An Introduction

ArthaNITI, the newsletter from Arthashastra Financial Planners (AFP), with its emphasis on "The Layman's Guide to Financial Freedom" makes its humble debut in blogspace today, the 5th of November 2008. Nothing special about the day itself, unless, you happen to be an optimist who sees 'the begining of history being made' - a cliche, for sure....unless a certain Barack Obama proves us (at Arthashastra) and his legion of supporters across the globe who view him as "Mr. Future" personified, wrong!

The significance of this moment may be optimistically captured in our aims of reaching out to the layperson, in guiding him/her towards achieving financial freedom, which according to us (at AFP) is essentially the #1 objective/motive for all individuals when it comes to viewing and working on their personal finances/savings.

As with the new US President-elect, we hope to create a vision (financially speaking) for the future through our postings, we would seek to provoke your thoughts, dear reader, by challenging the conventional, and we invite your feedback - both bouquets and brickbats would be welcome with the same openness of mind which we seek to create and build, both for ourselves and in 'you'........because we sincerely believe that the "time for change is NOW".

At AFP, we are sincerely excited about being at the right place - in INDIA (we believe we have a serious advantage, economically speaking, more about this in future posts); at the right time - bull markets are born on pessimism (the feeling is in abundance NOW); and, ofcourse in the right profession - financial advisory (we believe as a "collective group" we, financial advisors & intermediaries, can improve by leaps & bounds and there-in lies a BIG opportunity)!

A last word ...... the decision to write a blog was born out of a very convincing 'argument' put across by a good friend who articulated thus "In today's fast moving world we are all slaves to the habits we cultivate.....if you are able to create a niche for yourself through your blog, believe me it will be extremely useful in creating an identity for yourself....". The point that I am seeking to make is that, all innovations are born out of feedback, demand for improved service, criticism and so on.....we intend to keep our posts meaningful and precise....any deviation (if you see ONE) should necessarily be pointed out in a like-wise manner. Also, you can write to us about any topic of interest to you and we'll share with you our views - when we have one, which is useful.

We welcome you, to join us in our journey ahead!