Investment minus emotions: Is it possible with the mentality we have?

Very recently I have started reading about things I never thought of reading. But thanks to some random reading triggered from home schooling kids and pandemic situation. This random reading inspired me to read more about financial planning and investments. When it comes to finance and money what I understood till date is that you should save money. That’s how traditional and orthodox approach is, and we all have grown up with that. We never realized the importance of saving and investing.

In all the advises and explanations people said that one should keep emotions aside and then invest. Be practical and logical about these investments. Market does not care about your feelings and emotions. You feel or your gut says that this “Investment” is good is of no use. You need to do through research and go through a pile of excel sheets before arriving to a decision. But can we really do it? Is it possible to keep emotions separate from yourself then discuss and provide genuine feedback or decide.? When it comes to your hard-earned money how can you consider investing without emotions. However, I would like to highlight 3 specific areas where I realized the difference between an “Asset and Liability”.  Each one is related to emotions only and nothing to do financial planning.

 

1. House – The moment you start earning owning a house and living there is one of the most basic expectation you have. Even if it is related to taking a loan and paying EMI. I believed this is an Asset. We all have this emotional need. However, after doing research I realized that this is incorrect. If you own a property (house or flat) and live in it, it’s a liability as we would be paying a huge amount as an EMI and maintenance cost. So, if you calculate average return of investments in both the scenario then you would realize that renting is always better and economical with no headache. But can we accept this fact that we should continue living in a rented property and not think of owning a house and living in there. With real estate prices going high every year, it is becoming difficult to own a house without taking a loan. Even if we have a choice accepting this is extremely difficult. May be for generation next this would be an asset but for us a liability which we must carry as it is extremely important.
2.  Jewelry – The entire business of jewelry is based upon emotions and even the advertisements target emotions. Every company who is in this are advertising about emotional value associated with jewelry. They have associated this with all the emotional/social events that happen in various stages targeting women. Birth, graduation, engagement, wedding, birthdate, anniversaries, festivals and so on. Even currently most of the parents would buy jewelry in whatever possible quantity the moment a girl is born. However, financial planners would say that you need to buy “Digital Gold” as it is pure and there is no making charge. It’s impossible for me to even imagine gifting someone “Sovereign Gold Bond” as an anniversary gift or wedding gift. So, no matter what happens gold jewelry will always have a bright future. It will always be an Emotional Investment and not as a “Commodity Trading”.
3. Automobile- This is again a liability as most of us want to own and drive expensive cars based on the budget we have. And yes, as we don’t have so much of money, so we fall into the EMI mode of payment and take loan from the bank. Even though we understand that its value decreases the moment you take it out from a show room. We still buy or aspire to buy as we all have heard stories about our parents bragging about when they bought their first car and how they are unable to sell even if it is not working. Now, with the advent of OLA and Uber this has changed to certain extent. There is no need to own a car, but people still buy the same and upgrade it as well. Another emotional attachment which is difficult to get rid of.

 Hence, these are somethings where I feel whatever be the repercussion, but these emotional attachments would remain as is and very few people can get rid of these things. We spend a considerable amount on gadgets as well but that is not included because no emotions are attached to it. If one had access to and can afford would be upgrading every single day. No one is holding on to a mobile as a personal item which is indispensable.

Not sure how next generation behavior pattern would be as they are very much careless about things they own. They are shocked that there existed television which was not known as “Smart TV” but was called an “Idiot Box”. Emotions at that time was not related to the switching of the internet and I recall the power cuts where we used to talk to our neighbors daily. Now you hardly know the neighbor. Hoping that whatever be our investment strategy or financial planning we should not forget to invest in Education, values, health and personal relationships.

By,

TulikaJV

10/11/21

Now is not the time !!

 

Now is not the time,

To be a critic,

And criticize everything around,

But to acknowledge what is good.

Now is not the time,

To scold children,

With too much screen time,

But to understand they are at home with no school.

Now is not the time,

To write hate message,

Or troll for a trivial fact,

But to support each other.

Now is not the time,

To Crib, Cry or Sulk,

But to remove it,

From the corner of your eyes and heart.

                    (1)

Now is not the time,

To hoard things for yourself,

But to restrict the usage,

To bare minimum.

Rather, now is the time,

To say a silent prayer,

For each one of us,

So, we can not just survive, 

But thrive on the same. 

                         (2)

Waiting For Godot...!

I have read somewhere that a book finds its readers through some cosmic force. Recently it came true when I bumped into this play which was written in the year 1948. But what amazed me that even today it is a relevant story.

It’s a story or rather a play about two characters waiting for this unknown person GODOT who is not god by the way. Neither is he anyone remotely related to any super power. The entire screenplay revolves around this waiting although a couple of characters join them but they just come and go.

Perhaps the beauty of a story is that when a reader is forced to think and derive one’s own message. To put it in a better way one is able to customize it as per the taste and preference. I even read some analysis and was surprised to see that all those unanswered questions that popped in my mind where answered by some critics of yester years. Some related it to cold war, some thought it was GOD who is godot. Don’t know what exactly is true but as per the author Godot is not God because had it been the case he would have said that. I guess god only knows.

This is the second time when I felt that there has to be something more to this. Last time when I felt like this was when I read Love Story by Eric Seagal and this book made me cry for days. Even today I cry when I recall Jenny.

Coming back to this play, my first impression of this play was the word “wait” and somehow I felt even in my case everything revolves around this incessant waiting. I have no clues about others but I feel that I wait for almost everything in my life. When I was in school I waited for classes to end so I could go home and get rid of teachers who always did one thing that is teaching and play was something for which you had to be eligible for. Waited for results, if results wasn’t as expected waited for next term and then the next.

