_*Decisions, Life & Money*_

Tough decisions are always taken *alone*

Collective decisions are the ones which are relatively the, *easy ones*

Investing or Life......it's the same 🤷🏼‍♂

_*Home, Life & Money*_

Home, lovely home 🙂
It's a wonderful feeling to be back at one's home after a long day at work :)
But, do we need to own that home?

May be, May be not 😑

• What happens to a 25 year old who buys a home with some kind of down payment (money from parents / borrowings from family / friends etc.) & the rest on monthly EMIs for 25 years?

• What happens to a 30 year old who buys a home with some kind of saved money from his income + borrowings from family / friends and the rest on monthly EMIs for 25 years?

• What happens to a 35 year old who is rolling in his career & buys a home with all his savings + some borrowings from family / friends & then, the rest on monthly EMIs for 25 years?

• What happens to a 40 year old getting into the prime of job / career / life, buys a home with a majority of his savings / liquidity / accumulated investments & then, the remaining on monthly EMIs for 20 / 25 years?

• What happens to a 45 year old who seriously contemplates whether to actually buy a home or not due to an affordability issue but then, jumps into owning one beautiful grand home (keeping up with the Joneses / peer pressure, family pressure etc.) with all that he has saved for everthing in his / her life, and the rest on monthly EMIs for 15 / 20 years?

• What happens to a 50 year old who is on the verge of major family / children life goals and then, jumps to own a home with digging most of life savings + maybe additional borrowings (to keep up with the neighbourhood), and the rest on monthly EMIs for 10 / 15 years?

• What happens to a 55 year old who has been sensible all the way along but due to the emotional baggage of 'not owning a home',  buys a home now, for enjoying a peaceful retirement, soon. Buys the home with mostly the left out savings + maybe a little short term borrowings from family /friends & or the rest on monthly EMIs for 5 / 10 years?

• What happens to a 60 year old who has just retired and now plans to buy a home of his / her choice to settle down in a home. Buys the home with accumulated savings + retirement proceeds and or maybe a little help from children?

At each life stage,  there is an imminent and affirmative reason to own a home. 

Noting wrong with it. Life goes haywire when, the decision to buy a home goes beyond ones own means & bounds. Annnnnnnd........ TROUBLE STARTS TO BUILD ON FINANCES. 

The "second home / land ownership".....another animal 🙂

By the way.......one needs to fill a home with all that is needed & not needed 😇😇😇

How does a home ownership stackup for oneself?

ASK QUESTIONS - ANSWER THEM HONESTLY

• A place that one owns? (what a lovely feeling)
• Home Equity / Long term investment? (the most misplaced thought)
• Tax breaks / advantages? (depends how one works it out and is it really so good)
• Is it part of an Asset Building process? (is it really an asset to build from age 25?)
• Cash Inflow / Outflow? (how much do I earn & how much do I need to pay for EMIs)
• Sustainability of EMI payments? (can i afford it for the long tenor)
• Liquidity? (can i continue to pay if something goes wrong with life / career / job, can't sell a room / portion of the house for any emergency needs etc.)
• Taxation muddles? (all the running taxes etc.)
• Maintenance Issues? (regular upkeep, remodelling, insurance etc.)
• Flexibility to move or can't move? (anchored to a place)
• Succession? (Am i leaving a burden on my successors)

_*Money, Life & Questions*_

*QUESTIONS*

when asked in the right way, should ideally lead towards *impactful decisions*

Do we ask ourself *honest questions*?

If we do so, do we also provide *honest answers*?

Ask questions to yourself.

_Honest responses are always inward & not outward_

The probability of making a mistake in Asset Allocation comes down dramatically, if we can focus on these inward looking questions & leave the outward variables alone.

Investing or Life....the questions beginning with *Why, What, Where, When, Who, Whom, Whose & How*… remain the same.

*Right set of Questions & Responses*

⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇⬇

*Impactful Decisions*

_*Is fate the ultimate game winner*_

*It's fate again*

We think, all is under *our control*....
*THINK AGAIN*

What else to say on the happenings in England, yesterday

Yes.....

