Parminder Singh and Bhupinder Singh are best friends. They have been brought up in the same neighbourhood, studied in the same class in the same school, and then they were benchmates in college. It was time for Parminder to leave for Pune as he took up a job there. So one day, before exchanging goodbyes, they were having a serious discussion about their future. They realized that with the ever increasing cost of living, it would be very difficult for them to realize their life goals, how will they sustain themselves after retiring kept hovering in their minds. They had their houses, which both of them inherited from their Parents. At that moment, they were 25 years old, unmarried. They both thought of investing for their retirement, which will happen 40 years later, when they will be 65 years old. Parminder moved to Pune and forgot about the discussion, but Bhupinder followed and made an investment of Rs 250,000 in an Equity Mutual Fund and he also started an SIP of Rs 1,000 a month in another equity mutual fund. Now, five years later Parminder came to Jalandhar and they met. The clock ticked and the topic of investments rolled in. Parminder had nothing to contribute, but Bhupinder did, since he did invest and the value of his lump sum investment of Rs 2.5 lacs has grown to Rs. 4.5 Lacs in addition to the SIP he is running.

Parminder was disheartened, since he has not saved even a penny for his retirement. But Bhupinder, being his true friend, encouraged him and said, "Pammi, it is never too late. You are still young, and can still invest for your retirement which is 35 years hence". Parminder agreed and he too invested Rs 4.5 Lacs (which is equal to the present value of Bhupinder's investment) in the same mutual fund for his retirement and he also started an SIP of Rs 1,000 a month. Now, let's see what would be the value of their investment 35 years later.

Parminder Lumpsum investment: Rs. 4.5 Lacs
Value at the age of 65: Rs. 2.78 Crores
SIP Investment: Rs. 4.2 Lacs (Rs 1,000*12*35)
Value at the age of 65: Rs. 55.10 Lacs
Total Investment: Rs. 8.7 Lacs
Total Retirement Fund Value: Rs. 3.33 Crores

Bhupinder Lumpsum investment: Rs. 2.5 Lacs
Value at the age of 65: Rs. 2.78 Crores
SIP Investment: Rs. 4.8 Lacs (Rs 1,000*12*40)
Value at the age of 65: Rs. 97.93 Lacs
Total Investment: Rs. 7.3 Lacs
Total Retirement Fund Value: Rs. 3.76 Crores

Analysis:
Parminder invested Rs 1.4 Lacs more than Bhupinder, yet his returns were Rs. 43 Lacs than Bhupinder.
Why?

Because he started 5 years late.
Inference from the story

Start Early: The sooner you start the better. The only reason why Bhupinder was the winner in the investment race was he started five years earlier. Firstly, he enjoyed the benefit of investing Rs 2 Lac less than his friend while eventually landing at the same value in case of lump sum investment. And in case of SIP, though he invested a little more, but at maturity he outperformed his counterpart by a staggering Rs 43 Lacs. The reason behind his win is the most powerful force in the universe "The Power of Compounding". The extra five years were a blessing for him.

It is never too late: The anecdote is not meant to discourage the ones who did not invest when they were 25. Though the best time was the one which has passed, yet there an ever brighter tomorrow. If Bhupinder wouldn't have invested even at 30, he wouldn't have had Rs 3.33 crores for his retirement life. All you have to do is for the love of yourself hit the start button.

So, whatever age you are. Go ahead, reach your advisor and start investing!

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You have finalised a challenging target for new SIPs for the quarter. You are all happy and gung-ho for it. But after a while, you stop thinking that it is possible. And at the end of the quarter, the target figures is itself lost somewhere. Sounds familiar? What do you think was the problem here?

Motivation. Perhaps it is one thing that distinguishes winners from followers more than anything else... William James, the father of modern psychology, once said something that we should remind ourselves on a daily basis: “I don’t sing because I’m happy; I’m happy because I sing.” In this very simple line, James seems to have summed up what motivation is all about. In spite of us knowing this universal truth, most of us are not even half as motivated as we can 'normally' be.

We all want to be and feel motivated at all times. It is a wonderful feeling, isn't it? Well the good news is that motivation is something that is 100% in our control. Nothing can take away your motivation if you decide to not let anyone or anything to do so. In fact, we can harness our energies and be motivated longer and more intensely than ever. In this piece, we present you a few tricks that you can follow...

