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.

Comments

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

-Ketaki
March 27, 2007 at 12:21 PM
Unknown said…
best line i liked of the book" dont work for money let money work for you"
July 31, 2008 at 3:06 AM
मीनाक्षी said…
I love your writing style. Reading almost all posts one by one ...
June 14, 2017 at 2:35 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

'Cause mom's food is gag worthy

Image
My annoyance meter had been reaching its upper limit for the last two weeks. First, for the sprouts salad my 13 yr old boy made a face that said ‘yucks’. Next, tamarind poha was labeled ‘disgusting’. Finally when the lauki sabzi was called ‘gag worthy’ I lost it. He was clearly the only one having a problem with the food ‘cause the other members of the family were enjoying it. The problem with the boy is he has a problem with Indian vegetarian food. Give him chicken marinated in gobar (cow dung) and I know he’ll lick the last bits off.  As a house rule, I don’t accept food being called bad. It is ok to not like something but you can’t call it bad. When you say you don’t like it, it’s about you. When you say it is bad, it’s about the food. I reprimanded him; told him he needs to be thankful for the food he gets. “Nah, I don’t like it, so why should I be thankful? I’d rather make my own food,” he replied. “Perfect,” I said. I declared I wouldn’t be cooking for him till he apolagize...
Read more

The Chess Stress..

A year has passed since I wrote this blog -  http://heartuponmysleeve.blogspot.in/2013/01/the-chess-mess.html . (It was a time when chess was a game, not a contest.) After seeing my son's interest in the game, we enrolled him in a chess coaching academy three months back. Before we knew it, he was selected by his coach for a district level tournament. Since this was my first time as a mother of a competing child, I have to admit, I was unprepared. A day at the tournament meant playing back to back matches throughout the day. It meant a tiring day for me and him. Most parents there seemed far more experienced in this. At the end of the day I won’t say I learnt much but I did observe a lot. The hardest part was seeing a child loose; anybody’s. One came out, eyes down, saying he lost. One came out with just a thumb’s down. One came out looking out for her mom or dad with a look that said it all. It caused a pang. A parent consoled a child with an “It’s ok.” When the child ca...
Read more

The monk who sold his Ferrari - book review

The last book I had read was “Rich Dad Poor Dad” (see post on Mar 18th below). Absolutely impressed and influenced by Rich Dad, I doubted how much of a monk I could be to read this book with devotion. From some of the online reviews and the catchy name I felt it was about giving up everything materialistic to attain divine peace. “Selling a Ferrari!. He would be some monk(ey) to sell his ferrari!”, I mused. But now I am done reading with the book and I seem to have enjoyed it. In the book, the author Robin Sharma narrates the story of a lawyer-turned-monk, Jullian Mantle, who suddenly realizes where life is taking him, decides to take action and embarks on an odyssey to northern India to acquire wisdom from the learned Sages of Sivana. A changed man, Jullian Mantle comes back to his old friend(and old world) with a mission to spread the wisdom to everyone. Jullian explains the sages’ techniques of mind-control, the Japanese technique of kaizen, self-discipline, time management and wil...
Read more