Just take the first step – to your financial independence

Automation, compounding, Fear, Financial Independence, Human Brain

Before I actually started on my financial freedom journey, I had been a lot of times to banks to see what were the options for saving, but the interest rates were so low that I thought I would need huge sums of money to hit my goals. Since I didn’t have that kind of money, I just gave up.

I also visited a lot of mutual fund presentations where they spoke about depositing money and how it could grow over a period of time. To cut the long story short, whenever I saw the amount of money needed and the time it would possibly take to get there, my brain would show resistance and I would not invest anything.

If I had invested a little more during those early years when I was just getting started in life, the magic of compounding would have played its role and even that small amount would have become gigantic in the last 25 years. I have mentioned earlier in my posts how my accidental discovery of a statement of a minor Rs2000 (about USD70) which I had invested in 1995 and forgotten, had become more than Rs100000/-(USD2000 approx) that I got shaken out of may slumber.

Our brain gives us a lot of resistance (fear) at anything new. It will throw up a lot of arguments as to how you will manage with $50 less every month. And then life just passes. Before you realise it you are nearing 50 and then it seems as if there’s no future.

But if you just take that first step of automating the process of investment so that even if only $50 goes out of your account every month and you don’t bother about it…..in a few years the magic of compounding will take over and you will be well on your journey towards financial freedom. You will also realise that you don’t even notice the reduction of the $50/- every month after sometime because our brain adapts to the new lifestyle.

If you have hit 50 and you think you are late in this journey, you are wrong. You can make the magic of compounding and the concept of Hemachandra Fibonacci numbers work in conjunction. This way what you have lost in terms of time in the compounding equation can be brought in by the additional principal that you keep investing every month. Most mutual funds have the concept of increasing the contribution in your Systematic Investment Plans . So if in the first two years you have invested $500 each, in the third year invest $1000, then in the fourth year invest $2000 and the fifth $5000. Just keep adding the previous two years and increase your investments.

Its all about taking the first step to convince your brain that it can be done. After that its just the process. But its the brain which will put up all the resistance and you need to reassure it, that there’s no danger by taking the first step. Once it realises there’s no danger then you can keep moving without a problem. So just take the first step and get started on your journey for financial independence.

Till next time then.

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!!!

Financial Independence – Happiness revisited

Financial Independence, Happiness

This post will move in two directions. I have been seeing an advertisement on television where there’s a philosophical point being made by the protagonist about wanting money under any circumstance to enjoy life and her husband talking that money is not the only thing in life.

Its something similar to “money can’t buy happiness” or “money is the root of all evils”. Like I mentioned earlier these are philosophical points with no end to debates especially in countries like ours where over the last 75 years people have seen massive poverty and are only now coming out of it.

Good Health and Happiness are very closely related. If you’re happy, you will generally be in better health and will fall sick less often. I have written multiple times earlier also that Happiness is not the destination, its the journey. We should be enjoying the journey and be happy.

Recently I was reading a book Gap and Gain by Dr. Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan. In this book Ben talks about how long term toxic stress and unhappiness can cause your lifespan to reduce dramatically. He’s given examples of various studies to showcase this. They also mention how people with less toxic stress are able to fight infections better and stay healthy longer.

While not all causes of toxic stress are related to money, in a lot of cases , the lack of money causes discontent which leads to toxic stress. One of the primary reasons for divorce is also lack of Enough money, the operating word being enough, which is subjective for different people.

So while “money can’t buy happiness ” its the next best thing, because it can help keep a lot of the stress causing items at bay. So if you have money to ensure that your basic needs are met and you don’t have to struggle for the basic things in life, then you have less reasons to be unhappy. There will always be some people who will find reasons to be unhappy, but that’s another story.

When I write about financial freedom or financial independence I write from the perspective that you should have enough money so that your basic needs are met and that you don’t have to be a slave of money.

Till next time then….make money work for you and get financial independence.

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!!!