Author: Nandish Desai

PartnerJagoinvestor.com

10 learnings from my personal fitness journey (with webinar form)

Posted on by Nandish Desai

This article is dedicated to Late Rakesh Jhunjhunwala Sir. The article is not about him or on him, I just felt like dedicating to him.

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala

The article is written on health and trust me it has a direct connection with your overall life and wealth journey. We have trained hundreds of investors on retirement planning and our session starts with the conversation around ” Life Expectancy”. How long is the post retirement phase going to be after 60?- and we get answers like 80-85-90 yrs and and some claim they are going to live till 100 yrs.

Most investors are working hard to build a bigger corpus that can last till 80-85-90 or till hundred years of age. But are our body and habits truly aligned or prepared or are we preparing ourselves to live till 85-90-100 yrs?- is the question we all have to ask ourselves. If the answer is no, why have the retirement goal in the first place, why build a huge corpus in the first place? Why save and invest bigger amounts to secure monthly income till 90?

If you are not taking great care of yourself, if the stress levels are high, you stay very busy and there is very little or no time for yourself then this article will act as a wake-up call for you.

Health-worth vs net worth?

You may be shocked to know the way people treat their body is atrocious because we get our body for FREE, it is actually very bad and I can say that because I was doing the same for many many years. Most people are actively seeking to destroy it. The most natural state of vitality, aliveness and longevity is unknown because every person is actively engaged in destroying their body.

Take a pause and check your habits, your relationship with food and exercise and you will get your own answer or look around and examine people closely. I can say this because I was doing the same, no exercise, unhealthy food habits, no fixed time to sleep and working late nights. Make a list of things you are currently taking for granted.

There is really no excuse for abusing your body. Your body and your wealth are like your left and right foot on your journey to create an awesome life. Your relationship with your body shows how much respect you hold for yourself, taking extraordinary care of your body is the primary requirement or condition to create an awesome life.

We witness people in our life who suddenly go bankrupt ( diabetes , blood pressure , etc ) in the area of health, boom they have achieved their goal of destroying their body. We get so busy in our day to day life, the body becomes like a non-stop machine and in that process our health takes a back seat very easily.

It has been 5-6 years since I became conscious about my own fitness and health, I became a student of health and wellness, I started reading and applying things to my life to check what impact it can have on my quality of life. I am writing this article to share some of the health and fitness rules of my life.

This blog is about personal finance but trust me one breakdown in the area of health and all your wealth and the biggest of the corpus can lose its meaning.( Now, you know why the article is dedicated to Late Rakesh Jhunjhunwala sir)

Why take care of your body? ( In the first place)

Your body is a place for you to see and experience the world. It is the vehicle which helps you to experience being loved and for you to give love to others. You would not throw a televisIon set down a flight of stairs and then expect a clear picture from it. Yet you treat your body worse than you treat the television set and you expect exquisite performance from your body.

Our body comes without an owner’s Manual and so you must take it on yourself to learn about how to take great care of your body. The neglect of learning about your body is itself a way you neglect your body. When was the last time you learned something powerful about your body and you also put into practice what you learned? Unless you can say that you do that everyday, you are abusing your body through neglect.

Check for yourself are you addicted to some substance? Are you putting things into your body which you know is difficult for your body to handle? If you are committed to living an awesome life and you want to enjoy the corpus you are creating then you have to give that up, right now.

If you are unwilling to give that up, you are not serious about living an awesome life, you do not want to enjoy the wealth you are currently slogging for. It is possible that you may find this article “interesting”, a lot of people are interested in fitness and health conversations, they read, discuss and have all the world’s knowledge of health and fitness. But I give a damn to people being interested, being interested is lousy.

I want you to get off your back-side and start taking actions regarding your health. If you choose not to take actions , please know that you and I are not in the same reality. If you want to get on my wave-length there is more required than passing your life being interested in living an awesome life.

Oh come on when you give-up something( laziness, casualness, habits) there will be pain but do it anyway. This article has to be a turning point in your life, write to me [email protected] what is going to be your health vision from here onwards, what are you willing to give-up. Get damn serious about taking care of yourself. As I said before, health and wealth are like your left and right foot, it is going to be a long journey ( retirement and overall life) and you cannot jump on one foot for a longer period of time. You need both legs strong, health and wealth.

10 learnings from my personal fitness journey

Now, let me share top 10 changes or learnings from my personal fitness journey:

1. Intentional movement

What is important here is the word intentional, bring some intentional movement in your life. From morning till night you get many such opportunities to bring intentional movement in your life. I never use elevator in my office

2. Morning Regime

For years I started my day by consumed tea in the morning, instead of tea I now consume the green smoothie. It has kale, celery and other herbs which helps me to rich start my day very powerfully. Having a powerful gut is critical, our gut is like our body headquarter and we have to take care of our gut. Most diseases starts or are connected to a bad gut.

3. Break-up with Sugar

It was very hard for me to give-up on sugar. Trust me it is not going to be easy to quit sugar. An average Indian consumes more than 70 KG of sugar in one year. Sugar carries empty calories and puts you on a slow poison.

4. Stop Dieting

I think the word dieting is dangerous, it puts you in a temporary zone where you get results but you fail to hold on to those results in the long run.

I am not on diet, I have made some lifestyle changes which I can stay consistent with all my life. You will find many fancy diet programs and books on the internet, trust me you do not need any of them.

All you need is, ” Whatever you put into your mouth has to be high in nutrition”- Simple
Every plate of mine has – 40% Protein, 20% carbs,40% fibre ( Have these three in all your meals and you will start seeing the results)
5. Calisthenics

I spend time doing body weighted exercises, you actually do not need heavy weights or fancy gym equipment. Our body weight is enough for us to get the desired results. There are some basic movements one needs to understand, craft a simple daily schedule and follow it. I think every alternate day 30 min workout is all you need to keep yourself fit.

  • Push movement – Eg. push-ups
  • Pull movement – Eg. pull-ups or hanging exercises
  • Legs – exercises like squat or hinge

6. Breathing

Breathing is life and we have forgotten to breathe properly. Three times a day I do the 5-5-5 Breathing exercise. In this exercise you inhale at the count of 5, hold your breath on the count of 5 and release on the count of five. You repeat the same 3-5 times in a day. Let your colleagues watch you, don’t think about what they will think , practice breathing as and when you find time.

7. Water intake

If you want to enhance your fitness you have to keep yourself hydrated throughout the day. I think water is the key ingredient in weight loss and it helps to enhance your overall fitness level. Drinking 8-10 glasses of water is extremely important, make this a rule in your life. Stay hydrated, have clean water and most importantly no soda or clod drinks or packed juices. They are liquid but not really good for you.

8. Skip breakfast

For years I was told breakfast is the most important meal of our day and we can’t dare to skip it. Well, I did not find the same in my research, it suggests that I skip my breakfast and it has worked for me. If you think having breakfast is vital for you then you can continue the same.

It is also important what you eat in your Breakfast, avoid cornflakes and cereals and watch for the ingredients. Do not consume things you do not understand. Have fruits at the start of the day or have some hot water and lemon in it to kick start your day.

9. Weight is a wrong measure

Most people are weight watchers, they measure their overall fitness by how much they weigh right now and what is their dream weight. Your weight is just one of the measures, you have to check how much muscle mass you have, what is your BMI and other internal parameters. When you get your body profiling done you get to know about so many hidden things about your body. If you want to take care of your body, get your body profiling done once every month. You can also buy a good weight scale which does body profiling on amazon or some other website.

10. Intermittent fasting

Fasting is truly magical , it is very powerful and it helps to reset your body to its natural rhythm. Start small , no need to go for long fasting windows, learn to first ride the wave, fast for 5 hours or 6 hours and slowly increase the window of fasting. Intermittent fasting is about giving a break to your internal machinery so that healing can take place. Instead of reading a lot about intermittent fasting just start implementing.

Here is a short fitness test video by Himali Desai for you.

Let me know in the comment section, if you were able to finish it or not?

And do share the article with others who can benefit from this article.

If you want to join a webinar I am doing next weekend on 18th Dec, 2022 at 10 am to share more about my fitness journey, here is the link to sign-up, and we will send the joining link (zoom).

Happy Health and Wealth to all!

9 Money Lessons from Jyoti after she lost her Husband (Real Life Story)

Posted on by Nandish Desai

Here is a real-life sharing from one of our clients on personal finance lessons she learned after she suddenly lost her husband. We asked her to jot down her journey for the benefit of other investors and we thank her that she agreed.

Over to Jyoti Iyer ..

—

Hi Everyone,

I am here to share my story and personal finance takeaways with all of you. I want to thank Jagoinvestor for giving me this opportunity. I hope my words and sharing make a positive difference in your life and do share the article with more and more people in your life.

