Financial literacy and a solid personal finance management strategy are essential if you want to properly grasp your finances. If you are competent at managing your money and saving, you will have the possibility to explore investing as a person. As a consequence, you will be able to control your money rather than it controlling you.
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.
Kuku Narang of Jindal Global Law School tells MintGenie in an interview about how he believes that money should not be used only to cater to one’s desires, instead, it should be used to cater to various passions an individual holds dear and near. He is a penultimate year law student, working as a fashion consultant with his interests revolving around poetry and football.
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 to various individuals is a form of validation, you do something and are validated for your efforts by money. Thus, money becomes the end, however, my perspective on it is that money is a tool, a means, essential in life to attain the end known to me as financial independence.
What do you spend your money on every month at the moment? Can you give a breakup in percentage terms?
I try to save whatever I can but most of the amount earned is invested in various spheres of life. It would be safe to say that 60 percent of the income earned is invested while the other 20 percent is saved and the remaining 20 percent is taken out for my expenses.
What are the things you want to spend money on?
I believe money should not be used only to cater to one’s desires instead it should be used to cater to various passions an individual holds dear and near, these, of course, vary from individual to individual. I personally am a big fashion enthusiast so I would prefer to invest in upcoming fashion brands and other fashion-related entrepreneurial works.
In fact, as of now, I am working on my own clothing brand labelled as self made. The essence behind our brand is how an individual works on themselves in their quest to empowering themselves to the true definition of the phrase self made.
Do you save money? If yes, how frequently and what do you do with this money?
Yes, I try to save a fixed percentage of my earning every month but at the same time, I invest money when I see an opportunity for growth. This opportunity can be in agriculture, real estate or any other field. Nevertheless, I also believe investing money to buy experience is a fair trade that traveling helps me achieve.
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?
I view being able to work and contribute as empowering and liberating. The two most essential factors when choosing a place to work would be the work culture and whether I am passionate about it or not.
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?
I think there are various other directions one could invest money in and I for one would personally want to invest in something I believe in. Additionally, I think there are at all times various investment opportunities present to an individual however the best opportunity for me is the one I can relate to or am passionate about. As I believe it is easier to fulfill a promise you believe in. For instance, I would prefer to invest in upcoming fashion brands rather than stocks or mutual funds since it aligns with my interests.
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 do have limited knowledge about saving and investing, however, I am still learning. Since there is so much to learn every day and I have at times found it challenging to listen and follow the advice of others. I just hope I am able to keep myself open to learning, it has to be one of my biggest weaknesses.
Do you follow social media influencers and follow their investment advice?
I believe there is always something to learn from everyone so, yes, I do follow influencers, not for investment advice but to learn the trend of the time and what is appealing to the audience. For investment-related opinions and advice, I would choose to go to a person who I can trust with my finances.
Do you talk to your mother or your father about money and learn from them or follow their advice?
Absolutely, I would be a fool not to because no matter what, they will always have more experience than me. In fact, there is a quote, I firmly believe in, that says “Experience teaches the old to be young and the young to be old.”
