Author: Nandish Desai

PartnerJagoinvestor.com

Interview with Real estate expert – Mr. Purav Goswami (Gujarat Special)

Posted on by Nandish Desai

Recently we met someone with deep understanding of real estate business and strategies to make money from real estate and we thought why not ask him few questions and share with our readers. We are fortunate that he agreed to share this thoughts and share talk one to one with few selected people who are passionate for real estate and want to make from it by finding the opportunities.

Meet Mr. Purav Goswami from Gujarat.

About Mr. Purav Goswami

Mr. Purav Goswami has been into real estate business from last 10 years. He is an active member of renowned Ugati Buildcon Association. He has over 300+ HNI clients from all over the world. He also owns design and architecture studio which provides end to end solution to his clients.

His articles have featured in various newspapers and magazines. He is passionate about real estate sector and is now planning to design some workshop and online program for investors.

real estate opportunities in india

Q 1: Can you please share about your journey so far in real estate market? How did you get started and how do you help others in making money in real estate?

Answer – Well, I have been into real estate business from a long time now. I started my journey working with pharmaceutical company and then slowly moved to real estate sector.  I learnt about real estate and it’s dynamics in a very hard way, in the initial years I also lost a lot of money but it has been a good learning experience so far.

I would like to help others so that they don’t make similar mistakes which I made. I think making money real estate is simple.

I am not saying it is easy. You need to do your homework well, select right kind of property and should know when to enter and when to exit. We help investors in building their real estate portfolio; we guide them and actually be with them in making real estate decisions. According to me buying real estate is not about having or not having money, it is about making a BOLD decision.

Q 2: You have primarily kept your focus on Gujarat, can you please share why Gujarat and what kind of opportunities are available for investors?

Answer: Well I am born and brought-up in Gujarat and I have witnessed growth of this region. This region in my view is magical and has tremendous potential for investors. Gujarat according to me is land of entrepreneurs and so it is always loaded with many real estate opportunities.

Because of work and job opportunities, people from different states are moving to Gujarat and demand for real estate is increasing day by day. This is the right time to invest in Gujarat, don’t miss this bus of growth.

Q 3: How do you select properties or developers for your clients?

Answer: Out of our years experience we now have our own internal parameters through which we judge and evaluate different properties and developers. We have an in-house team of people who continuously study and examine different locations. We also have our own grading and ranking system that we follow.

It is not easy for a normal investor to select real estate projects and developer but we make this task easy for them.

Q 4: What is exactly real estate portfolio Management, what is the process you follow to help your clients?

Answer: It is a service that basically helps investors in managing their real estate investment. A normal investor after making real estate investment gets busy in some or the other activities in life and they stop managing their real estate investments.

Real estate is a money making asset class but it calls for lot of attention and active management. As I said earlier also, it is simple to make money in real estate but not easy. So, actively managing real estate investments is what real estate portfolio is all about.

Q 5: What are some of the marketing gimmicks investors should be aware about?

Answer: It is said, “All marketers are liars and to a great extend I also believe the same”.  Marketing gimmicks are there in all kinds of businesses and it also prevails in real estate business. Artificial scarcity is one gimmick which creates sense of urgency inside an investor’s world. Investors should not rush in buying real estate because they may end-up making mistakes.

Q 6: What kinds of risks are involved in real estate investment?

Answer: Be clear risk and return will always go hand in hand. Real estate investment is high on return and also it is high on risk. You have to buy right, sit tight and also maintain your property from time to time. A lot of people do not maintain their real estate investments properly and so they pay a very high price for their negligence.

Also, like stock market real estate market also has its own cycle, it is a game of demand and supply and government policies also plays a very important role. If you buy right property it fetches you good returns on long run.

Q 7: Can you help our readers to invest in real estate or can be their real estate guru?

Answer: Yes why not, I and my team are passionate about helping people in the realm of real estate. Your readers can send me questions; if they want I can also get on call with him to help them further. I am also ready to share some material and projects which you can share with your readers by email or you can share about them in your one day workshop.

Q 8: Don’t you think high EMI’s are putting a lot of pressure on young investors?

Answer: Yes, I agree EMI are putting lot of pressure on investors. This happens due to lack of planning, many people jump in real estate without doing homework, and they choose to invest where their friends or relatives are investing and so they end up in a tricky position. Some people are not ready for real estate and still they enter the game, it’s like jumping from a 10 storey building without packing their parachute.

Q 9: When it comes to ROI, how do you compare real estate with other investments?

Answer: Real estate according to me is strong growth asset. It has the power to beat inflation and it has its own dynamics attached to it. It would be unfair to compare real estate with gold or other investment tools.  One real estate investment can be a game changer for an entire family and so I love to help people in making real estate investments.

A normal person is able to make 2-3 real estate investments in his entire life time and so it is extremely important with what kind of property he is investing in.

Q 10: Our readers are based in different cities, in fact different parts of world; can you still help them in making real estate investment in Gujarat?

Answer: Yes, if your readers want to invest in Gujarat I am ready to assist them. We already have clients in different parts of India and abroad. Also, I am ready to share different kind of real estate opportunities that we have short listed.

Thanks Mr. Purav Goswami for your valuable insights and for sharing your knowledge and real estate expertise with us. We will forward questions from our readers. There are many things to learn from you and from time to time we will continue to touch base with you.  Thank you so much once again.

If you have any real estate related questions you can either fill up the form below or you can leave your questions in comments section.

Memories of Bangalore Investor workshop conducted in August

Posted on by Nandish Desai

We love Bangalore as a city to do our workshop. We knew that its going to be a full house and we were correct. It was indeed a house full and we had an amazing day with 50 enthusiastic investors (many couples, friends in group, single ladies in the group).

We even had few participants who travelled all the way from Hubli and some other nearby cities as well. We take this opportunity to acknowledge those who travelled, for expressing their commitment and for reaching venue on time, which we know takes a lot of effort. We started our session exactly on time – ie 9 am sharp.

