Financial advice from a stranger!
Last week’s Nagercoil trip was special and interesting for more than a few reasons!
I was waiting at the bus stand to board my return bus to Bangalore when a middle aged gentleman, standing next to me, started a conversation. Going by my looks he started like “Thambiku IT a?”. I simply said “Yes” with a gentle smile. I was not interested in the conversation.
After a long pause, “When does this bus normally reach Bangalore?”, he persisted.
“By 7 – 7:30″, I said. Again stopping the conversation there.
After a even longer pause, “Thambi, let me tell you something…”, he was not gonna give in!
At that point I was really worried about what he was going to tell. To my surprise, he started talking about wealth creation and management! Why on earth would someone talk about this to a stranger!
He went on to classify income into two – active and passive. According to him active income is the one you earn through your job or main business. This income typically lasts only till you are actively working. Passive income is the one earned through means where your active participation is not needed – like rental from house, bank interest on deposits etc. To him, the secret of financial success is in converting the active income into passive income! He also commented that educated people tend to be complacent about money and loose out on the long run.
He completed telling me all this and more with suitable examples in about 5 minutes time. It was as if he was rehearsing a lecture that he had keenly prepared for! After all this, I could no more put off the conversation. I asked about himself. He had worked in the gulf as an electrical engineer for a long time. He had earned his wealth the hard way – may be one reason why he values money this much!
All this left me wondering with lot of interesting questions!
- Why did he tell me this?
- Do I look like a financially broke person! 
- How did he actually know that I’m financially broke? 
But then all he said makes full sense to me! This will be a nice way to manage whatever income that comes in!
He has left a long lasting influence on me!
June 19th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Only common people like him who sweat their way to earn money will be able to understand how hard it is to retain it! Guess he was giving his own lessons! We all are broke the moment we quit out jobs!