One at *Lord's*

The other at *Wimbledon*

England wins the ICC ODI World Cup with a bizzare rule 🤦🏼‍♂

Roger Federer, even after scoring more # of points than Djocko, ends up on the losing side 🤷🏼‍♂

Both New Zealand and Federer did what ever they could, but still the win eluded them.

Whether one believes or not in destiny, fate, luck or karma..... *what's the explanation for these losses*

Btw....

_*Investing is no different*_

_*Money, Sports & Investing - are they fair? _*

Is the distribution of Money in the world, the rules in sports, & the investing of money; fair in life?

a No or a YES.... or I don't know?

The world is truly illusionary with the amount of rationality & logic that can be tipped off a cliff in infinite instances.

Just look at it

• The distribution of World Wealth into the hands of a few (Oxfam report source - 42 million people, or 0.8 percent of the world’s population, have net worths in excess of $1 million. This group is roughly the global 1% & controls 44.8% of the world’s wealth - Distribution of Money... Is it fair or not ?

• The absurd rules in sports which might not have a base of rationality (e.g. in the game of cricket, a No Ball is declared when the fielding side breaks certain pre set conditions - like, if the # of fielders outside the inner circle are more than the required # of fielders to be present when a bowler delivers the ball. Good, that the bowling side is penalised for it by giving up an extra run, an additional ball to be bowled & the batsman is not given out (if so). But the absurdity is that, a batsman can be given out if he hits this delivered ball, tries to squeeze a run & can't make it to the other end  - Now, is this fair or not?, especally when there are fielding restrictions but the bowling team ignores this rule and ends up with an advantage. Isn't this rule a bit illogical? Is it fair to the batting side or not?

• The amount of money lost by investing into ridiculous investment schemes, owing to one's own misunderstanding of the product or one's own behavioral patterns - ridiculous amount of wealth goes down the drain. Why? Is this fair or not?

Well, thats what is Money, Sports & Investing.....losing sometimes & winning sometimes for things which might be under our control or not.

But over a time period, all these square up & get even.

Do they for all?

Maybe No, Maybe Yes....I don't know?

Is that karma?

Maybe No, Maybe Yes....I don't know?

As long as one follows the rules & keeps moving the scoreboard, its going to be a decent positive outcome. 

But yes, some times things just don't end up on our side; but, maybe, the need of the hour is to amend some rules of the game for a better equation....as is with the Run Out & the No Ball.....

No Run Out when the basic fielding rules are broken

No Investment Returns when the basic Investing rules are broken

_*Money, Life & Equities*_

So, equity investments deliver superlative returns in the long term....

Pls think again 樂

Check the above point to point ...data

A lot depends on

*When did we start to invest*

*How long have we stayed invested*

*How frequently or how infrequently did we buy / sell / continue to hold*

*What kind of investments have we done*

*What's out Asset Allocation mix*

*Are we tracking our entire financial assets at a portfolio level and then, check the CAGR returns over a time frame*

*Did we lose money?*

*Did any Asset / Product pull our returns down*?

*Did we have better options to invest when we started out to actually invest or in the midst*

*Where our expectations more or less, to where we stand?*

*If so, is it being looked at from the holding period of the portfolio, and along with the kind of Asset mix we hold?*

*If not, could we have taken a higher or a lower risk with our money?*

And not to leave out the *things which are never ever under our control*.....

Govt Policies
Taxation
Economic Direction
Collective Financial Market moves
Regulations
Global developments
Domestic issues
Etc.

_What we can do, is what we can do_

The rest is not in our hands.
That's the bottom line.

Ifs and Buts are always there.....but, it's mostly retrospective 😊

_*Money, Children & Investing*_

_If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much *time* with them, and *half* as much money_ - Abigail Van Buren

So is the learning for us...

_If you want your Investments to turn out well, *spend twice as much time in them*,  and *half as much thinking & flipping them like coins*_  🙂

_*Money, Life & Cryptos*_

Bamboos - some of the fastest-growing plants in the world, due to a unique rhizome-dependent system.

