Stoa Digest #118: 💸 True Wealth > Money 💸
Success k peeche mat bhaago, excellence ka peecha karo, success jhak maarke tumhare peeche ayegi ~ Rancho
Hey folks,
As we get into the last quarter of the year, we’re going to be featuring monthly themes on the Digest to share experiences and tactical knowledge around a few popular topics that would definitely help y’all take away a thing or two.
This month is going to be on all things related to personal finances, from managing it to investing it! 💸
So to kick things off, let me share a story on how I got started with managing my finances -
I remember when I got my first paycheck, it felt like I had unlocked a new level in the game of life. I finally had my own money and control over it. I could spend this on anything I want!
Oh yes, Ka-ching! All that hard work through the month has finally paid off and you’ve finally received your salary. 🤑
That moment quickly faded when I realized that, well now I have my own money and control over it and I could spend this on anything I want.
Immediately, I felt like I didn’t understand this new achievement I had unlocked in life.
Well, I got my salary…now what?? 🤔
Sure there are bills to pay, things to be bought, and experiences to enjoy…and then what? How do I even spend this? What do I save? If I save, how much do I save?
I remember conversations with my friends and colleagues early on that used to mainly be around spending -
‘Oh man, did you see the new Jordan’s collection? I definitely need to get my hands on one!.’
I did end up buying them and wow, it was an amazing feeling!
As I grew older, these conversations turned into discussions around paying bills and clearing dues -
‘Dude, I crossed my credit card limit for the month. I think I’m gonna have to take an EMI to clear this!’
I soon realized that I started paying back more than what I spent.
I’ve come to realize that tracking those expenses and saving is one of the most important skills to learn in your 20s all thanks to my dad. He helped me out with planning my initial investments and to be very honest, I didn’t have a clue or understand the importance back then.
He also created a secondary bank account to help me track my expenses! 💯
It’s actually one of the easiest ways to manage your finances - A primary account solely for my income and investments and a secondary account for my expenses.
Pretty simple right? It made my life a lot easier in terms of managing money.
A golden rule of thumb that I learned through these experiences is to ensure that I always was in control of my finances and not the other way around. 🥇
While I was curating this piece, I also spoke to a close friend of mine - Akshat Jain from C11 to understand how he goes about managing his personal finances. Here’s what he had to say -
I don't really keep track of each spend. Instead I track annual spends & see how much I deviated from total budgets. I think tracking every expense head doesn't really move the needle much for me. The key is to keep personal finance simple and on auto pilot - don't try & complicate it too much by reading books or blogs. Review with your planner once a year - nothing more, nothing less. Consistency > Intensity.
On the outlook of it, tracking expenses does seem like a tedious and boring task to do but it holds a lot of importance and value in the long run. On one hand, It helps you take calculated risks with your expenditure, and on the other, it teaches you to save well.
~ Adi, Team Stoa
🔥 Community Sneak Peak 🔥
Presenting offline Fireside Chat with Milind Kothekar, VP of Product at Ather, and Siddharth V K, Director of Products at Ather on the 7th of October, Saturday from 4-7 PM.
Venue: Hustlehub Tech Park, HSR, Bangalore
🫡 People of Stoa 🫡
We have Tanya Somani from C10 sharing her experience working in the abroad education space and giving us some details about her promotion journey. 🫂
🐝 Community Buzz 🐝
Cohort 11 finally made it to Goa bringing back the post-program meet-up tradition! A total of 26 fellows had a blast over the long weekend. 🥳
Also, our enthu Cohort 13 folks met for an evening of board games, friendly fights (over games), food, and banter. Kudos to Mudita Bengani for organising this!🔥
⏯ For Stoans by Stoans ⏯
The Paisa Vaisa Podcast with Anupam Gupta.
Read Neil Borate, an author heading the finance department on the mint.
The 50/30/20 rule of budgeting and managing your finances.
A great read on value investing: The Intelligent Investor.
An interesting watch on how to make smarter financial decisions.
Salud, fam!