Not a millionaire by a long shot, but here’s a good set of checks to see what you do. So I decided to apply that to myself.
10. You Care What Your Neighbors Think
No, not really. Sod them. I have a decade old car now, works for me. Don't need to show off. Live in a middle class house in a middle class suburb. The day the neighbours pay my bills is when I will be caring about what they think :p
9. You Aren't Patient
No credit card debt. At all. That’s moron business. We are also trying to pay off our mortgage debt asap but that takes time.8. You Have Bad Habits
I had a very bad habit of smoking. For many many years I smoked going back to when I was 18 and only stopped smoking at 40. Assuming that the cost of a pack was say £2 on average and I was smoking 1 pack a day, that sums up to £16,000 or $24.5k or Rupees 11.56lakhs. Now imagine that, that is really horrible. Let this be a lesson to you guys, don't waste money on shitty things like this. Now whiskey is a different matter. I also have another bad habit, but i think its an educational investment. I put aside £50 per year to plonk on the lottery. The numbers are picked by the kids. Its a fun thing. No?7. You Have No Goals
It was difficult in the beginning. Didn't really have a goal per se. Its only when we had kids that we started to worry about having a financial goal and plan. Even then, it was simply to pay off the mortgage debt and save. Its slowly that we built up a plan, got financial and tax advice and then build up a proper plan for retirement, sickness and accidents, unemployment, mortgage, children’s education, their potential business investments, etc. etc.6. You Haven't Prepared
Yes, hopefully we are prepared. Perhaps overprepared, heh, I told my wife that that I am worth more dead than alive at this moment, lol.5. You Try to Make a Quick Buck
Quick bucks come with quick losses. Usually. Its just stupid, this push to get quick money. Yes, once in a while you can do that, but generally no.4. You Rely on Others to Take Care of Your Money
I used to, and then figured out, what the heck? Why am I paying others to look after my money? they take the returns out of my capital or returns and frankly I can do much better than them. Ever since I took control over my investments, i think I am doing 6-8 times better than those so called professional money managers.3. You Invest in Things You Don't Understand
My dad didn't invest in stocks and shares. He said that he didn't understand it. And this is from a man who has 18 degrees in engineering. I can understand his point, he was happy and content in his financial mental health. While I did quibble and tell him to invest, he didn't want to. But that’s fine. And good. And beneficial. If you don't understand it, don't invest in it. Warren Buffet does that as well.2. You're Financially Afraid
Then again, this is the flip side of the above. But as I said, i am ok with this. Its better to save the capital and even have a bit of a dip due to inflation rather than invest in something that you don't understand and lose the lot.1. You Ignore Your Finances
Well, no, don't do that.
So all in all, the self check ticked most of the boxes, but i do regret many things. Nobody taught me personal financial management which is why I am so heavily involved in charities which try to educate kids on personal financial management and am pushing my children to work more on this. So I think I missed out on couple of decades of investments and better returns which I could have done earlier. I spent a shedload of money on stupid things. But hopefully better late than never and if that helps people to realise this, better it is.
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