Tag: give

A few thoughts on making money work for you

Working for money is not a nice place to be. You only work for money when you can’t do without it. When you live well below your means, you firmly ensure that it works for you. The good news is that you can work towards turning the relationship around with a few changes to your lifestyle. A few ideas –

1. Drink more water. The cost of carbonated beverages and alcohol add up over time. Water is largely free, incredibly tasty and, as an added bonus, great for your health too. Easy way to save $35-$40 per week / $1600 per year.

2. Eat food at/from home. If you need a lot of food to be energetic, consider taking a few simple sandwiches and fruits with you. The biggest benefits come when you begin packing lunch. And, definitely eat dinner at home. That can save about $140 a week  / $7280 per year.

3. Develop a taste for low cost fun. Every weekend needn’t be expensive. Try board games, pot luck dinners, and simpler gatherings. Yes, I recognize that this list appeals more to introverts. Mix it up a bit perhaps.

4. Allow space in your budget for some guilt free spending. This way, you keep your willpower reserves intact and also enjoy your money.

5. Spend money where you spend your time. If you spend 12 hours on a computer desk – invest in a nice screen, a comfortable keyboard, and a nice mouse. Don’t skimp on stuff that you will use a lot and definitely don’t skimp on tools that help you get more done – e.g. if you can clear more emails or listen to more books on your commute on a tablet, invest in one. Similarly, don’t compromise on a comfortable duvet. If you don’t sleep well, the rest of your day is useless.

6. Invest in your long term happiness by spending on great experiences rather than things. Go for that iconic trip to the Canadian Rockies or that road trip to the Gold Coast. They’re memories that will stay with you forever. You get used to regular luxuries (e.g. an expensive car) real quick.

7. Invest in your learning. Don’t skimp on a good education or books on a regular basis. These things generally pay themselves forward with better jobs and higher earning potential.

8. Give. Giving helps us gain some perspective about how much we have. Happiness is key to spending wisely.

9. Invest for the long term in indexes. I gave estimates on the first two items just to illustrate the power of long term decisions. Assume you have around $10,000 this year by saving on food and water and invest in an S&P 500 index that Warren Buffet recommends, that will be worth $102,000 in 40 years assuming a standard 6% real return. Imagine if we did this every year and if the amount were bigger with the aide of low cost fun and other savings.

Money is just a tool. We just need to learn how to use it well so it doesn’t get in the way of our happiness. Live frugal by investing in things you really need. Spend consciously.

It may sound a bit boring.. but, not having to worry about whether you have enough money for this or that sure is a lot of fun.

The Pratfall Effect – The 200 words project

Here’s this week’s 200 word idea from Give and Take by Adam Grant

In an experiment where people were asked to listen to candidates make an argument over the phone, they typically listened more carefully to the superior candidates over the average candidates. This wasn’t surprising of course.

But, when each candidate was asked to say – “Gosh, I spilt some coffee on my suit,” the persuasiveness of the superstar candidates increased while that of the average candidates decreased. The researchers call this “the Pratfall effect” – where a top candidate is liked when they feel more human.

Hence, superstar performers in fields that require them to work with and move people are those who give themselves completely to their teams/audience and are thus willing to be vulnerable and human. People who are too obsessed either with being perfect or with getting something from the people they work with forget that it is necessary to be a prat.

PS: don’t try this if you are average! :-)

The-Pratfall-Effect

Source and thanks to: www.EBSketchin.com

‘Everybody is scared of looking silly or looking like they don’t quite know. The truth is that we don’t mind if someone doesn’t have the perfect answer if they’re natural and honest. Much more important than getting it right is being real.’ | Patricia Ryan Madson

Building Help2Grow.org – a series

When a few close friends and I met on a saturday evening last year, our discussion centred for a long time on the best way to give to those less privileged than us. We had all tried multiple methods – volunteering our time, giving to charities, and a fair bit of micro-lending. And, we were still discontented. I think it was because we felt we could do it better but didn’t know how. We were all intent to do this back in India as we had all grown up seeing the challenges the underprivileged face and we wanted to do our bit to make it better.

That conversation in early September last year was when Help2Grow.org was really founded in my opinion. Conversations can be truly momentous in retrospect.

A few weeks later, another friend shared some of the charitable volunteer work he did on a Whatsapp group that we all are part of and we jumped at the opportunity to further the discussion. “Why not start our own charity?” – we thought. And we did.

We had 2 challenges in the pre-formal-founding days that we never expected. The first was picking a name. We put all the pressure on our volunteer friend and shoved what must have been close to 200 possibilities  at him – again, over Whatsapp – technology really is amazing. After being stuck in the “we need a name” phase for a week, a couple of us decided we just had to hammer it down. So, the final name was picked and we were ready. Learning – many teams tell wonderful stories of how they spoke of a name and how it just “clicked.” We didn’t have any such luck. We were mentally and emotionally tired of the naming process and decided it was time to pick and focus our energies on making a difference. And, guess what, we love our name!

The next challenge involved getting the India wing of the team together for the formal registration. We wanted 3 team members to sign the trust deed and, somehow, one thing or the other seemed to come up in the last minute leading to a postponement. Initially, there were whispers of this being the universe’s way of telling us what the “right” time would be (or fate). After a month of dithering, we decided it was probably not fate but the resistance. So, we promptly got it done. Learning: Yes, there are times in life when, no matter what we do, life seems intent on executing other plans. However, that is not always the case. It is also up to us to keep pushing to test the limits.

We then navigated our way through the registration and began working towards our first meeting. We had 14 people interested, had registered a charitable trust, created a bank account, and were all set to go.

But, where?

That’s the story I’d like to share with you. It’s a story that is still being written and, most importantly, it’s a story that might not work. This isn’t a series about how to build a successful charitable trust – this is a series about our attempts at building a charitable trust that will last a 100 years. I’d like to take you through our process, failures, occasional successes and learning through the process. One of our core values is to “be transparent about why we do what we do” – so I’d also like to share our intent, dreams, and plans. Help2Grow.org is about giving to the community and there are many ways to give. We’re hopeful sharing these learnings will help too.

 

This blog post has also been posted on the Help2Grow.org blog.