The joy of sharing financial knowledge

A few years back, I read ‘Aspirational Investor’ by Ashvin Chabbra. That book gave me a very interesting perspective on how to think about asset allocation.

Irrespective of the level of wealth, you can break down your investment portfolio into Needs, Wants and Aspirations. The thought process is inspired by Maslow’s Need hierarchy theory.

In the last 8 years, I have worked with a variety of clients and have seen many versions of financial lives. Most of the people focus on their needs and wants. There are only a few individuals who focus on aspirations.

Let’s deep dive at a philosophical level to understand “aspirations”.

This is one of the messages I got from Bhagavad Gita. (If I were to recommend only one book to read, it is Bhagavad Gita.)

Source: Isha Foundation

Your actions can be broken down as Karma, Gyan, Kriya and Bhakti. Your day-to-day work is Karma. If you combine your Karma with Gyan, material success follows.

Investing world is no different. As an investment advisor, you do the right thing for the client, material success follows.

“The tendency of free markets to regulate themselves by means of competition, supply and demand, and self-interest.” – Adam Smith

As a client, you understand and follow physical law of nature, investments will grow.

You can't produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant. – Warren Buffet

I went for a 10 days meditation camp (Vipassana) in March 2020. Those 10 days helped me understand the ‘Kriya’. (every person on earth irrespective of their religious beliefs should attend this camp, its free too)

The ultimate peace comes when you serve others, bhakti bhav. An act done in devotion to help others.

The joy of sharing is linked with ‘bhakti bhav’. As I mentioned above that very few people think of aspirations. And even a fewer set of people think of ‘others’ when they set an aspirational goal.

Yesterday, I read this in Business Standard:

"Covid-19 has been likened to an X-ray, revealing fractures in the fragile skeleton of the societies we have built," Antonio Guterres, U.N. secretary-general.

I can’t agree more with Antonio. During this time of crisis, the acts of humanity should increase, on the contrary, countries and people are becoming inward looking.

There are a lot of industries that are severely impacted by Covid 19. People are losing their jobs and that is leading to financial stress.

Combining all this, I plan to do the following (bhakti bhav):

1. Make ‘managing personal finance course’ free for all. This course is sufficient to make you take the right financial decisions, irrespective of your level of wealth.

2. Make ‘ask a question’ service, free for all. You can go on the link and ask any question. I will respond in a weeks’ time.

3. Continue to write and create videos to help those who want to learn.

4. Hold 1-hour google meet session every month with 10 participants. The topics may range from stock investing, asset allocation, etc.

Please do let me know in case you have any other thoughts.

Managing money is not taught to us. The entire system focuses on how to earn but not on how to manage. With these initiatives, I plan to help as many people as possible. I am being selfish here, exploring the state of ultimate peace by serving others.

May this world be a better place for you and me and the entire human race.