Now that you have your goals, you need to believe in it. It is important for you to realize, know and believe that:

You Can Do It

Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.” You need some confidence in your ability to live your life in the way that will help you achieve your goals. I am assuming that that your goals have been set with your happiness in mind. As a well earning doctor or other professional your job is 90% done because of your high income.

Change Your Mindset and the language of thought and words

Student loans, personal loans, car loans are not a life time commitment. We keep wondering whether to repay debt or invest the surplus. I know very few financially successful doctors who have student loans or a significant mortgage past their age of 45 years.  The same motivation and skills that gave them success in their academics and practice helps them pay off their debts. From a tax point of view and mathematically it is much better to be invested in shares – or mutual funds and keep the house or dispensary mortgage running. Financially successful people don’t look at how much they have left in January to decide how much to put into their PPF account. They put it in April already. Then they are doing SIP. I know one doc who is doing a Rs. 300,000 pm SIP in 3 funds (Rs 1L each). They don’t worry about whether they should have 5% or 10% in gold. They know they’re saving (and investing) enough that a 65% allocation to equity and the remaining to debt and gold is going to get them to their goals. They’re not struggling to save 20% of their gross income. Their expenses have no connection to their income.

Financially successful docs do not compare their lifestyle to their friends! They do not stay in neighborhoods where kids drive around in an Audi or a BMW. They know the average Indian household is very different from their doctors fraternity.

Deny, Delay, Postpone and downplay! 

It might help your mindset if you stop thinking of it as “something I can’t have because I can’t afford it.” Instead, think of it as “when I can have that.” It’s not that you can’t have it, it’s that you have more sensible priorities. For example, you may decide that you will buy a second hand car till you are confident of your driving.  I know one doc who does not buy a car out of borrowing. He was told by his father that depreciating assets should not be bought out of bank’s money. Ever.

Similarly if you can delay buying of assets, postpone and far more importantly, REALISE that pleasure came from using things and experiences and not just accumulating things, life gets better. Buy assets and experiences based on YOUR NEED, not the need of society. Big car, big house, foreign vacation – do you really enjoy it, or are you being a victim to society new ‘standards’. Remember standards keep changing. Not long ago for women it used to be big chunky gold jewellery. Today I do not see even women of our gen wearing jewellery – younger kids have other priorities, surely not gold as a show off asset. When you spend for your pleasure, your money will be adequate. However, if you use money and assets as a ‘arrived there’ scorecard, EVEN the spending will be stressful.

Savings/Investment SIP is like an EMI

If we treat our GOAL STATEMENT like a bill with a due date, just like the housing and car mortgbage, our taxes, society charges, school fees, and the utilities. Not contributing to the SIP for the goals set isn’t an option for us. In fact, we’ve spent a great deal of time and effort in writing down our FAMILY GOALS, have we not? Once written down we need o put our energy into achieving them. OR COME OUT with a different goal sheet. Once you and your spouse see the goal sheet, you should be energised to put more and more money into the topmost important goal trying to max them out as early as possible each year so that the goal is reached earlier. Obviously this will maximize the benefits of compounding too! If you want to get wealthy, treat your savings and investments (SIP) as a bill that must be paid and as soon as you can, NOT on the due date!  It’s not your money to spend anyway. It belongs to your daughter, her blue dress, her formals…when she is collecting her degree from an Ivy League school!! It belongs to your spouse and your 65 year old self. You’d be a real idiot to rip off that old man and his wife!

If you do not yet have The W Factor, I hope something in this post rang a bell loud enough in your head and some thing resonated with you. I just hope that if I encourage you, tease you, show you people who have done it, or perhaps even ridicule the stupid way you abuse your money, goals and self made promises and the way you think about money, that something will click in your mind, and you’ll light the fire of The W Factor and strive for some financial security soon.

What do you think? Did it impact you at all?

Do you now have the W factor? Why or why not?

What was it that gave it to you? How can it be passed on to others?

Comment below!

This was the concluding part of a 3 part series.