1. Exercise & Refresh
   Getting up early and working out makes the day very energetic and efficient. Those who exercise daily will swear by it. Further, with better health, fitness and an agile, energetic mind, it is only natural that you feel more motivated and focused to accomplish bigger things. Overcoming physical hurdles of strength, stamina and endurance, encourages us to outperform in our endeavors.
2. Be Positive
   Negative people, thoughts and conversations often leave us feeling uninspired, critical and with lesser confidence in people and our goals. It is highly recommended that we stay clear of such negative vibes and don't participate or at least stay neutral in negative conversations. On the other hand, being with positive persons and participating in positive conversation and activities will only brighten our own thoughts and motivate us to think things positively.
3. Seek Motivation
   A very common source of motivation that we seek is the external, source. There are countless books, real life heroes, movies, motivational speeches / training sessions, etc. that we can access to get inspiration and motivation. The external source is a vital resource that we all can easily tap into to reenergise ourselves.
4. Create Necessity
   Long time ago someone told me to book a much expensive car. Apparently, doing so would keep me on my toes as I would need to maintain that car and that will be my new benchmark of standards in life. The underlying idea was to create a necessity in order to motivate ourselves. While it may not always work with everyone, there are surely those who would work hard, simply as a way to meet their newly adopted necessities.
5. Take Challenges
   Many of us are more motivated when we face challenges. The challenge serves as the target, an opportunity to test yourself and also to emerge victorious. The absence of challenge is like the absence of any spice or motivation for us. So, let us aim for challenges that are tough and worthy of our efforts.
6. Get Rewarded
   Linking rewards to outcomes is also a good trick to motivate ourselves. The rewards can be in the nature of materialistic gifts, things that give us pleasure and joy, and so on linked to desired results at a personal or professional level. Let us tell ourselves, if I accomplish this target by end of the quarter, I will take a holiday break in hills. The picture of the hills on your desk and the advance ticket bookings will be a mighty motivation booster for you.
7. Build Momentum
   A good momentum is when you are enjoying a continued good performance and you are accomplishing your targets. The reason can be attributed to your own good work or may be to markets or even fate. Whenever we get into this phase, we need to make the most of it by building up the momentum. This will motivate us to rise to ever higher goals.
8. Set Example
   Name and fame are human needs. We all internally desire to be greatly respected and renowned for our work. We desire that we inspire others and they feel like following us. Well we can start by doing things that will be set examples and inspire those around us, starting with our employees and clients. This habit or a character trait within us can be a source of self motivation within us as we would seek to find ways to inspire and do things that will command respect.
9. Think & Visualise
   Take at least a 30 minute break every week to think nothing but about yourself, your life, goals and your present situation. A deep soul searching is important in this fast paced life. It will help us stay focused, grounded and close to things that are most dear to us. When you are in difficulties, talk to self and remind how you and others have overcome difficult situations in past. Visualise things to do and the success thereafter. Motivation is just a few thoughts away...
10. Have A Higher Mission
    I am sure that most of us would want to contribute to a higher cause at some point of their lives. We are motivated to do something for others, selflessly. Well we can use our good intent as a motivating factor when we find a higher meaning, a mission in our present work as well. Think of the financial advisory practice as a way to solve people's problems, protect them and make them happy. Thinking of our business in this perspective, can take away a lot of negativity and tiredness we often may feel and give us satisfaction levels that will run deep.

Food For Thought:
We now present some good quotes we came across on motivation. Spare a few minutes to think about it...

• "Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible." - Francis of Assisi
• "Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must be absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your way." - Les Brown
• "Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it." - Steve Jobs
• "Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it." - Lou Holtz
• "There's always the motivation of wanting to win. Everybody has that. But a champion needs, in his attitude, a motivation above and beyond winning." - Pat Riley
• "Motivation will almost always beat mere talent." - Norman Ralph Augustine
• "Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going." - Jim Ryun
• "Once something is a passion, the motivation is there." - Michael Schumacher

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The most awaited festival of the year, 'Diwali' is just round the corner. Each year the festival is looked forward to and celebrated with enthusiasm & with the hope of lightening our lives. It's the time to exchange gifts, meet friends and family and celebrate happiness. The festival celebrates triumph of Lord Rama over Ravana, Good over Evil, Faith over Fear and Knowledge over Ignorance.

