Please do not believe what people say. Believe what people do. See their footfalls. That reveals far more than what they say or write.

For example I keep saying “I want to lose weight”. That’s as true as it gets.

However, I am unable to give up carbs, sugar, milk ON A REGULAR SUSTAINED BASIS for say 6 months.

Exactly what happens when people say “I want to get rich”. These days I think people mean “I wish to spend like a billionaire without worrying about how I will find money for meeting all my goals and without having to do a full time job or having any investment management skills”.

And that my dear friends is NOT POSSIBLE.

Getting rich is not an one time activity. It is a process -and as always it starts from the mind. You cannot be a 35 year old wondering what to do in life and having an agenda of getting rich. Getting rich is a process. You need to love money. I know one entrepreneur who has lost about 30 crores of shareholder money, and has a personal net worth of Rs. 3 crores, and considers himself an internationally successful entrepreneur. Sucks. He also keeps saying that he does not need money, does not love money….believe me he will never get money. Getting rich is an attitude also. 

People may want the outcome of being rich but most don’t know what the process is to get there.  Even assuming they know the process, they aren’t willing to go through that process. This may be confusing for you, but that is the essence of Behavioral Finance. People say something, but mean something!

Once you have an emergency fund, a mortgage (which you are paying regularly, and comfortably), a term insurance, a couple of mutual funds (or direct equities, as you wish) – all you need is an amazing savings rate – which has to be converted to investments. You need to learn the process and enjoy it. Take all your assignments in office. Enjoy the increments far more than the promotions. Make your foreign trips, collect the allowances (tax efficiently). Use those bits of money to down pay your mortgage. Be debt free or invest that money – whichever increases your net-worth. Enjoy those holidays that you did not take, and those cars that you did not buy. Till you own a house, stay in a less expensive locality. Use a friend’s house – if he is abroad he needs a caretaker, does he not? why give up on discounted rents for performing a task?

You have to upload your net-worth on some website and keep monitoring that. So when you did not buy that big car on EMI you should feel proud that your net worth went up. Or is going up. Or when you did not take that vacation to Europe. Yes for many people he EMI decides their vacations – they are not so ‘bound’ to their SIP as they are to their EMI.