Sunday, March 18, 2007

Show me the money

Whoever said they did not love money are either lying or haven’t read the book ‘Rich dad, Poor dad’. Till very recently, I was one of the latter. Then my dad recommended the book and it opened my eyes! I was a simple girl, earning a decent salary in a good software company. What I earned went into the bank, I spent moderately, and as long as my bank balance was increasing I thought I was taking care of my finances. When the conversation between colleagues or friends would drift to investments, mutual funds or real estate I would slowly find my way out. For me, bears and bulls existed either in the zoo or on Animal Planet and a Portfolio was something only models made. I understood nothing from what they talked, plus I was ignorant enough to feel “Why do these people talk about money all the time?” Basically, I was classic ‘Poor dad’.

Then came Rich dad! When I started to read the book I was disapproving at first, thinking the author was one of the same ‘greedy’ people I disliked. But then as I moved from page to page, I realized how imprudent I was. I realized that I too loved money. I too felt the need to get more from what I already had. I understood how and why one should make money from money. When I had seen the Hindi movie ‘Baghbaan’ some time back I had pitied the father who was left with nothing in his old age. Now I felt no pity. I saw a man - a bank manager, who was so financially unsound that he believed that his four sons were his four FDs and ended up having no money to fix even a pair of glasses!

I am still no financial guru, but I am learning. More importantly I now feel that I have to learn. I now know that what I earn today is not what comes in hand after paying to the government through taxes , but what comes in hand after paying as little as is legally possible to the government. I know that if I want to reap the benefits of what I earn today I need to fight inflation. I know that I need money not just to take care of my grocery bills, but to maybe take a world tour and not just now – maybe 20 years from now too.
I love money and I don’t feel the need to deny it.

3 comments:

Ketaki said...

Welcome to the world of blogging. Please update regularly, so what if I dont :D

-Ketaki

Unknown said...

best line i liked of the book" dont work for money let money work for you"

मीनाक्षी said...

I love your writing style. Reading almost all posts one by one ...