Even today things have not change, we seem to wait for everything, be it love, marriage, job, economy to go up, election and if nothing else we await changing of time. But when someone will ask me what was it I did just before yesterday I will take time in replying and would not have a spontaneous answer. Some of us even wait for serials.

But then when we sit down and feel what is passing by is time. This flies faster than the speed of light. It seems just yesterday when I was in college, where I used to bunk class, relied on friends for Proxy and preferred to stay in hostel where I either read or slept if nothing else was there. And I vividly remember that was the time when I was actually waiting to be out of college and breathe some air of freedom. Without realizing that this hostel life will never come again.

All this makes me wonder what time is good time? Or is there anything called good times? Is there? Or is it just an illusion. What is the purpose of this waiting business? What happens if what we are waiting for doesn’t turn up exactly the way we expect? Actually I know the answer of later question we do nothing but crib for some time and shift our focus conveniently to the next thing which is on the waiting list.

A list that is endless, a list which is edited/formatted from time to time, yet, there isn’t a moment when all is synchronized and we get what we waited for. To top it all we try and amuse ourselves with various activities like listening to music, reading or watching a movie to pass time.
Time as they say just like tide wait for no one. It will never wait for you so that you could steal a nano second from it. It has never happened and I guess until something dramatic happens time will never ever wait for us and I honestly don’t see a remotest possibility of this. Because time is incredibly selfless entity, zero association with any living things and it has no life and death cycle. More than anything else it has no work, no responsibilities and absolutely no addiction. If time stops I guess that’s the time when you need to either change the battery or repair the watch or simply buy a new one.

Does it ever stop? Don’t know much about this as I have no clue about the Greenwich Mean Time whether it stops twice a year or not. And even it does stop I know for sure that it won’t change anything related to time. You know what becomes worst is that we seldom feel the joy of good time but the pain and sadness of a bad moment or a bad statement said by anyone lingers through mind. All the space that should be dedicated in thinking about the self and do things to improve the situation goes in waiting for the TIME when we will take the revenge.

Never ignore little thing in life. That was a key message from the play simply because it is these little things that are most important and it is these little things that makes a life worth living and FUN. One thing that I have learnt from this is to just keep walking and don’t lay too much hope on future as it is uncertain and past because it can’t be done away with.

Live in Present as it is actually a gift from god and that too without cribbing. IT is of course easier said than done. But I will definitely try for sure.

And yes will try not to wait for this GODOT!

By,
Tulika Jyoti Vardhan

Waah Taj ……………………….... why? Taj!

A Building burns, testifying what is lost and what might be gained!

“The Taj” , Mumbai, we add an article before a noun to make it exclusive but here it is lot more than being just exclusive simply because it was or rather is a building that epitomizes royalty. I have grown up hearing stories on “The Taj” that here a cup of tea costs more than Rs 100 or Rooms are so clean that you are not sure whether you should lay your feet. It’s a hotel where all the rich and famous stay whenever they come to Mumbai.
I vividly remember the day when I visited the gateway of India; I saw this mammoth structure that made me feel very small and insignificant. I could see various small windows which had a person standing there and looking at the sea through binoculars and honestly I wished to see it from inside and have just one cup of tea if nothing else. But then it could not be fulfilled, hence I had to satisfy myself with a boat ride which was Good.
Just a couple of days back, not even in my wildest dream I thought that while I was sleeping this very building was burning in fire. I came to know about this in the morning and was shocked to see the view. Honestly it was like a sleek Hollywood movie, only the location, actors, Villains were real. One could saw reporters running from here and there catching hold of anyone who could spare a moment and describe it.
This is perhaps the first time when I saw live reports constantly in every channel. No matter what Mr. R R Patil says this is the worst attack till date and until something changes dramatically these kinds of things will continue happening. As it is not only the terrorist, it is the system which is causing this to happen.
As we know Corruption and Terrorism are two words with completely different meaning yet there is a thin line that joining them. Terrorism is so not possible without corruption. Even the religion is not as important as corruption is. What I understand when a bullet is shot it does not see who is at the either end. It just kills or simply goes on killing without any emotional or religious attachments.
Which is why I fail to understand that if I take an interview in any firm be it an Indian or a foreign MNC, I would never be entertained if I don’t match the skills that are required for the post. Politics is perhaps the only field where this doesn’t matter especially at state level.
This is just a small issue, but it doesn’t matter to these ministers who are often caught napping in these situations, Religion, caste, language and now region is a part and will always be a significant part of their road map for a seat. Thanks to the media which is doing an amazing work of creating awareness inspite of the fact that they dramatize events they are at least speaking boldly about things that are recklessly ignored by the politicians. They are making people aware and giving them opportunity to express themselves about what they feel. That is why people today turn up to media whenever they want to say something.
If media was not there then people who have resigned would never have done that, you don’t have to be Einstein to realize this. It’s high time that we as think ourselves as an Indian first than go by the vote bank politicians. I belong to Bihar which was at the receiving end of this regional politics and I completely understand the concern they have for the job which is being taken away from them but throwing them out is not the solution. People from Bihar and UP would never take what these terrorist have taken away. The reason why they migrate is because we feel things that are missing here is available in a big city like Mumbai same way a “Marathi manoos” dreams of going to newyork or Singapore or Malaysia. We are no different.
This might have happened in Mumbai but no matter which part of the country we belonged we all shared the pain and earnestly pray that this doesn’t happen again. Barkha dutt in her channel rightly said “Today we all are mumbaikars”!
As the time passes by we will be able to say with pride yet always in a somber mood as the scars will never ever go away…
“Arre Hazoor, WAAH TAJ kahiye”!
By,
Tulika Jyoti Vardhan