Why people miss out on creating wealth - I

Personal Finance Workshops

I have recently started conducting personal finance workshops and training programmes on financial awareness.

Our first three workshops were attended by youngsters all under 30 and most of whom were in their first job. Sharing a few thoughts from our first few workshops on why people do not build up wealth. 

Many simply do not believe they can become wealthy:

Some youngsters just out of college with salaries between Rs. 15000 and Rs. 20000 a month, told me that it was difficult or impossible to accumulate / build up wealth. A corollary of this belief was that they did not start the wealth building process though almost all of them were savers.

They do not know how to start:

Many salaried professionals believe that wealth will be created automatically as their salaries increase and they rise up the corporate ladder.

Again, there was a lack of awareness of instruments of investment and confusion is compounded by TV and print media advertisements. Many of those who attended the workshops had been ensnared into 'investing' in sub-optimal insurance products. Others had only tax-saving investments all made through relatives, friends who were agents.

One youngster had Rs. 3.75 lakhs lying in her savings account! The workshop was an eye-opener for her. 

Some do not save anything:

A couple who together earn about Rs. 1.5 Lakhs every month had absolutely no emergency savings! In fact their credit card payments had not been made. Simply put, they were living well beyond their means and had not started the wealth creation process. Of course, they admitted that their first good investment was attending the workshop.

We will put down more thoughts as I do more workshops.

Twitter handle: @invest_mutual

Workshops