During 13 years of my advisory career , meeting so many interesting people , who have given me a chance to see their financial life so closely , sharing ups and downs in life , sharing their feelings and anxiety .
I have always enjoyed this journey to facilitate , to service to be of some help to someone and somewhere within me this service orientation has also become a part of our firm DNA as well .
Working with these people like you on their personal finances and working closely on their financial plans , a very interesting pattern has surfaced , the more I think the more I can’t keep off from sharing .
This very pattern is suggesting me to think more and more about how we measure success in life and the joy and happiness we derive , leaves me thinking that , is only the financial net worth one key metric to say that you have reached in life , not to say that its not an important measure , but the importance given to this one metric is often too much and resonates well with the material world but the very fact that who enjoys this wealth is something totally different .
The question to ask is
Does the person who produces this wealth consumes ?
Not really and the root cause is hidden somewhere in our beliefs , somewhere in what we have experienced while we were growing up , how our parents lived , what sacrifices we have seen them doing and what sacrifices we have made and this often is ingrained in our DNA that we don’t often realise how we take decisions , somewhere it is hardwired in our thought processes , very difficult to see within us, but easy to see how we lead our life .
What really surfaced to me are two different mind sets 1) Mindset of Abundance and 2) Mindset of Scarcity
I have seen them working irrespective of the net worth , defying all the logics and mathematics and ratio analysis involved in our usual financial planning process .
Its simply the Abundance vs Scarcity mindset model , there are people who have relatively lesser net worth , I am emphasising on relatively basis since we tend to benchmark with our colleagues or friend circle and this is something I have always seen coming up during the conversations , and having seen closely the scarcity vs abundance mindsets function very differently .
Also people who have relatively higher net worth and they can feel and sense that right again relatively , once more two different personalities emerge , having a scarcity mindset vs a mindset of abundance .
Normally the bias is scarcity and that is driving us to do more work , in pursuit one may sacrifice the happiness and joy one can derive with the present net worth .
If you wish to test this , follow this can 3 rule simple test :
- Rule 1 : How many breaks have you taken with your family last year {long ,chota break }
- Rule 2 : Do you pursue any hobby ? If yes how many times you could think of having pursued your hobby last year
- Rule 3 : Was there any instances where you have made a remarkable difference in someone’s life around you
If the answer is saying yes it suggests the mindset is an abundance one , abundance of time,abundance of wealth , abundance of willingness to do something different .
Here is a quick snapshot of Abundance vs Scarcity Mindset loop
Know thyself and work towards a more abundance mindset in 2017
| Abundance loop | Scarcity Loop |
| 1. Apply 3 Rules | 1. Ignore 3 Rules |
| 2. Make Wise Choices | 2. Make Poor Choices |
| 3. See gratitude | 3. See fear |
| 4. Positive outcomes | 4. Negative outcomes |
| 5. Peace of mind | 5. Anxiety |
Choice is yours how you wish to lead life in 2017 and beyond .
