Way2Wealth
Summary
Serve2Lead's first interactive session, "Way2Wealth," where we discussed the broader concept of wealth, emphasising that it extends beyond mere financial assets. The discussion highlighted that true wealth includes various dimensions: relationships, trust, knowledge, and health. Financial wealth, while important, is just one aspect, with principles such as managing income versus lifestyle, investing in assets, and starting early playing key roles. The session stressed that wealth should support a good life, not just a flashy lifestyle, and that different types of wealth contribute to overall fulfilment. The goal was to foster a deeper understanding of wealth's multifaceted nature and its impact on well-being. The blog is to share the discussion and experience with the audience at large.
So, What comes to you when you think of wealth??
And here we are, dreaming of abundant money as wealth though the extent of it is very subjective but in general we majorly measure wealth in form of money. However, Money is a part of Wealth and not wealth itself. Just to make it easier to understand what is your perspective about wealth, try to list down a few (5-7) activities/things you will do if you have the wealth you dream for.
Now as we list down what we will do once we have the “Wealth”, have we ever asked why we need wealth. There can be various reasons such as retirement planning, for the next generation’s needs but at the end all we need is a good life. Unfortunately we get so occupied in making a livelihood in order to attain a certain kind of lifestyle, such that we actually end up having a terrible life. We need to understand the difference between choosing a good life over a good lifestyle. Wealth enables a good life which goes beyond material pleasures. Whereas being Rich is all about flashy lifestyle.
“Besides monetary wealth, there are various other forms of wealth too.” We can accumulate and manage all the forms of wealth using certain principles and practising the same. One by one we discuss the forms of wealth, however first let's address the elephant in the room. Financial wealth is the corpus of money one desires to accumulate in order to have a stable or desired lifestyle even when one is not working full time. There are 3 golden rules of accumulating and managing financial wealth;
Income Vs. Lifestyle:
In every career cycle we have an initial pay slip and we manage our expenses out of it then gradually our income increases and on the other hand the expenses increases. But the proportion of the increase in expense is usually more than that of income and that is when we end up having debt funds like EMIs and Credit cards. This is because we hunch for a greater lifestyle by looking at our surroundings and not at the income one earns.
Expense via Assets:
What is the source of funds for your expenses? Nowadays we do excess expense by taking debt but the golden rule is to increase your asset and not expense. The principle is to accumulate assets such that they create inflows to cater for your expenses. Fulfil your needs from income, invest the rest, fulfil your wants from the income generated by the investment.
Early bird compounds:
The earlier you start the greater benefit you get. As the compounding effect plays a crucial role in wealth accumulation. For example, just try to calculate the corpus of funds one can have at the age of 50 by investing 1000 every month @ 10% but consider the present age as 20, 30, and 40. You can see the effect of having the investment for a longer period of time.
Invest Rs. 1,000 per month till the age of 50 @ 10%
Apart from financial wealth there are different kinds of wealth on which we should work and try to accumulate. In our session we have discussed following forms of wealth apart from Financial health for a truly fulfilling and enriched life;
Relationships:
The relationships you have in your life play a crucial role in building you, there are certain relations which are given to us like parents, siblings, relatives, etc. and certain are built by us like friends, life partner, etc. We took examples of two Indian cricketers having phenomenal skills and talent but ended up differently due to their relationship. One is Anil Gurav, who was once better than Sachin Tendulkar such that the coach used to ask Sachin to learn from Anil. Both the cricketers had a brother named Ajit, but the difference was that Anil’s brother was into some unlawful acts due to which Anil had to often spend nights at police station trying to bail his brother out at the cost of missing critical local tournaments. Whereas Sachin’s brother supported Sachin’s career by giving up his own. He was like his backbone, a guide, a solid support system which gave Sachin the wings to explore and make a career in cricket
Trust:
The base of all the relations we develop or maintain is trust, we want to be with people whom we trust. Trust is something we build with time but it can be destroyed in a few seconds. Assume Trust being investment where time is the money you invest and it also has the compounding effect in it. But same as investment in trust too there can be bad investment, one has to be careful of the risk and return. Here we had an example of a female waiting for her bus on a rainy day. She was alone and the weather was not so good and a man came and stood next to her. She thought he was also waiting for the bus but felt better due to someone’s presence, they didn’t talk about anything and when her bus came she hopped into it but the men didn’t and passed the bus stop as the bus went. After a few days the female got to know that it was the managing director of the company, Mr. JRD Tata, who waited for her to catch the bus safely. These small gestures and support build trust in people.
Knowledge:
Knowledge can open doors to new opportunities and enable innovation. Just as financial resources can be invested in new ventures, knowledge can be applied to create new ideas, solve problems and make informed decisions. Continuous learning and expertise are crucial for career progression which can lead to financial growth too. We all know the movie 3 idiots but what we learnt from it, we should enjoy the process of learning and not its results but we always start with our target of marks or results. Sonam Wangchuk was the inspiration for 3 idiot stories, his institute SECMOL (Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh) has been at the forefront of some path breaking innovations. While that may not be much of a surprise, given Sonam’s own background and education, what does surprise one is the fact that to get an admission in SECMOL one needs to be a failure ! Yes, he only enrols students who failed in 10th or 12th. The philosophy is to get out of the formal education system where only academic marks are the main objective. As the dialogue goes, “Beta Kabil bano, Kamyabi toh Jhakk maar ke Pichhe Aayegi”.
Health:
As the saying goes, Health is wealth, but how many of us truly believe in it. However after COVID majority of us have started taking care of our health but we struggle to get into a healthy lifestyle. The most recent and best real life example we can have about importance of health is Mr. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala who had immense wealth but regretted his health condition as in his last few interviews he advised people to take care of their health as when you have gained financial wealth but you should also be able to enjoy the same.
Apart from these major ones there can be different kinds of wealth and the rank of each can depend on a person's priorities. For example, health will rank first for an athlete but for a corporate employee with a family that might not be the first priority. Thus, being aware of all kinds of wealth and its importance in your life is crucial in order to have a happy and good living.
**Feel free to share your perspective in the comment section and We will appreciate your cooperation in ensuring that our discussion remains both informative and respectful.**
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