Saving money is a blessing and overspending is a biggest curse, not too many people agree to this but we cant turn a blind eye to certain realities of life.
There is a mad race to run faster than your peers, friends and others in society to spend money and be part of unneccessary show off game. We earn to not just live today but its human nature to be well preapred for a wealthy tomorrow as well. Spending on good food, decent mobile, good laptop, a mid sized car as per your family needs, one outing a month is understandable and remains need of modern life but problem is not everyone stops just here. There is long list of unneccessary wants that keeps bothering almost everyone these days.
Unless you bring a Black & White kind of difference between NEEDS & WANTS, life will just be like a race which you also ran but never won. Its true that life needs to be lived to the fullest, but is it neccessary to spend every thing today, this month or in this year only?? if life is to be lived fully, let there be a planning for if not 100 yrs at least till 80 yrs (given the increase in life expectancy, Eating habits, Yoga acceptance etc.) In this process of planning….SAVING plays an important role and remains the first step to every planning. Big Savings may or may not happen but the magic lies in Small Savings…..its like the journey of thousand miles starts with a single step and every big building gets started with a single brick. Same is the power of Small Savings.
When it comes to Savings, one needs to be very committed to certain basic principles that you set for yourself in process of reaching big goals of your life. Once these principles are set, make sure you follow Rule 100. This means even smallest expanse you plan to cut down from your day to day life, you need to follow this practice for 100 days. Just like commit to yourself that you will not buy a pen for next 100 days, or may be you will not visit a shoe store for next 100 days…believe me by doing this you have taken first step to that great journey of accumulating worth crores.
Check your working desk, open your shoe rack, have a review of your cupboard, look inside your kitchen you will be certainly surprised that you bought certain things that you actually never needed but you just wanted them home. Life needs are very simple and we can manage with lot of ease but, there are certain brands which our earnings/salaries can’t afford. We just get hooked to them because Shahrukh, Salman, Akashay, Dhoni or may be Ronaldo says its good….they are paid for it, but check who is paying them….its you, me and everyone of us. Are you earning to pay to these Celebrities?????
No, we don’t work to pay to them from a fund that can be better used for Child’s Higher Education, Daughter’s wedding. Why should your after retired life be in misery if in your earning days you kept paying for certain brands. A cotton T-Shirt and a Short from popular Sarojni Market or a store near you feels much batter than an Arrow/Adidas showroom. (You are actually paying for the rent of the store and ACs installed there)
Once you are convinced with importance of Saving, you need to graduate to the next level of Investing Smart…..If you save Rs. 10000 a month for 20 yrs its just 24 Lakh saved but if you invest it Smart, its worth Rs. 1 Crore. Its not a rocket science but an art of setting priorities right….You can be an expert at it, just follow your instinct of living long and knowing in Black n White your Needs n Wants rest will follow. Dont make someone else RICH because you could not control your wants.
Kamal K Sharma is a Financial Professional, visiting Faculty BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange) Institutes and Author to the best seller The Piggy Bank Billionaire. Share your feedback at 9501017769.kamal@gmail.com
