How much are you worth ?

A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a Rs 500 note. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this Rs 500?"

Hands started going up.

He said, "I am going to give this Rs 500 to one of you but first, let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the note up.

He then asked, "Who still wants it?"

Still the hands were up in the air.

"Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe.

He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth Rs 500. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way.

We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value. You are special – Don’t ever forget it

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The Story of the Eagle

The eagle has the longest life-span among birds. It can live upto 70 years. But to reach this age, the eagle must make a hard decision. In it’s 40’s it’s long and flexible talons can no longer grab prey which serves as food. It’s long and sharp beak becomes bent. It’s old-aged and heavy wings, due to their thick feathers, become stuck to it’s chest and make it difficult to fly.

Then, the eagle is left with only two options: die or go through a painful process of change which lasts 150 days. The process requires that the eagle fly to a mountain top and sit on it’s nest. There the eagle knocks it’s beak against a rock until it plucks it out. After plucking it out, the eagle wait for a new beak to grow back and then it will pluck out it’s talons.

When its new talons grow back, the eagle starts plucking it’s old-aged feathers.

And after five months, the eagle takes its famous flight of rebirth and live for another 30 years.

When it rain, most birds head for shelter; the Eagle is the only bird that, in order to avoid the rain, starts flying above the clouds. …

Winners always wins by pushing their limits until their limits become the norm.

Also read : A Lecture for our Life

A LECTURE FOR OUR LIFE

When things in your life seem, almost too much to handle,
When 24 Hours in a day is not enough,
Remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class
and had some items in front of him.
When the class began, wordlessly,
He picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar
And proceeded to fill it with golf balls.
He then asked the students, if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured
them into the jar.   He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open Areas between the golf balls.
He then asked the students again if the jar was full.  They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous ‘yes.’

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively
filling the empty space between the sand.  The students laughed.

‘Now,’ said the professor,   as the laughter subsided,
‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things – family,
children, health, Friends, and Favorite passions –
Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, Your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car.
The sand is everything else –The small stuff.
‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’  He continued,
there is no room for  the pebbles or the golf balls.

The same goes for life.
If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff,
You will never have room for the things that are important to you.

So…

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play With your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner.
There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.
‘Take care of the golf balls first —
The things that really matter.
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.’
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.
The professor smiled.
‘I’m glad you asked’.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem,
there’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.’

Also Read : Patience and Strategy must for Good Investments

Patience and strategy lead to good investments

If you dig in the same spot long enough, you’ll eventually find water, goes an old saying. But many people dig in one place for a while, and then get impatient or distracted and start digging in another place, and then another… When they don’t find water in any of those, they blame their luck. It’s surprising that more people haven’t figured out the simple trick. Of course, there’s no denying the importance of choosing the best place to dig in the first place.

Many people dart in a new direction randomly. Many get caught up in the latest investing fads. There are broad trends like equity and mutual fund investing. Then, real estate, commodities , and gold. And then there are micro-trends – read ‘fads’ – like going overboard on mid-caps , banking stocks, the communications sector, and infrastructure. In pursuit of the latest trend, investors churn their portfolio .

These are the people you find glued to the TV, watching business channels, where post-mortems and predictions are doled out incessantly to viewers who wait with bated breath for the latest, as if they could get the news and act on it before anyone else. But what’s on the TV channels is ‘news’  only to the retail investor. The rest of the investing world usually not only knows about it, but has often also acted on it. The result is that retail investors are often the last to rush in, and get the empty shell, after the kernel has already been eaten by those higher up in the investing food chain.

The investing topography also has its share of whirlpools and quicksand. These feature things like rumours floated by vested interests, and often aimed at retail investors. Trusting investors follow the trail laid out for them. Then the cowboys who floated the rumours unwind their positions and move on to the next pasture, leaving trapped investors bleating plaintively .

Retail investors are fascinated by day trading. Who hasn’t heard a story about someone’s neighbour or cousin who makes money hand-over-fist on a daily basis? Isn’t it remarkable that one hardly ever hears stories about the losses made by these legends? Many investors have great faith that there exist fail-proof methods to become really rich really quick.

They underestimate the risks they take, and rely too heavily on the instincts of themselves and of others, often at the expense of plain logic. The tide of optimism exposes their gambling streak, and they end up making bets that may not be as sound as they first appeared. Fact is, it’s very difficult to predict equity markets, because there are simply too many variables involved.

For those who want to get rich fast, investing time frames are measured in days rather than years. All that talk about wealth creation over time – how boring! What could be more tame than returns of 12-15 percent a year? The hot-blooded investor will settle for nothing less than doubling his money in six months. But the fact is that risk and return normally have a direct correlation – the higher the risk, the higher the returns. However, the chances of good returns increase – while risk does not – when one gives one’s investment time to perform.

When investors burn their fingers, they leap to the conclusion that investing is dangerous , and swear they will never return to it… until the next fad comes along. Drifting from one investment to another without any strategy will not help anyone reach their long-term goals. It amounts to digging in too many places for water.

If there’s no strategy for achieving goals, it may never happen. Many simply chase money. But that money is required for achieving certain milestones, fulfilling aspirations and meeting goals. Making money is fine – who could argue against that! But just chasing money, and letting oneself be led in any direction that seems appropriate at a given moment, will render the whole exercise futile.

Investors need to work with goals in mind, and work towards reaching them in the appropriate time frame, which is what financial planning is all about. There is no compelling reason to arbitrarily gun for some highthreshold of return (say 40 percent a year) which will only drive the investors towards riskier options. Responsible investments made over a period help in achieving goals, even if they give modest returns. Investors need to give them time. Like everything else in life, it takes time for an investment to bear fruit.

Less is more. There’s no need to keep moving your money around. If you have invested in good options in a diversified manner, just let it be. That way you don’t have to constantly look around for options to shift to 

Those who claim to be sure about which way the stock market will turn, which stock will do well this year, and the like. When someone is that sure, take their views with a proportionately big pinch of salt

As for knowing where to dig for water, you would consult a hydrologist, engineer, or some other professional, wouldn’t you? Why should it be different with money? Find a consultant you can trust, who will guide you responsibly.