March 2020
In four weeks, the markets fell 40%. Phones were ringing across India. Clients were panicking. One call stood out.
A senior executive called and said: get me out. Exit everything.
We did not say the market will recover. We pulled out his written plan. We showed him the stress test we had run together two years earlier. The exact scenario. The numbers. The outcome. His plan was built for exactly this moment.
He stayed invested. The market recovered. His retirement is intact.
That call was not unusual. What was unusual is that we had an answer. Most advisors did not. And that is when we understood what RetireWise needed to be: not a general financial practice, but a specialist retirement practice for people who cannot afford to get this wrong.
The Practice
Ark Primary Advisors was founded in November 2009 by Hemant Beniwal. Fee-based advisory was a rarity in India at the time. The idea was simple: investors are not getting what they deserve. Understand people before numbers. Build plans that hold.
Ark became the first SEBI Registered Investment Advisor in Rajasthan. The blog that grew alongside the practice, The Financial Literates, became one of the top five personal finance blogs in India. Last year, that body of work was focused and reborn as RetireWise: one practice, one audience, one outcome.
Our commitment to every client is captured in one line we have lived by since the beginning:
“Understanding people, before numbers.”
Hemant Beniwal, CFP
Founder and Lead Advisor
INA100001927
My mother was my first financial coach. She managed our family finances with limited resources and made it look effortless. She always knew that money sitting still was money losing ground to inflation. I grew up thinking Indians were great savers. When I entered the profession, I realised there is a very large difference between a saver and an investor.
I completed my MBA in Finance in 2003 and spent the next six years inside India’s investment industry — heading regions for JM Financial and HDFC Mutual Fund. I saw the machine from the inside. I watched what advisors sold and what investors actually needed. Fifteen years later, that gap has not closed much.
After qualifying as a Certified Financial Planner in 2009, I started Ark. Not to build a distribution business. To build a planning practice.
In 25 years, I have never met a client who planned to run out of money. I have met many who came close. The difference, every single time, was not the corpus. It was the withdrawal plan nobody had built with them.
My why has not changed: Learn. Simplify. Share.
Credentials
- Certified Financial Planner (CFP)
- SEBI Registered Investment Advisor · INA100001927
- Author: Financial Life Planning and Modifying Investor Behaviour — published by CNBC TV18
- Winner, Wealth Forum Emerging Advisor Award (2015)
- Nominated, CNBC Financial Advisor of the Year (2017-18)
- Featured in ET, Outlook Money, Indian Express, Business Standard, Firstpost, Business Today, Mint, Financial Chronicle
Beyond the Office
Husband to Sunita. Father of three. Reads widely, travels far, treks in the Himalayas. Has still not watched Swades.
What We Believe
Purpose
We exist to learn, simplify and share personal finance knowledge — so every Indian can become financially literate and make their financial lives better.
Mission
To help our clients achieve financial freedom, avoid big mistakes, improve their quality of life and find peace of mind.
Vision
To build an enduring firm that supports multiple generations, valued by clients and peers, and inspires other advisors.
Client value: Understanding people, before numbers.
Integrity: If you do not have integrity, nothing else matters.
Policy: Stick to simple investments and proven strategies.
Mandatory Disclosure by SEBI
Investments in securities market are subject to market risks. Read all the related documents carefully before investing. “Registration granted by SEBI, membership of BASL and certification from NISM in no way guarantee performance of the intermediary or provide any assurance of returns to investors.”
Ark Primary Advisors Pvt. Ltd. (tradename: arkfp.in) is a SEBI Registered Investment Advisor (INA100001927). BSE Membership No. 1399. SEBI requires RIAs to disclose complaint status.
Complaint Status as on 30 November 2025.
|
Sr. No. |
Received from |
Pending at the end of last month |
Received |
Resolved |
Total Pending |
Pending complaints > 3months |
Average Resolution time^ (in days) |
|
1 |
Directly from Investors |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
2 |
SEBI (SCORES) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
3 |
Other Sources |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Grand Total |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Trend of monthly disposal of complaints
|
Sr. No. |
Month |
Carried forward from previous month |
Received |
Resolved |
Pending |
|
1 |
July |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
2 |
August |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
3 |
September |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
4 |
October |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
5 |
November |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Grand Total |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Trend of annual disposal of complaints
|
Sr. No. |
Year |
Carried forward from previous year |
Received |
Resolved |
Pending |
|
1 |
FY 2020-21 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
2 |
FY 2021-22 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
3 |
FY 2022-23 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
4 |
FY 2023-24 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Grand Total |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |