Investments are not all about Finance!

Why Invest?

Often we hear the comment: “Live the present and don’t worry about the future”. Please don’t take anything for granted. The assets that we have now would be gone in the blink of an eye. Unless we plan and put enough effort to the investments, we are going to be in trouble in the future.

Peace of mind is a must for an individual to lead a normal life. It is a result of the combination of the present state of mind and a sense of security of the future.

Allow me to enlighten you with a simple example. For a moment, think you are millionaire in your late 30’s, with huge amounts of money in your account. You think your future is secure. Let’s say you didn’t invest enough in your health department. You are discovered with a terminal illness, that may have been avoided had you took care of your health early enough. Now all the security is gone. You may have to spend out the money that you had saved. You may not be able to go to work. You mental state goes for a toss.

The example i provided above considers health as another form of investment. But there are many more, which is covered next.

What to Invest in?

• Knowledge

“Vidya dhanam sarva dhanal pradanam” is a saying in Malayalam, which basically means knowledge is the most important among all wealth. Having the knowledge to invest in knowledge may sound like a paradox, but it is a truth. It also helps realize other aspects of life and other investments.

A person will need to have enough knowledge for efficient decision making in their life. Professionals needs to stay upfront of the advancements in their field they work or the technologies they make use of.

Knowledge is something we should crave for. We need to be curious and should always ask the 6 W’s. Once you have got the base, you will realize that the knowledge gain compounds. Reading really helps in this. Books, blogs, Quora, Newspaper etc are excellent sources of knowledge.

• Health

The second asset we will need to invest is Health. They say “In a healthy body lives a healthy mind”. Health is something that people take for granted. They wont realize their health deteriorating till the worst happens. Invest good amount of time daily or at least weekly. It doesn't have to be a iron pumping workout for hours. Fast paced walking for 15 minutes a day is good enough. Climb stairs instead of taking elevators. Walk to that nearby place, instead of taking your car/bike. Go for regular health checkups. Control your diet.

Remember the fact that being in a healthy state, makes one more resilient to physical and mental stress.

• Relationships

Humans are social animals. However introverted a person is, they would need that one person with whom they can connect with. Make sure you maintain relationships. As people move on in life, they tend to forget the relationships they had in the past. If you really value those relationships, you have to make sure you invest sufficient time in nourishing the relationships. Even once in a blue moon call helps. You will never know how much of a help they can be, in your difficult times. Considerable amount of time needs to be spent, for family and the other close people in your life. May be once you will repent for the times, you could have, but you didn't spend the time with them. Relationships are important for your mental health.

• Finance

Well, next comes finance. I rate it the lowest, compared to the other 3 assets i have mentioned prior. Of course it is important. To meet our basic necessities, to lead a comfortable life and for a secure future, we need to invest money. They are lots of ways by which we can invest money like PPF, Mutual Funds, Fixed deposit, Stocks, Home, Land, Gold etc. Make sure you do good amount of background research, so as to find the option best suited for you and provides the maximum returns. I’m someone who avoids investments based on debts(loans), since it is more of a liability than an investment. Unless there is no better way, i would rather avoid loans.

Dependency between the Investments

If you observe carefully, you can see the dependency between the various investment assets. Knowledge is a self referencing asset, which i have stated before as a paradox. Other dependencies:

Finance -> knowledge, health

Health -> knowledge

Relationships -> knowledge, health

I have only included the direct links. But indirect relationships also can be formed. For example, Health can depend on Finance, in the sense you can enroll in a multipurpose gym or to have nutrient rich foods. But it is not mandatory. What is mandatory is the knowledge to know that health is important. That awareness should take care of that investment.

The dependencies should imply that all of the investments are important and hence all of them needs to be taken care of.

Conclusion

Here I’m not saying all unforeseen troubles in future can be avoided by investing. But for sure, the impact of those troubles can very well be reduced and tackled much better, if we make tactful investments towards countering those troubles. Good luck with investments!