Here is my journey………

A daughter of an honest middle-class gentleman meets the son of retd. army personnel through Shaadi.com both in mid-30 get married in 2007.

Like every service class people, life begins like earning saving and living within the means. A lovely daughter is born to us in 2008. We started investing (rather than putting) money in FDs, Insurance policies, and Gold as when suggested by insurance agents or at the financial year-end to save taxes, big-ticket purchase only during Diwali (as would get a good discount).

During this time my husband Raj asked me to take care of our financial papers, our educational documents, and other documents, to pay bills and maintain records of it.  During sorting and filing of our records, I found many mismatches, as he is South Indian, they don’t add surname, in some documents he had his surname mentioned and some didn’t somewhere his name was misspelled.

Personal Finance Lessons by Women

Updation of documents

It took around 2 years of time to set the record straight including mine like adding my name in ration card, updating PAN card (name and address change) bank details (name and address change), marriage certificate, updating nominations in our important documents, the opening of a joint account, etc. Also, he encouraged me to do online transactions for utility bills and booking of FDs rather he was in favor of doing all the things which were technology-driven.

All this led me to think about how to save for our daughter’s education, marriage, and retirement. I had always heard from my masi that it’s the woman of the house who brings up the family. What she meant was with sheer grit and determination a woman can make her family prosper by contributing or earning extra income, proper saving & investing (gold & real estate), and strict control on spending or indulges. Another relative once said that she invested in MFs and stocks, and she is eating the malai now (reaping benefits). This remained at the back of my mind and the Quest to know about mutual funds began.

The Learning phase

I started reading articles in TOI and then shifted to reading ET wealth. I was hooked and eagerly waited for Monday, especially loved the Family finance section- in this a family’s current assets, liabilities, and investments breakups were given and as per the goals of the family how investments can be rearranged & done to achieve those. Week by week used to read them and was motivated. This led to a discussion with Raj and finally decided to give it a shot.

I communicated with the ET wealth team, they agreed to do a photoshoot and the article was published in Jan 2014 that how to balance and reorganize our finances. Somehow, we could not muster the courage to do all the rebalancing it was difficult to do away with multiple existing policies and settle down for one or two good ones. (Old habits and notions die hard). later started researching more on the internet reading blogs and articles stumbled upon Jago Investor and stuck to it.

What I liked most was it’s true to its name many articles were an eye-opener and the language is Simple English. This made me attend their Bootcamp online, finally, when I was convinced, I registered for a live workshop conducted by them in Mumbai July ‘15. After the workshop we were confident and finally started our investment journey with them.

How our life took a turn.

Fast forward 20-21, due to covid, the market was down we feared for our investments but still continued doing regular investments (SIP).

On July 21 we booked our 2nd home, myself and Nandish were against dipping from our investments, but Raj was of the opinion that it’s one life and how much are we going to keep on investing,  when to enjoy the fruits of it, another argument by him as you are there to save and we will build this corpus again I am earning ( probably was expecting a raise in salary in coming years) so don’t worry.

He was extremely happy and proud of me he said Mom (ma-in-law) would have been very happy and proud. Nandish’s view was by the year-end we could have achieved our target which was initially planned for ten years.

Life took an ugly turn on 4th Sept 21, Raj started vomiting very badly he was unable to speak, his hand started twisting and he was unable to sit, then I called our neighbor requested him to arrange for an ambulance, and immediately shifted him to the nearby hospital. Even in the ambulance he vomited and still was unable to speak.

After initial diagnosis and CT report Doctor said it was a paralytic attack. Either he to be operated or given injection (blood thinner) operation was ruled out as they did not have neuro dept. So, it was decided to give him the injection. In the meanwhile, I informed his friend and him to his other friends. They all came immediately and took all charge each one used their contacts and references took 2nd opinion of the best doctors available in Mumbai.

It was decided that he be shifted to a better hospital where neurosurgeons and other facilities are available, even they contacted and consulted the best Neurologist in the city finally took the decision to shift him to Fortis Kalyan in the middle of the night. They took all precautions, handled his discharge, and got admitted to Fortis.

I take this opportunity to thank our neighbor Mr & Mrs. Satpute, Raj’s friends Sachin, Shailendra, Ashish & Pratik, My Chanda Masi, and Ramesh Mamaji, My cousins Nitin, Ghana Bhaiya, Mom, relatives, and our daughter who stood by us like pillars.

Those six days were a roller coaster ride hospital staff would call me to ask me to sign papers as they would be giving a certain injection or treatment. Every day it was new hope sometimes and complete despair at other times. Even the treating Doctor said we have given the best possible treatment to him, now if his body responds to treatment even 10% of it, we will take him out from this and the recovery path would be longer it could take 8-9 months.

After hearing all this a sudden chill ran up my spine. I started thinking about how I will manage things cost of medicines rehab expenses plus our regular expenses etc thinking about all this I became numb.

I discussed his health condition with his boss Denis and requested him to grant medical leave he also assured me not to worry till the time he recovers and join back, they will continue with his salary. It was such a relief.

I take this moment to thank Mr Denis and his staff from Dubai and Management & staff from his head office in Leer, Germany.

Whenever I used to visit him in the hospital seeing him lying down tied with all the gadgets it was painful to even the beeping sound of the monitor was deafening, standing aside his bed I would murmur please wake up please open your eyes if not for me but at least for Hirono(our daughter).

Each passing day was difficult. There were some or other complications which affected his organs; it was from bad to worse.

On the 10th early morning, the inevitable happened. He had a cardiac arrest. Doctors gave all possible treatments to revive him but couldn’t save him.

We lost him forever. We miss his laughter, sense of humor, and love.

The next steps…

After 15-20 days, thought of doing first things first like taking xerox copies of the death certificate, PAN Card, Aadhar card, started applying for the insurance claims, also informed Nandish to stop SIP, surrendered his credit cards. Also applied for a legal heirship certificate. Here I would like to thank Pathakji and his team for giving proper advice on legal matters.

The only liability was the car loan which we bought in 2019. Brainstormed with many ideas on how to use the car to repay the loan, discussed with Raj’s friends, my cousins and Nandish finally came to the conclusions to square it off. Here I would like to thank Nadir (ex-boss) who purchased our car and thus could square off the loan.

Didn’t face many difficulties in claiming insurances as only one required a notarized indemnity bond and in others I was the nominee. But term insurance took a lot of time for the settlement also was asked to submit many documents like death certificates, KYC documents, medical records, cremation certificates, salary slips, employer’s certificates, leave records, bank statements and many more. It was quite intimidating and overwhelming to fill out that form Nandish helped and explained how to go about it.  After submission was anxious as the company goes through a detailed investigation. Still, it took 3 months of time for the settlement.

Now the majority of the settlements in place, Nandish has helped in chartering a financial plan for our future, which will take care of emergencies, income, and growth for the future.

Seeing and experiencing these events throughout my life I am motivated to help others in making proper financial decisions in one’s life. Hence, I took the NISM VA exam and now am a certified professional.

9 Key take always from my life situation

1. See that you learn the basics of personal finance

There are many who avoid learning about personal finance. I invite everyone to learn the basics, be on websites like Jago investor or other platforms but see that you learn the basics of personal finance.

Learn about different avenues of investments, insurance so that you can manage your finances and live powerfully. There are professionals to help but as an investor, it is your primary responsibility to know the basics of investments.

2. Discuss Finances with your family members:

In our Indian families, people avoid discussing money and finances. Well, that is where all the problem lies, that is where personal finance conversations take a back seat. I invite you to have a discussion about money, investments with your family members. Spread the awareness amongst your family members. Take the lead in your family to educate more and more family members about personal finance.

3. Encourage women to participate:

I urge women to take charge, I urge women to take active participation on the personal finance front. My life situation taught me to be in charge of money and finances and I do not want other ladies to learn about personal finance only when life forces them to learn. Whatever may be your educational background, it is extremely important to participate actively on the personal finance front.

4. Data is GOD, keep data impeccable:

Make sure your data and documents are impeccable, there are no spelling mistakes and important information like the nominee name is updated. Trust me it takes a lot of effort when data and documents are not kept impeccable.  You have to invest your time into making changes and it drains your energy.

All the KYC-related documents should also be thoroughly checked and kept updated so that the transition remains smooth.

5. A Joint Bank account and a joint investment account is a must:

Husband and wife should have a joint bank account and investments should be done jointly. This helps them to have a smooth transition if something goes wrong with one of the partners.

I was about to handle my investments smoothly because of the joint arrangement. It was a great help and so I have added it to my list of leanings.

6. When it comes to insurance, look for accuracy:

My greatest learning is to buy insurance under proper guidance and do not focus on saving money. If the information filled by the online call center is incorrect you can face a lot of issues at the time of claim settlement. We bought an online term plan and it was hard to figure out things.

