I am sure you have read a lot of articles on how people earned well, invested well and retired early. In fact it might be demoralizing to see people who are doing well financially. I met one doctor who deals in direct equity and has created a net wealth in mid 3 digit crores!

What many of them don’t tell you is that they inherited well, they stayed in an inherited house, their wives got lotsa esop, – if you do not really know the background, you should not bother to feel good or bad.

When I was in school I thought getting a medal was an achievement. Once I started running, and I found that I could get a medal for just filling up the form for an event!

Does this mean that medals are meaningless? well, no. If I participated in an event and ‘won’ a medal, I value it. If I get it for just participating, I do not value it. How about ranking people for doing a great job in their personal finance….?

Give yourself 2 points for the following:

1. Do you have a written down financial plan? Well if you do not have your life will still be smooth and fine, but this helps!
2. Have you and your spouse written down and registered your will? – Yes – 2 points.
3. Do you track your expenses on a weekly/ monthly basis at least? Yes – 2 points
4. You max out your 80C and have never ever touched the corpus. Yes – 2 points
5. You sit with your family and tell them what your investments are and the purpose of investing. Y – 2 points
6. You have an exact plan on how to repay your debt. Y – 2 points
7. You have adequate Term Life Insurance – and you reviewed it in the past 12 months. Y – 2 points
8. You pay yourself first – Yes – 2 points.
9. All your nominations are up to date. Yes – 2 points.
10. Your spouse has a “handing over” document – this will help your spouse file your IT return, convert all the funds to E or S basis, etc….Y 2 points.

How many points did you get out of 20? That is far more important than knowing how much a film star or cricketer earns.

Whatever the total points you got, you are surely entitled to a participating medal in the personal finance space!

Your friends who did not read this post, or do not take any steps towards financial freedom are the ones who are the real problem.

So when you run a half marathon and find that many others are faster than you, do not despair. First celebrate your participation. Then practice – whether your timing improves or no, your fitness level will surely improve.

Similarly in your personal finance life. Right now you will get a participating medal. Celebrate your participation. Slowly create your financial plan. See if you need or require a planner. Pay yourself first. Create your goal baskets. Make your will. Complete your nominations. Get term insurance. Take 2 points for each action completed….

Soon you will have 9/10. Not a bad score is it?