Are we Living in Delusion ?

Life is a race, where people are running after materialistic things to fulfil their need of looking superior than others. Our actions are always directed to make sure that we look happier, richer, better and more confident than others. Humans by nature are very greedy and therefore in today's highly competitive environment, where people have thousands of things to show-off, keeping yourself rational through this vicious cycle is very challenging.

The social media revolution has further complicated the entire situation. People are trying harder every day to share their life stories and be at the top of the mind. Their aim is to show how amazing their lives are, how good their lifestyle is and how rich they are. In one sentence, their actions are mainly directed to make others envious by showing off all things that money made possible for them. Such people get so addicted that they can even go to any extent to show-off, even if it costs them a good sum.

I feel, social media is slowly destroying our generations ability to be truly happy. We are always looking at someone else, who we think has it better than us. Such a feeling of self-doubt is forcing us to think that what we have is not good enough, leading to self-disappointment. This kind of insecurity within our mind needs a change. We must accept the fact that social media is not always a true reflection of real life, and hence it is not the place to judge or compare our worth. William Shakespeare once said, "all that glitters is not gold" - it is so true and relevant in this context !!!

Gliding away from such social pressure is very difficult, but however intelligent people never get affected by such meaningless fancies, rather divert their attention towards some relevant purpose. They silently keep their focus on their career and personal goals. Their energies are directed towards accumulating enough capital that can sustain their future financial needs and make them secure. They are the wiser ones, their goal is not to look rich, rather to be rich in real sense.

In today's progressive world, an easy access to avail 'Credit facility' has become a worrisome affair. Human minds are so well manipulated by such institutions that people sometimes knowingly get into such a trap, with a hope that they will be able to square off their loan/(s) early and come out, but it never happens in most of the cases. Huge interest burden often affects their cash flow, leading to great financial imbalance/crisis.

Most of the time our energy gets wasted in impressing people and competing with them, without realizing that such an act doesn’t even matter. Instead of focusing on savings and building future capital, we get absolved by the deadly trap of 'lifestyle inflation' and 'impulsive spending'. Such situations often lead to confidence-shattering, distressing and nerve-wracking.

I have noticed that people take loans as if it is being distributed as freebies, and they will never have to pay back. Such people are impulsive, they act on instinct, without thinking much about their decision. They never undergo a thorough evaluation process to understand their need for the loan, never spend time in finding out the 'rate of return' from such borrowings, never consider the 'per unit utility cost', and so on. A loan is generally considered to be 'bad debt', if it is been borrowed to purchase a depreciating asset like: cars, travel, furniture, and most other consumer goods. In other words, if it won’t go up in value or generate income, then you shouldn’t go into debt to buy it. The stress of debt or other financial issues will always make you feel depressed or anxious and push you towards negative habits.

Clever people always "borrow money" to "produce money", such debts can be considered as "good debt".

In short, if the debt you take, that helps you in generating money and increases your net worth, then it's always a win-win situation.

Few of such expenses (loans) that can help you build long-term wealth includes - Education, Property, Land and Business. I witnessed many people who have planned their finances so well that they used their debt to build assets and squared off the liabilities well ahead of time. Nathan W. Morris, once quoted "Every time you borrow money, you're robbing your future self". This one-liner influenced me to a great extent all through out my life.

It often surprise me, when I find people not prepare themselves for adverse situations, like: economic slow down, pandemic, natural calamities, recession or any unforeseen circumstance. Such people are always very optimistic and deliberately maintain an ignorant attitude towards such realities.

I am sure most of us have learnt a good lesson from the recent 'Global Pandemic crisis(2020-2022)', and are preparing ourselves to handle any future crisis. However, in my case I was lucky to have learnt at the age of 35, during the 'Global Financial crisis' which was there between 2007-2009.

In present time we can't even think of a life without getting into debt. However, the bottom line is - we should always be aware that not all debts are equal. 'Good debt' has the potential to increase your wealth, while 'bad debt' costs you money with high interest on purchases for depreciating assets. So, it's better to exhibit our intelligence while borrowing !

Consciousness: At a certain point of time in our career we will have to step aside from the race either due to superannuation or by choice if it is before. Hence, it is very important for us to be ready with enough capital accumulation, that can support us to relax and enjoy your lives, otherwise one will have to work until they die. Health condition will never remain the same forever, with time it will keep losing its strength and energy. Health is just like money, we never have a true idea of its value until we lose it. I am sure you all will agree that health is the biggest wealth for a human being in his/her entire lifetime.

I always believed that we should all live a purposeful life and follow our dreams. Never get into the competition of trying to look rich and impress people, rather focus on being rich. People might be born with lesser ability, but living a below-par life, is by choice. Hard work, proper planning and running behind achieving our realistic dreams are the ways to transform our lives.

Think over it, try and make right choices - as everything is in your hands !!!

Kaushik Sarkar,

Mail id: tokaushiksarkar@gmail.com.

Disclaimer: This article completely reflects my recollections of experiences over times. Images were sourced from Google (free downloads).