Introduction

MONEY

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW; YOU MUST KNOW

“MONEY changes Equations of LIFE, how strong are you already with your EQUATIONS; in terms of your MONEY Handling”

I come from a lower-middle-class family where my father was a farmer who did cultivation. My mother was a house-wife, my mother also helped my father to generate some money by looking after cows to milk for our day to day survival by working hard, along with house chores; those are my childhood memories of how my parents lead their life as far as I can think back.

I remember my family was farming flowers, paddy(rice), seasonal vegetables like tomatoes, green chilies, groundnuts, sugar cane(where we use to sell the bulk of jaggery), etc. and lastly mango farms, which my grandfather planted on 10 acres of land which he left to his 04 children. My father still takes cares of mango farm, he put his entire life and energy into developing this farm since he was a boy who helped his father along with other farming activities.

Seeing what I have seen how my parents were struggling to meet ends needs to upkeep a combined family consisting of 15 family members living in one house itself is a wonder now if I think back, yet that was true 35 years back as far as my childhood memories go back. To upkeep, a family of 15 with those day standards means you are lucky enough to have one or two shirts, trousers & sarees once every two years for all family members would be of a great dream.

So there is NO financial education for me while growing up; whatever I have seen and observed from my family and other families around me was; work hard during the year on making yearly crops, keep what is needed for family, and sell remaining for the necessities of survival, this is the what I have seen and experienced.

So whatever the circumstances you may be born and exposed to is what gets into your head. Subconsciously without knowing, you pick those things apply in your life in later stages without your Conscious efforts as if some mysterious force is running your life; this is exactly what happened in my journey of finances, based on values and beliefs what I picked up.

Honestly, it is not that we can’t save money; whatever the money you make or started making, there is always an EMOTION/S involved behind every purchase we make, and circumstances we had experienced and what we are going though contributes a lot without you being aware, so it is not that forcefully you must watch what you are spending, that will not stop unless we address the root cause of the problem, by getting in-depth of understanding what emotions are causing you to take that purchasing decision without you being practical about it.

As I write this book, I may not be a man who is listed in Forbes billionaire’s top 100 lists. Still, from the place where I started my life in 1979 & from the life in my finances from early 1999 where I can see myself today with many mistakes I already made last twenty years made me wise, I strongly believe I did travel quite far from where I started to finally manage & understand better on how money management works which I am already applying and continue to apply till the remaining part of my life as long as I am fortunate enough to be around.

If you read this far patently, congratulations to YOU; if you stick with me till the last pages of this book, I guarantee you my journey of mistakes/learnings past 20 years in MONEY management along with ACTING on simple Investment options available will make you WISER to make the right decisions in whichever age group you belong to, as I am about to present facts, not my fantasies.

My Twenty years journey on financial understanding gave me confidence in what can work better in the coming years ahead for anyone of YOU to create sustainable finances for yourself and family members dependent on you.

I truly lacked guidance, which cost me twenty years of my life to figure out, and what I am about to present here can save you at that time. I am excited enough to present this in simple terms on how anyone can benefit by applying in small steps, which can easily save you 20 years of your life.

I sincerely hope you will enjoy this journey with me to get the BEST from LIFE to become financially free for the rest of your life.

WHAT YOU DON’T HAVE NEEDS MORE ATTENTION

Ignoring What You Don’t Have Will Make It Only Worse For Your Life But Working Towards It Will Make It Better; Progress May Seems Small, But You Will Get To Your Destination Sooner Than Expected

Many prominent leaders, managers & bosses know how to run substantial businesses and handle respective roles in their profession by looking at the company’s profit-and-loss statements every day. BUT most of them cannot look at their OWN In & Out financial statements (Income and outgoing), month on month, year on year; Hoping one day MAGICALLY everything WORKS OUT WELL for their FINANCIAL FUTURE without working on IT. As soon as you generate your first income, dedicate some time to your OWN LIFE’s financial development.

