FP Article 11
Articles on
Saving and Investing to Help You Help Yourself
and Your Kids
by Rajen Devadason
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure
nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual
income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty
pounds ought and six, result misery.
Charles Dickens'
Mr. Micawber in David Copperfield
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The
habits of saving and investing are
two of the most important ones we
can cultivate in our own lives and
then instill in our children.
Doing so
successfully can result in
economically viable families.
Failing to inculcate these
interwoven habits often yields
multi-generational poverty.
Whether you have
children yet or not, paying
attention to the simple principles
in this article and launching out to
deeper study will prove profitable. |
The Chinese have a belief that it is almost
impossible for a family to retain wealth across
three distinct generations. This phenomenon is
so well established across cultures and
continents that the Americans have long had
their own aphorism for this sad and disturbing
human tendency: "Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in
three generations."
This is an article on the importance
of saving and investing and is a
launch pad to other valuable
resources on this site. I hope you enjoy
reading it. But if it isn't what
you're looking for, you're welcome
to search for something that better meets
your needs. Thank you for allowing
me to serve you.
Rajen Devadason |
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One of the main reasons the global economy has
literally exploded in size and vibrancy
throughout the 20th century and into our own
21st is the creation of credit purchases.
This pretty much began with the
nascent automobile industry in the United
States. Once people realised they didn't need to
save the full sum to buy a car, millions more
were able to purchase a 'horseless carriage'.
This rapidly led to the widespread paving of
roads, the adoption of John Boyd Dunlop's
pneumatic tyre technology to reduce the
bumpiness of rides, the rise of John Davison
Rockefeller, Sr., and a whole new industry
linked to the accelerated pumping of black gold
out of the bowels of the Earth, and a
proliferation of unrelated businesses that
realised offering easy credit expanded the
capacity of wage earners to buy more and more
and more of their 'stuff'!
Fast
forward to our brave, new world!
With the marriage of
sophisticated advertising and marketing
initiatives to powerful global media
organisations, it has become increasingly
difficult to simply drift into the good habits
of saving and investing. Concerted effort is
required.
If you need proof, consider this:
The gap between the world's haves
and have-nots is widening at a frightening rate.
According to data released by the United
Nations, in the year 1900 the wealth controlled
by the world's richest 20% was 10 times more
than that possessed by the world's poorest 20%.
By 1950, that 10:1 ratio had ballooned to 30:1.
By 2000, it was 75:1.
For the benefit of my speaking,
writing and consulting clients, several years
ago I ran a simple regression analysis that
suggests that if the trend continues, the world
is going to reach the frightening state of
having a 100:1 rich-poor ratio on May 1st 2045.
Many of us will be alive then, as will most of
our kids.
Which side of this GREAT ECONOMIC DIVIDE will
you inhabit? More appropriately, which side will
you CHOOSE to
inhabit?
We already see the awful effects
of global society's fabric unravelling and
fraying at the seams as this untenable situation
grows worse each passing day.
The real
question you must ask yourself is are you going
to continue down the path of wealth diminishment
that the bulk of humanity is speedily skating
down?
Or are you going to proactively
ensure both you and your children (and hopefully
even your grandchildren) absorb potent ancient
and modern lessons about saving and investing
that can increase your odds of joining the ranks
of life's winners?
If you would like to download a
free ebook I've written to help people who are
willing to commit to a 5-year programme of
self-study, you're welcome to help yourself to
26 Books to Take YOU All
the Way to the TOP!
If you would like to start to
learn the necessary basics of saving, you may
read
How To Start Saving Money.
And if that inspires you to begin
thinking more seriously about saving, read
Soar As High As You Like -
But For God's Sake, Get Your Safety Net In Place
First!
Then, you might want to move on
to the article
What Is Investing?
Finally, if you want a sensible,
fun approach to adopt as you gradually develop
your money mindset and with it a personal
philosophy of investing, you will benefit from
reading
Why Bother With Dividend
Investing?
It is unlikely you will complete
all that reading in a single sitting. You might,
therefore, want to bookmark this page so you can
return to this article at will.
Your family's financial destiny
can be dramatically improved by your actions
today.
I hope and pray that you will
first invest the time and effort to digest all
this invaluable knowledge, and then act on it!
I wish you the very best in this
grand, multigenerational endeavour.
© Rajen Devadason