I was guided by Jago investor in this matter, initially, I was told after 180 days I will get the insurance money and the investigation also took a lot of time.

Make sure you buy life and health insurance from someone you trust and make sure you do not hide any information from the insurance company. Even at the time of claim settlement make sure you do not hide any information.

7. Start investing early:

Start investing early; I know you must have heard the same from Jago investor and from many other people. It is very important to start early so that with a small amount also you are able to create a bigger corpus. In the process of wealth creation, it is more about time than the amount you invest.

8. Operate from the plan:

Operate from the document or the plan you get prepared for yourself. I have made a commitment to help more and more people to have their planning exercise done. I will continue to share my journey so that people start planning their finances. I know the importance of planning and having a mentor.

Nandish is my mentor and I know he will make me win in the game of wealth creation. I also, wish to coach people in their finances, with this article I am announcing myself to be the most powerful financial independence coach. I will help more and more people to reap the benefits of planning.

9. Stay in the game

Personal finance is a game played with the tool called consistency. If you start investing stay consistent, if you start insurance stay consistent in paying the premiums. If you get your planning done see that you stay consistent with your plan.

Conclusion

My Mentor, Nandish Desai asked me to jot down my learning and to share the same with the world. He encouraged me to write the points so that the learnings stay alive and they also help and inspire others. I have shared my heart with the world through my learning and I will now be helping others in shaping their financial life. I will help others to transform their finances.

Note from Jagoinvestor/ Nandish Desai

Hey Jyoti Ji, thanks for opening up and sharing your heart with all of us, thanks for your generosity and courage. I literally had tears when I read the first draft, so happy to see you sharing and growing as a wealth coach.

A lot of people think you need a lot of knowledge and certifications to become a wealth coach, in fact, what you need is a commitment to serve and nothing else.

I am sure you will do wonderful as a wealth coach, I will keep helping you from time to time to help you set up your practice

– Nandish Desai

10 money lessons for millennials (Recent corporate webinar by Jagoinvestor)

Posted on by Nandish Desai

We recently had an opportunity to conduct a personal finance session for the millennial.

For those who don’t know this word, millennial means the people who are just reaching their adulthood. They are quite young, and may be just out of college and recently started earning money. I am writing the article so that we can inspire other young professionals to kick start their journey as an investor.

This was my first experience leading a session ONLY for the millennial

Personal Finance for millennial or young investors

It was done for an organization called Squareboat based out in Gurgaon and the experience was awesome. I was amazed to see a high level of energy, participation, and hunger to learn from each participant.

I started with a statement, “I am leading the session to my Younger Self and not to an audience”.

I covered things which if someone would have shared with me at the start of my career, my financial life would have been very different. At the start of my career, I was not at all serious about managing money. I was extremely casual and would only focus on spending.

I was also having some junk financial products in my financial life which later discarded. I was candid with them, it was a casual chat with personal finance as a theme.

Webinars conducted for various companies by Jagoinvestor

10 important lessons and realizations from the session

Here are the 10 things which I realized from the session and I am putting them up here. You can forward this for your young brother or sister or any other person you know can benefit.

1. The first 10 years of our career are CRUCIAL

All the major Mistakes happen in the first 10 years of our working life. We taste the blood called “salary” and start spending money on things we love the most. The first few years set the tone of our entire financial journey and so it is important to manage money well at the start.

In the first few years, people are so busy in establishing their career that they end up buying many financial products without doing the homework. The participants learned an important lesson to avoid common mistakes and to keep their financial life on track.

2. The Unit System

I shared my Unit system theory with them.

After I got serious about my financial life I decided to work on my net worth. Now, I was always scared of the word “Crore” and so I use to call “10 Lakh” as one Unit. I started playing for the units so that I can stay relaxed in the area of money and the word crore does not put pressure on me.

In the session, I invited the participants to play for their first unit. It can be 10 Lakh or 5 Lakh or even 1 Lakh. Many liked my Unit System and they started sharing about their first Unit.

3. Learn to think small

I invited participants to think small.

Everyone wants to directly become Warren Buffet. Well, first you have to learn to become better in any area and then great. The world always teaches us to think BIG and almost all of us have bought the idea of thinking BIG.

There is nothing wrong with thinking big, but to think small can also be equally powerful. I invited the group to go very slow and to set a very simple and easy goal as an investor. I wanted them to have a sense of winning and the idea was to help them to experience winning.

We took examples of the power of starting small, we saw what Rs. 5000/-. Rs. 10000/- and Rs. 20000/- can help them to create in the next 20-30 years of time frame. They loved the idea of starting small and then continue to expand their game of wealth creation.

4. Become Rich Slowly

I was sharing with them the conversation between Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffet in which Jeff asked Warren, “You have shared all your secrets around wealth creation with the world through your talks, videos, and books but then why not many people are RICH”, the answer by Warren buffet was, ” Because not many people want to become rich slowly”.

Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett conversation

Yes, everyone wants to become RICH quickly and that is where all the problem starts.

I invited the millennial to focus more on the word “CREATION” than the word ” WEALTH”. It takes time and there are no short cuts. No stock or 1-2 actions will make you a millionaire quickly. Wealth creation is always like a plant it grows slowly, row by row, Inch by inch.

Well, that is exactly how wealth grows.

5. Goals are always a by-product

We did an interesting and insightful conversation on giving and serving. The song which is being played in our mind is the “want” song.

  • I want a car
  • I want a house
  • I want an iPhone

Our want list occupies 99% of our Mind’s bandwidth and in that, we forget to serve our financial life, we forget to serve people, we forget to serve our organization.

Jagoinvestor Session Snapshot

The participants learned the biggest lesson of their life and decided to give time, commitment, consistency, and discipline to their financial life and if they do so the goals will automatically start entering their world. I wish someone would have given this learning or insight at the start of my career, for many years I was finding wealth on the wrong side of the river.

6. One action at a time

I made a statement at the start, “only action products WEALTH”– It is not the thinking, worrying, planning, imagining, visualizing that helps to create wealth.

The book called, “Think and Grow Rich”, is a great book but the title is totally misleading. The participants learned the most important personal finance lesson that, “Only action Produces WEALTH”- One action at a time, I asked them to find their first personal finance action and encouraged them to complete the action in the next few days.

7. Cost of Delay

I did not want the session to be preachy and so instead of asking them to start investing, I showed them two different scenarios, what if they start now and what if they delay and I left for them to decide. After seeing the example and calculation they decided not to delay their investment journey anymore and they made a commitment to start their monthly Investments.

I was happy to see the session was helping them to give a new direction to their financial life. It was more like a wake-up call for many and was making them a confident investor.

8. Power of HABITS

Our Habits have the power to make or break our financial life/future. Habits are Powerful, they are brutal and they are our invisible enemies to create wealth. It is absolutely normal to have habits but the problem starts when habits start to have us. That is from where the real disconnect happens between you and your financial life.

Almost all participants admitted some habits they need to work on to improve their financial life. I think it is a very important realization and it takes courage to accept your disempowering habits. At the start of the session, I invited every participant to bring in a lot of honesty and they did so, I appreciate them for their honesty.

9: Compounding is the way of Life:

Again a very powerful conversation learned by the participants. Personal finance is not about money, it is about YOU. We all have learned compounding as a concept and we all know the formula of compounding but it is about practicing compounding as a way of life.

I invited them to practice compounding beyond personal finance, maybe in the area of health, learning a new skill, or doing some activity on a regular basis. No Break. We took the example of being overweight, calories compounds, good work you do in your Organization compounds, efforts compound, and money also compounds- In Life everything compounds and we need to build a strong relationship with compounding.

10 The One-page action Plan

I wanted the session to end with a simple and easy action plan. I gifted a one-page simple action plan to all the participants, I am sure the actions listed will help them to kick start their journey as an investor. I promised them at the start, if they complete the training you won’t be the same person in the area of money.

The participants shared their results and actions before ending the program and it filled by heart with a lot of happiness.

Are you an HR or Entrepreneur?

I invite all the HR Professionals, entrepreneurs, and everyone to join hands with us in spreading financial awareness. You can become our partner in spreading financial awareness.

Let’s GIFT financial wellbeing to others, trust me there are many who are waiting for a helping hand and you and I can become their helping hand. The conversations we do helps an investor to reset their mind and personal finance actions and it saves them to create wealth, avoid the debt trap, and have a smooth financial journey.

If you are an HR of any company or someone who can help us conduct the sessions for investors. Do fill up the form below.

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We have already done programs for several Companies like HPCL, Wabtec, Tata communications, Airbnb, IAS officers Academy, BSF, symbiosis, and many other institutions and Organizations. I invite you to join hands with us to make a difference in someone’s financial journey.

