Why financial literacy even in your late 20s is not a bad idea?

August 23, 2021 rini.kapoor Leave a comment

When I was a little girl, I had a self-made definition of being rich. If I could buy whatever I want without looking at the price tag, I would consider myself as rich. More than 20 years down the line, despite having a dreamy high-paying job, I still feel uncomfortable in buying a non-essential item without checking out the cost. When I wonder whether my definition was unrealistic or whether I still have a long way to go, I couldn’t stop myself from getting enough financial literacy.

Do I want to become rich or do I want to become wealthy?

“Many people think that being rich and being wealthy are the same thing,” said rich dad. “But there is a difference between the two: The rich have lots of money but the wealthy don’t worry about money.”

Talking about money is considered a taboo in the Indian society. Neither children are ever involved in family discussions about money nor is money a subject in school. Probably, talking about money is assumed to make a kid opportunistic and materialistic without realizing that lack of financial knowledge may pull down his future net worth. Even though most of our day-to-day, short term and long term decisions are money-related, the topic of money is perceived to be a non-innocent one.

I began my journey in my late 20s, but I am glad that I am able to witness the positive effect of investments and reinvestments. Below are the areas which I believe everyone should have a green tick in their financial report card. The most important concept to understand here is the power of compounding illustrated by the following table.

Early starters tend to be richer than their peers after a period of time as their money grow faster because their investment and income earned from that investment grow together. Reinvesting of interests is the key to maximise savings and become wealthy.

When I calculated how much money had I lost because I didn’t have a PPF account till the age of 25, I was shocked.

Tangible Net worth calculations

Calculating one’s net worth is one of the best ways to judge the financial trajectory. If the net worth increases with time, it means we are on the right track.

Net worth = Assets – Liabilities

What do you want to become in your life? This is a question which we are asked right since we start getting some sense of the world. I don’t remember any of my classmates including myself giving the answer I want to become RICH/WEALTHY although this seems to be the most logical answer.

People may argue that a rich mindset may be money-minded and opportunistic with high-risk appetite. However, we don’t understand that unless a person is financially capable enough, he cannot be a good supporting hand in helping the relatively poorer family members and friends.

There is a reason why capitalism is being considered a better choice for people who believe in performance-based identity. And mind you, financial literacy makes us better equipped in such a world because with increasing inflation, our money in savings account is only making us poorer with time.

Let us take a pause and ask a few questions and analyse our financial performance –

Do we truly understand and appreciate the power of compounding?
Is there timely improvement in my net worth?
Am I able to get maximum tax benefits with my investment portfolio?
Am I investing in stock market as per my risk appetite?
Do I have a retirement plan and a term insurance to take care of my family?
Why is buying a house using debt and avoiding the rents more helpful than paying rents without getting the asset to your name over time?
Why are mutual funds becoming important in one’s investment portfolio?
Can you become wealthy by doing a job throughout your life?
Which one is a better way to save more – reducing expenses or increasing income?

Blockchain, FEATURED, Technology

The new buzzword in blockchain – NFT

August 22, 2021 rini.kapoor Leave a comment

NFT stands for non-fungible token. Fungibility is a concept in economics and stands for the ability of something to be interchanged while keeping the value intact. For e.g. money is fungible. You can exchange a $10 currency note into two $5 notes. Similarly, options, cryptocurrencies and shares are other examples of fungible assets because they can be traded or exchanged. Conversely, assets such as diamonds or baseball cards are not fungible because each unit has its unique qualities. Likewise, if Person X lends his bike to Person Y, it is not acceptable for Person X to return a different car in spite of the same model, colour etc.

Non-fungible tokens are cryptographic assets on a digital ledger, a blockchain, and can be thought of as certificates of ownership for virtual or physical assets like art, photos, videos, audios etc. Even though access to a copy of the original file is not restricted to the buyer of the NFT, the ownership is unique and cannot be replicated. Typically, NFTs are Ethereum-based tokens and they are a way of authenticating ownership of whatever asset is attached to the token.

NFTs have been around since 2014. However, it is in recent times that it has caught the limelight and has become a popular way to buy and sell digital artwork. Some of the most expensive NFT purchases are as follows –

Everydays: the first 5,000 Days – $69.3 million (It is a compilation of the first 5,000 digital arts of Beeple.

2. The first Tweet – $2.9 million

3. CryptoPunk #3100 – $7.58 million (This is one of the first NFTs created and now are selling at millions)

NFTs enable artists and content creators to monetise their works. They no longer have to rely on expensive galleries or auction houses to sell their artworks. Instead, they can sell their work directly to the consumer as an NFT. In addition, artists are also entitled for royalties whenever their art is resold to a new owner.

