Born with a golden spoon, Rishabh Shah, Partner, Touristers Tours Designers LLP looked up to his father who was a cost accountant and aspired to become a businessman like him. With excellent contacts and strong support from his father, Rishabh made his name in the stock exchange business by the time he was 21. “I was on top of my business game. But it was all about fast money and that’s what stock market is all about. And I loved the ride where nothing was predictable or constant,” said Rishabh.

However, the 2008 stock market crash changed him and his theory for money completely. He explained, “Since childhood, there was easy money for me but I never valued it. I suppose the financial crisis made me think more about getting stable and saving money. It taught me to respect money, value money. I’ve learned that it’s not about the money, it’s about what you can do with that money. It’s not about the mug but rather the coffee that’s in it.”

In 2011, he quit the stock market business and in 2012, Rishabh started a travel company along with his sister-in-law. While many struggles to make friends in the travel industry, Rishabh credits a travel-trade party which earned him a great number of friends in just one evening. He said, “With my contacts in the stock market and my sister-in-law’s travel background, we exceeded our business goals in six months. However, we hardly knew anyone in the trade but just one evening changed that completely. Maybe travel was in my destiny, and maybe, these travel trade friends are also part of my destiny.”

During the lockdown phase of the pandemic in India (April – July 2020), Rishabh was at the forefront to help people in need by supplying basic necessity kits in rural areas and making the travel industry proud. Today, Rishabh owns a travel company but with a pause in the travel industry due to pandemic, he turned his focus on his stock market business for the time being.

Many of us allow ourselves to be defined by how much money we have or don’t have. But the real value of money is something else entirely. The sooner you learn, the faster you can #RiseLikeAPhoenix