When it comes to financial planning, there are many myths and misconceptions, and people can get a lot of advice from both reliable and dubious sources. Making errors might include mistaking high salaries for wealth or failing to recognize the significance of tax asset placement while making investment decisions. Starting early and learning provides you the opportunity to make errors and grow from them.
In this series, we aim to collect the views of students and young working professionals on investing and finance. Nishtha Kumra, Sales Associate with a leading real estate developer tells MintGenie in an interview about how money has a big impact on the quality of life as everyone is manipulated by the material world. She is a 20 year old living in Delhi who completed her graduation in economics from the University of Delhi. She has a slight proclivity towards art and creative painting with her future interests lying in marketing and strategy building.
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 has a big impact on the quality of life as everyone is manipulated by the material world. Anyone who cannot control their greed has eventually fallen under its spell. Therefore, for me, money is only a tool rather than a purpose in life because the corrupting influence of money can detract from the quality of life by promoting the false idea of how money can create a better standard of living.
What do you spend your money on every month at the moment? Can you give a breakup in percentage terms?
At the moment, I don’t spend a lot of my money every month as I live with my parents and do not have to worry about the food and rent, but specifically, a fixed proportion of my salary goes into mutual funds as a source for future saving.
What are the things you want to spend money on?
As mentioned above, I don't spend a lot of money currently, but I firmly believe that securing your future is the first thing you should work towards. Therefore, I would want to spend my money on my future goals and my future security.
Do you save money? If yes, how frequently and what do you do with this money?
Yes, I do save and i got this habit from my parents. My father said a very smart thing to me when I started earning: never tell your mind what you actually earn and always spend less than 50% of what you earn. That’s what I do, I spend less than that and save the rest.
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 means four things to me, learning, earning, meaning and fun. The job profile and the work-life balance the company offers are the two things, I would consider before going in for a job with a company.
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 believe investing helps you in securing your future. If I have a certain amount of money set aside, I would prefer to put it in mutual funds and I do invest a significant proportion of my earnings in mutual funds every month.
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?
Yes, I do have a little understanding of investing and saving, but I still have a long road ahead. I make an effort to learn the same things from my father, but there's always a lot more to discover. I thus attempt to converse with him and learn from him on a frequent basis.
Do you follow social media influencers and follow their investment advice?
Yes, I do follow social media influencers, who doesn’t these days? But I follow them for the creative briefs they do and not to take investment advices from them. As I firmly believe your source of information for such important decisions should always be reliable and authentic.
Do you talk to your mother or your father about money and learn from them or follow their advice?
Always, I find me very young to be taking monetary decisions myself right now, so my mom and dad are always in between my decisions as well as I always talk to them and ask for their advice before making any money-involved decisions .
