M Pattabiraman

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 has authored three personal finance books and has over 11 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 his MSc and PhD, both at IIT, Madras.

Several of his calculators have been published on the investor awareness website of SEBI. He has conducted money management sessions at the Quora World Meetup and for employees of the World Bank, RBI, BHEL, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited, Asian Paints, PayPal, RBS India, Societe General, Honeywell and many other institutions.

Dr. M-Pattabiraman giving a lecture — Dr M Pattabiraman giving a lecture.

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.

Screenshot of the Economic Times featuring Dr M. Pattabiraman taken on 11th June 2021 at 8:43 am IST

His journey to financial independence has been featured on LiveMint: Light the FIRE and lose the fear of getting fired. Also, 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 over three million readers annually (5 million plus page views).

Work with SEBI

The SEBI Investor Protection Education Fund Advisory Committee recommended nine of his calculators be part of the SEBI Investor Education Website. Further details can be found in the announcement post.

Letter of appreciation from SEBI.

Letter of appreciation from Whole Time Member Shri Bhatia for Dr M Pattabiraman's contribution towards development of financial calculators for SEBI — Letter of appreciation from Whole Time Member Shri Bhatia for Dr M Pattabiraman’s contribution towards the development of financial calculators for SEBI

Books by M Pattabiraman

Popularly known as “Pattu”, Dr M. Pattabiraman has written three books:

Chichu Gets a Superpower! – teach your kids how to manage money responsibly.

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

And seven other free e-books on various topics of money management.

Interviews

Watch his interview with Mandeep of Labour Law Advisors

Jagruk Talks with Dr Pattabiraman: How to plan for retirement

Pattabiraman’s interview appears in The Wisest Owl: Be your own financial planner by Anupam Gupta.

Podcasts

Let’s get rich with Pattu, produced by Ofspin is a weekly podcast on money management. Each episode will cover one aspect of money management – insurance, emergency funds, planning for retirement, financial independence and early retirement, buying vs renting and more.

Lets Get Rich with Pattu Audible Cover — Let’s Get Rich with Pattu Audible Cover

Ways to listen:

Times of Indian Podcast on changes to the New Tax Regime proposed in Budget 2023

Paisa Vaisa Podcast with Anupam Gupta

Portfolio and experience

His portfolio details and experience can be found here:

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

Fee-only India

He is a patron and co-founder of “Fee-only India”, an organisation to promotes unbiased, commission-free investment advice.

Integrity and core principles

Pattabiraman focuses on reportage journalism and research. All freefincal articles are based only on factual information and detailed analysis by their authors. Credible and knowledgeable sources will verify all statements made before publication.

Pattabiraman does not provide individual investment advice and does not publish paid articles, promotions, PR, or satire. All opinions will be inferences backed by verifiable, reproducible evidence/data. He follows strict journalistic integrity defined by the freefincal’s Policies and Standards.

Corporate Sessions

He conducts free money management sessions for corporations and associations(see details below). Previous engagements include the World Bank, RBI, BHEL, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited, Asian Paints, Tamil Nadu Investors Association, etc.

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

Small Re assemble cover - Ebooks by freefincal — Reassemble cover – Ebooks by freefincal

Download Re-assemble: Step-by-step money management basics for beginners

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)