As India rapidly transforms into a developed nation, its women play a vital role in shaping its economy. However, even today, financial literacy remains a significant challenge for women in Indian society. Many women in India may not be actively managing their finances, relying on their husbands or male family members for decision-making and advice. Given the increasing financial complexities and gender disparities, it is crucial for women in India to understand the basics of finance and to take control of their financial well-being.
Being one of the first finance content creators in the short-form video space, Anushka Rathod conceptualised how many people now create videos in the infotainment industry. Studying and working in finance brings her and her network’s experience and knowledge into the videos and information she delivers.
As part of Her Zindagi's new campaign, ‘Shakti Rupena Sasthita’, we bring you the stories of such independent and hardworking women. Today, we will take you on the inspiring journey of female finance content creator Anushka Rathod.
HerZindagi’s new campaign, 'Shakti Rupen Sansthita', is an initiative to bring you stories of inspiring, independent, and strong women from different corners of India. We see every woman as an embodiment of strength. Some influence the world with their professional growth, others by personal choices. We believe that there is Goddesses Durga in every woman, and this initiative glorifies their efforts to bring a positive change in our society.
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Anushka Rathod, India's first female finance content creator in the short-form video space. Anushka is a former investment banker who began her content creation journey in 2020 during the lockdown, challenging norms in a family where women aren't encouraged to work or study, and she now has more than 800k followers on Instagram who are eager to learn about finance.
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Speaking about Anushka Rathod’s journeys and inspiration, she says, “Raised in a Marwadi business family, dinner table conversations would always be about my uncles and my grandfather discussing new business projects. How are they going to expand and what the working capital looks like? So all these conversations introduced me to money and the basic concepts of money. And since we came from a business family, the income was not stable. A few months would be great, but a few months would be very lean. So we were always on a budget and we were always asked to live way below our means because today, the future income is very unpredictable.”
Talking about how she pursued her education and higher studies she said, “Determined to break the generational cycle, I set my sights on Duke University for my Master's degree, a step that would pave the way for a new narrative in my family's history. But destiny had other plans for me. The pandemic's arrival shook the world, halting my journey to Duke University. However, within the confines of uncertainty, I found a glimmer of opportunity. Asking something as simple as "Where should we invest" or "How can we save taxes" may lead them to extremely vague replies on the Internet or other individuals stating other things, and neither of those outcomes would tell them where to start. Thus, this provides them with a solid foundation. And what motivates me is purely the kind of response I am getting.”
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Speaking about her tremendous journey, the content creator says, “What motivates me is purely the kind of response I am getting. Every day, I have some comment or some direct message from people telling me how I have helped them solve their query, how they have taken positive action in their personal finance journey because of me, or how someone was trying to sell a financial product to them, but they had the necessary information to ask them the questions and take the decisions in favour of themselves. So that is something that continues to motivate me to upload content.”
Handling finance should be taught as a life skill. It has nothing to do with gender but more to do with exposure, education, and willingness of individuals to learn. She says, “Traditionally women weren't given exposure to conversations around finances and were never encouraged to learn more about making financial decisions. They are majorly groomed to take care of the household so their willingness to participate in financial decisions (Expert Share 5 Mistakes Women Should Avoid While Investing) decreases. All this combined women are majorly confined to making decisions about the day-to-day budgeting which in most cases they do a wonderful job at. Today as more and more women are getting an education, entering the workforce, and questioning gender roles we can see that their participation in making financial decisions has increased and they can very well manage their money as well.”
Talking about the challenges about starting this journey she says, “As women, we tend to doubt ourselves a lot. We don't give credit to our hard work and intelligence which makes us more risk-averse. The biggest challenge for me was to have faith in my abilities and take more risks to grow.”
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Anushka Rathod started her journey during the COVID pandemic and people made fun of her decision. She said, “To my face, everyone always had encouraging words to say but behind my back, the story wasn't the same. My choices and priorities were made fun of. Being a content creator is not yet an acceptable career choice for many and it is for sure a risky decision. However, my mother always has my back in whatever decisions I make and her opinions are the only ones that matter to me.”
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Talking about the importance of finance that every woman should know, she says, “Women are not better cooks than men because of some physiological or cerebral advantage. It is purely because cooking is traditionally a woman's role and we are groomed at a young age accordingly. Similarly, men are not better at money management; they are just groomed that way so they have more exposure. So what society missed teaching us we need to teach ourselves. We need to be more proactive in reading about personal finance and involve ourselves in making these decisions. Even if you are not actively making the decisions, you should be aware of your financial situation and the impact of the financial decisions being taken on your behalf.”
For more such stories, stay tuned to HerZindagi.
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