A Day on the Pale Blue Dot - 18

Wednesday, 17th May 2023

Kasu Panam Thuttu Money Money!

No, no, no. Don't excited already by reading the post title. Reading this post won't make you rich overnight. Hey wait! You should still read this! 😜

I thought of writing about some random topic today since it was an unhappening day at office. Well, we broke an official release build - but enghh.., so so!

I am sure that most of us, if not many of us, would have a goal to be financially independent. But a large majority of that population have no clue on how to be financially independent. Maybe you know all the "theory," and simply don't know how to get practical about it. Well, I am not a financial expert or anything, but I can just put-up somethings I have done and will be doing to help me retire well. 🤞

1. Save Yesterday!
   That's right. You should have started saving yesterday. If you haven't started saving already, then do the 2nd best thing. Save Today! This is non-negotiable. Anywhere! Somewhere! Put your money aside for this - be it stock market, mutual funds, gold, fixed deposits, etc. You can find an extensive list on thousands of websites on where to put your money. Don't put it on any get rich quick schemes like MLM, or gambling. Don't let your money idle in your savings account. That money is just depreciating.
   And this is something I advise to all my cousins who are taking up a job. Start this habit from your 1st salary onwards. The power of compounding is huge!
2. Money Will Go!
   There is no stopping money from going away. You have to eat, drink, pay bills, travel. Anything you touch costs money. Money will need to be spent. You need to analyze where your money is going. There are many mobile applications that allow you to do this - tracking your money. I personally use an app called Money Manager. Pretty good app, I have been using since the past 2 years.
3. Conscious Spending!
   This is a term I learnt after watching the Netflix series How to get Rich. Once you start tracking where your money is going, plan to cut down on some expenses and put them into investments. I was shocked to learn that we spend over ₹ 15,000/- every month on outside food and now we consciously cut down on that. Result? More savings, better health!
4. More is Better!
   How many sources of income do you have? Just your salary? Well, it gets very difficult to be financially independent with just 1 income source. You need to have as many sources of income as possible. I won't tell here how, there are too many sources available on the internet.

I personally have done the first 3 points already and working on the 4th. My goal is to earn whatever money I am earning from my salary now without my job. Let's wait and see.

What are you waiting for?

Save Yesterday!

PS: The heading of today's post is from this song from the Tamil movie Soodhu Kavvum.