I want to start with few pictures of the workshop. You can see participants, during one of our group activities which is highly useful and full of fun and ends with lots of learnings.

jagoinvestor-bangalore-workshop-2015-4

Jagoinvestor Bangalore Workshop 2015

jagoinvestor-bangalore-workshop-2015-1

jagoinvestor-bangalore-workshop-2015-2

Some One liners from the participants

Before I share more about how was the workshop. I want to share few one liners from some of the workshop participants which was captured on our feedback form.

  • “This is the most simple approach towards mastering personal finance. The approach targets the root cause of our relationship with money” – Karthik Bhat
  • “Please do attend the workshop. I have benefitted from their workshop and learnt many techniques to plan and manage my finances better” – Neelonjon Goon
  • “Attend this session at 25 yrs, and you can create wonders with your wealth. I am attending at 30 yrs and still believe its a great workshop that reaffirms what I should focus on with personal finance” – Vijay Narasimha
  • “I feel its a stepping stone for a person who wants to have a safe and secure future both financially as well as mentally” – Suhas VR
  • “The workshop will give you learnings that you might not be aware of. Gives you confidence to invest your money and to make it work for you to achieve your financial goals . A must attend workshop for those who seek clarity in personal finance” – TK Murugan
  • “It de-jargonised a lot in the world of finance. It has been an excellent place to begin. It resonates with my philosophy and give me the comfort to go down the path” – Veena Krishnan

Some of the Highlights of the event

1. The spot light got on “ACTION”

In a way, “Action” became the theme of our Bangalore event. Every square inch of the room got filled by one word “ACTION”. Some decided to get rid of junk financial products, some decided to work on getting their basics in place and a lot of them started to play for their financial freedom. Participants made list of actions that they are going to complete with clear deadlines attached to it.

2. Everyone got a “Wake-up” call

We do one exercise around retirement, which we call as “Wake-up call exercise”. The exercise was a real wake-up call for many. We are happy that many of the participants in the program got serious about their retirement corpus. We are happy that, we could instill right kind of commitment amongst participants around retirement corpus creation. We are happy the conversation created right kind of impact on participants.

3. More women participants

We were extremely happy to see more women participants coming forward in our Bangalore workshop. They came to the program with a lot of commitment in their heart.We get highest level of satisfaction and fulfillment when women participants share their breakthroughs and program related experiences at the end of each event. This time we had some amazing sharing from some of them.

4. Our workshop is now seen as GIFT

We saw a father gifting our workshop to his daughter, a brother gifting program to his sister. Wow man, this is so very inspiring; we thank those who trusted us and shared about our program with their loved ones. We always say, more than the content of the program, it is about experiencing the program. Many participants could examine their financial life under a microscope and they could discover their own unique process of wealth creation.

5. Beginners got required PUSH

We had many young investors in the program; some had just started their jobs. They wanted to know from where they can start their journey as an investor. We are happy that by the time the program ended, all the begineers had learnt how they should move ahead and start their journey as an investor. These young investors learnt what to do and what not to do in first 10 years of their financial journey.

Thank you from the bottom of our heart

We thank each one of you who participated in the program, we thank some of our clients who participated in the program or came to meet us, and most importantly we thank Bangalore reader’s community for spreading a word about our workshop. It is our dream to do some or the other event to inspire maximum investors in taking required actions in their financial life.

Let us know if you are interested in our workshops ?

If you are interested in our workshops and want to attend it in future, just leave your details in the form below and we will inform you when we plan the workshop in your city. (Click on this direct link if you want to register)

Do something special for your kids along with buying Insurance – Check out How ?

Posted on by Nandish Desai

A lot of you on Jagoinvestor must have bought term plan or other insurance plans, so that in your absence your dependents do not face any kind of financial crunch. It is good to buy life cover, but may be buying life cover is just half job done.

From last few days, I have been carrying a few thoughts in my mind which today, I would like to share with all of you. Whenever I look at the face of my little one, I feel I should do something special for him along with buying life cover for securing his future.

Going beyond life insurance

If something happens to me, my son will get enough financial support from the insurance money, but I will lose out on the opportunity to share my wisdom (my life learning’s) with him. There are a few things, which I would like my son to learn or know from me and my life experiences.

I feel that Life insurance policy is very strong support a parent can give their kids, but it lacks emotions, feelings and love in it. To add my feelings and emotions in it – I have started capturing a few of my experiences in a short journal which I call “Notes from Daddy”.

This little journal, once it gets complete will be kept next to original insurance policy document.

3 things which I captured in my “Notes from Daddy” Journal

1. List of Books that had deep impact on my life

Since my college days, I have been a voracious reader and there have been many life changing books that had deep impact on my life and it has major contribution on my overall learning and development process. I would like to share my reading list with my son when he grows up.

Now, it is possible that he may or may not choose to read books from my reading list but at least I would like to share or communicate my reading experiences and my book list with him. I have started building my reading list which I would like to share with my son. My “Notes from Daddy” journal has a section called “Hidden Treasure- Personal Reading list”.

2. List of Movies that inspired me

There have been many movies and short documentaries which changed my complete outlook towards life. I am sure you also must have encountered and seen such inspiring movies. I have a section called “Movies that will move YOU” in my “Notes from daddy” journal. If you want you can also make list of inspiring movies which you want your son or daughter to watch in their growing years.

3. Teachers who changed my WORLD

It is said that – “when the student is ready, teacher appears”.

I have been fortunate to have right mentors and teachers at different junctions of my life. I am sure my son and your kids will also have many teachers in their life. Sharing from my life my teachers taught me some very important distinctions of life which helped me to look at the world with new pair of eyes.

I am sure you also must have had some “wow learning moments” while you were with your teacher.  Why not capture them at one place so that it gets communicated to your next generation in your absence.

Some final words

Our body is a place to observe the world from, it is a physical representation of you, be clear that your body is not you. Life is beautiful and at the same time highly unpredictable and uncertain. Having life cover is important but I feel it is still half job done. In my absence, I would not just like to pass on insurance amount to my son, I would also like to pass on my wisdom and selective life experiences to him as well.

