Money is addictive, I have to say it out loud. “Paise ka nasha”.
I have never had that much to be intoxicated by it, but I realise I am addicted to constantly calculate how much I need for a certain thing I want to do, how much should I save for it monthly, by how much of what I am keeping aside has grown etc etc.
I sometimes think it is may be because I have seen my bank accounts empty too. And so now I treasure whatever little money I see in it. It is like owning a car. If you never had a car in your house in childhood, you are going to be so possessive about the car you own as an adult. It happens.
This addiction or possessiveness has its downsides.
I now always end up weighing every expense against the possibility of investing the funds instead. My parents are happy about it,I am okay. But my husband is miserable!
The art of investing is a science and math and all logic. (Ah! You see what I did there!)
There is a way to figure out how much money you need to invest. So if you are investing less, it helps you catch up and if you are investing more, it helps you lighten up a bit.
Anything you have or earn, that is over and above what you need, is actually for leisure spending. Let us see how.
I am 33 years old and not saved a penny. Finally now, I am worried about retirement, so I want to save. But I also want to travel the world!
I save 50,000 per month in a hope to be able to do this without any planning.
Now, skipping the technicals for now, I need to invest 18k per month for retirement at the age of 55 and 21k per month till the age of 50 to enjoy annual holidays starting after 3 years till the age of 70!
For the two things I want to take care of — Retirement & Holidays — I need to put aside 40k per month.
BUT, I am actually putting aside 50k and not letting my husband buy that 6k worth of Juicer. No wonder, he is miserable!
The planning helped me loosen up a bit and enjoy the disposable 10k I have in hand! The fortune may spin the wheel other way round too. You may be investing 1 Lakh per month and spending rest of everything you have thinking you are doing a lot and yet, when compared to goals you have in life, it may not be enough.
Commitment to your goals only warranties doing what is required.
Neither less, nor more.
Being tied to your goals is addiction. Addiction to invest lots and lots.
And now you may ask, really what’s wrong in that?
Well apart from the fact that you are not able to do some fun stuff you want to do, what’s wrong is a probable situation when in old age you will be sitting on pile of money and no memories of life to look back at.
And you don’t want that.
You know why?
Because pile of money does not make the cut.
The mountain of money does, yes. And mountains are not a result of the monthly investments, they come from equity.
I love this thread by Naval so I will just leave it here : https://twitter.com/naval/status/1002103360646823936
And the point is, unless you are not doing anything to build the mountain, build the memories at least.
Originally published at She Talk Cents.
She Talk Cents 