Anupam- The Dreamer

In the real world, we see that the most intelligent, most smart and most knowledgeable people are not the richest in the world. Leave richest, they are often not even in the bracket of being called as “among the richest”. And, those who are the richest lot or the top brass are (more often than not) not among the most intelligent of the people, yet they are the richest. For example, Bill Gates may not be the best coder/software developer of his generation, but he was exceptionally talented in having a great vision, doing innovation, harnessing the talent of the best coders in the world and turn his venture into a big profitable empire. There seems to be a paradox in this story. And the reason for this paradox??? Think…..

It is because of the simple reason that intelligence is not directly linked to the money! And as the great author Robert Kiyosaki writes in his book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”- our education system doesn’t teach us how to make money. From our childhood, we are taught different subjects like science, maths, social sciences, languages, humanities, etc., but, we are never taught the art and skill to make money. We are taught to be sincere, studious, learn our subjects well, never skip our lessons, do our homework timely and never fail in exams! Basically, our education system teaches us- HOW TO BE A GOOD STUDENT AND A GOOD “FUTURE EMPLOYEE”. But, never ever we are taught- HOW TO MAKE MONEY AND BECOME A MILLIONAIRE OR A BILLIONAIRE.

We are always taught to never fail in exams and secure a good job, a deadly combination which can only make you an outstanding employee! And the biggest aim of the brightest and most intelligent student in the class is to get the best job in the world! Have you ever heard from the best student that he/she wants to become an entrepreneur or become one of the richest persons? Never! Because it is systematically ingrained into the child that – FAILURE HAS TO BE AVOIDED AT ALL COST IN LIFE! Our society is shaped in a manner that despises failures. The persons who have failed are ridiculed, outcasted and frowned upon. I once scored low marks in one exam, and my friend (who was infact otherwise a good friend) instead of motivating me to do good next time, starting making fun of my so called “failure” (although I didn’t literally fail)! The parents don’t buy a bicycle or cancel a family trip, if their child doesn’t stand 1^st in the class. In this scenario, how can you expect the child to take risks and venture into the unknown when he/she grows up?

Then, the education teaches everything about knowledge and nothing about the money and finances! We can become the best scientists and researchers and thinkers, but we cannot be the best money managers. We don’t know how to monetize our skill and how to make the best out of that. If this skill was taught to the best coder in the world, who knows that the/she could have easily surpassed Bill Gates or Mark Zukerberg. The richest brass may not know very much about the theory or knowledge, but they are THE best in the skill of making money. They know what sells in the market and what not. They know what skills of the intelligent people can be harnessed to make a great company. They know the nuances of accounting and loopholes in the taxation and financial laws to make more money. They also know how to take tax breaks, legally (and also illegally or those falling in the grey areas of law interpretation) and how to mould laws in their favour. Basically, they may or may not know anything, but they surely know the art of making money!

The above discussion should not be understood that knowledge or intelligence is not important in life, and that the money is the single most important thing. Life is much more important and worthwhile than money only. But, at the same time, importance of money cannot be underestimated. If you think otherwise, then ask yourself these questions- IF NOT FOR MONEY, THEN WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO DO YOUR CURRENT JOB? AND CONVERSELY, IF YOU HAVE ENOUGH MONEY, THEN WOULD YOU NOT PREFER DOING SOMETHING ELSE IN LIFE?

Money may not necessarily give you happiness, but it certainly gives you more freedom to do what you want to do in life! And again, I am not against the current education system. Infact, it is necessary to teach the above mentioned values and knowledge, but would it not be better if we can also inculcate some real world knowledge about finances? And what if we taught that failure is not bad, if you learn something out of it and improve the next time! And taking calculated risks is not that bad as it is made out to be so. Afterall, if you play too safe everytime, then you lose all the fun.

Till next time….