Count Your Chickens

“I never plan ahead” may sound cool, but it is not a great thing for your financial health.

- Amar Pandit

According to a report published in The Los Angeles Times in 2013, American sprinter Marion Jones was down to her last $2,000. This was the same athlete who won five medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the one who shone on magazine covers and signed multi-million dollar endorsement deals. By 2007, she was bankrupt. Heavily under debt, she was forced to sell off her properties to raise money for sustenance. Closer home, there have been examples of models blowing all their money and live a homeless life. Remember Tara Rum Pum, the film based on the same premise. Racer RV (Saif Ali Khan) traverses a similar path, from being wealthy to insolvency. The moral of the story is that one should save for rainy days and plan well for the future.

There are plenty of riches-to-rags stories of business tycoons, builders, brokers, celebrities and sports stars who went bankrupt. Reasons can be many: faulty business plans, excessive concentration of assets in one asset class, no written plan for managing money, inadequate savings, and buying unproductive assets.

The era we live in presents countless opportunities and varied income levels. At the same time, we also have more ways than ever to consume and spend. As dispensable income increases, so does our lifestyle. At the same time, inflation is at its peak.