If you already have life cover and would like to create your little “experience journal” you can start working on it. If you do not have adequate life cover leave your details here and we will guide with the buying process. In the comments section do share some more ideas that you can implement to do something special for kids along with buying insurance.

Lastly, we are all set to announce about our next workshop which will be held in Bangalore. It will be conducted in the month of July and the registrations will open soon.

This article is written by Nandish Desai

6 unique traits of Action oriented investors, which every investor should adopt

Posted on by Nandish Desai

We are happy to share that the action month is now ON and it is amazing to see how 200+ people have chosen to participate in action month. It is amazing to see how a small group of people have got together to bring a shift in their financial world. Some of our readers saw action month as an opportunity to get into action, they have realized that ONLY action produces RESULTS.

Action Oriented Investor

Some action month participants got in touch with us and they have already completed life and health insurance area of their financial life. And today we would like to share 6 winning traits that we could observe in action takers.

1. Focus on one area at a time

The participants who bought life and health insurance policy in 7 days of time were totally focused. If you remember as kids we use to play around with magnifying glass to burn a piece of paper. Now, if magnifying glass is focused on a particular part of paper, it starts to burn – but if you continue to move the glass the paper won’t burn. This was my first lesson in life when I got in touch with power of focus. If you want to bring a shift in your financial life, learn to focus and things will slowly start to shift.

2. Take responsibility and get honest

Some action month participants wrote to us about how irresponsible they were in the area of life and health. They saw action month as an opportunity to get honest about their inactions. They started to take 100% responsibility, started to own their inactions, behavior and things started to shift for them.

If you break the word responsibility it becomes “response ability”, which means your ability to respond. All the important areas and situations of your financial life are always in front of you. Now, it is up to you how you respond to those situations. If you are currently under-covered, your response to the situation will determine the final outcome.

3. Awareness is the key

If you want to bring change in any particular area of your financial life, awareness is the key. Our books, blogs and services are all designed about making people aware because we know awareness is crucial element. Those who were quick in completing action month tasks brought their full awareness on the protection area of their financial life. Awareness acts like a spotlight in a dark room, pick an area and become aware about what is present and missing in that area. Let your mind be your guide once you bring total awareness to the area which you want to change.

4. Complete what you start

The rule is very simple, ‘complete what you start’. A lot of investors still fail to stick to this simple rule. A lot of people think of buying term plan or health insurance, they even start the process but somewhere they leave things incomplete. The more you leave things incomplete the more you expand your pending item list. We could clearly see in some action month participants how they completed what they took on. They clearly understood power of completion and they chose to do complete job.

5. Total commitment

Always remember, commitment can rock your entire financial world. Every individual wants to create huge wealth as an investor but very few out of time are committed. Commitment is the secret ingredient which can help you to win the game of wealth creation.  If you generate right kind of commitment, life and health insurance area can be completed in a day. In the first week of action month some investors demonstrated what total commitment looks like, they got on call with us and took the required actions. (You can also participate in Action month by registering here)

6. High Say-Do ratio matters

As an investor always work on your “say-do” ratio. I mean do what you say and say what you are going to do, it is about making and keeping your promises. If you promise to yourself you will buy life cover than no matter what happens make sure you buy life insurance policy. Those who bought life cover and health cover in the week of action month we having high say-DO ratio. They took our support and completed the protection task in 7 days of time.

Opportunity to make the most out of December ACTION Month

We just wanted to share some of the winning traits that we observed in some action month participants. We will share more about them soon in upcoming articles. This article is not just for action month participants, it is for all those who wants to bring a change, shift or transformation in their financial life. Pick the point which inspires you and fill your financial life with right kind of commitment and actions. The action month is on till 31st of Dec, if you want to get life and health insurance in place you are free to participate. Also, in the comments section you are free to share unique traits of winning investor.

5 Inspiring Success stories of people who actually increased their Income? [Bonus FREE EBOOK Download]

Posted on by Nandish Desai

With this bonus article, our increasing income series comes to an end. Over the last few weeks, we have been writing articles which focused on increasing income and also shared lots of ideas around it. We decided to end this series by sharing some interesting real life stories.

We also take this opportunity to thank each one of you, for your participation during increasing income series. We received some amazing comments and numerous emails in which, people shared their unique attempts on how they actually increased their income. Each email sharing has flavor of success in it and you will love reading them.

Below, We have shared 5 real life success stories (name changed at some places as per request). Few of these success stories are sharing from our readers who attempted and succeeded in creating an alternate income. They took right amount of risk, they figured out a unique way by which they can share their talent with more and more people, they converted “increasing their income” into a project and the results have been amazing. Here they are!

Success Story #1 – How a Dentist worked on increasing his income

One of our readers who is a dentist by profession runs his clinic in Mumbai. He read the article on increasing income and decided to take some committed steps by which he can also increase his annual income. He has been practicing from last 4 years now and has good number of patients who visit his clinic on regular basis.

dental kit

He took some professional help and designed a good dental kit, which can be of help to his patients and their family members. The dental kit includes some books, video CD, some products and some other educational material in it. He priced the kit for Rs. 1999/- and showcased the kit in his clinic’s reception area. In the last 15 days, they have sold close to 10-12 dental kits and he is happy to see how some extra money is coming in with his creative effort. If you look at the yearly numbers, you can see that a good alternate income would be generated.

With this new offering he is able to serve his patients better and he could also increase his daily and monthly income. Some of his patients have also started sharing the kit content and material with other family members and friends. We congratulate Dr. Ajay (Name changed) and also thank him for sharing his success story with us.

Success Story #2 – Come back of Yoga Teacher

This story is of a marketing professional who turned into yoga teacher. His sharing brought tears to our eyes (Manish was really touched by his sharing and money story). He is in the field of marketing and works as medical representative for a well known pharmaceutical company. His expenses are higher than his income and so every month he finds it difficult to manage his payments. He wanted to increase his income from a long time so that he can start his investments. It has been 9 years in job but because of EMI and other compulsory expenses he could never invested on monthly basis.

yoga teacher

He read the second article on increasing income series and he decided to increase his income by 50%. He is a certified yoga teacher and after a gap of 5 years he decided to once again teach yoga to people. He decided to take some private yoga sessions in morning hours. He started sharing this idea with people and he got 3 students/clients in Nov first week. Though he has not yet exceeded 50% of his income as per plan, but he is now very close it. With this action he will be able to serve others and at the same time he will also be able to earn additional income from his students.

