Since "Carpe Diem" seems to be the motto to live by, early investments for a secure future are frequently disregarded, especially by newly employed individuals. The appropriate investments made early in life, however, may help you manage your money and take control of your finances, which can help you accumulate wealth more quickly. In order to comprehend what money means to today's youth in a growing world, this series explores students and young working professionals and their perspectives on money and finance.
Shreya Mamgain of Visit Health tells MintGenie in an interview about how the advice sessions with her father have subsequently changed to a two-way exchange with time. She is 21 years old, born and brought up in Delhi. She recently completed her bachelor's in business administration from Indira Gandhi Delhi technical university and just started her first job at a startup ‘Visit health’ as a growth associate.
Edited Excerpts:
What does money mean to you? Is it the most important factor when it comes to your life decisions like what to study, career and so forth?
Money can be seen as a basic survival necessity, and in my opinion, it also gives us power, independence, empowerment and all the materialistic pleasures, but it is not the ultimate wealth in life. Money is undoubtedly an essential consideration when it comes to the majority of my life decisions. I constantly make an effort to determine whether a particular option is worthwhile and how big of an impact it will have on my budget.
What do you spend your money on every month at the moment? Can you give a breakup in percentage terms?
I recently graduated from college and started my first job, but since I don't have any significant responsibilities as of now, I straight away invest roughly 40% of my salary in stocks and mutual funds as I have always been assertive about investing my money. The remainder of my money is spent on shopping, food and other miscellaneous expenses, other than the 10% that I spend commuting from home to work.
What are the things you want to spend money on?
Well, I believe that your experiences are what stay with you till the end of your life and are the constant source of joy so that is what I want to spend my money on. Traveling the world, experiencing different cultures, and going on thrilling adventures with my loved ones is what I am most fond of and gives me the utmost pleasure. I love going out and collecting all these memories as I believe that these life experiences have a significant impact on our personalities as well and have shaped us into who we are.
Do you save money? If yes, how frequently and what do you do with this money?
I invest the majority of my money, so maybe that in a way also counts as saving, but I avoid utilizing that money unless I have no other options in that situation because it affects the compounding. Therefore, I make an effort to save at least a portion of my income for unplanned expenses or when I want to make a large purchase.
What does having a job mean to you? What are the top two factors you will want to think about when deciding a company to work for?
Having a job is important to me because it enables me to develop the skills and experience I'll require throughout my career. Even if I switch careers later in life, these learnings will always stick with me. After graduating from college, I feel as though I have been introduced to an entirely different world, and getting to know so many wonderful and highly skilled individuals has further opened up my mind.
I always wanted to work in a startup as I believed that I will have more opportunities to grow and learn and I was fortunate enough to land a job in one. Although it is a well-established startup, the workplace culture is great. The need to collaborate with like-minded individuals who constantly motivate you to perform better is a significant motivator and promotes better synergies.
What do you think about investing your money? If you have a certain amount of money set aside, will you want to invest it in the stock market, mutual funds, or do you just keep it in your bank savings account?
Investing is the best way to make our money work for us and build wealth for ourselves over time, thanks to compounding. To be on the safer side, I prefer to invest my money in a variety of assets and build a portfolio. I divide my money into different categories, allocating the biggest chunk of it to less risky investments like index funds, digital commodities, and stable stocks. The remainder of my funds are invested in riskier stocks and cryptocurrencies.
Do you think you have an understanding on how to save and invest? If yes, how did you learn? If not, are you trying to learn?
I am learning new things and strategies every day so I don’t feel I’ll ever have a complete understanding, but I do have a decent enough comprehension to better handle my funds. Through YouTube videos and blog postings, I spent a significant amount of time during Covid19 learning about the stock market and handling money. This exposed me to a whole new world of finance that I had never experienced before, and there is literally so much to learn.
Do you follow social media influencers and follow their investment advice?
Absolutely, I do. I consider this to be a positive side of social media since it has given us access to this knowledge and granted us the opportunity to learn so much from those who are actually established in that field and are willing to share their experiences and learnings with us. Finding the correct mentor, however, is vital because it is as easy to mislead the audience and offer bad advice as well. Therefore, I never blindly trust what they say or do, but it serves as a great compass.
Do you talk to your mother or your father about money and learn from them or follow their advice?
Yes, I used to talk to my dad about these new ways to manage finances when I started learning about them. My father has always been my first teacher for everything in life, but it has subsequently changed to a two-way exchange. He always seemed to share his knowledge and experiences and I also explained to him new ways to invest his money as one can never stop learning.
