Money, Money, Money

This has always been a sensitive topic.

I didn’t have the most lavish lifestyle, but at the same time I didn’t live in absolute dread. (Although I attribute that to having friends I could go around with) 🤷‍♂️

I’ve been making or earning money for 7 years now, starting from 100 Rupee ($1.5) projects for friends to now being comfortable with where I am by working full time for an Artist who I’m learning business from.

I’ve learned that the mindset I had towards money changed radically when I learned how businesses worked and how people go about making it.

The mindset I had for 90% of my life was  “SAVE MONEY”

But recently I’ve been of the mindset  “MAKE MONEY”

Because I’ve heard a lot of my friends asking me to save it, invest it on stocks etc.,

But it didn’t sit right with me. It felt like I was of the mindset of scarcity.

Now, obviously I know that saving money and investing on the market has its place, but I just don’t want it to be the default thought I have whenever I make money.

Instead I’ve been investing on things that would make me more money. Which is ME!

🏋️ I’ve been taking care of my health properly.

📚 I’ve been buying books and reading them. And once I read them I start looking for things in my life where I can incorporate them.

💻 I’m taking courses that I think would be beneficial to my existing skillset and the ones that I’m developing.

🍇 I’ve been eating pretty good. I bought things I know my house needs.

I was hesitant to do these things before cause I thought this was the dreaded “Lifestyle Inflation”  📈

But bro, you gotta improve some aspects of your life that you know are shitty.

And doing these has elevated a lot of mental fog I had about spending.

One good thing was, since I had the mindset to save before, I always think a lot before buying stuff. If it genuinely adds value and helps me do something that I need to do, then I get it (Subject to market risks). So...

1. Spending money if it increases your capacity to make more, is fantastic!

2. Spending money if it increases your physical and mental health, is great!

3. Spending money (sparingly) if it improves your lifestyle, is okay.

4. Spending money if it’s based on  pure impulse , is terrible!

5. Spending money if it  diminishes your mental health , is the worst!

My simple logic to at the moment is (remember this is my logic),

Don’t save money. Make more and increase your capacity to make more. Then save and invest in the traditional investment pathways.

Instead of defaulting to “save money”, my mind now searches for opportunities to make more.

If you are struggling to keep track of your expenses, I’ve been using this app for Android called ‘Monito’, where you can note down your expenses in it.

It helps a lot.

That’s it for this one.

Go on and have a good week.

Tata,

Kapil.