We congratulate this yoga teacher for his come back and for the success. We are going to assist him in starting his monthly investments from Jan 2015

Success Story #3 – Real estate agent who started leading real estate workshop

Real estate is an area where very few quality programs are conducted for investors.  For those who want to invest in real estate it is important to understand the dynamics of real estate world. There are some very simple ad effective strategies which you can learn to make money in real estate world.

real estate workshop example

This guy from Bangalore took on a project to increase his income and out of his commitment he announced his first workshop for his close friends circle and clients. He got 12-15 participants for his pilot workshop and the feedback has been very encouraging. This workshop is not sales driven or just to showcase new properties, it actually educates investors on the legal front and other aspects of real estate buying. He has priced the tickets at Rs. 5,000/- for a one day session, which would bring in a good amount of secondary income. He is even planning to conduct it in various cities if it works out well in future.

We congratulate this real estate agent for starting such wonderful and informative program for real estate investors. As and when we receive full details about this program we will share the details with our readers.

Success Story #4 – Lady who started preparing dog food

This lady’s story is truly inspiring and so we thought of sharing the same with all of you. She is considered to be an expert when it comes to dog food preparation. She has been in this business from last 3 years now.

She is fond of dogs and on one fine day she found that her dog was not happy with the dog food products which were available in market. She tested some recipes on her own and prepared some dog food packets which she also shared with other dog owners in her city. This is where others could see her talent and her first order came in, slowly she started becoming more and more popular amongst other dog owners in her vicinity.

dog food at home

Today she supplies dog food to almost 50 plus Dog owners and she also owns and runs hostel for pets. We congratulate Latha for sharing her talent with more and more people. We also take this opportunity to thank her for being our reader and for sharing her story with us.

Success Story #5 – From homemaker to cooking expert to bestselling author

This story is of lady called Jenish Parmer (Real Name). She happens to be good friend of my wife. I recently attended an event where she launched her book called “Heaven on Tongue”. My wife insisted on sharing her story with jagoinvestor community.

heaven on tongue book

I (Nandish) and my wife (Himali) have witnessed her professional journey and success so far. She loves cooking and has always been passionate about cooking. She started her journey by participating in one national level cooking competition, she won the competition and a big turning point came in her life. She continued to teach and share her passion with more and more people and slowly she started her catering business.

She recently authored her first book called “Heaven on tongue” and right now she designs menu for some of the most popular restaurants in India. Her story is real, inspiring and easy to relate with. She is not a reader of jagoinvestor but still we have included her story in this article (we called her and took her permission)

FREE Ebook download

Our “Increasing your Income” series has ended with this article. We have compiled all the articles and created a nice eBook which you can download and read it offline on your computer or on your mobile (it’s a pdf file) . Download it by clicking here (right click -> save as) , or by clicking on the image below.

Increasing your income ebook download

Please share your views about these 5 real life stories. Do you get inspiration from these stories ? Do you want to share your thoughts?

10 ideas to create Passive Income or alternative Source of Income – (Part 4/5)

Posted on by Nandish Desai

In the last article of “Increasing income” series you read Anupam’s real life sharing about how he created his second income (we thank him for sharing his experience with our readers). Today let’s go a little deeper and learn ways by which YOU can also create passive income stream, which means ways of income where you do not work actively and still the income is generated.

ideas to create passive income
We can see that a lot of you are interested in creating passive income but you don’t know from where to start, so after reading today’s article take at least one committed step to create second source of income in your life. After you complete reading today’ article, in comments section share at least one new idea for creating passive income.

We are a community of 50k+ people at jagoinvestor, if we all share one good idea for creating passive income, imagine what kind of passive income idea bank we will be able to create.

The rich get richer. Not only because they have surpluses with which to invest, but because of the overriding emotional release they experience from having wealth

– Stuart Wilde

I really want you to take a day off from your routine life and name the day as “PI day” of your life. On this day, you won’t touch upon any other area of your life,you will only think about creating passive income and nothing else. As next step create a special kind of account in your life called “P I income account”, in this account you will accumulate passive income, it should not come from real work or from active job. Passive income is the kind of income where either your money works for you or your people work for you.

10 ways to create passive income

(Do not discard ideas instead start thinking how the ideas can get into your life)

1. Rental Income from Real Estate

You can create rental income with the help of real estate. If you have more than two properties, the rent you get from one can help you to pay the EMI of other property you own. You can give your office space on rent or your second house on rent. You can also create either boys or girls hostel, if you have more than 1 flat on the same floor. Some even create small office units in one big commercial space and they give it on rent to people who do not have frequent visitors.

Make sure that you are selecting right people and legal aspect is taken care of. If someone (only if you are the owner) has good office space in Pune, we would like to touch base with you. (In 2015 we would like to establish jagoinvestor office in the city of Pune).

2. Buying Space for ATM Centre

This is one of the best ways to create passive income. Generally in a building, the space which is below the stairs gets sold at lower rate as compared to other offices and it is ideal place for ATM Centre. Banks can even pay upto 25k-50k per month to ATM centre owners in big cities, but again it depends on the location and the area where you own your space. There is a detailed discussion on this topic here

3. Buy extra Parking lots and renting it later

Parking is one of the biggest problem that everyone is facing today. One of our clients created passive income from the parking space that he owns in his building. Also I know someone who owns open plot next to a multiplex; he gave his space on rent to multiplex for parking purpose. This may not be possible for all but as I said do not discard ideas from your life.

