What is important; where to start or where to stop
Few days back, I came across this story and realized how much it relates to your financial planning; let's read the story and understand better:
Once upon a time, there was a King who, in spite of having a luxurious lifestyle, was neither happy nor content. One day, the King came across a carpenter who was singing happily while working in his palace. This fascinated the King, who kept thinking why was he, the king of the Land, always unhappy and gloomy, while an ordinary person had so much joy.
He asked the carpenter, 'Why are you so happy?
The man replied, 'Your Majesty, I am nothing but a carpenter, and my family and I don't need too much – just a roof over our heads and warm food to fill our stomachs.' The king was not satisfied with that reply. Later in the day, he sought the advice of his most trusted advisor. After hearing the King's woes and the carpenter's story, the advisor said, 'Your Majesty, I believe that the carpenter has not been made a part of "The 99 Club".
"The Club 99 - What exactly is that?' the King inquired. The advisor replied, 'Your Majesty, to truly know what The 99 Club is, place 99 gold coins in a bag and leave it at this carpenter's doorstep.' When the servant saw the bag, he took it into his house. When he opened the bag, he was astonished to see so many gold coins!
He began to count them. After several counts also, there were 99 coins only. He wondered, 'What could've happened to that last gold coin? Surely, no one would leave 99 coins!' He looked everywhere, but that final coin remained hidden. Finally, exhausted, he decided that he was going to work harder than ever to earn that gold coin and complete his collection. From that day, the carpenter's life changed. He was overworked and castigated his family for not helping him make that 100th gold coin and even stopped singing.
Witnessing this drastic transformation, the King was puzzled. He sought his advisor's help, the advisor said, 'Your Majesty, the carpenter has now officially joined The 99 Club.'
'The 99 Club is a name given to those people who have enough to be happy but are never content, they're always striving for that extra one, always saying to themselves: 'Let me get that one final thing and then I will be happy for life.'
Club 99 & your financial planning:
I have used this story to highlight my point of "setting the end goal" -- understanding that it is not important to know about where to "start" but very critical to know about where to "stop" while doing your financial planning. So, stay tuned for the second concluding part of this article, next column.
Till then, do check whether you are a member of "Club99"!
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