Here are some SHOCKING THINGS I learnt about money and banks AFTER I became an adult:

LESSON 1
Central banks cannot run out of money because they are the ones that create the money. And you cannot run out of something you create yourself. And that is why the value of money erodes over time. Because when there is MORE money in the system, it becomes LESS valuable.

For almost a decade I thought a 10% increment is a decent increment. Till I realized that a 10% increment is actually only a 3% increment if inflation is at 7%. So because of the way the banking system works, you’re doing one full year of maghachmaari to STAY IN THE SAME PLACE!
To deal with a recession you have to be financially intelligent. More than ever before!

LESSON 2
As an individual you cannot print money.. but you can CREATE MONEY for yourself from thin air. In 2009, after 15 years of working in various corporate jobs I learnt that the amount of money I CAN MAKE has nothing to do with my education, my designation or my job responsibilities.

I learnt that if I want money, all I need is an IDEA. If I can develop the ability to convert my ideas into money.. I can NEVER run out of money. As an experiment, in 2011, I once bought a 500 rupee book, read the book, mixed the ideas of the book with my own and sold the new set of ideas to people and made Rs 50000. In 2 weeks time. That’s the only way out I could think of to pay the banks to whom I owed money. My ideas have saved me from going to jail so many times I have lost count.

I still do that. Whenever I need more money than I am making, I spend time and money on creating/ developing an idea. That way I am recession-proof.

LESSON 3
The biggest thing I realized is that wealth has nothing to do with how much money I MAKE. It has everything to do with WHAT I DO with the money I make.

I’ve become SMART about money only in the last 5 years. The first 21 years of my career were a financial disaster. Not because I didn’t make enough money – but because I earned LOADS of money (about 2 cr) and SPENT it all !!! I know that’s really stupid but being stupid is the first step in the journey to being wise.

The sad thing is that I see a whole generation of people making the SAME MISTAKES that I made. I hope they progress from stupidity to wisdom faster than I did!

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We played Monopoly a couple of times in the last few weeks. It was fun. And at home, Seema and me make it a point to discuss money and financial intelligence with our children. The intention is that our children don’t make the same money mistakes we made and they don’t develop the same limiting beliefs about money which we grew up with.
We’ve been working with them to help them understand that being rich or middle-class or poor is JUST A MINDSET.

You could have tons of money in the bank and have a poor mentality and suffer. Or you could have no money in the bank and still have a rich mentality and live a very fulfilling life. Or you could be rich AND happy.

It’s all about what’s in your HEAD.. and not about what’s in your BANK.