Is everyone around you doing well?

Akshay was basking in the early morning sun in his balcony with a cup of coffee in hand. He was looking at the hills framed in the far edges of the horizon… thoughts were running like unbridled wild horses.

He was thinking about his very humble beginnings. His first job was with a small computer seller and had gone around the business districts trying to brass up custom for his company. He had literally pounded the pavements and rose up over time to positions of leadership and prominence.

Now he is the sales head of a nationally recognised brand of IT products. His team has been performing well, even in a difficult market, under his leadership. When he was sipping his coffee, all these thoughts were unspooling in his mind and he was feeling a warm glow of satisfaction at what he had achieved.

His earnings were decent too. He had bought his own home ( with a loan of course ), but his life is quite comfortable now. His wife Aditi too is working and earning well. Their daughter Gautami, a sprightly kid, is six years old and studying in class 1.

In this otherwise wonderful picture, there are some blemishes. Akshay’s brother Darshan is not doing too well. He has been working in various companies but always seems to be in hot water when it comes to finances. Darshan had probably done all the hara-kiri a person can possibly do with money!

Darshan had borrowed money from family, friends, colleagues and had taken loans from all possible sources too. He had maxed out his three credit cards and had stopped paying even the minimum amount payable monthly. He had also invested in questionable schemes with promise of skyhigh returns and of course lost all that money. For Darshan, money seemed to just slip out of his hands effortlessly!

Their parents had to pay a lot of money to bail Darshan out. Akshay too had to step in and pay off many of the loans. After the entire episode, Darshan seemed repentant; but his style still did not change after that. Darshan was the source of grief to their family.

Akshay also has a cousin who is elder to him but is in a financial jam due to his flamboyant lifestyle. Akshay had helped his cousin too to tide over some tight money situations. He sees many of his friends and colleagues in the same boat too.

He is confounded. Why cannot people be sane with their money? Why don’t they realise that they will get into a trap if they spend well over what they earn? Why do they not care about their own future?

Multiple reasons – Some people want to live up now thinking they can have fun when they are young & they need to make the most of their youth. Such razor-sharp focus detracts them from thinking about the future, retirement ( which seems very long into the future ), puts disproportionate focus on current enjoyment and makes them aspire for the good things in life without regard to financial feasibility.

Lack of financial awareness and a bit of recklessness also contributes to rash financial decisions & investments where the dice is loaded against them. Another potential reason why people are profligate is benchmarking with others and trying to matchup with them.

Financial imprudence of others impact us –   This is strange. Even if we are doing everything proper financially, if near and dear ones are in a financial mess, we will get impacted. This is exactly what happened to Akshay, who had to clean up the mess created by Darshan.

It is not just the money. There is a lot of worry and unease when a dear one is in trouble. Peace of mind is disturbed for the entire family. It is the same if it happens to ones friends, relatives etc. In some cases, we may not be even helping them financially. Still the worry lingers and there is no peace of mind.

Hence, the impact is both in monetary and in emotional terms.

Our life will be fine only if everyone is doing well –  Our relationships work well only if everything including finances are fine. Else, we always approach certain people with trepidation and the relationship itself is fraught with tension.

Due to another person’s imprudence with money, our lives can go topsy turvy and our financial planning can go haywire as we may have to bail out someone, unexpectedly at short notice.

Hence, it is important for people around us to do well, for us to do well. At a societal level too, only if all have employment and are doing well can those with money enjoy their wealth. That is the basis for the Hindu philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam which translates to The World is one family and the implication that we need to ensure that the entire family does well overall.

Important to get people on track –  It is hence doubly important that we pay attention to our dear ones and their financial well-being. We need to at least ensure that they are not committing major blunders that will come back to bite them ( and us ). Better still, it would be great if we are able to put them on a path of fiscal prudence, along with proper savings and investments.  

Lot of times, this is easier said than done. When we try to counsel our friends and relatives, there is a lot of emotion involved and it becomes difficult to make them see the right path. Many times, well intended efforts go off track due to emotional baggage from the past as well as the unstated thought – “who is this guy to advise me?”

Hence, many times good intentions do not result in any beneficial change in the other person. The only way to sort this out is to make them seek professional help. Even this can prove to be a problem as such people tend to think – “who is he to ask me to seek professional help?”

In spite of all this, it may still be worthwhile trying… for it is not just about the well being of our near and dear ones… it is about our own well-being too. Hence in our own enlightened self-interest, we need to ensure that those around us are doing well in every way, including in the finance area.