Why that IDIOT is RICH and I am not ?

Posted on by Nandish Desai

I got a call from one of my friends. He was feeling down in life and wanted some help on how to deal with the current negative scenario, he asked me some questions and requested for some coaching, he started with questions like

  • How can I make more money?
  • How can I have a blog like yours?
  • How can I build a successful business?
  • How can I increase the flow of money?
  • How can I increase my income and get more clients?
  • How can I have things which others already have?

In his words I could see, he was comparing himself with others and so I asked him to prepare his IDIOT LIST. I told him that even I was the same a few years back and how I connected with my flow of money.

Rich vs Poor Jealousy

I asked him to sit with a blank sheet of paper with a question written on the top – “Why that idiot is rich and I am not?”

He started writing about people who had more money, more resources, more clients, more cars, bigger bank balance, and more stuff than he was having (even my name and Manish’s name was in his list).

After he was done, I asked him to empty his mind. I asked him who he would be without his idiot list? (He minus his idiot list)

He said, he will have freedom.

An Empty mind will lead to wealth creation

I asked him to GIFT that very same freedom to himself, because only an empty mind, a free mind can lead to wealth creation, only an empty mind can get him peace with himself.

You can’t create things if you are having a war in your mind. I told him, first your mind has to get free if you want your mind to serve you. The process is simple, write your thoughts on paper, and question your thoughts till you experience freedom.

More money, more business, more income, and more clients were not his real business, his thinking was his real business and I asked him to focus only on his true business – “his thinking”.

I kept asking him to work on his thinking, to hold a clear mind, once the mind is clear all the good things will happen on its own. I asked him to get rid of his idiot list. We see the world, compare ourselves with others and that is where the problem starts if there was nothing to compare there would be no rich or no poor person on this planet.

Every single person who you meet on the street wants to make money, in fact, a lot of money. I think it is your right to be RICH but then why do people struggle in the area of money.

“Making money” is a myth

Consider that in reality there is no “making money” in life because the money is already out there. All the Money is out there and now you simply need to fill in your little bucket between the age of 25 to 52. (The range can be different for you)

Let me share some elements we covered in our coaching conversation, maybe the elements can help you to fill in your MONEY buckets.
Consider that money has a flow to it. It has a rhythm to it and no matter how hard you try to hold on, it will find its way and continue to flow.

If you are experiencing any kind of struggle in the area of money it means you have disturbed the flow of money in some way.

People think our job is to spread financial awareness, write articles, make financial plans, and coaching people. No, our core job is to help people to connect with their flow of money.

Here is something you can do to connect with your flow of money

1. Stop trying to have money and just be like Money

Really stop trying to make money and start to be like money. The money will flow from you to me and from me to you, it passes through the phone, it passes through the plastic cards, it passes through wires and it crosses countries, moves from one company to another. It sees no limitation it simply flows.

Everything around you right now someone has seen the opportunity and filled his or her bucket with the money earned. The more you get in touch with the flow of money the faster you move towards wealth.

When you are like money you will find that Opportunity is always knocking and you just need to open the door. The computer on which you are reading this article someone saw the flow of money in it, the software, the internet provider, the chair you are sitting on, the phone that you own, the food that you had today.

There are so many businesses to be started, so many services to be offered. If you can see money in everything you will see opportunity in everything. Wow, this is what happens when you start to be like money. You will feel the flow right now at this moment. Take some time and make some notes if some new thoughts came to you. The flow is touching base with you and I request you to respect it.

On hearing the above words my friend said, ” Oh my god, there are so many opportunities, so many things he can do to create wealth and he needs to get rid of his idiot list. I just need to be like money, I don’t need to have money”

2. Love, Serve and Create

You have already learned from Manish about term plans, investment ideas, how to save tax, etc. He is not good but great at what he does. One more thing you can learn from Manish apart from personal finance is these three words Love, serve, and create.

He has dedicated his life to creating Jago effect in people’s life be it personal finance or any other area. He simply loves to serve that’s all.

Earlier we use to work for 7 days a week and we use to hate holidays and Sundays as they take us away from our love, our work. Manish has replied to hundreds of people whom he does not even know and he will never ever meet most of them in his lifetime.

This is being of service to people from morning to night. Being of service should be your 24×7 job. It should be your full-time job or I would say the only job you have.

If who you are is good enough, give yourself to the world; give your talent to the world. Here is how the two world’s are different.

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Operating from the Space of comparison/Jealousy Operating from the Space of love, service, and create
Focus is on what others are having Focus is on having a clear mind
Focus on needs Focus on putting the right seeds
Lack of freedom Freedom to live and work
The mind is loaded with a thousand thoughts The bandwidth of mind is free to think
lack of creative ideas free flow of creative ideas
stressful life stress-free life

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If your product is good, give someone an experience of it.

  • Look at who can you help today?
  • Who can you serve today?
  • Who needs your help?
  • Who is waiting for your service or product?

Don’t be tight-fisted, just keep giving because of the flow of money fastens when you give.

This is when you start creating wealth and building wealth in life.

3. Break the Attachment

Your strong attachment to money actually keeps you away from it. You should not hold on to money, you must keep it in the flow, use it wisely, spend it freely, give and share it lovingly.

Continue to invest in yourself. It can be a book a program or some new skill-building. The day you stop investing in yourself you start blocking your flow of money.

Is it the amount or the feeling of giving the amount that holds you back?

This is one of the biggest mistakes you make as an investor as you are stopping the flow of money in your life when you are in grip of attachment. Invest in anything and everything that helps you grow in life.

Like my friend, 10 years back even I use to think “Why that idiot is RICH and I am not?”

Break your attachment with money

I was so wrong I was just not focusing on my life’s flow of money. Some realizations in life and my coaches connected me to my own flow of money. And I helped my friend to connect with his flow of money and I am sure the article will help you to connect with your own flow of money.

Do share your views on what actions you are going to take to connect fully with your flow of money. What learning’s have you taken from this coaching conversation? Do feel free to write and express yourself fully in the comments section.

Join our “DIY – Financial Planning” Online Program

We are very happy to share our “DIY – Financial Planning” program which is helping many investors in planning 10 important areas of their financial life.

Click here to register for this program

It is a very simple and a powerful program; we invite you to explore the program if you think financial planning exercise can take your financial life to the next level then see that you join the program at the earliest

Past, Present and the future – Wealth Creation & Life

Posted on by Nandish Desai

I (Nandish Desai) and Manish Chauhan recently did zoom call for our wealth creation clients and from the call I am sharing a few points with all of you.

The three words past, present and future have connection with our life, every area of life and also our wealth creation journey. We all have some past history; present moment and we are all walking towards a future. The stock market also has a past history, present condition and is moving forward.

The sharp correction in the stock market has made many investors think whether they should stay invested or quit the market- Kindly go through all my points in the article and also go through our zoom call recording to find out your own answer. I am not here to ask you to stay invested, I will also not advise you to quit. All I can do is share my experiences, share my thoughts which will help you to take your own call.

1. Past, Present, Future- what space are you in?

All the workshop or offline events we have done we see investors operating from three different spaces- Some are regretting about missing past investment opportunities or regretting about starting their investment journey late, some are shit scared about the future (they constantly worry about the future) and very few operate from the PRESENT space – The decisions and the actions you take today will shape your future.

In fact, NOW is the future, if you want to see your future check your present actions be it wealth creation or area of health or any other area of your life.

The current market correction, different investors have chosen a different path. Some have chosen to quit the game and some saw it as an opportunity to invest more, some have shown the courage to stay in the game- If you operate from a long-term vision, the vision will help you to shape your present actions. If you have an empowering future in front of you, you will always stay in action in the present moment- Let an empowering vision drive your financial journey and not the markets.

2. The biggest mistake advisor, Investor and companies have made

Making returns the hero of your financial life is one of the biggest mistakes.

When markets fall only those who have made returns the hero of their financial journey suffers and starts to panic- Why not make discipline the hero of your financial journey, who not make consistency the hero of your financial journey- Wealth creation is a game of discipline and not about what is happening in the stock market.

 

If I have to give an example a few years ago people use to go to the watch movie based on face value.

If Amitabh Bachchan is in the movie people go and watch the movie, the scenario has now changed, people look for good content and the hero of the movie is not just the actor but a good story or a good script- I think it is a time to get authentic about choosing the wrong hero – choosing Discipline will give you complete peace of mind and you will start to enjoy the overall game of wealth creation.

Let’s choose a new hero, let’s choose discipline.

3. You don’t think about leaving a legacy

Let’s say we are in 2055 and you are sitting with your grandkids – What is the greatest wisdom you will share with them about wealth creation? I am sure you will ask them to stay disciplined, start early, stay invested, don’t try to time the market, don’t panic when markets fall etc. etc.

