You agree that New Year resolutions are a waste of time. Most of us make resolutions only to let them die in a matter of days or weeks. Frankly, I stopped making resolutions years ago. Instead this is what I do.
I ask just one question to myself –
What is important to me?
Once the goal / priority is set, I go on to ask
How do I get it?
This gives me the method.
Finally, I write down the action steps.
Let’s say, it is important for me to be and feel healthy. It is indeed very important. One more condition, I don’t want to spend money to feel healthy.
Good!
How do I get it? Join a Gym, hire an instructor, go for a brisk walk every morning or jog. Or, do yoga!
Now, I know joining a Gym is not going to cut it out for me. Going for a walk or jog is also not my cup of tea. All this has not worked for me in the past.
However, a quick warm up inside my home followed by a set of Surya Namaskars works just fine for me. I am able to stick to it and it has done wonders to my health.
Remember, it begins with the question –
What is important to me?
The focus that you get because of this one question is magical. You suddenly realise that there is more fun in the journey than in reaching someplace.
One of my favorite writers, Bernadette Jiwa, puts it this way:
You get to where you’re going when you know where you’re going. You enjoy the journey when you know why you’re going there. Read more
Often it’s not what we start doing that makes a difference, but the thing we stop doing that creates the biggest shift. Maybe the growth and change we want begins with subtraction. Read more
Money and You
When it comes to a question about money, here’s a suggested one for you
What do I want my money to do for me?
Don’t go mad making more money or trying to double it in 2 years.
Give money a purpose, a goal and see the magic happen.
Simple! I have often times seen that once you ask the question, you realise that you don’t need to add anything more. Instead you take away stuff. The act of subtraction adds to your happiness.
Now, how about asking this question along with me in person?
Yes. If you are in Delhi/NCR on Jan 20, 2018, come and be a part of my “Money and You” workshop. Let yourself open to new possibilities about money and investing.
Know the details and register here.
By the way, asking the question is not limited to the beginning of the new year. I ask this question frequently to understand and reemphasise on what is important to me.
Life is too short to live someone else’s dreams.
Good points there, Vipin!
I’ve been trying to do this kind of subtraction for a long time now after messing up my financials unknowingly (just by accumulating stuff randomly). There is great pleasure in taking up stuff that’s messy and simplifying it. Simplification to me is just subtraction without losing value.
There are three things that I read on the internet that made an everlasting impression on me. Two of them are by Scott Adams. One of them is related to personal finance. It goes like “Make a will. Pay off your credit cards. Get term life insurance if you have a family to support. Fund your 401(k) to the maximum. Fund your IRA to the maximum. Buy a house if you want to live in a house and you can afford it. Put six months’ expenses in a money market fund. Take whatever money is left over and invest 70% in a stock index fund and 30% in a bond fund through any discount broker and never touch it until retirement.”
I’ve so far closed a ULIP, a useless LIC Jeevan Anand, a very low sum assured term policy and replaced all of this with a simple term policy.
For my six months emergency fund in a money market instrument, I’ve a home saver loan account with a bank (similar to SBI Max Gain). The excess money I’ve parked is earning 8.x% interest that’s reducing my principal rapidly.
I’m now funding my PF account to the maximum for the debt portion that I’ve decided to allocate (preferring EPF to PPF due to higher interest rate). And the rest, I’ll be investing soon in equity in through Unovest Wealth Enhancer Portfolio. I’ll need another term policy because I underestimated the sum assured that will be needed for dependents, and also one that covers critical illness + accidental benefits + disability benefits + cancer coverage if the price is reasonable.
I’m almost done with my Scott Adams portfolio.
Srikanth, you are working on the subtraction in its true spirit. And I love the Scott Adams portfolio. This is going to be like a new post on Unovest. Thanks for reminding. 🙂
Awesome! Looking forward to reading your take on it, Vipin.
By the way, a bit unrelated. Can you do a fund review of Reliance Small Cap and Sundaram SMILE funds? Both look good, and in my opinion the only two things that’s making me stay away from Reliance Small Cap is its AUM size and frequent fund manager changes.
Sure, let me work on that.