to avoid serious mistakes, not chase returns.
The future is unpredictable. A good financial plan should survive unfavorable outcomes, not depend on favorable ones.
After 13+ years, one thing is clear:
Outcomes are uncertain.
No one can consistently predict the best investments.
My role is simple:
Help clients focus on the process,
follow sound principles,
and avoid common mistakes.
Simplicity is sophistication.
If you are looking for an unbiased, simple, and pragmatic approach; and want to become a capable DIY investor, you are in the right place.
Background
Guest article on freefincal · March 2018
Fee-only advisor journey: Swapnil Kendhe’s successful transition into a SEBI RIA
Interview on Morningstar
LIC agent turned fee-only RIA
Fixed-Fee
I charge a flat fee for advice,
based on the effort involved.
Not linked to your assets.
No Commissions
No commissions.
No incentives-directly or indirectly.
Zero commissions.
No Conflicts
The fixed-fee model removes the conflict
inherent commission-based advice.
Unbiased. Objective.
Comprehensive.
Fiduciary
As a SEBI-registered investment adviser, I am a fiduciary.
Your interests come first.
Experienced
13+ years
600+ client families
Deep, real-world experience.
Podcast Appearances
"After having burnt my fingers and money with financial advisors who worked off commission, I reached out to a number of fee-only financial advisors. Out of all the advisors I spoke with, Swapnil had a unique story and truly gave me the feeling of being a life advisor. We tend to forget that importance of financial planning and its effect on our day to day life. Swapnil made me think about my finances holistically and that really changed my perspective on how to plan and increase my saving rate. I cannot recommend him enough."
"I was looking for professional advice on my investments and read about Swapnil in freefincal.com. I am very happy and satisfied that I decided to hire Swapnil as my financial planner. He is very organized and professional at his work. He quickly grasps the current financial situation of an individual. Due to lack of time, we tend to miss out the important aspects of investing and get influenced by agents/brokers/banking advisors and invest in wrong areas. Swapnil is very good at highlighting the common investing mistakes investors do. He believes in keeping investing simple. He also educates about the crucial aspects of investing. I highly recommend Swapnil as a Fee-only Financial Planner. Keep up good work Swapnil and ALL THE BEST."
"I feel fortunate to have met Swapnil to sketch out my investment strategy and financial planning. Since I met him, he is a single point of contact for all my investment needs, including mutual fund, insurance, debt or any other tax saving instrument. Swapnil has a wealth of knowledge and works in a very organized way. He uses simple techniques which help you connect to your long-term strategy, identify goals and put together execution plan. It's only when you engage with him, you realize all the benefits you were missing by not having a good financial adviser."
"I was already under the guidance of a famous SEBI Registered FA. But his style of investment advice was not suiting my thought process. I was looking for a FA who could give shape to this journey based on a strong understanding of investment philosophy. I didn’t want someone who would change my portfolio based on some random ratings on the websites or its past performance, just like expecting a medical practitioner would give antibiotics, even if you don’t need any of them.
In the first few interactions, Swapnil gave me a thorough understanding of his investment philosophy. Those 5 sessions were invaluable, as many concepts and wrong understanding were cleared. He shared documents to read on equity and debt investments.
He subsequently suggested a few changes in my portfolio. I did those meticulously and since then I never had to change anything in my portfolio. It’s just in autopilot mode. That’s what I wanted, and it’s super simple.
I would suggest anyone and everyone take able advice from Swapnil, who will guide you to construct a portfolio that is easy to maintain, with no fancy ideas and return assumptions but effective to achieve goals which is the crux of the defensive investment style. Also along the process he also enables his clients so they can take decisions on their own. He even told me that I don’t need to renew his advisory as I can handle things on my own from now onwards. This kind of sincerity and honesty in someone’s profession is one of the rarest qualities to find in today’s world. Just hunt him down and straightway take his advisory, you will not regret it.
Thanks, Swapnil. God bless you."
"A HUGE THANKS!! I engaged Swapnil for my financial planning in 2020, a few months before the market crash. My financial planning has been extremely sorted since then - Thanks to Swapnil.
If I were to summarize my experience with Swapnil, I would say - I SLEEP WELL AT NIGHT, NOT WORRIED ABOUT MY FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITIES.
Before engaging Swapnil, I had been learning financial and investment planning on my own for a few years. I had been following ‘Investment Gyaanis' on social media on one hand and reading books on investing on the other hand. While I understood the concepts broadly, it was hard to understand the ‘conflict of interest’ some ‘experts’ have vs. genuine advice. Even if it’s seemingly genuine advice, it was hard to bring core investing concepts to fruition because of a variety of reasons, e.g. lack of conviction, the inertia to change, etc. That’s where Swapnil and his ilk of Fee-only Financial advisors come in.