Now, when markets fluctuate you have to remind yourself about the wisdom you are going to share in the year 2055 with your next generation.

Your financial life is one big story and at the end your financial journey has to inspire you and your next generation- A lot of people must have stopped their SIP or must have quit in the 2020 market fall, the decisions you take today will shape your future money story and so be careful and take actions which helps you to leave amazing legacy.

May be the money you invest into equity you are not able to enjoy the fruits but at the end you will have a great story to tell them. Think in terms of legacy and not just returns.

4. What you can learn from Sachin Tendulkar

Manish gives the following example in the offline events we do, ” He asks people what makes Sachin the greatest batsman in the realm of cricket?”-And we get answers like, because of his talent, because of his practice, because of his passion etc. from the audience. Now, he will agree to all the answers and will add a new dimension to the conversation.

He will say Sachin has played 37558 balls in his entire journey of cricket- Along with talent the real secret is about staying on the pitch and facing the balls- Investors also need to learn to stay on the pitch- Each day you stay invested in the market has to be seen as number of balls you have played – The investors who will face all kinds of balls will win the game of wealth creation.

You become Sachin in the world of investment.

Fund management, picking funds, designing portfolios, financial planning, and advisory are important but the most important aspect is staying invested (staying on the pitch) no matter what.

5. Heads or Tails

I started my investment journey in 2007, the person who asked me to start my SIP handed over a coin to me and asked me to get heads every time I toss the coin. I took some chances and it was a mix of heads and tails. I told him, “It is not possible to get heads every time”.

To that he said, ” Markets and tossing the coin are both the same, you will have risk and return both in the game of investment” I became very clear that there are two sides to the game of investment and I need to choose and embrace both- Risk and Return, Most investors only want returns, it’s like they only wants heads every time- It is just not possible.

6. Markets are non-linear

The person who helped me start my SIP also told me one more thing. He told me – “Nandish markets are non-linear by nature and they will always remain non-linear” Fixed Deposit is linear by nature; they are not volatile but markets are non-linear and volatile by nature.

Always remember, you make money only in non-linear products that is where all the opportunities reside. Now, when markets fluctuate, I always remind myself, ” Markets are non-linear and I got to love both ups and downs”

7. The nature of the market is growth

Market started from 100, then it became 1000 than 10000, 20000 and right now around 30000. Very soon it will become 50000 or 100000, Mark my words markets are a sum total of flats, dips and ups.

The nature of the market is expansion, it is here to expand and grow. it is up to you to stay in the game or not?- I have got many emails from clients and readers whether they should stay invested in the market or not- I just told them,” it is a choice you make, it is your wealth creation story and you are the writer of your money story”

8. Where the Equity train is headed?

One of the example I love giving is when people board a train which has open seats to occupy, some passengers will chose to sit on the left side of the train and some on the right side – Some think left side will show a better view and some think right side will show a better view- But the important thing is not left or right side of the train, the important point is where is the train headed, that is where the passenger has to focus on.

Right now, some are choosing to invest and some are choosing not to invest but focus has to be on where the equity train is headed. As an investor you are just a passenger, if you are clear where the train is headed you will start to enjoy both sides of the train.

9. Learn to take the pain in the start

Equity investment is always painful in the start- The first 3 years are always painful, after 7 years it stabilizes a bit and after 10 years things start to gain momentum.

The first 10 years creates a solid base for another 10-15 years of your investment journey. Without the first few years’ pain you won’t be able to create massive wealth. Pick any successful investor and you will find the pain element in their wealth creation journey. No pain – No gain (wealth creation).

Many of you if you are new to equity investment, learn to take the pain. Market dips are amazing, they build your immunity to create wealth.

10. Run your race

We ended the zoom call remembering Jim Thorpe, the runner, ” His shoes got stolen just before the race was about to begin, he found two different shoes from his garage, wore extra pairs of socks to fit in the shoes and won 2 gold medals” – He ran his race and did not get stopped by his circumstances. Below is his photo, where you will find him wearing different shoes and different pair of socks, it is not a fashion statement, it shows his commitment to complete his race, to win the race- No matter what

Now, apply his inner stance to your life

  • If your gym is stolen how you will exercise?
  • If your office is stolen, how will you work from home?
  • If your routine is stolen, how will you spend your day?
  • If your returns are stolen, how will you continue playing your game of wealth creation?

I exercise every day, evening 7 pm to 8 pm – No matter what.

My gym has closed (stolen like Thorpe’s shoes) but I have found a way to exercise. My health has in fact improved by staying at home, by following a strict diet. My team is working hard from their home. I am spending quality time with my kid and also doing household work to help my family.

Come on get in action, don’t think about what is happening in the market right now, focus on discipline. It is about your commitment and nothing else.

Conclusion

Go through all the 10 points once again and see how they can apply to your financial life and other areas of your life. Focus on having good health, focus on staying disciplined, stay away from all the negative noise outside and choose to stay on the pitch of wealth creation. If you have never experienced financial planning, we have the online course ready for you.

The first program of Jagoinvestor school is been launched and it is loved by many. Invest in the program and start planning your finances, choose to invest your time in your own financial future.

8 brutal mistakes investors make which destroys their financial life

Posted on by Nandish Desai

The year 2017 is coming to an end and I would like to share some of the common mistakes which I have witnessed in some investors financial life.

You can never have a perfect financial life but you can always live a regret-free financial life. I take this opportunity to thank those who opened up their heart while I was helping them in designing their financial life.

investors mistakes

While you are reading the article look into your own financial life and keep your own financial life under a scanner.

Here are the top 8 fatal mistakes

[su_table responsive=”yes” alternate=”no”]

Mistake #1 

Rely on company health cover

 Mistake #2 

Addiction to credit money or loans
Mistake #3 

Overs-pending because of Social Pressure

 Mistake #4 

Heavy Spending Habits
Mistake #5 

Over relying on Robo Advisory

 Mistake #6 

Getting attracted with FREE advice
Mistake #7 

Thinking that DIY is for everyone

 Mistake #8 

Start-up ka bhoot

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Mistake #1 – Rely on company health cover

I suggested someone to buy a 10 Lakh health cover in the year 2015.

The person works in a bank and at that time he was least interested in having his own health coverage. In 2017 he calls me and says, “I have got a serious health issue, cancer detected in my kidney and doctors have suggested me to cut a portion of my kidney”.

He said, the Bank is ready to give only 3 Lakh and the actual expense is of 8-10 Lakh. He requested, can something be done to buy a backdated health policy to which I said NO.

There are many people who rely heavily on their company health cover and sometimes end up paying a huge cost. One illness and it has the power to eat away all your savings. See that you are having health cover of your own.

Mistake #2 – Addiction to credit money or loans

You see so many advertisements these days talking about buying things on EMI and low-interest rates offered on personal and credit card loan. One of our clients tried to learn the craft of shuffling money using different credit cards.

He will take a loan from Credit Card A and then use Credit card B to pay the outstanding. Initially, he got some success but eventually, he got into a debt trap. He was already having a home loan and car loan while discussing his plan we suggested him not to add any more liability and to stay away from credit card and personal loans.

He did not listen and eventually, he had to stop his SIP, his savings got NIL and is now regretting.

Mistake #3 – Overspending because of Social Pressure

One of our clients kept aside 30 Lakh for his daughter’s marriage but eventually ended spending 70 lakh. All the extra spending took place in the name of “trying to look good”.

Under the pressure of relatives and on the name of customs, he ended up spending heavy money. The extra money spent took almost 10 years to accumulate and it was part of his retirement corpus.

I see many buying a bigger house, a bigger car etc to show they are successful. It’s time to get rid of such social pressure, as no one is going to come to fund your retirement or future goals.

Mistake #4 – Heavy Spending Habits

A lot of people like to spend on gadgets and things which they really do not need. As Warren Buffet once said, “If you buy things you don’t need, very soon you will have to sell things which you actually need”.

warren buffet money quote

The words and advice by him are precious and everyone should check their spending habits. What are you spending your money on? And what value is it creating in tangible form? Stay away from instant gratification and impulsive buying habits.

It can be buying an expensive gadget, Treadmill or some fancy home equipment.

Mistake #5 – Over relying on Robo Advisory

There are many Robo advisory companies in the market. Now, using technology is not a bad thing but one has to check the quality and not the price of using some platform.

A few months back I accidentally happen to get on call with a person called Shubham Kapoor (his actual name), he said he has got some advice from robo advisory firm and he is not confident about his Mutual Fund investments. He shared his portfolio with me and the funds suggested were all shit. I immediately asked him to take corrective actions.

His current portfolio is designed by me and the funds are doing excellent. As I was writing this article I asked him to share his experience and he immediately shared his experience with me. I have not edited a single word, we do not hold any grudge against any robo advisory firm but at the same time it has to deliver quality advice.

