Money saved is money earned
Money saved is ours to keep,rest belongs to the bank , shopkeeper. and all other places where we spend it.The more we earn , more we spend and our spending spirals out of control …we still end up waiting for next month’s paycheck!A very wise man (also known as Richest man of Babylon) once said seven tenth of all you earn is for you to spend on yourself and family, one tenth is for you to keep (your savings), and two tenth is for you to repay your debt (if you have any ), otherwise you can spend it or save it as you wish).Once this becomes a habit and every month your savings purse gets a little bit fatter, saving may not get easier but it will definitely make you happier .
Money=Happiness?
Having loads of money does not make anybody happy , but it does help. It’s definitely better to be rich and unhappy rather than poor and unhappy, best would be to become rich and happy! So if money does not guarantee happiness , what does? It would be presumptuous of me to pretend I know the answer to that particular question, but over the years I have realised what makes me happy.Choice to live life the way I want to…., play with my baby, travel , work,sleep..whatever.Living a full rich life depends a lot on financial freedom .When I have enough to meet all our expenses, travel whenever we want, save a bit , all of this without penny pinching ,that makes me happy!
Living a comfortable happy ,rich life takes 5 things:
- Strong unrelenting Desire to get what you want
- Good health(because health is wealth)
- Optimistic attitude
- Faith in oneself and the Almighty
- Persistence
The fifth is perhaps more important ingredient for success than anything else.’ Pray to God but row for the shore!’All successful men have one quality in common and that’s Persistence.
So how does all this help our bank balance?
- Desire to do well and live a rich life helps to forego all temptations ,which hinder our objective .
- Healthy body and healthy mind keeps us in good spirits to pursue our goals . Health care expenses being what they are, savings from doctors bills should not be inconsiderable!
- A positive spirit and faith both together helps in attracting positive energy which definitely helps you in your objective.
- Persistence is my favourite quality and I believe it’s is my defining strength…It can help you move mountains, or it will definitely help you find a way to move it.
The Plan
- Every month save one tenth of your income from all sources (if you don’t have a debt it should be three tenth) .
- Determine your long term financial goals , how many years time you have and how much money to save.Calculate this on a per monthly savings goal and start a Recurring deposit with that amount.
- If the amount is too high and you are not sure about meeting it monthly, then start a savings account with the objective of eventually turning it into a MODS account (Multi option deposit scheme, it is a combination of your debit or transactional account and deposit account.Benefit of MODS account is it gives the flexibility of a savings account with a higher interest rate of a deposit account.The downside is minor, one is the lock in period , (which determines the higher interest ),second is withdrawal permitted generally above a particular minimum balance.
- Start a Public Provident Fund account if you don’t have one ..immediately.Details and benefits of this are immense . (a later post on this)
- Start tracking your daily spending habits and stop the unnecessary money leaks.
- Stop buying things for fun with credit cards….Credit cards are only for dire emergencies , when no other source (including family and friends are unavailable).One of the preventable source of money leaks are credit cards and even worse multiple credit cards.Optimize the debt on your credit cards (definitely a post on that soon)and try to use debit card or cash for daily expenses.I personally prefer cash as card money pinches less and we tend to Overspend!
Whatever you do stop procrastinating and start now.Open a Piggy bank savings account , save at least 100 rupees ( or as much more as you can)every day from your daily expenses and you will have an extra Thirty six thousand rupees every month just like that! Don’t think about the account , don’t withdraw from it and try to automate the deposit in this account from your salary account so that you have less reason to delay!Stop waiting to be rich , develop a wealthy mindset .
One life to live ..live it like a King!
