My Dubai Salary: ‘I earn less as an entrepreneur but value long-term equity’

Alok Kumar draws a modest salary and makes sacrifices for his start-up’s success

Alok Kumar, founder of RuDo Wealth, invests in global exchange-traded funds, mutual funds, gold and cryptocurrencies. Antonie Robertson / The National

After working in the wealth management industry for almost two decades in India and Dubai, Alok Kumar created RuDo Wealth, a UAE-based wealth advisory firm, in 2021 to cater to rich Indian expats.

Mr Kumar, 41, wants his company to address the “advisory crisis” in the UAE wealth management industry.

The Indian from the state of Bihar came to Dubai after an internal transfer at Karvy Private Wealth, the company he worked for in Bangalore. He worked in the investment advisory unit till 2021.

My Dubai Salary'From Dh8,000 in my first job to earning Dh40,000 as a start-up founder’

Read More

Mr Kumar lives in Al Barsha 1 with his wife and eight-year-old daughter.

He completed his master’s degree in business administration in finance and marketing.

What was your first job and salary?

My first job was through campus placement in a company called Kotak, where I worked as a financial adviser helping people build their equity portfolios. My pay was approximately 500,000 Indian rupees ($5,570) per year. I was based in Hyderabad.

Tell us about your current role

I am the co-founder of RuDo Wealth, which is a digital wealth management platform created in 2021 to help affluent non-resident Indians build wealth across borders, with a focus on global and Indian markets. We are a category 3C firm with a retail endorsement by the Abu Dhabi Global Market’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority.

People are caught up between the do-it-yourself route and traditional wealth management firms, which have a product-driven approach. I believe there is an advisory crisis in the market. The majority of portfolio returns come from asset allocation, not timing the market or stock picking. We offer risk-adjusted returns and factor investing portfolios to avoid the market cap bias.

I currently draw a modest income, which is lower than my last salary. This is just to make sure that we take care of the family’s living expenses. As a founder, the real upside for us is long-term equity, rather than focusing on the monthly income. The moment one chooses to be a company founder, there are a lot of sacrifices involved.

Do you manage to save?

We keep aside around 10 per cent of whatever we earn towards savings. We also save for our daughter’s future.

What asset classes do you invest in?

I am a firm believer in diversification. We have global exchange-traded funds, mutual funds, gold and cryptocurrencies, which accounts for 5 per cent of my investment portfolio based on my risk appetite. When I pick an asset, I look at six factors: liquidity, cost efficiency, risk, diversification, flexibility and transparency.

Have you purchased property?

We have an apartment for personal use and a land plot in Bangalore.

Do you have any debt?

I have a mortgage in India, which will finish in two years. I don’t have a car loan or credit card loan, but I firmly believe that debt is good as long as we know what it’s for. Generally, debt has always been categorised as bad, but if you are taking debt for building assets, it is good.

Growing up, were you taught how to handle your finances?

I come from a business family. All the money was channelled back into the business, so it was never about allocating funds in a diversified way, rather it was concentrated into one asset. Over time, I've learnt not to put everything in one place.

Alok Kumar says it is good to use debt to build assets. Antonie Robertson / The National

What are your major monthly expenses?

In Dubai, every family's two major expenses are on house rent and schooling.

How do you budget your income every month?

We have clarity about our recurring expenses. Then we allocate 15 per cent for our wants or desires, and 10 per cent towards saving and investing. Everything else goes towards living expenses.

Have you started saving for retirement?

I don’t have a retirement age in mind. I love what I'm doing, but our core goal is attaining financial freedom. We have already started out journey to financial freedom and our business is a step towards it.

Do you have an emergency fund?

We realised the importance of having an emergency fund long ago. It can sustain my family’s expenses for 12 months.

What do you spend your disposable income on?

Mostly on experiences related to travel, buying things that make you feel good and confident, going to fine-dining restaurants and on adventure activities.

Do you worry about money?

We all should worry about money. Money is very, very important. It has been undervalued for some reason. It gives a sense of security and confidence. I worry about it because I have a family. Lifestyle inflation is the biggest challenge and it’s always in double digits. It is important to stay invested to beat inflation.

What are your financial goals?

The core goal is to attain financial freedom. So, we need to consider how to build a corpus to achieve this goal in the next five years.

Do you earn passive income?

No. I focus on creating a growth portfolio. Whenever I need a part of it, it can be channelled as passive income.

Do you want to be featured in My Salary, a bi-weekly column that explores how people around the world manage their earnings? Write to [e-mail] to share your story