Hey Nandish,

Hope you are doing good, my experience with Robo advisory is underlined…..feel free to edit

” After Reading through numerous blogs mentioning the benefits of fee only financial planners I came across a Robo advisory firm (Let’s call it ABC ) which guaranteed Advice free from any Bias and manual intervention. I agreed to the concept and after paying the fee plugged in my input details in their software tool.

The financial advisor from the firm fixed up a meeting with me via skype and the suggested portfolio to me(Auto generated) carried out 8 MF’s(SIP in total was 20K/month).I was not comfortable with the cluttered portfolio and also with the choice of funds.

after deliberating for couple of months, I went ahead with the suggested MF’s as it was Robo advisory which hopefully knew better than me!

the review was six monthly and every time my question on choice of funds(as they were performing very poorly compared to benchmark) were unanswered, the responses were vague and confusing.

I was not expecting immediate gains but after 3 such reviews in a period of 18 months i was still not getting the comfort and trust level, this is when I decided to stop my investments via them.

I am still baffled whether suggestions made through Robo Advisory were free from any bias or whether they were for their own commissions, your call!!”

Now, if you are investing your money with help of a robo advisor or a real human advisor, you have to make sure that there some quality advice delivered to you and some alpha is generated (extra performance, which you can’t bring on your own)

Mistake #6 – Getting attracted with FREE advice

This one is my personal favorite, many people get tempted to free advice.

It comes from the person known to you, your relative, your friend or some uncle who calls himself or herself your well wisher. One of my relative sends a pdf to me on whats app to check whether he should continue with his ULIP policy or not? The ULIP was sold as free advice.

I and my team did some working at our end and sent below email to him.

Hi XXXXX,

The return given by Reliance ULIP policy is only 6.75%. ( Extremely bad performance). You have accumulated only Rs. 354591/- after investing 3 Lakh

The policy has no loyalty benefits nor any extra benefits. If you complete whole policy period, the return will be equivalent to FD.

If you would have done SIP of 5500 per month for 57 months you could have accumulated Rs. 392000/- at the rate of 12%.

SA is only 15 lakh ( It is not giving you any higher cover)

Coming to charges:

  1. Upfront charge is 6 % as premium allocation charge. You paid 3 Lakh and they have charged upfront Rs. 18300/-
  2. Fund Management charges, mortality charges is around 4 % annually. These charges gets deducted from the amount accumulated at the yearend.

Better to come out of this policy as it has completed 5 years ( in this December) and there is no lock-in

Nandish

Guys, there are no free lunch in this world, go to a professional and look for authentic advice (if you cant take it on your own). Sometimes we also go wrong with a few suggestions/advice but the intention is never wrong. If you are taking free advice from some website, Facebook group, whats app free group stop the same immediately.

Mistake #7 – Thinking that DIY is for everyone

There was this one person who was on our client list and on one fine day he decided he will start managing his money on his own. I was happy with his decision but somewhere I was not sure about his money management skills.

I had many plans for him on how I can help him to grow his money but he concluded things very fast. He read a few books, did some seminars and is also active on various blogs and forums.

His portfolio grew from 0 to around 75 Lakh in a span of 7-8 years. I do not have his current numbers but if the portfolio is not taken care of his profits will get eaten away by the market.

I have seen people losing huge chunks of money because they focused on buying 5 star rated funds but somewhere forgot to control the risk on their portfolio. You don’t just need to learn the craft of money management but you also need to master it.

In India every Indian is a teacher, preacher, financial advisor and a doctor. Just ask any 5 colleagues about , “How to reduce weight? and you will get different answer from all sides” .

There is no athlete in this world without a coach. If performances matters you can’t do it with DIY model. You can take a few decisions on your own but cant paint the entire picture on your own. DIY is for a set of people who have high understanding of subject, great control over their decisions making, and a lot of passion and time.

Mistake #8 – Start-up ka bhoot

I remember when I and Manish started our business.

I asked Manish to continue with his job till we are not 100% confident about our venture. In Jan 2011 finally he decided to leave his job and got full time into blogging and writing. I have worked with a few entrepreneurs who jumped into business without any homework on personal finance front.

I always feel business is about taking risk, it is always like a free fall. My only request is, do not get overwhelmed by your business idea and do not mix your personal finance with your business journey. It’s not always compulsory to leave your well paying job and start a business because its “Cool”.

Final words

The year is coming to an end and it’s time to embrace your financial mistakes. In just a few moments the page will turn and we will step into the year 2018. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes but at the same time have courage to accept your mistakes and work on them.

Wealth creation is all about becoming honest with your own self in the area of money. If you wish you can share some of your mistakes of 2017 and fresh commitments you are ready to make in 2018.

Thank you, each one of you for being our partner in spreading financial awareness. There is a lot more coming up in the coming year and we look forward to your same love and partnership.

How Jagoinvestor team trained BSF Jawans and Officers at Jaisalmer (Pics + Videos + Ebook inside)

Posted on by Nandish Desai

On 23rd September, we received an email invitation from Deputy Commandant (Dr. Lokesh Khajuria) for leading a personal finance session specially designed for Border Security Force officers and jawans. We immediately accepted his invitation and started our preparation for the same.

Manish flew from Pune, we packed our bags, prepared the presentation and started our Road Trip from Ahmedabad to Jaisalmer. Two more special people who joined us was our business coach Mr. Ravi Iyer and Abhikumar.

We were happy to know that people from defense follow jagoinvestor, it is popular amongst many officers and they had full faith in our work and philosophy.

Our Intention

The intention was to give something back to our nation. I and Manish simply wanted to make a difference in the financial lives of those who are guarding 7000 km of Indian border.

The context set was very simple – “Ek nayi pehel, ek nayi soch ki shuruat”

The context got fulfilled and we could see that the participants got clear about things they should do and not do in their financial life. We went with an open heart and mind and shared all that we knew or have learned about personal finance in the last few years.

Download and read Over 250 messages for defense personnel

We wanted our readers to be a part of this journey and so we invited them to share one message for the border force and along with the message we also asked them to share one “Money Tip”. We got some amazing messages and some very interesting Tip from over 250+ Investors.

We compiled the same in an ebook which you can download and feel free to share the ebook with your loved ones.

Our Experience

We do not have words to share what we experienced in those 4 Days. It was a space of discipline, commitment, and service.

The event positives were

  • Overwhelming Response from 100+ Participants
  • Curiosity to Learn more about ways to manage money
  • Event facilitated and supported by higher management

Check out our journey and some pictures

We would also like to share our journey to Jaisalmer and all the things we experienced there.

  

 

  

   

Some Thoughts shared by Dr. Lokesh Khajuria

We got an early morning Whatsapp message and I could not stop myself from sharing the same with you all.

Some years back, in the thinking mood, seating alone at BOP KHARIA… thoughts were flowing spontaneously..!!……

Desert has a natural and divine relationship with all human beings.

Almost all the major religions, prophets, saints originated from the desert. Immortal legendary love stories which are invoking human love even today originated from the desert. It is strange to find out what is it that desert wants to teach human beings?

……but if he searches hard enough, he returns with Oasis in his within !!!!! Deep in the desert, she is blessed with divinity… could make flowers bloom in the desert !!………

Dr. Lokesh

The circle of financial awareness is expanding

I and Manish are so happy to witness that the circle of financial awareness is expanding.

Very soon we intend to create the little army of people who are committed to spreading financial awareness. We will need your support in this work and we will ask for your help and support in the same.

If you wish to organize financial awareness program in your organization or company you can get in touch with us on [email protected]. Let’s get together and create a world that works for everyone.

Once again we thank Mr. O.P Sharma, Dr. Lokesh Khajuria, Birbal Sir, Manoj Sir and BSF Jaisalmer Team Gladiators

3G Theory- A must read for all investors

Posted on by Nandish Desai

We would like to share one of the recent interactions we had with one of our past clients. There is something important to learn from the interaction we had and so we thought of sharing the same with all of you.

Client: Hi Nandish, This is Sam (Name changed), Do you remember me, I joined your financial planning service 2 years ago.

Nandish: Yes, Sam I remember you, tell me how can I help you?

Client: You created my plan and suggested some actions to me but I did not listen to you at that time. You tried hard to push me but I did not take required actions. I am still at the same place where I was and also I feel I have lost two precious years of my financial journey. With god’s grace, my salary has now increased and I would like to once again start the planning journey with jagoinvestor. I have realized that to have a good financial life you need a have a mentor like you. I am sorry for not listening to you.

Nandish: That’s great Sam, I am happy to see you have regenerated your commitment, and you just had a wonderful realization and insight which can, in fact, change entire DIRECTION of your life.

