15-year-old Bengaluru student manages ₹13.9 lakh portfolio: How she started investing, earned NISM certifications and turned a Pokémon card game idea into a history learning game

What can you expect from a 15 year old to be in their schools, studying and giving examinations. But this is not the case with a Bengaluru student Sinchana who also manages an investment portfolio worth ₹13.9 lakh. The student, who studies at Swagani School in Bengaluru, says she began investing in April after her parents withdrew money from insurance policies that they felt were not generating satisfactory returns. The funds were then given to her to manage under their supervision.

“I’m 15 years old and I’m currently managing a ₹13 lakh portfolio on my own,” Sinchana said in an interview with PowerUp Money. She later clarified that the portfolio is currently worth ₹13.9 lakh, which she rounds off to ₹14 lakh.

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How Sinchana’s Interest In Money Began

Sinchana's interest in managing money began when she was younger and wanted a telescope. Since the telescope was expensive, her father suggested that she raise the money herself. She approached relatives and asked them to contribute towards the purchase, offering them the opportunity to use the telescope when they visited her home.

“I got ₹10k from them and the rest ₹2k was pitched by my dad and my mom,” she said.

The experience became what Sinchana describes as the beginning of her “money journey”. Her parents continued encouraging her to become comfortable with financial decisions from an early age.

Her father recalled taking her to an ATM when she was around four or five and allowing her to handle transactions with his card under his supervision. The aim, he said, was to help her develop confidence and independence around money.

From YouTube Videos To NISM Certifications

Before Sinchana began managing investments, her father wanted her to understand basic financial concepts. According to the interview, she went on to earn two NISM certifications and one SEBI-related certification. She started preparing for one of the NISM examinations during the final week of Class 9 and used weekends and holidays to study.

“YouTube was a very important resource. I learned a lot about finances from Ankur... Power of Money, Wealth and then Sonia Shenoy — all these YouTube channels that I watched frequently helped me improve and learn these concepts,” she said.

The process was not always straightforward. In one of her early attempts, Sinchana missed the passing score by one mark. “I didn’t qualify. I missed by one mark. 60% was passing and I got 59,” she said.

She appeared for the examination again the following month while also managing schoolwork, projects and other activities.

Parents Supervise Her Investment Decisions

Sinchana says she manages her investments herself but discusses major decisions with her parents. “I manage my funds on my own but under my parents’ supervision,” she said.

Her father said the idea was to allow her to gain practical experience while still having safeguards in place. “If she makes a mistake, we should not chastise her but rather tell her to learn from those mistakes,” he said.

He compared the process to learning how to swim, arguing that practical experience is important alongside theoretical knowledge. “You might watch 400 hours of YouTube video about swimming; until you get into water you can’t learn swimming,” he said.

How Sinchana Has Divided Her Portfolio

According to Sinchana, her portfolio is spread across different asset classes and markets. Around 63% is in equity, while 37% is in mutual funds. She also says approximately 71% of her investments are in Indian markets, while 29% are in international markets, including the US, Asia and Taiwan.

For mutual funds, she follows an approach she calls “GDP” — growth, direct and passive. “I generally invest in growth-oriented funds because I don’t need money now because I need it for my master’s education, which is seven years later,” she explained.

She prefers direct plans because “there’ll be less charges of the intermediaries”, while passive funds are selected because they track benchmark indexes.

Her Investment Goal Is Seven Years Away

Sinchana says she regularly follows market developments and reads newspapers on weekends. She also monitors whether any new information could affect companies in her portfolio.

“If there’s any information that impacts any of my portfolio stocks, I take action,” she said.

However, she discusses whether an investment should be bought, sold or retained with her parents before making a decision. Her stated investment horizon is seven years, with the money intended for her future master's education.

Sinchana Wants Financial Education In Schools

Beyond managing her own money, Sinchana believes financial education should become a part of school learning. “In this current education system, they don’t teach much about personal finance, investment,” she said.

She said her friends often approach her with basic questions about investing and believes students could benefit from regular lessons on managing money. “If schools at least spent an hour a week for personal finance, kids could learn how to manage money and that’s very important in life,” she said. “If you learn the art of managing money, life becomes a lot easier.”

From Pokémon Cards To A History-Based Game

Sinchana's interests extend beyond finance. She is also interested in history and has developed a card game based on historical figures from Classes 7 to 10 of the NCERT syllabus.

The idea came from her experience playing Pokémon cards. She wondered why she could easily remember fictional characters but found it harder to recall historical figures. “One day while coming back from my guitar classes, my friend and I were playing Pokémon cards,” she recalled.

“It made me curious how I could remember all the Pokémon characters and all his friends. But we could not remember history characters so well.”

Her card game uses historical figures and facts, with a manual explaining the rules. The idea is to use repeated gameplay to make learning and remembering historical information easier.

She Also Raised Money For ASHA Workers

Sinchana has also been involved in social initiatives. During the Covid pandemic, she became concerned about the risks faced by ASHA workers who had to visit homes.

With help from her parents, she raised around ₹45,000, which was used to procure and distribute PPE kits, masks and gloves for ASHA workers, according to the interview.

Her Goal: Teach Financial Literacy To One Million Students

Sinchana currently shares what she has learned about finance with her friends, but she wants to reach a much larger audience in the future.

“Every one of us, we have a social responsibility. Knowledge doesn’t diminish by sharing,” she said. “I want to expand this to a larger portion of the world, like at least teach about one million students.”

Despite her interest in investing, Sinchana remains a Class 10 student balancing academics with several other interests and projects.

When asked what advice she would give young people, she said:

“Don’t be afraid to try to experiment.”

“I’ve noticed many of my friends, they are very hesitant. They believe they’re not good at it, so they don’t try it. But you never know without trying,” she said.

[With TOI inputs]