Paisa Sherpa - Personal finance and investment guide

The word dysmorphia means a mental health disorder where one spends a lot of time unnecessarily worrying about an imagined lack of a desirable trait. You might have head of body dysmorphia, muscle dysmorphia. So what exactly is "money dysmorphia".  A recent study shows a growing number of Gen Z and millennials facing this issue. Young families in their 30s and 40's are earning a decent incomes and can be classified as being "rich"; however, they themselves do not feel like it as they are generally comparing their financial status with some one else. They feel they do not have enough. There is a FOMO factor which often leads to poor financial decisions and high spends on things that you do not need just to feel familiarity of a association with a specific cohort or to "fit in".  One of the major reasons for this is wrong and unfavorable comparisons. Feeling inadequate when you see your favorite sports icons, movie stars, celebrities, influencers showing...

Consider this - you have just started your first job, and you have to manage with a meagre salary of Rs. 25000 a month. With statutory deductions, rent, fuel expenses, food expenses, the occasional movie or eating out, other discretionary spends you are left with Rs. 4500 every month. Saving money, investments, retirement planning are a distant memory.  Years later, you are celebrating your 40 th  birthday (at a 5-star restaurant of course) and after all the celebrations you wonder how you will manage after you retire. Now after so many years of slogging and a decent package, however you are still left with very little money at the end of the month. You realize that after working for 15 years you haven’t even begun saving and investing for your goals yet to begin. Sounds familiar?  According to a recent RBI study, more than 100 million Indians are going to face a similar predicament in the coming future.  Well how could this be?  Lifestyle inflation (or lifestyl...

  We have all faced this - it’s the 20 th of the month and we are deep in thought of how we’ll manage finances till the next salary. At the start of the month, we eagerly await that message from the bank “xxxxx credited to your account”. Tragically this is very quickly followed by few more messages which go like “Rs. xxxx debited from account” – the EMIs for purchases against credit cards, home loans, etc. By midmonth, we are in a bad mood; come 20 th , we are dreaming of the salary day. If your story is somewhat similar, don’t worry we are one of millions who are in the same (sinking) boat. Forget about savings and investments, we are talking about merely getting through the month.   Conversation over drinks is often about how ‘my salary is a joke’ and ‘I’m have terrible luck’ but you will be surprised to know that there’s a lot that you can do to get out of this misery. It might involve a hard look at the mirror and some difficult lifestyle decisions, but it CAN be done. ...