Don’t suffer financial ignorance, make the move from Saas to Sensex.
A year comes to an end and brings along a long list of unresolved things we vowed to do when it began. It happens to all of us, every year. Ancient men and women resolved to pay off debts and return borrowed things in return for a favour from God. These days we don’t vow to please God but to please our inner souls. We resolve to lose weight, spend more time with family, quit bad habits, start something new et al. But we hardly stick to them.
Just like a winter’s sweater, our resolutions are discarded and shelved, only to be revisited with the dawn of another new year. Ask yourself this, if it’s a new year, a new you, then why stick with the same old resolutions?!
I’ve got a simple solution to this tradition of making and breaking resolutions—Let’s not make one. Instead let’s just try not to do certain things which will probably make us wiser not just in money terms but as a person too.
1. Let hype overrule my spending decisions: Resist that itch! You know the one, which lures you into that online sale, or that Bollywood blockbuster with ticket prices so high, that you would need a loan to pay it off! Ask yourself, do you really need that stuff? Can the money saved be used elsewhere? Once you control the urge, it will be easy to do it next time too.
2. Close my ears and eyes when the husband meets our tax planner or financial planner: Stock portfolio, demat statement, insurance premium… the moment you hear these conversations in your living room, you hastily exit the room to watch some saas-bahu melodrama! Stick around! Your spouse and the planner will be inclined to include you in the conversation as well. Don’t suffer financial ignorance, make the move from Saas to Sensex!
3. Overspend for kids to compensate for the time I am away to work: Kids will be at home for the summer vacation and you will be away at work. The easiest way for some of us to overcome this guilt is to spend money instead. They will grow fast and you will realise that it’s only money and expenditure that makes them happy. Overcome this guilt. Tell them why you are away for so many hours while they are home. Perhaps enrolling your child in a hobby or team sport will ease your guilt.
4. Crib, crib and crib about a boring job or a boring routine at home: If only one was paid for the amount that one cribs about a job or a dull routine at home, we’d all be filthy rich! Remind yourself “If I am bored, I will take frequent short holidays with the spouse. If spouse is busy, I will take children along or perhaps do a Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD-ish) trip with my friends.” You know that money saved in Tip # 1 above? Put it to work here.
5. Be caught unaware when financial emergency strikes: I know it’s your husband who is probably in-charge of directing savings to stocks, insurance FDs etc. But ever thought what will happen if the money manager of the house falls sick or (God forbid) is incapacitated? Do you know where insurance policy papers are? Do you have the insurers’ or your bank’s helpline number on your fast dialing list? Do you know the claim process if hospitalisation is needed?
Let 2014 be the year when you don’t pay a steep price for ignorance.
6 Keeping up with Mrs. Mehta (or Mrs. Gupta): Did I say birthday parties? It’s the peer pressure that makes us overdo things like birthday parties. If your child’s classmate threw a party at the club house, you would want to outdo it with a Pizza Hut party. Kids also naturally get into this one-upmanship when they attend these parties. My son’s pre-primary school principal often tells parents “Does it really matter to kids? Do they really care about the theme or the surroundings?” The competition to keep up is in our mind, not theirs, she adds!
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