Abhi
Have you ever heard of someone whose luck with life and money changed dramatically after they had a baby or got married. Maybe even after getting a new house. Terms like “Vasthu of the house must be good, his business is minting money” or “his daughter’s birth made him very lucky”. Even, “The time she got married, now her salary is doubled”. Indians are superstitious and luck is a parameter which is considered to play a part in our income and life. I’ve gone through all of these milestones. Let me share what happened during them that changed my life and impacted my income.
My luck with making money after life milestones:
In the past 4 years I have gone through all of these 3 major life events. Purchased a new house. Got married. Had a beautiful baby daughter. Around all three of these events, my finances changed drastically for the better. But, I never consider this as luck.
Did buying a new House bring me luck in making money?
I was 25 when I purchased my house, an apartment worth 45 lakhs in Bangalore. Let me be clear, my parents forced me as that would make my matrimonial profile look better?♂️. Anyhow, at that time, I was earning about Rs.37,000. I did not have money for the down payment, so my parents gave me Rs.10 lakhs to cover this and the remaining, I took a loan. As my salary was low, I could only take a loan if the period was 25 years. Hence I ended up with an EMI of Rs.31,000 for 25 years! Horrible right!
Around this time, I was with an MNC and had already completed 1.5 years in current role. With Rs.31,000 of my Rs.37,000 salary, I was under immense pressure and little luck for liquid money. My department then was very comfortable, but I still pushed myself out of my comfort zone to apply for jobs outside my department. One of the interviews clicked and I moved to a new role. My salary too increased to Rs.45,000, making it a little easy to handle the new home loan.
Impact marriage had on my earnings
A year after buying the house I got married. Salary at Rs. 52,000 and Rs.31,000 for home loan, my wife and I managed with Rs.21,000 in Bangalore. I continued doing good work. My old boss was setting up a new team in a different company and asked me to join.
The company I was working with was a very reputed MNC and I was very loyal to it. I had always had the intention of continuing there for 20 or so years and retire at a senior level. With my income being low, I was forced to leave that thought and I applied. I got that job. My pay jumped by 70% in the new company. I started earning Rs.89,000.
My baby, my lucky charm
After 2 years of marriage and my present company, we were blessed with a baby. The new addition to our family forced me to take a few decisions. I decided to:
- firmly make a financial plan and set goals for myself
- write on Little Saves on my journey and involve like minded people like you
- increase my passive income
- move up my career
Once we knew my wife was expecting, I starting worrying about our future. Even though the income I was earning was over 80% of what I was earning 2 years back, it was still low. For I had by now got a car (my car and how I make money from it). I was starting to support my parents. We got a maid to help with baby. After expenses, I only had Rs.18,000 for house expenses and savings.
A few months before my daughter was born, I noticed an opportunity within my department for a new role. My manager told me that a promotion is not going to happen due to budget constraints. I still offered to handle that new role activities in addition to my current role. I did that well for 9 months. About 3 months after my baby was born, I got my promotion. That increased my salary by 30%.
Lifestyle and perception after a life event:
These major milestones in life causes your perceptions to change. This forces you to do things you would not otherwise have done. Apply for a new job. Test your luck and take a risk. Expand your business and work harder. It is unfair to say that it is Luck that helped you earn that money. It is your own hard work and the planning.
In all three of my life milestones, it may seem like luck got me more money. But, that is not true. These events forced me out of my comfort zone. They forced me to make decisions which I normally would not have. My promotion after buying the house for example, had it not been for the high home loan, I would not have left for a new job with a different department. Even more, if not for getting married, and having to support another human being, I would definitely not have left my job to another company.
Can you get bad luck making money?
Can this backfire, what about those who say my baby brought me bad luck, I lost my job etc. The same as above. You are pushed to take decisions due to these major events. And decisions may go wrong. If that happens stop blaming Vasthu, your wife or children. They have nothing to do with this.
You need to plan properly, work hard. It may seem like a co-incident that someone’s business is doing really bad as they build a new house. People will start saying the house is unlucky that is why he is losing money. But, he or she is most likely keeping all their focus on the new house and not their business. Loosing money in business is likely to happen as errors and failures you would have easily spotted earlier would be missed now since you are busy with your baby or house construction.
How to leverage this luck for yourself
So if you want to get this drastic change in life, you need not get married or have a baby. Just do these three things:
- Asses your current position in life to get an idea if you can do better
- Plan and set tough financial goals, discipline yourself to follow them
- Get out of your comfort zone. Most often, it is this that stops your growth.
Hope, my experiences were able to show you that it is not luck, but hard work and planning that ultimately brings you money, happiness and prosperity.
