I was listening to the news about India’s unemployment survey that has levelled to a 45 year high. It made me ponder about the economy we are going to inherit. Being an economics student, I can’t help but think about the social realities that I am going to see in front of us.
Personally, the financial aspect became a concern after the lockdown ended around June 2020.
This is reverse to the situation when lockdown happened here in March 2020. It was a great opportunity for me to finally accumulate my savings. Basically, I had nowhere to go and everywhere to hide, from compelling consumptive tendencies of visiting e-commerce platforms. I was able to mobilise my savings in a much more mature manner.
This pandemic made me realise one thing, basic living expenses are relatively low. If you count the real necessary expenses – food, cost of living, medicine and health care and personal productivity. Our expenses are usually far more generous than the savings we can multiply each month.
For me, the experience after the opening of the lockdown was a test to my perspective towards money and finance. I could either live with the same habits and save (and invest more), or maintain my previous consumerism kind of lifestyle. “Did I really want that shirt, or did I order it because it was on 60% discount!?” I could have saved that money and used it to buy plants”.
Coming to my family, everyone has at some point of time tapped into their savings. My parents did not make me feel deprived of the necessary expenses, which makes me wonder how have they been managing all this while. For once, I did not let them get stressed about the financial part of things. I was even able to send some money home. What this pandemic has taught me is to focus on the things that go a long way.
Money is crucial, but smart money is more crucial. Barring the health catastrophe and the hardships that the pandemic has caused, it looks like this situation has changed the way we all should think about the lifestyles we choose to exercise. Basic living should be kept basic, that’s the mantra of living a cherished life. It necessarily does not have to involve ‘Myntra’ every month.
Given the burden my parents take to run the house, it will be an understatement to say that it has been running smoothly. I really wish that I could take 101 finance lessons and help my parents and family in a much more effective manner. I need to dive deeper and look for greater avenues for this to materialise.
I hope that this pandemic does not arrive again, but I certainly aspire that in the coming times, I am able to leave a legacy on how to live a basic yet more enriching life.
Savings are what successful people emphasise on mostly, it is we who tend to ignore it.