4. Create Websites & Blogs

The machine age is over and we now leave and breathe inside information age, where no one cares where your office is or how many people staff you have, with the help of internet from a remote place you can create a lot of money. Creating a blog or a website is almost free (or I can say it is not very expensive) and is one of the best ways to create passive income.

You can do this as a part time activity and start creating second income in your life. This may be a slow process and it calls for good content for you to attract people to your blog or website. Jagoinvestor as a blog started very small and with the love and trust of our readers it has now created a special space in investor’s community.

5. Advertisement hoarding on your building and terrace

If your building is on main road with proper visibility you can put some banners or hoarding on the terrace of your building or even in garden or open space of your building. If you own terrace rights the money will come to you otherwise, it goes to society kitty as passive income. Some permission & authorization is required to take this step.

6. Interest income from your investments

This is one of the simplest ways to create passive income, which is in everyone’s reach. You can either create interest income through Bank Deposit products or by offering loans to people at attractive interest rate. For this your need cash on hand or pool of money from which you intend to create interest income.

7. Dividends from Stocks and Mutual Funds

You can either receive dividends through Stocks or from different mutual fund schemes. This income depends on the performance of stock and mutual fund which is linked with market conditions. There are many people, I know who create good dividend income from stocks and mutual funds.

8. Royalty Income

Your talent can help you to create passive. You can put something in a book on Amazon Kindle and it can be shared with the world, your book can help you get royalty income. Most people are disconnected with their true talent which is not good for creating second income. You really do not need a publisher you can either self-publish it or get in touch with websites who promote new writers.

We started with one book and now we have four books which are written for investors and advisors, our publisher has already assigned us two more writing assignments.

9. Referral business model

If you are into business you can create a strong referral business model by which your overall business strength increases. Here with the help of referral model not only does your business expands but you also get an opportunity to create passive income as an entrepreneur.

10. Buy cars and give on rent to companies

Many BPO’s and companies hire vehicles on contract. Some people buy vehicles and they offer their vehicles to the company they work with. This helps them to create passive income out of it. Here you need to be careful about the terms and conditions and choosing right driver who will be handling your vehicle on daily basis.

Project called “Passive Income”

If you do not have passive income it means you have yet not created “passive income” as a project.  In our book “11 principles to achieve financial freedom” you can learn more about creating passive income and how you can convert your dream of creating passive income into a project.

Just place your hand on your heart and ask yourself, “How many attempts in the past I made and I failed at creating passive income? (may be zero attempts). You are unable to create passive income because you are glued to the idea of only creating active income in your life. You haven’t failed much because you haven’t yet started fully playing for creating passive income.

Come on, make list of possibilities, make list of people who can help you, see what leverage you can get in creating passive income, see what best you can do with the resources you already have, what talents you have in you that can help you create passive income or take professional help, if required. In the last article of increasing income series we will have a strong completion and for what we invite you to share your key insights in the comments section.

This week action

Take a day off from your routine and name is as “PI day” (Passive income day)

Do some brainstorming and come up with ideas for creating passive or residual income. Do share one idea in comments section for creating passive income

6 Empowering Dimensions that can help you to grow your income- (Part 2/5)

Posted on by Nandish Desai

You are reading second article of “Increasing your income” series. The overall response to increasing income series is very encouraging. We got some interesting sharing in comments section and we also received personal emails from many of our readers. A lot of people are serious about increasing their income and we are happy our article series is helping them in moving forward. You can read the 1st part of the series – 8 reasons why your income level remains STAGNANT

Grow your Income

You are 100% responsible for the income you generate.

In today’s article we will change gears; we say that “You are 100% responsible for the income you generate – totally. The only question is – Will you acknowledge that or not?”.  We will explore some very important dimensions which are important to understand for you to increase your income. Your monthly bank balance or income is a reflection of how you express yourself or in other words how you show-up in the world.

Here is an inspiring video , which I must have seen  for over 60 times, it taught me several things and today’s article come’s straight from the notes I took while I repeatedly watched this man speaking and expressing himself. You may have already seen the video, this time I invite you to see this video with fresh pair of eyes and from the context of how you can change your conversation around increasing your income.

6 extremely powerful dimensions that can help you to grow your income

Reflection #1: Your bank balance is a mere reflection of your thought balance

If you want to increase your yearly income or your bank balance you will have to first expand your thought balance. Make a conscious effort each day to fill yourself with richer thoughts. Human being is a thought making machine and you always have a choice to be responsible for your thoughts that you give shape to. Good and bad thoughts will always strike you, but which thoughts you choose to give life to is always in your hands. Because it all starts at the thought level and then it (the thought) slowly starts to shape your reality.

What are our articles on jagoinvestor all about ? They are simply our (ie mine and Manish’s) thoughts, that we give language to. Your thought around money and income generation has to be empowering and inspiring. And so give life and energy to only those thoughts, which helps you to grow your thought balance, and this will eventually reflect in your bank balance. Check your thoughts around your boss (majority of people hate their boss or has some or other complaints with their management). Go have a conversation but do not let your thoughts get corrupted. Your organization is the source of your income and you cant afford to nurture dis-empowering thoughts.

Reflection #2: Income is reflection of your personal creativity

If you want to increase your income, then bring the ingredient of creativity to the dish called “your work”. Your work is the ultimate source of your income and your work assignment always gives you an opportunity to express the magic that you hold in you.

Income is a reflection of how much value you create for people/clients and for the organization you work for. You are never paid for spending a few hours in your cabin or company or to warm your chair or to check articles on different blogs or to find the best online deals.

Every day invest some time to figure out ways by which you can bring the creative force inside your work. The way there are more than 10 ways to draw a cat, there are many creative ways by which you can get the same job done. I personally feel that income generation is not a formula, but it is your personal creative process which you discover for yourself.

Reflection #3: Income is reflection of how innovative you get

I love reading books and biographies that are written on the life journey of Steve jobs. His overall body of work and innovative designs will continue to inspire people for years to come. A lot of times I address Manish as “Steve jobs of personal finance” not to flatter him but because he brings element of innovation inside our organization and in his articles and books. Out of working with him I have learnt that income is a function of how innovative you are as a professional?

