Life doesn’t seem fair. Some people have so much money that they do not have to worry about it. A stock market crash here, an emergency there, and they take just a small hit on their standard living.
You might be one of them too, or are striving to become one of them.
But of you are not quite there, a stock market crash here, and an emergency there can have a serious impact on your life…leaving your finances – you savings – in tatters.
This is unless you have a plan to deal with life’s such uncertainties, emergencies, and financial challenges.
However, the irony is that – and I’ve seen this with so many young adults and otherwise responsible people – while they spend weeks and months planning for their life’s passing events – birthday parties, job interviews, and weekend holidays – they avoid any discussion or planning around the most important events of their lives – children’s education, marriage, and their own retirement.
It’s not that people are not worried about achieving these life goals. In fact, most of them are worried most the time how they are going to achieve these. Still, most of them avoid putting in a proper plan to achieve them.
If you are one of them who is yet to start planning how to achieve his or her life’s goals, let me ask you one question – Would you sail in the sea without a compass or wander through the wilderness without a map? You won’t, right?
So how can you expect to sail through the wilderness of your financial lives without a proper roadmap?
Even though it’s one of the most important lessons to learn in life, many people either learn how to manage their financial lives the hard way…through trial and error.
Sometimes, they don’t learn at all and lead their lives into a big financial mess.
It’s not their fault. Financial planning or the art of treating our money well isn’t taught in schools, and even our parents don’t teach such things at home.
And that’s why most of us are left to constantly worry about questions like…
- I’ve spent a lifetime saving, am I prepared?
- How can I plan for my child’s education?
- I have money to invest, but where do I begin?
- What should I be doing to plan for retirement?
- Am I financially prepared for whatever emergency comes my way?
Well, if these questions – or other like these – worry you day and night, you need to start learning the simple art and science of Financial Planning right away.
So I’m glad to see you here, because I now know that you are not willing to settle for a rut of a financial life. Instead, the fact that you are reading this lesson means that you want to bring about a positive change in the way you treat your money…in the way you want to lead your financial life – stress-free.
3 financial issues you are dealing with
Here are three things that I presume worry you day and night about your financial life. And why these three things? Simply because these are the biggest financial issues that the average young Indian family is dealing with:
So what are the steps you can take to begin dealing with these issues? (I’m sure you are facing one or more of these issues)
The answer is – No matter what age you’re at, you have to have a plan.
Many of you go to your job, get a salary at the end of every month, and put that salary cheque into your bank account with no plan of where that money needs to go.
With a proper financial plan, you will know how to prioritize where that money goes…whether it’s 5%, 10% or 15%..or whether it goes in some sort of a savings scheme, or stock market investment or retirement account.
If you don’t have that planned out from the beginning, then you’ll consistently lose track of where your money is truly going.
Here is where a proper financial planning comes into the picture – by drawing out a roadmap for you to prioritize and then channel your savings into proper investments, and to help you earn more than what you would from your job or business.
Financial planning, in its most simplest sense, helps you properly plan your journey towards meeting your life’s needs, goals, and aspirations – whether it is to provide for your higher education and marriage, or to fund your children’s education and their marriage, help your parents in meeting their rising medical costs, or plan for your own retirement.
See, you need money for meeting all these goals in life. And to make sure that you have ample amount of money when you need it, you need a financial plan.
That’s what financial planning helps you do. And that’s why you must learn how to plan your finances.
Carefully planning your finances can put you on the road to prosperity for the rest of your life, yet most people don’t begin to get the hang of it until they reach an age when their eyes start to go bad and their waistlines expand.
Then they discover the advantages of financial planning, and they wish they’d known about it earlier.
If you haven’t reached that stage, let me help you start now!
You see, the best time to plan your finances is when you’re young. The more time you have to plan and execute your financial goals, the more comfortably you’ll reach them.
Even if you are old, it’s never late to start.
So, start now. Time’s running out!
Plan your financial life, so that you live like a man…not a donkey, dog or monkey
In my collection of short stories that I have found on the Internet or in books and magazines, here is one that I believe carries a deep meaning, and a harsh truth, for our lives.
Here it goes.
God created the donkey and said to him:
“You will be a donkey. You will work un-tiringly
From sunrise to sunset carrying burdens on your back
You will eat grass, you will have no intelligence
And you will live 50 years.”
The donkey answered:
“I will be a donkey, but to live 50 years is much. Give me only 20 years.”
God granted his wish.God created the dog and said to him:
“You will guard the house of man. You will be his best friend
You will eat the scraps that he gives you and you will live 30 years.”
The dog answered:
“Sir, to live 30 years is too much. Give me only 15 years.”
God granted his wish.God created the monkey and said to him:
“You will be a monkey. You will swing from branch to branch doing tricks
You will be amusing and you will live 20 years.”
The monkey answered:
“To live 20 years is too much. Give me only 10 years.”
God granted his wish.Finally God created man…and said to him:
“You will be man, the only rational creature on the face of the earth
You will use your intelligence to become master over all the animals
You will dominate the world and you will live 20 years.”
Man responded: “Sir, I will be a man but to live only 20 years is very little.
Give me the 30 years that the donkey refused,
The 15 years that the dog did not want
And the 10 years the monkey refused.”
God granted man’s wish.And since then, man lives 20 years as a man,
Spends 30 years like a donkey,
Working and carrying all the burdens on his back.
Then when his children are grown,
He lives 15 years like a dog taking care of the house
And eating whatever is given to him.
So that when he is old,
He can retire and live 10 years like a monkey,
Going from house to house and from one son or daughter to another
Doing tricks to amuse his grandchildren.
That’s Life!
Indeed, that’s life!
I have seen hundreds of people around me living an exact life as described above.
From being a man, to a donkey, then a dog, and then a monkey…all in one lifetime. This process of growing and evolving brings with it seasons of freedom and joy, but it also carries immense fear and loss of personal worth.
The “what if’s” of life become a vivid reality and people find themselves torn between:
- Independence…after years of hard work and doing things their way, and
- Dependence…on their children and their children for money and love.
“We will do ourselves a favour by not expecting anything from our children when we grow old,” my wife tells me time and again.
“But why? Aren’t our children, whom we love and care for so much, supposed to take care of us when we grow old?” I ask.
“They may, dear! But why live with the expectation and then see it dashed?” she explains like a saint. “That’s why we must continue to save and invest and plan our financial lives so that we don’t have to depend on anyone for our living when we are old…not even our children.”
Then she recounts how Mrs. X’s aging parents and Mr. Y’s grandparents are having a tough time depending on their children who are least bothered.
“These are the same children whose parents never left them alone, afraid, or ignored, but kept them close at hand, always watching, always present…always there.”
“Indeed that’s the sad irony of our lives, dear!” I tell her.
“Yes, and that’s why we must be financially free so that we don’t have to live like a donkey, dog or monkey when we are old and incapacitated,” she says while I open my financial plan to check whether I’m in line to achieve my financial freedom or not.
What about you?
P.S.: Got here via a link from a friend, or a forwarded email? This is the first lesson of the free email course on the essential pillars of managing your finances – Financial Planning for Smart People – that will help you learn the very simple rules that have made scores of ‘financially worried’ people ‘financially free’. Click here to sign up for the course.