Dr M Pattabiraman (PhD) is an associate professor at IIT, Madras. He is also the founder, managing editor and primary author of freefincal.com – a news media organisation focussing on investing, retirement and personal finance. He is also the founder of earnfromskills.com – a course that helps both salaried individuals and entrepreneurs increase their income.
He has authored three personal finance books and has over ten years of experience publishing news analysis, research, and financial product development. Passionate about teaching, he has over 20 years of teaching experience and was awarded the “Young Faculty Recognition Award” by IIT Madras in 2012. He has also received gold medals for academic distinction during M.Sc and PhD both at IIT, Madras.
Expertise and Experience
Popularly known as “Pattu”, Dr M. Pattabiraman has written three books:
- You can be rich too with goal-based investing (CNBC TV18)
- Gamechanger: Forget Start-ups, Join Corporate and Still Live the Rich Life you want
- Chichu Gets a Superpower!
- And seven other free e-books on various topics of money management.
He has been profiled in the Economic Times: Meet Pattabiraman, the man who helps many plan a better retirement through his calculators.
His journey to financial independence has been featured on LiveMint: Light the FIRE and lose the fear of getting fired and Can your FIRE dreams get past the COVID-19 impact?
Pattabiraman specialises in financial goal-based portfolio management where the investment risk is gauged based on need alone, regardless of market movements. This has resulted in a unique open-source robo-advisory tool.
His analytical tools and research on mutual fund investing, stock selection, pre-retirement planning, post-retirement risk management, and portfolio management have been published regularly at freefincal since May 2012. The site serves more than three million readers annually (5 million plus page views).
Work with SEBI
Nine of his calculators were recommended by the SEBI Investor Protection Education Fund Advisory Committee to be part of the SEBI Investor Education Website. Further details can be found in the announcement post.
Letter of appreciation from SEBI.
Books
Popularly known as “Pattu”, Dr M. Pattabiraman has written three books:
- You can be rich too with goal-based investing (CNBC TV18)
- Gamechanger: Forget Start-ups, Join Corporate and Still Live the Rich Life you want
- Chichu Gets a Superpower!
- And seven other free e-books on various topics of money management.
Interviews
Watch his interview with Mandeep of Labour Law Advisors
Pattabiraman’s interview appears in The Wisest Owl: Be your own financial planner by Anupam Gupta.
Podcasts
Times of Indian Podcast on changes to the New Tax Regime proposed in Budget 2023
Paisa Vaisa Podcast with Anupam Gupta
- Ep. 137: Financial freedom Part 1
- Ep. 138 What is financial freedom?
- Ep. 139: Financial freedom Part 2
- Ep. 140: Planning for financial freedom
- Ep 141: Financial freedom Part 3
- Ep 142: Executing a financial freedom plan
Portfolio and experience
His portfolio details and experience can be found here:
- Fourteen Years of Mutual Fund Investing: My Journey and lessons learned
- Lessons from investing for my son’s future for the last 12+ years
- Stock Portfolio Analysis
Youtube Channel
The freefincal YouTube channel has more than 1000 videos on personal finance and DIY investing. Regular viewers are accustomed to Pattu’s opening lines and callsign, “Hi, I am pattu from freefincal”!
Guest Articles
He is also a contributor to Economic Times
- Why investing is not only about equity
- Mutual fund advisers earning commissions from AMCs may not give you the best advice
- DIY investing is not everybody’s cup of tea
Fee-only India
He is a patron and co-founder of “Fee-only India”, an organisation to promote unbiased, commission-free investment advice.
Corporate Sessions
He conducts free money management sessions for corporates and associations(see details below). Previous engagements include World Bank, RBI, BHEL, Asian Paints, Tamil Nadu Investors Association etc. He follows strict journalistic integrity as defined by the organisation’s Policies and Standards.
Watch his talks
This talk was given to World Bank Employees in Feb 2019: Common sense approach to managing money.
Index investing options in India: this talk was given to members of the Tamil Nadu Investors Association
Getting started guide: Re-assemble
Re-assemble is a free step-by-step guide to help you manage money
Download Re-assemble: Step-by-step money management basics for beginners
Related Links
- Pattabiraman is listed on the Indian Research Information Network System
- IIT Madras faculty listing, dept of Physics listing
- IIT Madras Publications page
- Reddit AMA conducted by M. Pattabiraman
- Google Scholar Page
- Amazon Author Page
- ORCID Page
- Scopus Profile
- Mendeley Profile
Contact
- Follow Pattabiraman on Twitter
- Follow Pattabiraman on Facebook
- Connect with him on Linkedin
- Contact information: pattu {at} freefincal {dot} com (sponsored posts or paid collaborations will not be entertained)