this is a very good answer – financial planners are normally afraid to tell the clients –

“No man can tell whether he is rich or poor by turning to his ledger. It is the heart that makes a man rich. He is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has.”

This has been quoted by Sir John Templeton in his book. He has taken it from Henry Ward Beecher a social reformist.

I like the Indian attitude – ‘Santhushthi se badkar koi Sampathi nahi hai‘.

I find the whole exercise of returns chasing quite amusing – to say the least. How do you explain a 85 year old switching between funds, shifting from debt to equity, checking his dividend statement – at the same time saying ‘I HATE DOING THIS’ – then why the hell would you do all this? If you enjoy tracking markets and do it, at least you are liking what you are doing!

To me people who chase equity returns but put 20% of their net-worth in the equity again amuse me! The overall return that you get in your portfolio is clearly because of the asset allocation that you do. So if you earn Rs. 15 lakhs a year and do a SIP of Rs. 1000 per month (yup i met him) – how does it matter whether you get 32%p.a.  return in Hdfc Prudence or 34% in Hdfc Top 200?

The other portion of your portfolio is earning 5% (post tax in debt) – and in your life this 1k per month SIP has no significant meaning.

Also the quantum of money that you have at the end of your working life is a function of how well your money got managed, not how much you earn.

One kid in our office last week told me…she would feel rich and will feel happy when she has Rs. 10 crores.

Funnily thanks to some inheritance, marrying right, and with inflation she will have Rs. 10 crores by the time she is 50-55, but she will not be happy. Neither will she be rich. Of course she will never be poor. LOL.