On this day, Hindus worship Goddess Lakshmi, who is a symbol of wealth and prosperity. It is a belief that Goddess Lakshmi visits our homes and showers blessings of wealth on us.

Following are some key points which we can learn from the festival, and bring prosperity into our lives by incorporating them into our saving and spending pattern:

Cleanliness: We start cleaning our houses weeks before Diwali, and we eagerly wait for the day when the Goddess will come and bless us. It is said that the deity visits and disburses wealth in neat and clean homes only. You must have seen the Swachh Bharat Ad featuring Kangana Ranaut as Goddess Lakshmi, who disappears from photo frames kept in places of worship, of people who litter. We believe that the deity will visit our homes only if we keep it clean.

Just like we clean the house for Goddess Lakshmi to grace our dwelling with her auspicious steps, we must review and clean our Portfolios for Goddess Lakshmi to come & grace our Portfolio and multiply our long term wealth. So, as they say, Diwali is the victory of good over evil. So you must carefully review your portfolio, clean it; remove the evil, i.e the products which are non performers and are not expected to perform in the future and keep the good ones.

Mahurat: According to the Hindu mythology, Diwali time is a good mahurat, i.e. the time when the stars are on our side and anything initiated during this time, will be a grand success. So, if you haven't started investing yet, start now. It is the time when the stars are on your side, you must start investing to build your long term wealth. And if you are an experienced investor, it's time you must review your portfolio, set newer goals and make new investments. This Mahurat time is exploited by people by trying their luck in lotteries, gambling, card games and other speculative activities. A special 'Mahurat Trading' session is conducted on major Indian stock exchanges on Diwali, and it witnesses humongous participation each year. But you must remember that luck cannot be trusted and hence you should focus on long term wealth creation. Yet if you wish to keep the tradition going, and you decide to take the plunge, play with small amounts so even if you lose, the spirit of the festival is kept intact.

Dhanteras: Dhan = Money and Teras = 13^th day of Kartik month. People purchase gold, silver, electronics and other assets on this day because it is trusted to be lucky and it is believed that wealth will keep coming into the house for the following year, just like this day. Every Dhanteras, we purchase gold jewelery, pay huge making charges, only to dump it in the lockers of our banks and then incur wastage charges, in case we sell the gold subsequently. On this Diwali, let's go for intelligent gold, go for dematerialised gold if you "insist" in investing in gold. Gold Funds/Gold ETFs are better options as they come with no physical risks, no making charges and it is easier & cheaper to liquidate at any time. So capitalize on the luck of this auspicious day by investing in "non-physical gold".

E-commerce sale: Diwali brings in happiness, but it is a costly affair. We give gifts, we spend on sweets, crackers, puja, new clothes for everyone in the family, etc., all these factors contribute to loss of money. To make matters worse, the latest addition to Diwali rituals is the online shopping festivals. The e-commerce giants try to lure us with mouth watering offers and discounts, and we end up overspending, buying stuff which we don't even require and disturbing our budget. So, our advise to the readers is Control your emotions and don't get carried away by the discounts. You can even cut down on crackers, gifts and other Diwali expenses, and bring the money to more productive use by investing. Remember, 'A penny saved is a penny earned'

Diwali bonus: Some of us get our annual bonus during Diwali time. This bonus is intended to enable us provide for the extra expenses that we incur for the festival. The amount is generally much more than the extra expenses, and since we have more money, we tend to spend more money. We get this bonus once a year, and this is a reward for our hardwork. The money can be blown in a day or can be saved & invested for your future. It is a better option to save for your future and not waste your hard earned bonus in extra crackers during Diwali. You can use this bonus to repay your old debt, or make fresh investments for your future goals.

So, the bottomline is, this Diwali keep your emotions under control, do not overspend and invest for yourself, for your future. Be safe while playing crackers, remember that such auspicious occasions don't come everyday, and you must utilize the opportunity by wisely managing your expenses and investments.

Have a Happy and Prosperous Diwali!

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