Inside your current work or job profile check ways to innovate. There are always some or the other hidden ways by which you can enhance your performance or effectiveness. Innovation is an important dimension to ponder, if you are really serious about increasing your income. Innovative people always experience and see income as a byproduct. Their work speaks for itself and money/income simply flows into their life.

Reflection #4: Income is a reflection of how big difference maker you are

Finally, Let me teach you how you can actually increase your income. Let’s say, your current pay package is 10 lakh and you want your annual income to become 1 crore. The solution is simple but may not be easy for you. If you want your pay package to become 1 Crore all you have to do is first contribute inside your field worth 1 Crore. I and Manish care very little about our income or annual business turnover, our focus is always on how much contribution we can make in peoples’ financial world.

We take on new writing projects and constantly design our services by which we can make more and more difference. If you want to increase your income simply create or design your contribution plan for next 5 years inside your respective field. The more you will contribute the more your income will grow and expand.

Reflection #5: Income is reflection of outrageously sharing your GIFTS

There is always one thing in YOU which only you can share with the world. If you are good at singing, give more of that to the world. If you are good at writing, give more of that to the world and if you are good at painting – then share that GIFT with the world.

Whatever you are good at in life, they are your gifts and you have to share your gifts with more and more people.  The more you share them, the more it will reflect in your bank balance. Don’t be stingy in sharing your gifts, outrageously share your gifts. Income is a reflection of how big heartedly you are willing to share your gifts. A lot of advisors come-up to us or mail us saying, “If you will teach everything to investors who will become your client”. Well, in fact it increases flow of inquiries and we have seen our client list expanding year on year. We want to share our gifts and we ask our colleagues to do the same. In your field just continue to share your gifts, just STOP stopping.

Reflection #6: Income is a token of appreciation

Your Income is not a symbol of security, power or just a commercial transaction; it is also not a measure of how successful or unsuccessful you are in this world. Your income is a reflection, it is a mirror that shows you how you show-up in the world, it is a reflection of how much value you are adding into people’s life and how much contribution you make in your respective field.

Salary or fee is ONLY a token of appreciation that you receive when you share your magic and gifts with the world. When you start to see your work as a medium to express your love AND  in return people or organizations express their love by writing a cheque in your favor.

Work on increasing your income this week

In this week we want you to add new and empowering dimensions, which will help you to increase your income and of other people who surround you. We would love to have more and more sharing in the comments section. Lastly, we wish each one of you a very happy and exciting new year. We will continue to share our gifts with you for years to come. Stay tuned for remaining parts of increasing income series.

Let us know which new dimensions you think can help you best to increase your income !

8 Core Reasons – Why your income level remains STAGNANT (part 1/5)

Posted on by Nandish Desai

At jagoinvestor we have always been trying new stuff  and this time we are coming up with 5 article series on the topic of INCOME every Thursday. These articles will be inter connected and they will help you to work on any one specific area related to money, this time we are going to focus on increasing your income (I know that you are interested in this topic). Now, there is no formula available in the world or with us by which you can magically increase your income. But we strongly feel that by engaging with certain set of conversations you CAN increase your income.

This is the 1st article of the series where we are first going to look at why a lot of people struggle to increase their income. What is it that stops people to increase their income ? And then over the next few weeks, we will go deeper in this area and touch other points around increasing income. You may be into job or business the series will be helpful to you.

How to Increase your Income

8 Core Reasons why  income level remains STAGNANT

Lets examine some of the key reasons or pointers which can help you to introspect in the area of income generation.

Reason #1 – Overfocus on Controlling Expenses and not ON increasing Income

You will always meet two kinds of people. There are people who focus on increasing their income and you will find people who are always busy controlling their expenses. Now, we want you to focus on increasing your income because increasing income is ALWAYS in your hands; whereas controlling expenses is not in your hands. For e.g. if tomorrow petrol or diesel prices touches Rs.100 per litre you can’t do anything about it. When we work with our clients one on one we always encourage them to work on increasing their income. We ask them to figure out ways by which they can work on increasing their income. Along with making investments it is extremely important to work on increasing your income.

Now, let’s assume that right now you are not exploring your full income potential and we invite you to inquire how you can explore your full income potential.

Reason #2 – They are HIT by “BUT” syndrome

I find a lot of people saying, “This year I was all set to get promotion BUT office politics got in my way” or “This time I was all set to get big business order BUT my competitor stole my order”. The three letter word “BUT” is a bit nasty by nature. The word BUT is a beholder, it beholds some kind of underlying truth in it.

The truth is, I am not promoted and the truth is, I did not get the business order I wanted. You may be in business or job, if your income is not increasing check whether you are hit by “BUT” syndrome or not? – Tell the truth and start taking required actions instead of swimming into the pool of reasons and thinking why you could not produce desired result. Every time when things don’t turn out the way you want, instead of finding reasons go deep inside your own self and get honest with yourself. People who struggle to increase their income are more in love with reasons than results and actions.

Reason #3 – Virus called “What’s in it for me?”

This virus simply corrupts you as a professional. The virus gets in your mind and it keeps you away from identifying opportunities where you can make a difference. If possible for 10 minutes every day keep the thought “what’s in it for me” aside and bring a lot of passion and love into any work that touches your hands.

I was once in a restaurant with Manish and he said something very interesting. He said, “Some waiters expect and work for getting tip (and they don’t get) whereas some really serve well and people appreciate their effort by offering tip to them”. Can you see the difference how your approach impacts your income?

Whats in it for me ?

Increasing income is not a function of greed or expectation . People who fail to increase their income are insanely affected by the virus “What’s in it for me”. You may say, but that’s the way the world works or it is practical to think about your personal interest. This attitude is the root cause of all your struggle. May be a lot of people are searching wealth on the wrong side of the river and so they struggle to increase their income all their life. Empty your mind for 10 minutes and focus and you will start to see many opportunities right in front of you.

