Pain ends

I wake up every morning with the hope that maybe one day all my problems will end. But if they do then what would I do? Imagine a life without any problems or frustrations. How would it feel to wake up every morning knowing that I do not have to worry about my future. I might enjoy that kind of life for a few days and then? Then what? Life would be so very monotonous that I would wish for problems. Whatever I am today is the produce of the hurdles I faced. From morning till noon every action of mine is influenced by a past event. Every dime is weighed before it is spent. Of course! That kind of lifestyle does seem overwhelming at times and sometimes I do wish for days where in I can spend without thinking twice. But overall it is worth the pain. Pain makes us a better person. We value things more than we should. We appreciate smallest of things and we always try not to forget as to where we have come from.

I remember the time in 2006 when most people in this country spent because spending was the 'in thing.' Credit was no big a deal and I found more people in the malls than inside of their homes. Money seemed cheaper than it should be. All in all money had significantly lost its value in the eyes of the people of this country.

Easy money is never a good thing. It is always an indication that something is seriously wrong. As elders have always said,"There is no short cut to success." If anything comes easy it is always better to doubt the origin of the money or think what the catch in it is? Not that people did not know about all this. Just that over a period of time people tend to forget where they have come from and that is what exactly happened. Every one wanted to live the "Great American Dream." A dream that was built on slippery slope and a dream that finally vanished into thin air.

Come to think of it who is ultimately responsible for the miserable state of the economy? People, government? Who? A question even best of financial scholars are struggling to answer. A topic that belongs to "Behavioral Sciences," which says that some people find it easier to spend or just to save and that more people use heart to make the decision about selling or buying stocks. Why no one knows.

From the time man was created striking a balance has always been the most difficult thing to do. I know a person who spends saying," Oh! come on we will all be gone someday. What is the whole point in saving?" And I know another person who says,"Why do we have to spend. Let me save it all so that I can buy a $700,000 house and sell it for a million dollars." I wish I could say both of them were right. Unfortunately they are not. Spending while simultaneously saving is the key to end most of the pain if not all of it. It is important to know what to save for? Saving to buy a house in the form of cash is probably the worst idea I have ever known. In fact saving in the form of cash is the worst investment ever. Cash should only be enough to cover a worst case scenario. Rest should always be invested in equity, bond or a mixture of both would be the best. Respecting money and money's worth is the most important thing in life. "Know it all attitude" is what brought us down on our knees. Hopefully the economy is seeing some daylight and maybe one day America will be what it is modeled for. A capitalist economy which rewards a sensible risk taker in a seamless manner. For that the SEC will have to implement regulations in the strictest manner but in a way that it encourages the worthy and hampers the greedy. They can stop being ignorant and follow what the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Board does. Monitor every single transaction with the eye and agility of an eagle. They can hire a thug to catch a thug. From Madoff to AIG all did what they did because the SEC respected them for their integrity which none of them did have. This is called the HALO EFFECT. The belief that the GIANT can do no wrong. Well wrong was done and pain was indeed inflicted on people. Money came in easy and lost its importance but when it did gain respect things had gone from bad to worse.

I know the crisis will end maybe today or maybe in a month but when it does I pray that money comes in the hard way, and people know to save it prudently. Because it is only when the pain ends that money losses its respect in the eyes of the people and things start falling apart.

Taking lessons from history therefore I hope that even if I do get what I want in life I always have some pain in life. So that no matter where I am in life I always know where I came from.