Swapnil epitomizes the truism "GIVE A MAN A FISH AND YOU FEED HIM FOR A DAY; TEACH A MAN TO FISH AND YOU FEED HIM FOR A LIFETIME".
His working style is to enable ‘seekers' to understand the ‘Why’ of things - ‘Why’ things happen as they happen in financial planning. 'Why' is more important than 'What' and 'How'. Swapnil takes 4-5 sessions to onboard new users before preparing a financial plan customized for their needs. These sessions are a series of masterclasses in investing and money.
Lastly, beyond my newfound investing prowess to plan for my long-term goals, Swapnil had an indirect influence on changing my 'not so good' spending habits as well.
I strongly recommend Swapnil to anyone looking to get clarity on financial planning; even to those who believe they can do it on their own. The time and money investment with Swapnil is worth its weight in gold."
"Swapnil is professional with high standards. I came to know about him while I was reading one post by Avinash Luthria. When I approached Swapnil, he politely rejected the engagement because he had already crossed a max number of clients. But he agreed to enroll me for a DIY financial planning program. It was an engagement worth the time and money I invested for. I am an avid reader and I read books on a wide range of topics from investments to psychology. But discussions with Swapnil expanded my understanding about investments to the next level. "Collective wisdom of the Market" is a key term which I still remember from our discussions. Also Swapnil regularly shares very good resources on holistic investing, I really find them worth reading. To conclude, with foundations learned from Swapnil I can confidently say that I am beating almost all retail investors in my contact by doing 'nothing'.
As they say, "problem with good investment is that it is really boring." I'd say I am happy to get bored with Swapnil. I wish him the best for helping people improve their financial lives."
"I reached out to Swapnil in 2019 while I was trying to put my financial house in order and was planning for a major decision impacting my finances. Having talked to a few RIAs in Freefincal’s list of fee-only financial planners, one day I got in touch with Avinash Luthria of Fiduciaries.in, who suggested that I get in touch with Swapnil Kendhe. It was one of the best decisions to talk to Swapnil and engage him as my financial planner. Swapnil’s approach to financial planning is that of empowering the client by educating him about the asset allocation suitable for his risk profile. He makes the client independent in financial decision making by simplifying the asset allocation. Swapnil’s wisdom in financial planning and portfolio construction is the outcome of the knowledge he acquired after years of reading quality investment literature, coupled with the application of his own personal life experience when he was a financial products distributor. He knows both sides of the coin of the personal finance profession, namely distribution and advice, and its deeper impact on the outcome of your financial plan. Discussions we had while working on my financial plan were like pearls of wisdom. Swapnil approaches his work with the utmost care, professionalism, sensitivity, and confidentiality. He is an example of how one reaches “excellence” in one’s profession as an advisor when the work chosen goes beyond just a “means of livelihood” and in Swapnil’s own words, becomes "an art or a craft" that gives fulfillment beyond just a few bucks. Thanks Swapnil for all your guidance."
"I was looking for someone to guide me to manage my inherited wealth and assets. I had spent a significant amount of time and money looking and paying for wealth managers that mostly turned out to be commission based. Most wealth managers I met didn’t seem to engage much in discussions regarding my financial management. Their level of engagement seemed to depend on how much of my portfolio I wish to manage through them. Everyone seemed to be more interested in wanting me to invest more in products that would get them more commission rather than keeping my interests as their priority or catering to my risk appetite.
Fortunately, I found Mr. Swapnil through an internet search who has since then been a big help. I found his approach very systematic and organized. He engaged with me through 5 sessions and shared his knowledge he has gained over his vast experience in the finance industry, which helped me reduce my anxiety regarding financial planning.
He explains things in a way that even a person from a non-financial background can understand. At the end of the 5 sessions, he shared with me a list of actionable items (action plan) mentioning all the steps I’m supposed to follow to execute that plan.
Ultimately, I think for a person of non-financial background, all one needs is an honest, sincere, knowledgeable financial advisor who would guide you, keeping in mind your risk appetite and your financial philosophy, and I feel Mr. Swapnil is exactly that. Would highly recommend him to someone looking for similar qualities in a financial advisor."
"Hey Swapnil - Just wanted to say a big thank you. It’s been 6 years since you first guided us, and honestly, the lessons you shared back then still shape how we think about money and life today.
Over the past year or so, we've been listening to financial podcasts, reading blogs and it keeps reminding us of how early and clearly you had instilled those exact principles in us. It's only now that we truly understand the depth of what you taught us.
You helped us build the right mindset, not just a financial plan, and that’s been invaluable.
Truly Grateful."