It might appear that you are paying loads of money for just one GIF OR JPEG file. However, it is much more than that. In an analogical way, if NFTs are just JPEG files, traditional art is just paint on canvas.

How to BuyNFTs?

Make an NFT marketplace account on Opensea, NBA Top Shot etc.
Fund your account with cryptocurrency such as Ethereum.
Buy your NFT by submitting a bid for the NFT you want to purchase.

Even though anyone can create an NFT by making an account on NFT marketplace, it is not sure that it might sell. Value of any NFT is associated with the significance of the media and is linked to the reputation or the historical significance of the media. It is the flex of owing original artwork even though it may seem that in digital art, a copy is as good as the original.

SWOT Analysis

Is this just a bubble?

It is being said that the concept of NFTs is trying to solve a problem which did not even exist. Additionally, the crazy valuations of artworks is also a red signal to it being only a rich-people playground and nothing to do with the masses. An animated GIF of Nyan Cat sold for more than $500,000 which sounds insane. Even though it might seem to create value for artists, the business model seems to be flawed and inflated. Let’s hope, people don’t lose their money and it is actually a saviour for artists and the entry of blockchain into the mainstream retail transactions.

Environment

Top 4 most innovative environment-focused companies in the world

August 22, 2021 rini.kapoor Leave a comment

The Triple bottom line (TBL) framework is increasingly becoming important in corporate sector. Organisations are not only evaluating their performance from financial perspective but are also focusing on environmental and social perspectives to create greater business value. This has also been the result of questions on the ‘how’ aspect and not just the ‘why’ and ‘where’ to become the ultimate distinguishers in business. This change in corporate mindset has been brought in by the diminishing natural resources, which a few generations ago, was perceived to be endless.

While there are many companies including MNCs and start-ups who have made major breakthroughs in the processes and product innovations, there are some honourable mentions which are truly revolutionary.

Tesla

Mission – Accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.

This automobile giant has proved that electric vehicles can be a cooler driving option with quicker and better prospects than gasoline cars. With the aim of moving towards a zero-emission future, it has not only built all-electric vehicles but has also become the pioneer of clean energy by building solar and integrated renewable energy solutions for businesses and households.

Graviky Labs

Mission – Less pollution, more art.

It is an MIT spinoff specialised in building cleantech solutions. It began as a lab experiment of building a tool to capture soot from a burning candle using solvents like vodka. This green startup works in converting carbon emissions into advanced materials like inks and other sustainable industrial feedstock.

Some of the notable developments include KAALINK and AIR-INK. KAALINK is a retrofit technology that captures carbon emissions from vehicles or chimneys before it escapes into the atmosphere. The pollutants which are captures are then recycled into AIR-INK, a safe water-based writing instrument.

Energy Derived

Mission – To have every farmer grow an acre of algae and produce his/her own fuel.

This is an equipment tech company dedicated to the development of energy efficient algae production systems for the creation of algae-based biofuels. Basically, it focuses on the development of energy-efficient yet commercial solutions to processing of algae biomass. Algae has a lot of potential in becoming a future energy source in the world.

Power Ledger

Mission – To provide the platform for a fully modernized, market-driven grid that offers consumers choice in energy while driving the democratization of power.

Founded in 2016, Power Ledger is a fast-growing tech start-up that has developed an energy and environmental commodity trading platform so that our energy markets become more efficient. The blockchain enabled company aims to create a world powered by renewable energy. With its peer-to-peer proprietary application, it helps customers optimise their energy usage by allowing them to share any surplus with others without giving any subsidies. For instance, a consumer with solar panels can store and sell excess energy to another household/organisation/grid using the company’s trading platform.

Solving environmental problems through innovative solutions is the need of the hour. Companies should work towards mitigating the environmental problems and not just aim at generating profits for shareholders. As Wendell Berry rightly said, the Earth is what we all have in common. Let’s work collectively towards reducing, reusing and recycling the usage of natural resources to conserve nature and hence preserve humanity.

Technology

An era of aggregator apps

March 24, 2015 rini.kapoor

With the number of apps increasing quarter by quarter and year over year, it has become very difficult to grasp the advantages and benefits which the tech world has to offer to us. The number of apps on Google Play and Apple App store has been fast approaching 3 million and 2 million respectively, not to forget the considerable share of Windows store and Amazon app store.

What is an aggregator app?

An aggregator app provides a connecting platform for customers and service providers by contracting with multiple such competing providers of the latter group and selling the service under its own brand.

The service or offering is owned by the individual providers. The aggregator app markets the multiple offerings in its own unique way helping the consumers with availability of options and uniformity in price and service quality.