It is a fact that some amount of discipline is involved in Financial Planning. Of course, our 'simple and happy' approach to Personal Finance is devoid of any overwhelming. But even then, some people seem to think that discipline is a kind of slavery which can be practiced only by sacrificing ones comforts.
I feel discipline is freedom over a period of time for the following reasons:
- Discipline seems to give us a sense of direction and hence achieving our goals becomes a lot simpler.
- Discipline makes us more consistent. People, who don't believe in discipline, are not consistent.
- Others are able to understand us and predict our response, when we are disciplined. Our relationship improves for this reason.
- In fact, discipline gives us clarity in our own thinking and response to situations.
- I have personally seen people with discipline are more peaceful than the others.
- Over a period of time, we will enjoy the process of discipline and that will lead to happiness.
- Last but not the least, when we get the rewards of discipline, many a time, the difference is too staggering and a few sacrifices that we have made, will pale into insignificance. For example, when we achieve better Personal Finance with discipline, we will simply rejoice and will not even have the time to think about the sacrifices.
The last Para may require more elaboration. In the workshop, Path to Prosperity held on November 22 at Chennai, we discussed the following example:
- 'A' (with discipline) starts investing Rs 50,000 per year at the age of 25. 'B' (reluctantly) starts investing the same amount every year at the age of 30.
- When they attained the age of 55, A's corpus is Rs 61 lakhs while B's corpus is Rs 40 lakhs @ 8% return p.a. of compounded return.
- The difference of Rs 2.50 lakhs in amount invested made a difference of Rs 20 lakhs to their corpus.
Am I right in saying that discipline is freedom and lack of discipline leads to slavery and certainly not the other way around?
Please do share your experiences on discipline.
Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites
