Wadhwa started her journey when Facebook was booming and Instagram was a photo-sharing platform. During that time, she created her online persona, Miss Coco Queen, a name that reflects her love for Coco Chanel and Alexander McQueen. “Back then, I used to work through blogs and Facebook posts – there were no videos,” she recalls.
At first, making money was difficult, she said. Brands weren’t making much noise about advertising on social media and she spent most of her time convincing companies how she could help them.
Wadhwa said Mint For the first three or four years, he didn’t earn much. However, in 2016, things started to look up and his income increased to about ₹2 lakh per month. “Back then, there were no stories or reels; just still images and I was paid for posting images and blogging.”
The pandemic accelerated an already booming influencer marketing industry, turning the internet into a primary source of entertainment. Wadhwa said her revenues skyrocketed, but she didn’t reveal details. Better yet, influencers were paid to make 30-second videos.
As for personal finances, she put everything she earned into her savings account. “Saving money and watching it grow was my thing with money,” Wadhwa said. “Maybe it was because of a lack of financial awareness, but it made me happy and I wanted to grow it.”
As a fashion influencer, she also needed to reinvest much of her earnings into buying expensive handbags and taking luxury trips. “As a fashion influencer, I have to show what kind of life I lead.” Her latest indulgence was a Chanel bag worth ₹4.5 lakhs.
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A life-changing divorce
A few months ago, Wadhwa’s life took a turn when she separated from her husband after 11 years of marriage. The divorce not only took an emotional toll but also forced her to re-evaluate her finances.
Unlike many others, her Instagram account, with 200,000 followers, wasn’t just a side hustle – it was her only source of income. “Some people have alternative sources of income, like a rich husband, but for me, it’s all mine,” she said, laughing.
Wadhwa also witnessed first-hand how platforms change overnight and new influencers end up outperforming existing players. “Facebook was big at one point, but now it’s redundant, TikTok has been banned, and who knows what will happen to Instagram,” Wadhwa said. “I’m making money now, but tomorrow is uncertain.”
But most importantly, she also felt the need to plan prudently for her son’s current and future expenses. “Educating a child is an expensive business and it will become more so.”
“I felt I needed to have some plan for my son’s college education,” Wadhwa said. Her son, now 5, relies on support from both parents, but has not set long-term financial goals.
She started looking for someone to help her with her finances. That’s when Manmeet Singh Khurana, a mutual fund distributor registered with AMFI, got in touch with her through her relatives.
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Untangling the mess
Wadhwa said it is difficult to believe others, especially when it comes to money. But since Khurana had worked with the portfolios of some of his relatives, he was not a complete stranger.
Wadhwa explained that the 3% annual return on her savings account, which was nice visually, was barely enough to maintain purchasing power over time. “At that point, I realized I had to take my money out of my savings account,” Wadhwa said.
They decided to transfer most of their money to a diversified set of mutual funds. “Before I met Manmeet, I was more than ₹30 lakh in my savings account, but as of last month there was only ₹70,000 remaining.” This was a unique case, as some of his payments were delayed. Since then he has maintained more than ₹10 lakh in his bank account.
Wadhwa’s current portfolio includes large-cap, multi-asset and flexible-cap funds and has no exposure to small- and mid-cap funds.
If it weren’t for mutual funds, most of his money would have remained in his savings account or gone into LIC policies, Khurana said.
The Instagram influencer already had two LIC (life annuity plan) policies in place. Khurana suggested that she close that account because “they either don’t offer much benefit or they don’t offer meaningful term coverage.” Wadhwa still holds onto these LIC policies because her father told her to keep them as a safety net.
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He also contributed regularly ₹1.5 lakh per annum to his PPF account to qualify for 80C tax deductions. He is now investing in ELSS funds as per Singh’s recommendation.
“It’s incredible how much money was in my bank account,” Wadha said.
Navigating the world of influencers
Wadhwa began her career as an influencer in 2013 and has lived through the ups and downs of the industry. “Social media has also put my mental state in a difficult situation. I see creators who started much later than me with more followers, more projects, more opportunities,” Wadhwa said at an event.
“As far as jobs are concerned, we have at least an EPF and gratuities, but entrepreneurs (like Wadhwa) don’t have any borrowing space to fall back on,” Khurana said. “So we thought about it for a couple of months and decided to buy an endowment insurance plan that offered a fixed payout after a certain number of years.”
Mint A combination of insurance and investments is not recommended as it involves high costs and fees. Traditional policies do not provide adequate insurance or optimal returns on investment.
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