Top 4 Truisms on Investments, Health, and Lifestyle for 2023. How prepared are you?

Date : 12/01/2023
Read: 6 mins

Follow these top 4 truisms and new year resolutions for better health, lifestyle, stronger investment gains, and more money in 2023. Learn more.

Top 4 Truisms on Investments, Lifestyle, & Health in 2023

We all make new year's resolutions every year. A new year brings optimism. The resolution can be anything from clearing paperwork on investments, controlling spending habits, quitting smoking, to starting a new fitness regime. A new year is a good time to renew our commitment to actions that we may have missed last year. It is also the time for a fresh start on lifestyle, needs, and managing money in 2023.

To align your actions with managing money and health, you've to follow 4 truisms for a successful life:

1. Work for a Shorter period and Retire Early

The number of people working till 60 years is decreasing fast. With the advent of the gig economy, more and more people are working whenever and wherever they want. The gig economy comes with increased uncertainty. But at the same time, it brings unprecedented opportunities. You can be your boss and earn as much as you want. There is an increasing trend among millennials and gen Z. They work hard till their 40s or 50s, make enough money to support the rest of their lives, and retire early.

Do you want an early retirement too? If yes, start:

Working hard and smart from an early age
Making more money in a relatively shorter time (say, 10 or 20 years)
Making investments early to enjoy the fruits of compounding

2. Live Longer than you Expect

If you expect that you will live till 70 years, think again. You'll live another decade more. Are you surprised? Let's check the facts and estimates.

The UN estimates that the life expectancy in India will jump from 70.19 in 2022 to 81.96 years in 2100. In the next 77-78 years, people will live for an additional 11 years. If we look back, we'll find that the life expectancy of people in India was just 35.21 years in 1951 (a period just after Indian Independence). This means the life expectancy will increase by around 57% during 1950-2100 (a span of 150 years).

Cheers to the additional 10 years you are expected to live longer in the future in India.

3. Stop Living Beyond your Means

Are your spending habits coming in the way of making adequate investments? If yes, you should make resolutions this new year to spend money in 2023 judiciously.

This is because every time you spend more than you earn, you're actually borrowing money from your future earnings. It would help if you became money-wise to save adequately for the future, start investing early and let the compounding work better for you.

Lifestyles play an important role in the way you spend your money. In the new year, you can make resolutions to get a hold of your impulsive spending behaviour and spend prudently. You can start by cutting your dining out weekly to once every two weeks. Choose a healthier lifestyle for a better quality of life. Once you stop impulsive spending, you can invest more money for your future and consequently get a larger corpus during retirement.

4. Take Advantage of Compounding

You should always start investing so that you can utilise the power of compounding, which means earning interest on interest.

Your investments can take advantage of compounding when you keep reinvesting your initial investment along with the earned interests year after year. The longer you keep rolling over your investment (say, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, or so on), the higher the power of compounding will be.

Example:

Suppose you saved ₹ 10,000 in a 3-year fixed deposit that provides an interest rate of 8% per annum. Usually, fixed deposits in India make interest payments every quarter. This means, at the end of the first year, you receive ₹ 824 as interest payment. After one year, your FD account will have ₹ 10,824.

In the second year, an 8% interest rate is calculated over the total amount of money in the FD account. This means that the interest calculation is done on ₹ 10,824 (including the principal amount of ₹ 10,000 + ₹ 824 interest payment). So, at the end of the second year, the total corpus will be ₹ 11,716.59. This means your interest payment in the second year will be ₹ 892.59, which is ₹ 68.59 more than the first year.

The 8% interest rate (compounded quarterly) in the third year is calculated over ₹ 11,716.59. At the end of the third year, your interest payment will be ₹ 965.83, which is ₹ 73.24 more than the second year.

Thanks to the power of compounding, you'll receive a total amount of ₹ 12,682.42 at the end of three years. If you earned a simple interest rate, you would have received ₹ 12,400 at the end of three years. The difference between the compounded interest rate and the simple interest rate is ₹ 282.42. It may seem inconsequential. But this amount will become larger when compounding is done over the long run, say 10 years, 20 years, or even 30 years.

If the compounding of FD takes place for 10 years, your corpus will become ₹ 22,080.40, out of which your total interest payment will be ₹ 12,080.40.
In contrast, an 8% simple interest rate over 10 years would have earned you ₹ 8,000 in interest payment. Your corpus would have been ₹ 18,000.
The power of compounding would have helped you to earn ₹ 4,080.40 more in interest payments.

That's the power of compounding. To get maximum benefit, you should start investing as early as possible. Warren Buffet, a veteran investor and one of the wealthiest persons on earth, has attributed most of the credit for his huge wealth to the power of compounding. Buffett started investing as early as 17 years of age. He said:

"My wealth has come from a combination of living in America, some lucky genes, and compound interest."

Also Read : Investment Tips to Make More Money

Final Words

If you want to bring a positive change in your financial and personal life, list all your needs. Try adopting a frugal lifestyle and start making investments regularly from an early age. This will help you harness the power of compounding and ultimately create a larger corpus in the long run. With the help of the gig economy, you can earn as much as you want. This will enable you to take early retirement and enjoy your life during your 40s and 50s.