Reason #4 – They don’t understand the word “Service”

The word literally trains you to become a go-getter. As a go-getter you get up every day with a thought, Today how can I get more money and from whom? In my view people who struggle to increase their income have yet not experienced the power of word “Service”. If you start operating from service you start to grow inside your profession or work. Every day look at how best you can be of service to your organization or to your team members or to your clients. If your relationship with word “service” is weak it fills your life with struggle and resignation.

Always remember – “When service is rendered, payment gets due”

Reason #5 – They don’t invest in their training and development

If you are useful, people will get ready to pay you for your services or offerings. To be more useful you have to constantly work on enhancing your skill set. There are very few people who invest in themselves. A lot of people wait for their company to sponsor for their training and development program. This is a wrong attitude and it wont help you to grow your income.

Do you keep some percentage of your income aside every year to invest in some skill development programs or not? You have to be really good at your craft for people to invest in you. Increasing income is all about asking and inviting people to invest in YOU for producing measurable results. When people or organizations stop investing in YOU, your income gets stagnant.

Reason #6 – They don’t have a mentor in life

In your professional life you need to find and make someone your hero. It has be someone who is living your dream; he or she is right now in a position where you desire to be in near future. Majority of people try to do everything on their own,they dont have a mentor in life. Now, there is no harm in doing things on your own but having a mentor helps.

You have to find someone who dreams big like you. If you are a writer your mentor will constantly help you to get better at writing. My fitness coach once told me that “Exercise without having a fitness coach is all warm up”. If your income is stagnant having a mentor in life will help you a lot.  In this week spend some time and energy, schedule a conversation with someone and invite someone to be your mentor. (If they charge be ready to pay them) . If you need a coach in your financial life, you can set up a call with us

Reason #7 – They Focus on ‘low paying’ activities

There are three kinds of activities you will engage with; high paying, low paying and no paying activities. Take out your calendar and make a note of what kind of activities you spend maximum time with. People who fail at increasing their income are not wise with their time.

Low paying vs High Paying Activities

I once gave an interesting assignment to one business person, I asked him to track his weekly time engagements, after a week he told me he was focusing more on no-paying and low paying activities. He made a commitment to focus his time only on high paying activities and his business income started to shift. You may be in job or business look at what kind of activities consumes your time. Be honest with yourself because where you invest your time matters when it comes to income generation.

Reason #8 – They fail at creating wow experience

I was once invited as a speaker by one Asset management company. I had to deliver a 25 minute talk to a group of financial advisors and planners. I asked the group “Where does wealth reside?”- I got variety of answers from the group which very interesting to hear. I finally told them that wealth resides in the very next conversation that they were going to  having after they leave the room. You may be into job or business we are all into conversation business and your only job is to leave people with wow experience. You may be in job or business make a commitment to create wow experience for people who come in touch with you.

People, who fail at increasing their income, fail to CREATE wow experience for others/people they work or collaborate with.  Your conversation has to fill the other person’s mind and heart with fresh and new energy. Not just with your boss or important clients but every person you meet from morning till night your only job is to create wow experience. For next few days examine what kind of experience you are leaving people with? Be Honest with yourself and see if you can bring some improvement in this area.

Upcoming article topics of “Increasing Income” series (Stay Tuned, Every THURSDAY)

  • What is Income a reflection of ?
  • Two different types of income
  • Master key to increase your income
  • Completion Article

Work on what best you can do to increase your income

This week take out some time and work on what best you can do to increase your income. Share your insights in the comments section, if you have got some success story, do share with us in the comments section. This week do a lot of introspection and figure out actions that can help you to increase your income. As I said in the start there is no formula to instantly increase your income.  Your sharing will make “Increasing Income” Series more alive and interactive and so we invite you to share your experiences in the comments section.

Are you Scared of Having a kid due to money reasons ? Here are 5 things you should know

Posted on by Nandish Desai

Day by day I am realizing that the impact of money is huge on our decision making capacity. The conversation of money is very deep rooted and not just limited to financial goals or wealth creation.

Today’s article is based on interaction I had with one my relative, who works in IT sector. We do not meet very often but as and when we meet, we make a point to update each other about, what’s new is happening in our work and life. He and his wife both are doing extremely good in their career and their pay scales are also good.

scared of having kids

Here is how our conversation went

Relative: So, Nandish How is life after becoming father?

Nandish: Life is wonderful, it is great becoming father and playing with my kid is great fun. I and my wife feel becoming parents is the greatest gift to receive in life.

Relative: That’s wonderful to know Nandish but I am really scared of this idea of “Having a kid”

Nandish: Scared? Why are you scared? What is so scary about becoming a parent. If you want we can have a conversation that can forward you in this matter.

Relative:  Thanks Nandish. I always like having conversation with you. You are my lifetime coach. Honestly speaking, I and my wife want to plan a kid, but we are scared whether we will be able to handle all the expenses that are related with kid or not?

Nandish: But you can always plan for your children related expenses and children related goals. Your savings per month and year according to me are sufficient.

Relative: When we see other people’s kid, we feel like we should plan a kid – but somewhere we are not confident about this whole process. I personally feel that becoming parent is a huge responsibility and it also calls for financial commitment.

Nandish: Yes, but why don’t you and your wife first get friendly with the thought of becoming parents. It may appear scary, but in reality it may not be so. There are some thoughts or beliefs that are holding you back.

Relative: I and my wife stay alone in a rented premises. Income wise we are good, but we still feel we are not ready financially. We dont know – how other people manage this big change but we are scared. Really scared…(He literally started crying)

Nandish: Hey don’t cry my friend. In life sometimes, we find ourselves on a cross-road. Such cross-road moments are painful but it is a point where you gather courage to make some BOLD choices in life. Over thinking or over worrying wont help you and your wife. Be clear whether you guys want to step into the realm of parenthood or not?

5 things I learnt from the interaction I had with my relative on parenthood

1. Imaginary world is scary

Our imaginary world is always more scary than the real world. We anticipate all the worst things to happen to us, but in reality things turn out very differently.

