Not long ago , I accompanied my father on his journey to a remote village , to visit an old artist who had been a friend of my late grandfather. Decades ago , this artist had traveled far and wide promoting temple arts . He owned splendid wealth and lived lavishly during those days. But on the day when we visited him he was bedridden and poor. His health and wealth were at stake. Despite the pathetic conditions ,he spoke . Indeed ,he spoke quite well. He spoke about his ecstatic young days and his gloomy present.
Decades ago , he used to spend like a king , but never bothered to buy any assets. He was immensely talented and entertained many. But well ,all kinds of jobs , are restricted to a certain age. Either the rules will restrict it or our health will. In his case , he fell ill one day and became too weak to perform. He became bedridden for years . Each day he grew weaker and poorer. When poverty knocked on his front door , his disciples and servants escaped through the back door.
Many artists of the by gone years have meet with a similar fate. Most of them firmly believed in the power of the fate. They should have rather believed in their own powers to control their destinies. If he had managed his wealth a bit more wisely , the end wouldn't have been so bad. Of course death is inevitable . But if he had savings , he wouldn't have suffered so much towards the end. He would have had something left for his children to inherit.
Most of us are like him.
We are so made that our expenditure always exceeds what we earn (from a job or from our parents). When we get 1000 rs , we spend nearly 1000. And then we'll wish that we had 2000. If in case we somehow get 2000 , our expenditure would rise to 2000. People with such mentalities fail to save . When we fail to save , we often find ourselves in situations that we call "broke" ,"tight" etc. That's okay when we are still depended on our parents. But once we start earning on our own , things will turn bad if we dont quit this habit.
By talking about "savings " I do not wish to point at keeping some raw cash aside. I'd rather like to focus on the art of buying assets ie...money generating properties such as a small amount of gold , a medium sized plot or even a big building. People often consider homes as assets. That's wrong because the house we live in doesn't generate income until its sold. Once its sold ,its no longer our home. Instead if a part of our home is given for rent then it becomes an asset. Cars that constantly need petrol and pets that need food and care aren't assets either. I am not saying that we shouldn't own non-assets , but before we go into buying such luxuries we must own some assets, be it small or big.
We are all talented in some way or the other. And that talent might earn us an income to live. As long as we have notes in our pockets there will be a huge tendency to spend. When that tendency is too much , even millions won't satisfy us .The spending will simple increase with earning and nothing will ever be enough. We must focus on spending for "What we need " rather than for "What we want ". There is a huge difference between the two . Once we understand that difference and save accordingly , then we'll never again have to tell others that "I'm broke ".
Our destiny is not designed by our talents .The attitude towards life and the decisions we forge ,make us what we are. They say that "money won't make you happy " , but well the modern civilization is so made that without at least a bit more money than what we actually need, its hard to survive .