Certain species of bamboo can grow *91 cm (36 in) within a 24-hour period*, at a rate of almost 4 cm (1.6 in) an hour (a growth around 1 mm every 90 seconds, or 1 inch every 40 minutes).

But they probably don't break the soil and are not visible until the 1st, 4 or 5 years have passed 🙂.

A nice story which represented the concept of *compounding*.

But, i also think that this story represents the latest trend / fad / genius investing into the concept of *cryptocurrencies*. _Lying underneath for over the last 6 or 7 years & then growing up to become the tall bamboos_  🤔

Btw, *they are not currencies*.

They are, *bits of code* like *bits of notes & coins*

Risk?....oh, no risk....everything is transparent. Everyone knows what is there in the system.  Great👍🏼

So, are these absent from

Liquidity Risk? (How fast can an investor sell it)

Hacking Risk? (Security systems & privacy)

Network Risk? (Collapse of the network, Yes...it happens quite often)

Counter Party Risk? (Yes, a full exchange collapsed, some time ago - Mt.Gox)

Price Imbalance Risk? (Everyone in the world holds the same thing)

Acceptance Risk? (2 companies in the fortune 500 accept it...it was 5, a year ago. Yes, in some countries its legal & others illegal ).

Security of the wallet? (Personal wallets getting stolen & coins missing from them)

Illegal & terror funding risks? (Less said, the better)

Holding, Concentration Risk? - *Less than 4% hold over 95% of it*

Demand & Supply Risk? (Of the X number of bitcoin supply, close to a Y amount is already mined. If they need to increase the supply....apparently, the protocol has to get changed).... more supply; price ??? 🙂

And finally....what would happen if there is a single cyrpto like this 🤔

No price discrepancies
No wage growth
No Inflation
No currencies to hold
No investments to be made
No need to manufacture anything
No need to service anything

*the concept of money has changed* 😀

_*Money, Life & Extrapolation*_

When we try to extrapolate *today's event*, to a 10 year *tenor*.... disaster is waiting to happen in one's life or an investment portfolio, both in the short & long run 🤷🏼‍♂

*Elections* keep happening, all the time.

*Budgets* keep happening, all the time.

*Interest Rates* keep moving up & down, all the time.

*Policies* keep changing, all the time.

*Future Taxation* is uncertain, all the time.

*Global & Local events* keep happening, all the time.

*Money* in life keeps flowing in & out, all the time.

*TIME in Life  & Investments*, keeps moving forward, all the while.

*Stay the Course*

*Stay until the time*

*Stay Resilient*

*What can't be controlled is best left out*

Stop extrapolating today's event to a future probability.

_*Money, Investing & Luck_*

Luck - success or failure apparently brought by chance rather than through one's own actions

Is there a bit of luck in everything we do?

YES, for sure 🙂

The 50% probability between the head & tails in a game's toss is the team's luck

The 50% probability between a fielder holding onto or dropping a catch is the batsman's luck

The 50% probability that a batsman can be given out or not using the advanced tech, is the batsman's or the bowler's luck

Is there a 50% probability that our investments cross the boundary ropes of our money & life goals, or will we falter with a very low score and lose the game? 🤔

This is definitely not luck.

It's got more to do with our skill of hard earnings, discipline of savings, patience of staying to play the 5 odd bowlers (assets like - Equity, Fixed Income, Real Estate, Gold & Commodities, and all other misc. assets) & playing a long innings by sticking onto the investing pitch for the entire 50 overs of the game (cricket). 

If the team of assets can bat through the innings without throwing their wickets (hard earnings) into the hands of the eagerly waiting hawkish fielders (investing traps) to lap it up and throw us out of the field, we'll probably do enough scoring to take the later part of the game (retirement), quite comfortably.

If we don't reach the targeted score, at least we'll end up close to it, and fight the game on quite comfortably.

Mostly, Luck plays an important role for events beyond our control, but the rest is in our hands.

Don't throw away your wicket. 

Play carefully, the money game for life.