I consider money as the most important possession for people. If you see dire people with dire poverty and their inability to provide for themselves the three important requirements, 1) roti(food), 2) kapda(cloths), 3) makan(shelter), you will understand how important it is to have money.
Money also means education and even character. That is why Hindu philosophy has'asta laxmi' or in other words'eight types of wealth'. For example you do not find pick pockets, suit case lifters, thieves or prostitutes among the well to do or even middle class, and they generally come from the down trodden and from slums. In the same way education is difficult, sometimes not possible to very poor people.
It is the management of money that makes you rich or poor, some people say. Great authors like Steinbeck( Nobel prize winner) say that any body can become rich provided, one earns money for the sake of money. Is it impossible? Earning for the sake of earning! That is all. Once you get this philosophy in to your head and imbibe this in to your blood, you would sure become a rich man. If you earn money or want to get rich for the sake of comforts it brings, or for the luxuries those you can buy with money, you may find it difficult to get rich or become a money man. In fact you may never get rich!
Why?
Look at the world. Who are the real artists? The great artists of this world are those who consider or believe that art is for the sake of art! And nothing else.
Music for the sake of music. Money for the sake of money.
There are many imperfect people among us. Crooks as artists for example. Lusty people who had thrown away values to the wind posing as singers!
But observe them. Are they great singers? Who the world remembers for ever as the pioneers? Are these so called artists are like the Beethoven’s, Mozart, Picasso or Vangough?
Among those so called rich and mighty do you find people like J.P. Morgan, Rock Feller, or JRD Tata?
Do they at least have any inkling of these great characters? Not at all and that is most obvious!
That is what happens when art is for the sake of art and earning is for the sake of earning . It is the great truth that can never be changed!
You find them not as singers but as commercial artists stealing upon ragas( tunes), stealing upon the people's lust or their bizarre taste! And finally picking their pockets! Look in to their lives. You will find the inevitable unhappiness, frustration, separation and what not? Except money . They will have plenty of money without happiness.
Now we come to the second philosophy.
Without money there is unhappiness. But with money there is no guarantee of happiness. If I want to live happily and die happily then know that money shall be given limited importance only as much as it requires the attention and not more than that. There should be no illusions as to money versus happiness.
Coming to the subject of managing money there are many interesting findings.
You can find modern day millionaires among school teachers, post masters and railway station masters. It is the same in India and it is the same in US and same every where irrespective of whether you live in developed country or developing country. The book ' The millionaire next door' was like a revelation of great truths for me. A group of well educated people conducted an interesting survey. They called millionaires for a simple party only one or two or three at a time at different places in different cities. The qualifications are that the person( he or she) must have properties worth at least one million. There were so many surprises. Their first surprise was millionaires behaved very much like you and me.
They were wearing old, simple cloths. When they were offered a simple teddy bear as a gift they took it specifically telling that it would be useful to their grand daughter! And very shockingly most of them did jobs like school head masters, Railway station masters or post masters where extra income, bribes, corruption etc., was not possible.
How they become rich anyway? And how do they live?
They become rich by purchasing housing plots in the city outskirts while they were in jobs at very cheap rates and persisted with their simple life style keeping the simple motto of saving per month as first preference! some invested in small businesses like a bakery shops and grocery shops!
How do they live? They think before they spend every single dollar!. In the above survey many came with their own umbrella and when they offered scotch and/or ordinary drink, surprisingly even though freely offered, these millionaires took a sip of ordinary drinks and did not prefer scotch saying a simple brandy or whiskey will do.
The walked on foot to their home when it is nearby and accepted as a simple a gift as a teddy bear! This was astonishing for those conducting survey because they imagined something else about millionaires!
The striking feature of these millionaires was their satisfaction at their own life and their self assurance and their independent life style with complete freedom for themselves while at the same time in a position to help their sons or daughters.
In one case they found that a busy lawyer who is a son of a school head master did not save anything and constantly in debts( loans to pay to banks) while his head master father was millionaire with two or three houses.
There were so many case studies.
I began to apply these to my own neighbourhood in Hyderabad or among our relatives including my own father! The case studies in the book are as much as true for own country and our surroundings. All the characters in the book, I could easily relate and find among those I see almost every day.
You must learn to live first and that is how you become a millionaire to live a self assured life with lot of freedom for the way you want to live.
The fact is anyone can become a millionaire!
A simple life style, frugality, investment in land and housing properties will make you a millionaire in an honest way.
Savings in banks or gold alone can not make you a millionaire. That is almost impossible because inflation would eat away all the money. Suppose my nani sold two tola of gold and saved 100 rupees, hidden away in trunk and died, these 100 rupees can not bring me even two cinema tickets today. Two cinema tickets cost me 240 rupees in an IMAX theatre. But had she purchased two tola of gold, today it will fetch me( after 40 years) nearly Rs.14000/= ( 23.2 grams of gold) or more. Which means Gold is only safe hedge against inflation but even Gold can not me a millionaire. Suppose grandma knew about Tata Chemicals and bought 100 shares for 1000 rupees. Today they will fetch me exactly ONE CRORE rupees.(The bonus shares, and dividends for 40 years added). Suppose my dear grandma came to Hyderabad city and purchased in the outskirts 300 yards for Rs.1500/= rupees in tilaknager or nallakunta area where only frogs would live ( at that time but now a thick, busy part of city ), today 300 yards in this area will fetch me Rs.30 lakh minimum up to 60 lakh or six million rupees.
Who said that you can not become a millionaire because you are not a businessman or lawyer or singer or film actor or well known doctor?.