The most important ingredient in living an awesome financial life (or life) lies in how coachable you are. Add this little ingredient ( of being coachable) to your financial life and see what happens to your financial world. Last time you paid fees to us, this time along with fees just be 100% coachable.

Sharing from my personal life I have a fitness coach, a music coach and a business coach to help me in different areas.

I owe my heart to them as they are my backbone. They coach me, stand for my success and they help me to move to the next level. I do not question my coach, I do what they ask me to do and the way they ask me to do. I surrender myself to them and allow them to mould me in their respective area of expertise.

It’s time to make a fresh start and fix your next 10 years; we are fully there to help you and to serve you in taking your financial life to the next level. The only request I want to make to you before starting the planning exercise is “Be Coachable”.

Start the planning exercise with an open heart and mind and take the required actions. People who are not coachable always remain stagnant in life. I and my team can help you if you are ready to be coachable. A lot of people think they are coachable but in reality, they are not. Our growth in life is directly proportional to how many teachers we have.

Client: I agree and this time I am ready to surrender and I promise I will take required actions.

Nandish: Great I will send the next actions to you.

Are you Coachable?

Let’s get out of Sam’s life and look into your own financial world. Are you coachable? Are you ready to take external help to plan your financial life? Are you ready to take external help to take your financial life to the next level?

If you are managing your own money are you qualified and experienced to take personal finance decisions on your own. A lot of people think if I can earn money I don’t need to learn how to manage money or they think paying for advice is foolish when everything is available online and you have bank relationship manager to provide free advice to you.

3G theory

I would like to share one theory with all of you; it is called 3G theory. Before leaving this world if I have to share one last theory then it will be “3G theory”

3G theory

3G stands for having 3 Gurus in Life

1. Health Guru

We all know health is wealth but most people do not take good care of their health. They have valid reasons why they do not exercise and live an unhealthy lifestyle.

Health is an area that takes back seat very easily and when something goes wrong with the body they start to realize their mistake.

Having a health guru is extremely important because that is how you will get accountable in the area of health. I get 10 minutes late and my coach will call me to keep my promise. I have a fitness coach and I feel it is one of the best investments I have. He is a no-nonsense guy, he just believes in action and he helps me to stretch my limits. If you do not have a health guru go and find someone at the earliest

2. Wealth Guru

Wealth creation is a game and you really can’t play this game alone. Before taking any important money-related decision even I do a short discussion with Manish so that I can have an external agreement. Personal finance takes a back seat very easily and it is extremely important to have a wealth guru.

I have coached hundreds of people and I can clearly see how their financial life has gone to the next level. I am not saying go to a wrong advisor and make him your guru, go to the best, pay the highest fee as that is how you will derive value from your association.

3. Professional Guru

You need someone who helps you to expand your body of work. Your work has to nurture you rather than pulling you down.

We at jagoinvestor have a business coach, we do regular sessions with him and he guides us on how we need to shape our blog and business. He has taught us many things and it has helped us to grow our business. We really love what we do, we are passionate and running a business is a skill that you can learn from someone.

Conclusion

People who have these three gurus’ will always have an edge over others.  You need a guru in all three areas to get accountable in the area of money, health, and work. The 3G theory is extremely simple, it says to find 3 Gurus and surrender to them. I have given the highest weightage to health guru because if health is not in place the other two areas will lose its meaning.

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13 things every investor should experience at least once in their financial journey

Posted on by Nandish Desai

It has been around 8 years we as a team are working in the personal finance space. We have worked with a few hundred investors one on one and there is a lot we have learned from their sharing and life experiences.

investors experience

We see personal finance as a journey and any journey will always have experiences. In today’s article we have tried to highlight some experiences which every investor should experience at least once, there is no compulsion but there is something to learn from each one of them.

1. Experience a bull run

For the first time in the history of Indian stock market the sensex has crossed 30k mark. The market is currently riding on a high PE (Price per earnings ratio).

Current PE is around 22-23. In such situation existing or those who started investing 3-4+ years back experience a spike in their portfolio. It’s a moment for them to celebrate as they see their wealth growing.

At the same time on the other side new entrants get attracted to the equity market. It is important to experience a bull run because in a bull run you are able to experience the real power of equity as an asset class.

Once you taste the blood (returns) you fall in love with equities. Bull market expands your risk taking ability, you get a sense of winning.

2. Experience bear market

A friend of mine jokingly came and said “ I made a killing in the market bust of 2008. I shot my broker.”

Remember 2008 market crash; the markets came down substantially in a very short span of time.

You can watch below video

Bear market is one of the greatest teachers in the world of investment. It teaches you patience, discipline and many other elements.

There are some very important lessons a bear market teaches an investor. Those who did not apply asset allocation strategy to their portfolio’s there money got wiped out in front of them. People chase returns but it is also important to check the risk on your portfolio. As your portfolio grows your risk also expands.

3. Experience Zero Bank Balance

Imagine having no money in your pocket and having a zero bank balance. It is a time when you hit the bottom and feel resigned and cynical about the world.

I have experienced the same. Some 9-10 years ago there was a time in my life when I had no job or business and was also not in a position to ask money from my parents. I approached a friend and took Rs.5000/- from him.

bankrupt no money in bank

At that time I was in Mumbai I went to Juhu beach, I took a stick and drew one line in the sand. I jumped the line and made a commitment to myself that I will never ever ask money from anyone and will create financial stability.

That day was a turning point in my life, my relationship with money and my career shifted and things started to move in the positive direction. The zero money day taught me a lot.

4. Work with a financial mentor

I always feel if you want to enhance your performance in any area than work with a mentor. It is said that when the student is ready teacher appears. Find someone and become a student of wealth.

Currently in my life I have a fitness mentor, business mentor and a hobby mentor. I surrender to all three of them and they help me in taking my life and business to the next level.

As an investor get a money mentor, someone who will help you to improve your money management skills, someone who will give an honest feedback to you. Do not have a mindset of saving all the time, some investors try to do everything on their own and are not willing to pay for quality advice. Your mindset is your true wealth and see that you invest in right  mentors.

5. Experience and engage with Charity

I recently came to know about someone who visits India every year and does charity of 1 crore. Last year he came and donated money to build an Olympic size skating ring for kids. Hundreds of kids practice on the skating ring every day and creating champions. What a wonderful GIFT he has given to young kids. This is awesome, this is inspiring and creates real fulfillment.

Below is a picture of the actual place.

Charity example

I don’t know the exact thing but there is some magic in doing charity. Charity adds a special dimension to your financial journey, it helps you to break your over attachment to money and teaches you the real meaning of the word “sharing”.

Charity gets you closer to abundance and you are able to free yourself from the trap called “scarcity”

6. Teaching about money to kids

Sunday morning you should do something special for kids to learn about money. Not just for your kids but it can be your society kids. Teaching is powerful; share your experiences about and around money with young kids or teenagers.

Most people do not take out time to teach KIDS about money.

You don’t have to be an expert, it is about sharing your heart with kids or teenagers in the area of money. You can do a small book read session, if you want we will help you in doing such short sessions.

7. Experience inflation

For this you need to leave your wallet, credit cards and mobile at home and carry limited cash with you. Take a Rs. 500 or 1000/- with you and see how much and what you can buy with that amount. Start making list of how many things you can buy.

The game is not about spending the amount it is about utilizing the amount in the best possible way. Trust me it won’t be an easy exercise.

inflation in India

When it comes to investing and inflation, what matters most is not what you make, but what you keep. As an investor you will always be having war with inflation and the only way you can defeat inflation is by learning discipline and simplicity.

Many investors are not in touch with inflation, they talk about it but they are not present to inflation when they get into the shoes of a spender.

8. Building personal finance library

People spend on having a home theatre but very few have a library at home. As an investor it is important to build your personal finance library. You will have some amazing thoughts while reading about money management.

Money management is a skill and you can acquire the same from reading good books. We have written three powerful books on personal finance, you can start with them and slowly add more books to your library.

Always remember your bank balance is directly proportional to your thought balance.

9. Experience the inner wealth and abundance

Go to some meditation retreat and experience meditation. I highly recommend vipassana meditation course to each one of you. Money exits in the outer world but the thoughts about money resides in your inner world. Your outer world around money is mere a reflection of what is going on inside you.

Doing a SIP or buying a real estate or buying GOLD is fine but what about your inner wealth, see that you don’t go bankrupt in your inner world. Creating balance between your inner and outer world is extremely important.

10. Experience debt

I am not saying if you are debt free then create debt. I have worked one on one with many investors who were in a debt trap and I could see their life changing after overcoming debt. Debt puts you on a slow poison and very few investors are able to break free from debt trap.

Debt Trap

When you fall in a debt trap it is not about money, it means you have mastered the art of mismanaging your financial resources. You fall in a debt trap only when you stop respecting money.

