A hectic day today. I had calls with three new clients, all of who are investment advisors, and target the retail segment. In English, you and me. People who make a modest living and struggle to handle their finances. Hence the experts.
Finances – so simple, yet so complicated. People who make an obscene amount – don’t know where to spend it, and people who make so little – don’t know how to earn more of it. The ones in the middle – don’t know how to save and grow it.
It’s funny – but most Chartered Accountants I know avail other’s services to manage their money. It’s a bit ironic, but a sad fact of life, that education covers everything except what is required – how to manage what you earn, how to grow food, how to cook, how to manage relationships…you get the drift.
I guess they leave it to the parents and peers to get this part sorted. But how many parents have the time? Most end up sending their kids to more tuitions and too many extra-curricular classes. Instead, what if they spent time with their kids and taught them what they have learnt over time?
Maybe the pressure is on making the kid excel, be the best, “get what we didn’t get”kind of thinking. But isn’t that demeaning what you have learnt in your own journey? Is that not worth being passed on?
Everyone has something special in them, and a lot ordinary. The ordinary bits are more important, because they represent the basics that every human needs to know. Spend some time with your kids talking about the ordinary bits of life, and teaching them in your own way. The kid may not become excellent at it, but that’s not the point.
Let them be a jack of all trades. Before you complete this saying with “and a master of none”, do heed the actual saying below:
A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.
See you tomorrow!