Personal finance education appears to be in charge in a quickly changing market that appreciates technology abilities more and more. The youth of today aim to improve their financial literacy and actively handle their finances on their own, despite the fact that we still have a long way to go. It may transform a young person's entire life by teaching them how to manage their money by using credit to advance rather than just to survive.
Bhavik Kalani of Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore tells MintGenie in an interview about how he has been trying many ways to equip himself with any possible wisdom regarding the concepts of investing and savings. As a student of chemical engineering, he describes himself as a geek and an avid thinker. He enjoys reading fiction, with a potent focus on the Harry Potter series. As a basketball player himself, he picks out the learnings from the game and believes in taking calculated risks and adapting to the circumstances as soon as possible.
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 surely has its own “value” in almost every term we come across. For me, it has its portion of importance where it provides ease of accessibility towards many things. Where it is debatable that a lot of money brings along a lack of peace but sure as I mentioned before, ease is one thing it provides. Also, for me it should be a source of being available if someone needs it.
Not the most important but yet money is a majorly significant factor in figuring out major life decisions. Being able to know what can be within the affordable limits may it be a daily basis stuff or deciding to study ahead which is an important decision, money does make up a major part.
What do you spend your money on every month at the moment? Can you give a breakup in percentage terms?
A chunk of my monthly allowance money goes into transport and food. Some of the other expenses are:
Transport: 30-35%
Food: 40-45%
Stationary: 5-6%
Self-care: 1-2%
Savings: 10-15%
What are the things you want to spend money on?
Considering myself as a student, I would like to save as much money as possible plucking out any unwanted expenses. If I’ve to consider myself as someone who earns money, my choice would then rather shift to developing my resources and assets in all ways so that I can enjoy the life for a longer time. My approach would also include spending some portion into personal enjoyment as well but it would be considerably low.
Do you save money? If yes, how frequently and what do you do with this money?
Yes, I save money. Not much of it but still I do. The frequency would be around 300-400 INR monthly (on 3000-5000 INR allowance). At the moment, there is no particular way I would use the saved money but the basic ideology is use that amount to cut down other expenses so that the expenditures are minimal at the end of the month.
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 as medium to develop myself and learn to manage a responsibility laid life. With responsibility to earn and manage money, to manage family and to manage the lifestyle at different conditions makes up the meaning of job to me. The top two factors I would want to think about when deciding a company for my job would be work atmosphere/culture and growth rate. Monetary portions do make a part of it but if I am able to develop myself then I’ll have a better mouth to ask for value propositions against my work.
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 money is a very important point for me to consider when I earn or even when I am allowed some amount monthly and I would definitely want to invest any amount possibly set aside. Investing in mutual funds or stock market comes as a subjective choice but I personally would like to learn the same before investing a hard-earned money into the same. Keeping in a savings bank account would surely not count as a choice for me if the money set aside is ahead a given magnitude.
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 probably think that I am not at par with the appropriate or best knowledge of savings and investment. I sure lack the quantity and quality of understanding necessary to make safe and productive investments. For the same, to get myself in ahead in the race, I’ve been trying many ways to equip myself with any possible wisdom regarding the same. There are experience notes from my parents and grandparents that really help me knowing the value and significance of savings and better methods to invest the same.
Do you follow social media influencers and follow their investment advice?
I do follow some of the social media influencers relating to the investment domain. Following their advice would be the incorrect terminology to use in my case because using the advice blindly doesn’t help me. To know how it can be incorporated in the current scenario I’m working in, for that matter, I would say that I do consider their advice.
Do you talk to your mother or your father about money and learn from them or follow their advice?
Definitely, as I mentioned before, there’s a consistent involvement of my parents in monetary matter whether in terms of advice or just general discussion. Following advices mixed with their experience to the modern-day available resources is an amazing practice I’ve come across. Learning from their ways and using them to fulfill our requirements can be a great support in the sensitive and important matters such as finances.
