Some broad tips on wealth—and some on life!

Wealth is a mind-set-not a sum of money! I met a taxi-driver who knew that the next way to break into the wealth mind-set was education. Two of his sons were engineers—one was now pursuing his MBA, the third son was planning to train to become a Chartered Accountant. He had a Life insurance policy for all the three kids-maturing at their age of 22—so that they get a start in life!

• You should be willing to give up bad habits like watching TV, buying lottery tickets, gambling, procrastinating, spending all your income, spending using the credit that you get on credit cards, etc.
   
• You should be willing to walk away from negative forces—like people who keep saying “you can’t”. The taxi driver changed his house location from a locale prone to crime to a more friendly area. He said his sons would have been drawn into the gangster lifestyle if he had stayed in the original place. We need to make positive choices when it comes to deciding on friends, neighbours, etc.
   
• If you are under 25 stop listening to old people telling you to invest in Index funds—we are just hoping that you will buy when we have to sell. Go and create your unicorn. Go and fail, life is too long to spend on regret. At 35, you can get married (if you want) and then lead a “normal” life working for somebody else.
   
•  Invest in experiences, not things—if a phone costing Rs 30,000 can do a good job, don’t spend Rs 1,20,000 on an expensive phone—90,000 can go towards funding a vacation to Europe! However, if you are going to use all the functions of the Rs 1.2 lakh, it may be a good buy! Trekking in the Himalayas or doing Everest base camp are far better experiences to spend on than on things that you do not use!
   
• Remember that 'Pain' and 'Pleasure' follow each other-if you choose the pain of lacing up and going for a run, it will be followed by the pleasure of being fit. If you choose the “pleasure” of tucking up in bed in the morning, it will be followed by the “pain” of poor fitness!
   
•  You need simple financial products-index funds, pure term insurance, one or two credit cards, one or two savings bank accounts, medical insurance, a mortgage. Once you have them start saying NO to most of the other financial products. Just say NO.
   
• Having money (being financially free) gives you the choice of where to stay, what to wear, what to eat, whom to meet, what work to do—and with whom. This is a huge, almost EPIC, advantage.
   
• The worst thing about financial freedom is that it takes away all EXCUSES that your mind makes up for not exercising, not learning sanskrit, not reading the scriptures, not going to Everest Base camp—so find new things, or bloody well go and live your dreams.
   
• One bad marriage does not mean you should not re-marry. Ditto in investing.

PV subramanyam writes at www.subramoney.com and has authored the best seller ‘Retire Rich - Invest C 40 a day’

(Views expressed are personal)