Choosing your investment based on your aspirations

Financial Independence, Goals, investment, money

I have written earlier in most of my posts on your financial freedom that you should choose to use the investment to get life experiences.

Today I was watching ETNow Swadesh. Its a business channel in India. I am always looking out for pieces of wisdom from people who are much smarter than me. So there was an interview going on with Sunil Subramaniam. He is the CEO of one the Sundaram Asset Management (Mutual Fund)company which runs mutual funds.

While everyone talks about creating buckets for different life goals while making the investments and choosing the type of investments. He came up with a unique logic which is more attributable to people who live in developing countries like India. Our currency on an average depreciates by about 5% every year with respect to the US dollar.

So in case your aspiration list is about visiting multiple countries, like mine is, his logic is, to invest in global funds where the depreciation of your local currency will not have an impact. Otherwise your buying power falls by that amount compared to the USD.

If you are in the US/Canada/Eurozone/UK then this logic will not be of too much benefit to you because your currencies are typically pegged to the USD. But if you are from a developing nation and if its legal in your country, then you should look at this logic.

Since I practice what I preach, most of my investments happen as SIPs (Systematic Investment Plan) I need to figure out how this logic would work because as the currency depreciates, my ability to buy US stocks becomes weaker, so how are my returns going to be protected.

Till I figure that out.

Carpe Diem!!!

Just take your first step to financial independence – Part 2

Affirmative action, Financial Independence, investment

We do a lot of mental rumination on how much we need when we retire, or how much we need to buy our house. I have been through all of this.

You can read a lot of blog posts like this one, you can read a lot of books, you can watch a lot of videos to start someday. All of this is like getting tourist information (I read this term in Tripp Lanier’s book – This book will make you dangerous:The Irreverent guide for men who refuse to settle – and I just had to use it)

You need to take your first step and get started with the investment. You may make mistakes, so learn from them. Start with investing small amounts so that even if you make a mistake, the loss is not much. Get an advisor who can help you. But start somewhere.

Its only when you start something that you hope to have something in the future. Otherwise you will only keep doing your mental rumination and not achieve anything.

Taking the first step will be the toughest , but once you start don’t let the momentum go. Keep taking one step after another. Once you learn about one investment, check out another and start your journey over there as well.

Till next time then….take action.

Carpe Diem!!!

Financial Freedom – gain the experiences

charity, experiences, Financial Independence, investment, Karma, travel

I have written multiple times in different posts about how my father had an agenda to make us get different experiences to make us better human beings. Today is his birth anniversary and I thought of visiting his philosophy again.

My father wanted to ensure that both my brother and I had a more than our share of areas to excel. He was a self made man. Our grandfather had lost his job during India’s fight for freedom from the British rule. Being the eldest in the family he had the responsibility to ensure that the family stayed afloat and prospered. Eventually all the brothers and sisters actually turned out to be very good in their individual professions and retired and eventually left behind a great legacy.

My father always had this idea of “giving” in whatever form to help others. His view was that when you give, the world conspires to give you back multiple times over. If you have been following my blog then, my thoughts on the Karmic cycle come from there. Always do good in whatever way you can.

The other one, which I didn’t understand till much later in life was taking us to different parts of the world after he had finished showing us most of India. Each time you go to a new place and you see the historical sites, the way people move, the marvels of different cultures your mind tends to expand. All these experiences helped me get a much wider appreciation of different cultures in the world, which I found missing in most of my peers. That was one of the reasons, I could relate and do business with people in countries across all continents except maybe Latin America ( Visiting places especially to see the ruins of the Mayan and Aztec and other ancient civilisations in that continent is on my bucket list incidentally)

I have written a lot of times why you need to get financial freedom, so that you are no longer a slave of money. Money starts to work for you. This does not mean that you need to become a miser and only try to scrimp every piece to save. What is life if you don’t get the experiences that money can buy. You have to enjoy the journey, otherwise you will end up living an unfulfilled life.

Learn to put some money into investments that can periodically help you get to enjoy your life. For my father and me it has been travel to different places. If you like to go hiking, do that. If you like to go surfing, do that.

The money that works for you, should help you get experiences, which will make you happier, live longer with less disease.

Till next time then….target the experiences, not the outcomes.

Carpe Diem!!!

Flow for financial freedom

Financial Independence, Flow, investment, money

In India, yesterday, we celebrated the festival of Diwali. Its also called the festival of lights, because people light up candles and put up electric lights all across their homes.

There are two reasons for this festival. I am not going to talk about the planetary significance but more about the metaphorical significance. For most Hindus , who celebrate this festival, its to welcome Lord Ram who was supposed to have come back to Ayodhyay after 14 years of exile.

The other reason why we celebrate this festival is because we would like to welcome Goddess Lakshmi. She is the Goddess of wealth. Mythology has it that she’s supposed to visit earth during the night, so the best decorated house with the best lighting will attract her.

If you look at the Goddess, you will notice two elephants showering water, which eventually flows down. Now the Goddess Lakshmi is supposed to be very temperamental and does not stay anywhere if she does not like it as per the myths. So you need to keep her usefully occupied while she is at your home.

This is such a strong metaphor. If you don’t keep the money you have , flowing into useful purposes, it will lose its value. Money has to be put to productive use, if you want it to grow. If you try to hoard it, it just loses value.

So when you get money ensure you invest some of it, put some of the money to a good cause (like charity). Only from the remaining use for spending. When you invest, the money goes into productive uses and multiplies. Similarly when you donate, it helps spread good in the world.

Always ensure that money is not lying stagnant. Make it work for you rather than you working for it.

Till next time then….keep the money flowing and increase your financial freedom.

Carpe Diem!!!