I have seen people putting a lot of effort in becoming debt free, I also know some of our clients who not just finished their debt but have created positive net worth for themselves. One of our clients once shared, “Easy ( credit card ) money has made my life tough”

11. Spend time with someone who is financially free

Create network of people who are financially free. Take someone for a coffee or dinner and have an empowering conversation with them. One of person who I admire a lot owns a few thousand crore pharma company, I look for opportunities to spend time with that person.

I have learnt a lot from that person and every time I meet it leaves me with a new insight about my relationship with money.

meaning of financial freedom

The way they view money, life, world and their work is amazing. The one thing to learn from them is their inner stance, financial freedom is an inner stance and not just a place to reach.

12. Experience completion with your parents

I know I am getting into a sensitive zone with this point and we have never dealt with such things on our blog. Your biggest wealth are your parents and nothing else but somewhere we kind of forget about it. Having a loving and caring relationship with your parents is extremely important.

You may acquire 1000 crore but if your relationship with parents is incomplete you will never experience fulfillment. If you are right now alive and reading this article it means your parents did their job very well. Do not expect anything more from them.

Write a thank you letter to them, do not try to change them or find any faults in your parent’s personality. Even if they are not alive try to have a completion with them, completion is an inner process where there is peace and joy. I am very sure when you start to run behind money your relationship with your parents will experience a rough patch.

13. Experience power of compounding

Start a small SIP and stick to it for 10+ years.

This SIP is not to achieve any goal but it is for you to experience power of compounding.

You can also document your experience and pass it on to your next generation. Power of compounding is magical and as an investor it is important to experience it. You can have anything in life by adding the power of compounding to your actions.

Start your SIP in Mutual funds with Jagoinvestor Help

Conclusion

Your financial journey should not be about chasing returns and only making profits. See that you fill your financial journey with rich experiences and see experiences as your teacher.

During the journey nothing is happening to you ( so stop taking things personally), in fact everything is happening for you and so cherish every bit of your financial journey and continue to make a difference.

Do share in the comment section if you could relate to the experiences we have listed, you are free to share some other life changing lessons that life must have taught you. Feel free to share the articles that we write on jagoinvestor and if you want you can get in touch with us and we can jointly create the content.

Apply compounding to your life – Secret of creating a great financial life

Posted on by Nandish Desai

To create wealth, you have to first get in touch with the power of compounding. I am not just talking about the mathematical concept here but making the “compounding” your way of life. You will understand what I am talking about as you move forward.

Today’s write-up is close to my heart.

It is not just an article, it is about someone experiencing a breakthrough in his overall life. I thought of sharing some of the conversations we exchanged with one of our clients because there is something important to learn from it and it has the power to strengthen your journey as an investor.

Power of Compounding in your life

What happens if you just improve by 1%?

Nothing!

Yes, nothing will happen to you if you improve your skills, attitude, salary, net worth, relationship by 1%, but when you improve it constantly by a small margin for a very long time? What happens if you do that for 365 days?

Then?

Here is what happens!

You bring a drastic change in any area because you are allowing the compounding to work there. See the image below …

Effect-of-compounding

Let me share an incident with a client where he emailed me about himself and how he wanted to improve. Below is the conversation. Please go through the full conversation until the end.

Here is the first email, which hit my mailbox

Dear Nandish,

I am one of your financial planning clients and I would like you to coach me in the area of money. I am a competent person, have a solid work experience and also earn decent money each month but still my financial life is a mess”. Can you please help me find the solution to my problem?

I tried hard to get the answer but failed to crack this issue.

Thanks

XXXXXXX

And here was my Reply

Dear Client,

Thanks for writing to me and for showing trust in me. I may not have a readymade solution for your problem but I can surely help you to see your situation under a different light.

Before I suggest you anything I have a simple question to ask:

Question: Tell me how many areas in your life you have you been consistent with from last 5-10 years time?

In Service,

Nandish

To this, the client replies back …

Dear Nandish,

I really can’t figure out any such area from my life where I have been consistent from last 5 – 7 years.

Let me know what I need to do now.

XXXXX

My Reply

Dear Client,

I invite you to look into your life and check for yourself, maybe what is missing in your life is the power of compounding, compounding as a way of life and not just mere as a concept. The majority of people know compounding only as a concept. There are very few who experience the real power of it.

The Situation you are into may sound like a mystery to you but in reality it is not.

Now, getting this insight is not enough and so I have an assignment for you for the Next 1 year.

Assignment:

If you really want to experience the power of compounding you will have to take-up 3 more areas along with the area of money. Compounding is all about expanding your capacity as a person and so it is important to pick some more areas. Pick any four areas in your life which are new to you and engaging with them will help you to practice the power of compounding for the Next 1 year.

I would like to hear back from your experience exactly after a year from now and not before that.

If you are game for this assignment let me know.

I want you to just not have amazing ideas but also focus on the action part and execute what you are thinking because only that action will bring the compounding into action, Check the image below and you will get what I am trying to say.

why-compunding-helps

Reply from client

Dear Nandish,

Thank you, coach. I am a game for this assignment.

My 4 areas

  1. Health: Will join gym and work with my trainer
  2. Music: I always wanted to learn Guitar but never started
  3. Quit Smoking: I would like to get rid of my smoking habit
  4. Money Management: Complete actions as per the plan and start my sip of 25k pm for next 1 year

Thanks, Nandish. Thanks for coaching me and for giving a sense of direction to my life. I will let you know my experience exactly after a year.

Thanks once again. Thanks a lot.

Excited Client

XXXXX

I then received his reply, exactly after a year.

Dear Nandish,

I am one of your most excited and enlightened Financial planning clients, remember you gave me an assignment 1 year back to practice the power of compounding.

Here is the assignment you gave me

Assignment:

If you really want to experience the power of compounding you will have to take-up 3 more areas along with the area of money. Compounding is all about expanding your capacity. Pick any four areas in your life which are new to you and engaging with them will help you to practice power of compounding for the Next 1 year

My Life has completely changed the day I started doing the assignment. I created a journal for all four areas and started to capture my experiences. Before I share about my assignment I just want to say I am extremely happy as an investor and in each and every area of my life.

Here are some of the highlights from each area:

  • Health: I joined the gym the very next day and the first thing I did was hired a personal trainer. I shared with him about my assignment and he chalked out a well designed 1-year exercise plan for me. We decided to exercise 5 Days a week along with a specific diet plan. The first month was tough to follow but I slowly daily exercise started to become an integral part of my life. My strength , stamina, and overall fitness have gone to a whole level in last 1 year. I would like to thank you and my personal trainer for getting me started.
  • Music: I joined the music school; again the first month was difficult. In the start, I could not even hold the guitar. I was not comfortable with the guitar and even the guitar was not comfortable with me. My Music sir always emphasizes on one word “PRACTICE”. My sir kept reminding me that practice leads to compounding and eventually it leads to mastery. I slowly started playing songs and now music really relaxes me from all the noise out in the world. I am so happy I got connected to music, it has taught me many things in last 1 year.
  • Quit Smoking: This was the hardest of the all. Initially, it looked impossible for me to quit smoking but I really wanted to get rid of my smoking habit and I started putting efforts. I decided not to hold the cigarette between my two fingers, no matter what. I also shared about my project with my friends and family members and they really supported me a lot in this area. My commitment to fitness and music also helped me a lot to get rid of my habit. I can now call myself a non-smoker. I am free, completely free from my habit of smoking and it feels great.
  • Personal finance: Happy to share all the personal finance actions that you suggested in the plan are complete. I took help of your team and completed all the required actions. I also started my sip as per the commitment I made. Today, my financial life is in sync with my dreams, goals, and aspirations. Thanks to you and your team for all the support and guidance. I realized that personal finance is all about actions; it is not about worrying about future or regretting about the past. I can say in this area things have shifted and things are moving in the right direction. I am happy in the area of money.

Thank you for assigning a wonderful project to me, I keep sharing with my team and other about the power of compounding and I keep getting people coming and sharing their results with me. Thank you for bringing the magic back into my life.

Conclusion

Can you see the real power that resides in the word “compounding”? It is not about how your money grows but how you grow as a person. Pick any 4 areas in your life and start engaging with them. The more you engage, the more you will grow in those areas. Don’t take only one area because one single area takes a back seat very easily.

Now tell me which area you want to improve and start working on improving it by 1% each day or even a week. Watch out this video below to get a more detailed idea on this

Many of you may be new to investing or equities do not get scared try out this assignment and see what happens after 1 year. Make the power of compounding your way of life and don’t just know it as a concept. Do share your views in the comment section; most importantly I would like to hear about your 1-year project which will help you to practice the power of compounding.

This article is written by Nandish Desai…