Our money adversaries

Until the time you are living off of someone else, be it your parents, grandparents, siblings, etcetera, you are in your own little imaginary bubble of never-ending money supply and don't really understand the hardships, planning, sacrifices, frugality and level of importance that has gone under it behind the scenes. It is only when you start living off of your own income, you start to realize and understand these intricate details. Eventually, when push comes to shove, you automatically start giving importance to each of the related aspects and plan accordingly.

Now, through this blog, from the few years I have started living off my own finances, I want to pen down the enemies that our money has that often get hidden in plain sight but really stunt our growth financially. In my opinion, these are the factors that should prudently be taken into account when planning for our finances.

1. Inflation: No matter how much you try to stay indifferent towards it, the moment you start buying things for your own needs on a regular basis, you will notice that that line on the graph is constantly rising and there is no escaping it.

Source: Unknown

Source:https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DBmEfgyUIAEssbb.jpg

2. Taxes: The more you earn, the more you pay. The more you invest, the more you are taxed on the income from your investments. The key here would be to looks for investments where there is no or hardly any taxes on the income from the investment. For example, PF, PPF or Govt. Tax Free Bonds, etc. And of course, the longer the investment in terms of time, the better the benefits. Therefore, this will need to be planned on a need basis - how much money will be required by when.

Source: http://www.freeduh.com/2011/02/27/i-feel-fine
-its-my-standard-of-living-thats-in-poor-health/

3. Standard of living: This is a funny yet a very dangerous one. This is because once you are at a certain level, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to come down from it. We are accustomed to a certain lifestyle that automatically chalks out the "need" bar very high. If, by any means, this bar is pulled down, our happiness quotient gets a hit and starts affecting other aspects of life, be it - health, relationships, social well-being, professionalism and so on.

The only remedies from my experience that I can think of here, are -
a. To make sure your income shows that increasing graph line
b. To make sure you invest wisely chalking out your financial needs in a chronological order.

Source: http://sachachua.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/blogging-and-goals1-640x177.png

Remember - Investment is NOT an option. It is a necessity.

I want to add a little disclaimer here stating - having learned all these factors affecting money growth, it does not, at all, mean to say, I have perfected my financial planning or that I know everything there is to know about it. There is still a long way to go for me on this journey and as I go along, I hope to incorporate my findings as I chalk out my future plans.