Quote:
Originally Posted by Newtown It is very hard for me to pen this but here goes.
My grandfather was a lawyer who established a well trusted practice. The place was Bombay in the late 1930's early 1940's. They had multiple homes, holiday homes, all sorts of cars available in India at the time and more. |
I don't know how many experiences fellow members might have heard, but similar incidents were pretty prominent down south India. My grandfather sold all his lands and gave the proceeds to his elder brother. My grandfather's brother used that money to send his kids to the USA ( They utilized a 1962 USA immigration act that allowed skilled individuals to settle in the USA). Later my grandfather fell ill and his brother never returned any money, unfortunately, he passed away, leaving his 7 kids and my grandmother without any means to survive.
Lesson learned:
Helping others but not at the expense of losing everything.
My father and his siblings went through a lot of hardship at a young age( My father was 6 when my grandfather passed away), eventually, my father studied hard and settled as a govt. teacher and married my mother ( who was a homemaker and later got a job as a govt. teacher) and they were able to build a stable and secure life. My parents led (and still leading) a conservative lifestyle, the lesson I learned from my father is as long as we don't make lifestyle changes with the increase in income, we will have a stable future. My parent's approach helped us to navigate through the health crisis in 2011,2014,2015,2020 but it depleted all the liquid cash.
Lesson learned:
A lakh rupees spent on the Health/ life insurance premium is much more worth than one lakh rupees saved in fixed deposit.
As a kid, I was academically bright and wanted to become an Executive officer( back when I was a kid, I read too many books, and was always fascinated by the reforms done by IAS/IPS/IFS and other public servants. Immediately after I graduated I started preparing for the Indian Engineering Services and spent so much time and money, yet was unable to succeed after 3 attempts, then I joined a govt university for a Management Diploma, and then a university in the USA invited me for their MBA program and I moved to the United States in the year 2019 when I was 25. Later I worked just enough hours to cover my expenses and studied hard to get into Management Consulting. Life was all roses and then Covid happened, things went upside down and all the offer letters were rescinded, after doing a lot of odd jobs for some 3,4 months I got my first job for consolidated pay and no benefits, took that up and worked for a year and later realized that I am getting way less, when compared with other peers and took a leap of faith and moved to Dallas, Texas with a 70$ bank balance a junk car with 190,000 miles and a non-functioning ABS breaks, I stayed with a cousin's family and found a consulting job for 36$/ hour and required at least 65-70 hours a week and get paid for only 40 hours. seeing me so busy with my work and school my then-girlfriend broke up with me a week before our planned engagement, which took a substantial hit on my physical and mental health, later recovered from that trauma and got into one of the Big-4 consulting, found a woman who was beautiful inside and out and I was happily married for the last 9 months.
Lesson Learned:
Early birds always catch the worm. I shouldn't have changed my career path, but when I did I should have been more agile and shouldn't have bowed to the fear.
The life I am living now:
1. I review my options every month for potential cost savings. Last month when I went to visit the VW showroom to test drive a Jetta with my wife, the car saleswoman said she liked my Jeep and she said If I was interested in an exchange, she gave the MSRP for which I brought the car year and half ago and gave a 3K cash discount on new car and I don't need to pay taxes, thus bring down the Monthly Cost to own the car from 1300$ ( $800 car payment +$220 insurance + $200 fuel + $100 garage) to 800$ ( $600 car payment + $75 insurance + $100 fuel). While I certainly miss my Jeep, the monthly saving is quite handy as I am the only one working and my wife is going to university for her masters.
2. 10% of gross paycheck to 401k ( approx $10,000 a year)
3. 300$ combined for HSA and FSA for out-of-pocket expenses for medical emergency
4. A 500$ entertainment budget ( for going out and dinners and shopping)
5. A 500$ emergency fund ( Started last year and it is still building )
6. Inr 30,000 RD in India as an emergency fund.
Sorry for the long post, but I believe past and present decisions dictate future outcomes.