Getting smart with money: Part 1

2021 is a year to start with prayers and love for all. For couple of years I lost all my willingness to write or to communicate with anyone. I wanted to be consistent but sometimes what you want is not always possible to get. Last year was emotionally, physically and mentally challenging. I was forced to come out of my comfort zone and above all I was compelled by time to become financially intelligent. So I thought it is a nice idea to share with your all what I learned last year and how it has helped me to grow both inwards as well as outwards. 

Now let's see, finance and money has never been speciality in fact my entire life until the year 2020 went into a haze, money-wise. I had no idea about savings or how to invest, all I knew was to happily get money from my Mom as and when required. Even though I had been earning myself for more than a decade but I never knew a thing about finance. I have been very fortunate that my mother is a financially savvy person or else only God knows where I would have been.

However, you cannot always rely on other people to get your stuff done because everyone has his and her views about money. Some are too cautious, while others are spendthrift, people have their perceptions about finance and they handle them in their own unique way. So I cannot have a monetary goal like my parents, I have to find my own path, realize my shortcoming and have my personal objective and motivations for money.

It is very rightly said that money cannot buy happiness but it can surely make life hell lot easier and comfortable. Food, grocery, daily travelling and much more can be made easy with money. So should we fall in love with money or become obsessed with it and make it our primary goal in life to accumulate it as much as possible, without any ethics or self-discipline. For me the answer is quite clear: No.

I have dug deeper on the topic of money and what I found is, wealth is actually a state of well-being. Money, that is, coins and notes does not have any intrinsic value but when it becomes a component of personal well-being by taking care of our health, eating nourishing food, harmony in relationships, maintaining our friendships, being honest and fair in our worldly dealings, above all recognising that God is the source of riches and being extremely grateful for what ever we have and also what we do not have.

Of course, it is easier said than done but taking one step at a time is all what we need. So my new expedition of learning about wealth and prosperity has begun. First and foremost, we need to get out of this ridiculous idea we can only get rich by ripping off others or by being deceitful. Second, money is not the source of evil and it is the person who is using money unethically becomes the evil. We need to develop a healthy relationship with money and a comfort level about getting wealthy and prosperous.

What is your relationship money? Do you feel happy and comfortable when talking about it, or not? If yes, then ask yourself why and if you are not comfortable then also ask yourself, why?

Check within yourself whose ideas about money you are carrying with you, is it your father’s, mother, uncle, friend, neighbour or society? Talk to yourself about it, write them down.

How much do you want to earn and why? Is your financial goal in alignment with the cost of living toady and 5 years from now? How much do you save monthly?

What are your dreams? What is your action-plan to achieve that dream? This is my three part blog series on getting smart money so we will be answering these questions and discussing a lot more. 

Until then Au revoir, goodbye..  

Sonya Syed.

31 Jan 2021