We should learn how to ride LIFE in our finances like we learned how to ride a bicycle at an early age ...as early as possible, as this is something you have to live with the rest of your LIFE.

I wanted you to go through the below influential people quotes to understand the importance of this Subject we are about to explore in-coming pages.

Never spend your money before you have it, Thomas Jefferson.

Wealth is the ability to fully experience life, Henry David Thoreau.

You must gain control over your money, or the lack of it will forever control you. Dave Ramsey

Try to save something while your salary is small; it’s impossible to save after you earn more, Jack Benny.

Always do your best. What you plant now, you will harvest later, Og Mandino.

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted, Albert Einstein.

If you are not prepared to lose, you will not win because you are always playing it Safe, Bob proctor.

A person who never made a mistake tried nothing new, Albert Einstein.

If you live for having it all, what you have is never enough, Vicki Robin.

Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough, Og Mandino.

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest, Benjamin Franklin.

If you are already doing well in your finances, I am thrilled for you as some insights in the coming chapters can help you DO even BETTER from Doing Well.

If you are starting in your finances but already have basics, you are in the RIGHT PLACE for the next steps in excelling your FINANCIAL LIFE.

If You have absolutely no idea, this book can guide you as a road map for the rest of your life if you are open to ideas of what’s coming ahead once you learn and do well in your finances.

Each one teaches one to make this world a better place for many generations to come; perhaps you can be a guiding light in someone else’s life path who needs to know this important subject to succeed in their finances.

So Let’s explore how we can do better in what we do, By learning, altering, and disciplining our FINANCIAL WORLD.

WHO AM I WRITING THIS FOR

Ignoring financial education can be a COSTLY mistake for your LIFE.

Employed.

Un-employed.

Entrepreneur/ business owner or self-employed.

Looking to buy a house for yourself and your family.

Looking for a secure future for everyone dependent on you.

Looking for family future on daily/monthly/yearly living expenses.

Looking for your Kids secured education NOW or years ahead.

Looking for peace of mind after you retire from work.

Looking forward to taking care of medical needs for you and your family.

Looking forward to contributing to the community around you.

This message can apply to all ages as long as you have a strong desire to be financially free in your life. Compounding works in your favor if you choose the right places to invest; YOU have a wonderful opportunity to be at your BEST as you will have great years ahead of you.

It doesn’t mean the rest of them will not make it; everyone can make it, but you must give a minimum of 07 to 10 years for your investments to start showing you results as I can use examples like an apple tree or a mango tree from the seed to grow it to a tree and to give the first apple or a mango takes a while, but if you nurture and take care of it with care by doing necessary work having FAITH you are going to see apples and mangoes eventually in the future, but the good news is you are going to see it every year, year after year at least about next 40 to 50 years with minimal care, fortunately, that’s how the very nature operates so does your financial investments.

Unfortunately, in a fast-paced world, we expect results to come right after we start something; as warren buffet rightly says, “we can’t have a baby in a month with 09 different women” seems funny, but it’s very profound if you really gave a thought to it, when you look around our very nature gives a lot of such examples but unfortunately when it comes to our profession, job, and finance; we expect everything to happen in overnight; if you don’t see quick results we are already defining ourselves as a failure instead of focusing on the long term.

All of us have a long life ahead of us, so have faith and any investments you DO think LONG TERM.

SO this book can serve for all ages; I will be giving in what percentage you should be investing depends on your age in later chapters to be on the safer side yet taking chances being optimistic about the future.

SO Let us explore your Understanding so FAR about Money and HOW CONFIDENT ARE YOU IN the FINANCIAL WORLD By understanding the overall average personal wealth/ earnings of individuals around the GLOBE and in INDIA to see which category you may fall into.

Global Wealth Pyramid

UNDERSTANDING WEALTH

Where Do You See Yourself In Pyramid

As you can see, the below data shows India’s wealth pyramid in a nutshell.

