Oppurtunity

ஞாலங் கருதினுங் கைகூடுங் காலம்
கருதி இடத்தாற் செயின்.

A man, aspiring to conquer the whole world too, will succeed

If he chooses the right time and place for action.

 

எய்தற் கரிய தியைந்தக்கால் அந்நிலையே
செய்தற் கரிய செயல்.

Opportunity occurs but rarely; but when it does,

It is the right time to attempt even the impossible.

 

 

Well Spent

 



From my previous blog entries one might have a notion that I am stingy to spend money.But my friends would say otherwise!

Lets say you had a very good vacation for 2 days or you had a nice time with your friends or you had a wonderful road trip, what would you call your time spent ? I think you would say time "well spent"

I have a friend of mine who used to go to big restaurants, he will order a soup or which ever is least cost on the menu. I think it makes him feel rich. Going to big places, the feeling of grandness  etc. And why is is he just having soup ?  well he wants every bit of the worth he has spent :)

People in my native place (a colloquial term used in south India to term their home town) always talk about how much they and their family is worth , What kind of rich relatives the have .. blah blah blab and when we go to their 3000 sq.ft house, you would find only some plastic chairs and tables, which they call as furniture.

More than being critical about spending money, I feel we should not compromise on service we get out of money spent. If the service or the product is bad, get the money back or atleast don't go back to the same service or product.

In the times we are living in, people spent money and buy things to make themselves feel that they are rich or talk about richness to make them feel rich.But the real rich will spend his money wisely. His money is always "WELL SPENT"

Cash is king

This is a well known phrase in the investment world, "cash is king". Well if it is the king what will happen to other investments like gold, Land and Stock markets ? Well they might be ministers and not king :)

My notion of this phrase it that, cash is the most liquid form of asset and at your disposal anytime, so people admire you, respect you when they see rupees in your hands. Their pupil enlarges :)
There must be more to it, hmmmm.....as my American friend will say dollar is better than rupees. Cash is king term relates locally and not globally. In India if you have rupees, its cash to you. If you got dollars in India, its not cash its another form of asset.

When wealth managers talk about asset allocation, they have a pie chart and say certain percentage is for retirement, stocks, blah blah blah. They all talk about the future ignoring the present. Lets say you got 30 lac rupees in cash, with zero debt, how nice will it be for my ego?! I will be more free minded and plan for more things to come. I will be at ease in life and I don't need stress management, well when the money is there stress flies away :)

Some people misunderstand having Rs 50,000 in their bank account is cash, I would call it petty cash. When you say you have bought gold, you don't say I bought 1 gram or if you bought land, you don't say you bought 1 cent .

Well we would be kings if we understood Cash is king.

Back to Basics!

Do you remember PDCA ? If you remember and implement it in your activities, you will be more clear minded and confident.  

 

 

 

 The Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) Cycle provides a simple but effective approach for problem solving and managing change, ensuring that ideas are appropriately tested before committing to full implementation. It can be used in all sorts of environments from new product development through to marketing, or even politics.

It begins with a Planning phase in which the problem is clearly identified and understood. Potential solutions are then generated and tested on a small-scale in the "Do" phase, and the outcome of this testing is evaluated during the Check phase. "Do" and "Check" phases can be iterated as many times as is necessary before the full, polished solution is implemented in the "Act" phase.

Save

Why should you save money? I was thinking about this today morning and I put the question "why saving money is important" on "Google" as every man nowadays thinks he can get everything on Google  :)

There came a list of results Top 7 reasons, 5 reasons, etc. I was curious to see what the reasons are (you know Google is the best).

The TOP answers I got was Retirement saving, Education saving, saving for a new car, saving for a vacation to name a few.I was really perplexed with these results. Is there no more meaning for money to save than to do it for retirement. Hmm.. that's a Google answer, made it to the top by search engine marketing, it is not the best answer.



For me, saving money is important because of these following reasons

1.When you save money, you need not put extra effort to get it back. Lets say you spend Rs 10. You need to make an effort to earn the money back. But if you save it, let it be even Rs 10, it will earn you an interest and further more you need not put any more effort to make it.

2.Money is power, power can be used to make good and bad things. Once you got the money, you have the power to do things that you really wanted to do. One of the methods in getting this power is through saving money.

Recycle

Recycle

We hear a lot of corporate social responsibility slogans towards recycling these days. Recycling metal, plastics, rubber,etc. Some claim that they have invented this process of recycling. Was this really invented in 21st century.

Whole process of life on earth is a transformation of five elements, water, air, fire, earth,and sky, from one form to another.

What a man eats , grows from mud. It gets transformed into grains/fruits with the help of water. This  turns into food with the use of fire. A man consumes it and when he perishes, he goes back to the earth. The whole process existence is recycling which has been happening for generations.

Right now the need is not to recycle metal, rubber or plastic. The need is to save our very own existence with nature by aligning ourselves towards the real recycling process.

Nalla Mattuku oru suudu 

  

 


This Tamil proverb has a spectacular meaning related to money management hidden inside it. Once you understand and experience this proverb and if you have the mind to implement it, you can save a lot of time and effort in your financial endeavor.

This proverb tells you the need to learn from your mistakes, once you have made a bad decision, you must make sure that your do not repeat it.The faster you learn this the better you get. Some people learn the hard way, they get bitten 5 times or may be 10 times, they are hope less until they learn from the mistake. So don't be shy to try something or do a mistake in your financial pursuit, but make sure you learn from that ASAP.