I feel that a lot of people like my relative are sailing in the same boat. They have strange notions about parenthood and they envisage those strange notions will soon convert into reality.  They always come-up with reasons like let the family income reach to X level, or first let me first buy my own house. etc

(Here reason is not important, but the point is you are in grip of money related concerns)

2. BOLD step is required

Life demands you to take BOLD steps. You have to step beyond your so called fears and worries and you need to take a stand in life. Take a stand to accept parenthood with a lot of power and grace. To bring new life into this world demands commitment.

I am not saying, don’t examine your situation – but get present to what is stopping you and take a bold step in this area.

3. Don’t let conversation of money rule your decision

Don’t hand over all your power to money. Money is an integral part of your life, but at the same time money is not everything in life. When it comes to parenthood don’t let the money conversation hold you back. Take a step forward and don’t get stopped by financial concerns.

4. Trust your ecosystem

After the transition takes place you will start experiencing support coming from different corners of your family. Sharing from my own life, our parents  have brought huge strength and support into our life. After becoming parents I and my wife started experiencing true power of our family ecosystem that we are into.

This whole transition became smooth for us, because of the family support we have. Look around and get in touch with your family eco-system.

5. The Age factor

I am not an  expert in this area, but all I know is that age of women matters when the couple wants to plan a kid. I have interacted with some clients of ours who kept on pushing parenthood for some initial years and finally they had to face some complications due to age factor.

We suggest you to go and consult right person who can guide you better on age factor thing.

Conclusion

Don’t let the conversation of money hold you back from experiencing parenthood or any other beautiful experience in life. Have conversation with your spouse and make a choice that serves you most.  It is a sensitive subject and our intention is to share our observation, we just want to share how money impacts our life decisions.

We are not asking you to do something or don’t do something, it is about getting present to the impact that money have on us.  Jagoinvestor as blog is not limited to personal finance education, we really want our readers to be happy in life.

We want to spread happiness along with personal finance education. If you have experienced something like this in your life – feel free to share in comments section, if you want. Sometimes we are afraid of writing articles on such sensitive topics but as I mentioned in the article we also have to show boldness in our writing.

Are you suffering from “I don’t have time to read Policy Document” Syndrome ?

Posted on by Nandish Desai

As an investor, I am sure you have done something with your money. You have put your money in some or the other financial product – assuming it is going to help you in creating wealth or it is going to help you in some way or the other.

The way some movies have flashback, you will have to go back in the past to get full value from today’ article.  We just want to make you responsible in the area of money, because taking responsibility is the first step towards bringing any kind of change or transformation.

policy document

Lets go back in the past (Flashback)

Lets say five years back some agent or adviser or relationship manager approached you with the new financial product in market, the product features and benefits were explained, you trusted your adviser’s advice and bought the financial product.

Now, before you purchased the product – Did you read the product brochure (completely) at the time of buying or even after that ?

Most investors do not invest their time in reading product brochure or policy documents and this is a major mistake most investors are not even present to.

4 reasons, why Investors do not read Policy Documents

Reason #1 – They find it boring to read Policy Documents

A lot of investors think, that reading personal finance document is extremely boring thing (its just their assumption). Some investors start yawning the moment any policy document is placed in front of them. If you ask them for a movie, they are filled with enthusiasm – but if you ask them to read policy document or mutual fund scheme document they start avoiding the same.

In this process, you may miss out on some important information which you are suppose to know about some particular financial product and it will save you from disappointment later in future.

We come across so many investors who don’t know whether the money they have been investing from last 5 years is an endowment plan or a money back, the mutual fund they have been investing is an equity fund or debt fund. You carry boredom in your thoughts and it has nothing to do with any personal finance document.

Come on – Its a one time job, which takes not more than 1 hour, that’s all !

Reason #2 – “It’s not my cup of tea” Syndrome

A lot of investors think – “Personal finance is not my cup of tea” and they feel they have licence to NOT read policy documents. You may be into medical profession, Software or any other profession.

You can’t escape from managing your financial life and reading your policy document is one core activity you need to complete.

Reason #3 – They over-trust their Adviser and prefer playing Blind Game

Some people trust their adviser much more than they trust their spouse or parents. They trust their adviser blindly. Their adviser will make cross marks on documents and then give investor the bulk offer to give their signatures, as if they are giving autograph to the crowd. And then this kind of fraud happens with investors.

These investors are playing blind game, they are taking risk with their financial future. Even when the policy document or any other financial product is purchased, they do not bother to read where they have invested their money.

All they do is call their agent and take a monthly or quarterly report which gives them a fake feeling that they are serious about their financial life. You are getting reports, but for all wrong financial products which does not serve you as an investor. You can trust your adviser – but do not skip the homework that you are suppose to do from your side.

Reason #4 – They entertain the story called “Lack of time”

When we ask a lot of investors that why they did not read policy documents or product brochures the most standard reason that pops up is “Lack of time”. From morning till night, they slog for money, which they put into a financial product and then they do not have time to read about the financial products itself, where they have invested their money.

Now how strange it that !

These people are found very active on social media platforms. By the way – I am not against use of social media, but the point I am trying to make is that, you should give time to your financial life and break the “lack of time” story.

Conclusion – Never skip reading Policy Document

This insight or tip might look very simple, but it is applicable to majority of investors. As an investor you will make money only in those products – where you have the understanding. Your primary job as an investor is to understand basic mechanism of any financial product in which you are going to put your hard earned money.

My invitation to all investors is read product brochure and make list of questions that arise in your mind and get 100% clarity on them.

So, dust all your laziness and read the product brochure, before buying any financial product and if you have already made any purchase make sure you read the policy document in detail.

So, this weekend do the following

  • Place 2 hours on your calendar, in which you will read policy documents (put the reminder in your mobile at this moment itself.
  • While you read policy documents if you are not clear, make a note of them and discuss with your advisor or customer care
  • Share with us what was your experience in the comments section

NOTE:  We want to meet more and more investors during our 6 city tour. The minimum investment to participate in our workshop starts at Rs.3500/-. Come be a part of Design your financial life 2.0 ( You will have the most amazing time as an investor)