1. At the bottom, 92.3% of adults have wealth less than $10,000,0 to 7.5 Lakhs INR

2. Second Later,7.2% of adults have wealth between $10,000 to$100,000, 7.5 to 75 Lakhs INR

3. Remaining 0.7% of adults have wealth over $100,000, 75 Lakhs INR & Above

The upper limit of the bottom bracket or $10,000 is very high by Indian standards because median wealth in India is a mere $1,295 per adult.

INDIAN WEALTH DISTRIBUTION

It’s not only in India; if you look at world wealth distribution, it’s exactly. In a similar proportion, 87.6% of the world population falls in the last two categories, though taking average won’t make it fair to many developing countries where millions of families only can make 2000 to 3000 USD$ a year and considered to be very lucky….so what does it tell YOU; First is to focus on raising your bar in everything you do from where you stand to increase your income, second important is never too late to start INVESTING…as Low as You CAN with the best instruments available wherever you live..what you make hardly matters what you KEEP makes all difference provided you invest that in RIGHT BUSINESSES/ COMPANIES.

GLOBAL WEALTH PYRAMID, 2019 (Source Credit Suise Global Wealth Report)

Though from this data, some might have a marginal improvement but not much; however, as long as you follow the simple steps outlined here you can step up to the next level and next-level in the Wealth Pyramid irrespective of where you stand right NOW.

….there is always an edge if you aim at something rather than going by the wind wherever it takes…. Unfortunately, many of us have to sail through these waters unless you are already in an upper bracket where you don’t necessarily be working for your living…if you are reading this book certainly means you wanted to get better in your finances, I assure you; even if you have to start with 1 USD$ today…keeping that 1$ in the right place can make you many USD$$$ along the way; given its time, if my efforts in this book can make you take that one step further in your finances and one step closer to your dreams I certainly feel my efforts are worthwhile... I sincerely wish you great success in becoming wealthy in the coming years ahead…for your financial freedom.

Working hard for money will only make it hard for you to get wealthy…as our good friend INFLATION is always staying AHEAD of US, having the discipline of saving a portion of what you make & invest in the right instruments for LONG terms will make it Look EASY and can make you Wealthy.

But Discipline, LONG terms seem to be BIG words & difficult choices to make as ….. we need results like yesterday… like an instant coffee… there is so much we can hope and pray in that direction…. if we don’t have DISCIPLINE & patience for a LONG TERM, there is nothing much we can expect…. Unless you double your salary every 03 to 05 years…

NOW MY PERSONAL QUESTION TO YOU?? WHERE DO YOU FIT IN ABOVE WEALTH PYRAMID, AND WHERE DO YOU WANT TO SEE YOURSELF???

In the coming chapters, we will explore in detail for you to move your Bar to the Next Level in the wealth pyramid from wherever you may be standing RIGHT NOW, so Have a courage to put your NUMBERS DOWN: How much you want to make? By when you want to see .

5 Questions before we turn this page,

1. At what Age did you made you first MONEY?

I was 20

2. How much was your First MONTHLY INCOME?

I made $58 a month

3. How much you Make MONTHLY NOW?

I make $4000 a month

4. What was the INCREASE?

About $3942

5. How Many years it TOOK for the INCREASE ?

20 years

A few important aspects I wanted you to take from my own answers to the above questions.

20 years is not a small-time; it’s approximately 7300 days of my life.

20 years ago, the day I started making $58 a month was a big achievement to that date, so does what I make today under given circumstances.

I can always compare with others and stay unhappy or be happy with what I do; I have a choice.

There is always an improvement if you stay long enough either in your profession or in your investments.

Irrespective of any stage you may be in, you can always be thankful for what you are TODAY; I hope this exercise will help you to be grateful for what you had accomplished so-far in your LIFE.

LET’S UNDERSTAND WORLD AROUND YOU WITH MONEY in the next chapter.