There were several reasons for being away, and the main reason is that I am writing a book on how to be a Smart Money Manager. And in the process I am left pulling my hair all the time (of whatever is left 
)
I want your help. I want two things from you.
1. Feedback on the following structure.
2. Share experiences and case studies and be part of my book.
I have arrived at a structure of the book and the structure of this book is similar to the making of a movie. Lights, Camera and Action! The making of the movie has a lot of time going into story writing, screenplay, actors’ selection, and the shooting itself, scene by scene.
Money management is not just about investment advice, setting up a retirement plan or buying the right financial products. It involves the right understanding of some basic concepts (Lights), using the right financial planning process (Camera) and then taking decisions on financial products (Action).
Here’s the structure of the book that I have in mind
Lights!
I. Psychology of Money
II. Playing with Numbers
III. Asset Allocation
IV. Magic of Compounding
Camera!
V. Financial Planning
VI. Using Tools and Technology
Action!
VI. Taking Cover
VII. Tax Planning
VIII. Selecting Investments
IX. Retirement Planning
X. Loans
XI. Credit Cards
XII. Child’s Education/Marriage
I also want you to share your experiences on
1. how you are managing your money and
2. what have you learnt from this blog.
Your experiences can be source of learning for others and I want to write a useful book. Please share and be a part of my book. Thanks.
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Ranjan,
Wow!!!, you writing a book. Congrats.
I am no expert on Financial Planning.
The concept looks very good.
I have been following your blog for over a year and have benefited by your posts.
Also tried to incorporate some of them in my financial life.
All the best……
Rakesh
Rakesh, I don’t seek help from experts, but people like you who have taken real concrete action. I know experts who don’t have a financial plan, don’t do budgeting or have a retirement plan. I also know smart people who are very methodical about their finances.
My blog, at best, can prod you to take some action. I would love to know what actions you have taken. Please send a mail on ranjan@ranjanvarma.com (privacy guarnateed!)
Hi Ranjan,
I am regular reader of your blogs. This blog has really made me happy. Can’t wait till the book is published. I’ll be amongst first few buyers. Just few suggestions:
a) Please include mathematical formulae in appendix of the book. Lot other books omit them in interest of keeping the book simple. But few people like me would really be interested in understanding them in detail
b) Please attach a CD associated with books, or a link from where the excel sheets of the formulae can be downloaded and explored.
c) Case studies would be extremely useful.
@Jayant Great ideas, thanks for reinforcing my belief in the ideas that u mention. I’ll definitely include them
Nice to know you’re writing a book. Be sure to include (and I know you will) tips on how to easily record transactions so that they are retrievable, analysable (is that a word?) & at the very least understandable after 6 months. Also, some discussion on inclusive planning & management for the entire family, keeping them in the loop, would also help.
@Daksha gr8 suggestions!
This is great.
Not sure what you mean by the tools and technology part, but do include some information about web based expense trackers and smart phone apps (remember – I mentioned something called Toshl in my guest post here).
The middle class are really getting the hang of smart phones right now in India so it’ll only be appropriate to include such information
Very nice and informative article.
I have bookmarked it.
Lights Camera Action … good way of structuring it. Do let me know when ur book is ready. Good luck !
Regarding Credit Cards, these are the 2 methods which I use:
1. Have subscribed to e-mail alerts for these cards, using which I set reminders in my phone 2 days in advance of the due date. As and when the reminder pops up, i log onto the bank’s website and make an e-transfer from my debit card (earlier had the pain of writing cheques every month!). This ensures that I dont miss out on any credit card payments
2. I stick to just 3 credit cards with different billing dates so that I get the maximum free credit period.
Good to know that you are writing a book, all aspects of your book looks good, however I would also like to see you writing on miss selling of financial products by agents/brokers; distributors for the sake of only earning commissions.
Keep posted us when you are coming up with the book.
Nice post
To be a rupeemanager / rupeesaver you must follow The iBanker’s saying:
“look after the pence and the shillings will look after themselves”
-The iBanker (www.theibanker.com)
First of all I wanna to say god blessing you .. Happy to be here and i get idea how to a smart in money saving and use of money this is very inst resting post .And the title Light ,camera ,and action best to show how to think a super title .. This is a your book title which is best .. And very informative …Thanks for this great effort
hi, you should include a chapter on how to spend money wisely and within their limits. A rupee saved is a rupee earned. Many people buy things which they really do not need like a fancy smart-phone with hundreds of features but they use hardly a few features. Upgrading cars/TV every three years or so.
I know people might come back and say it is a life-style but also think of consuming the earth’s resources.
another chapter i can think of is how to educate your family about money and savings and also paying off higher interest loans first before lower interest ones etc.
In your chapters have you considered writing anything about life insurance? I think it would be a good idea to include this. Also please include how one should make plans to disperse the remaining of their assets after death. Did you know that in US and Canada they have dedicated web-sites to find any funds that are unclaimed? Just google “unclaimed money banks” and you’ll find some reliable web-sites. Just my thoughts.
Great post, and you have written it with a eye catching title. Thank you!. I have recently started a blog and would love to have seniors such as yourself comment and provide guidance on how I can make the blog better. You can visit the blog at http://www.just-paisa.com
Regards
Ashok
I happen to visit this website for 1st time today and what a coincidence….
Your intention of writing the book is exactly what I had in mind when I created following sites:
Talks about Sensex Direction & long term Investment Strategy
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sensex-Direction-Investment-Strategy/208434185890270
Talks about US markets & long term investment strategy
http://www.facebook.com/401KStrategy
You may want to consider adding few more subtopics as I did not see them under any heading:
1. How to get back on track if you are in deep losses & your financial portfolio is messed up
2. How to get out of debt 1 step at a time
3. What can be done if you are closer to retirement age and does not have good retirement egg
4. When one shall consider cashing in on profits (real estate, stocks, gold, etc)
5. More importantly how to build WEALTH???
Nice post…It was very useful…
Ashwini Damani
http://goldensilt.blogspot.com – A blog on better living
Hi Ranjan,
I am looking forward for your book. The title of the book is certainly grabbing the eye balls. Please mention in your book about the type of financial products which has to in our portfolio.