Facts about Gold. ( source: world gold council 2009-2010 numbers)

India is the largest market for gold jewellery in the world, representing a staggering 440 tonnes of gold in 2009. All evidence suggests that 2010 will exceed that figure.

Indian consumers are actively engaged in considering their next piece; 75% of women say they are constantly searching for new designs. Whilst over 50% of gold jewellery is bought for weddings, the wedding anniversary has now become the most aspirational occasion for receiving gold today, extending a couple’s relationship with gold beyond the marriage ceremony.

The festival of Dhanteras, the most auspicious day in the calendar just before Diwali, has traditionally created a strong seasonal surge in sales. However, the strategic development of the Akshaya Tritiya festival in May, together with leading trade partners, has seen phenomenal recent success; sales during that period grew over 28% in the last year.

India’s culture and mythology embrace gold. And India’s traditions of unparalleled craftsmanship and skill are exemplified by the country’s gold jewellery manufacturing, with the majority of pieces still made meticulously by hand. Each region’s symbols and designs are reinterpreted in gold which is overwhelmingly high in caratage.

I Earn, I Spend, I cant Save...

I earn I spend I can’t save. It’s true for most of us. India as a country is in its best growth phase, the country having the demographic advantage. More youngsters making big money that their parents couldn’t dream off, buying cars in their late twenties, buying home in their 30’s, exotic foreign trips. But the sad part is most of us (not all) are not happy. Even when driving the new car, sitting in the balcony of apartment there is something haunting our mind. The biggest “Satan” is the EMI commitment for next month. Then comes the credit card bill, have been paying minimum due for last few months credit card company is happy so are we. We use top notch brand products, let it be perfumes, there are many like Hugo boss or Davidoff with a price tag of 3k plus. Even underwear people has become brand conscious. Nothing less than a jockey is considered cheap.

Is this for good? The answer is everything is good as far as it doesn’t put you in a debt trap.  Irrespective of the income let it be 5000INR or 500000 INR a month it’s not difficult to spend.  The urge for spending more than your income is due to the phenomenon called “instant gratification”.

Gratification can be explained as “the pleasurable emotional reaction of happiness in response to a fulfilment of a desire or goal”. And instant gratification is what we want; we want right now not ready to wait. It is human tendency and it is very difficult to control instant gratification. When we go to shopping mall or any big retail outlet we tend to buy more than what is required, with lot of discount sale. For buying 1 shirt we end up buying 3 by paying for 2. Good deal. Was there a need for the 2^nd shirt?? We ourselves don’t know why we bought it. Another good example, once we get a job with few payslips in hand we are ready to buy our first car, why? because everyone  around us are doing the same. Get some money borrowed from parents or if the pay cheque is fat enough use that to fund 10% of on road price of car.. rest is simple, sign few documents within hours the loan will be disbursed by your banker.

Now let us look into a different scenario, what if you could delay your gratification. Preparing a proper plan and budget before shopping. Instead of buying the car immediately make investments for 3 years or so to build a corpus to fund the first car. Even 10% of income channelized to the right investment avenues like mutual fund in a systematic way can make wonders. The power of compounding can do wonders. Few things that you need to keep in mind to ensure u not making a hole in your wallet.

• ·         Just because credit is easily assessable don’t leverage too much