Do you know your net worth?

 

Talking to the people I know, I realized that financial planning is something that is taken casually or in fact not considered worth thinking about by most.  The first step towards creating a plan is identifying where you are today!  From a financial perspective, two questions that help you discover yourself financially are

1.  What is your net worth?

In other words, what does your personal balance sheet look like?

2.  How much do you save?

Or, what does your personal income statement look like?

Here is an excel template to help you find your own answers to these questions.  Manage your money better.

Download: Personal Balance Sheet

Birds around my house

The balcony of my apartment opens up onto a large tree and provides me with an ‘inside’ view of it. Some of the birds that I’ve spotted ..

#1) White cheeked barbet. These are small birds who live in tree holes.

 

White Cheeked Barbet

#2) Parrots / Parakeets

#3) Streak throated woodpecker

 

 

 

 

 

 

#4) Koel.  The male Bird is black and the female is brown with white spots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

#5) The Black Kite

 

Prostitution: A legal trade in India

One of the oldest professions existing since the history of mankind is prostitution. Over the period of time, societies evolved and defined a moral code of conduct, based on which, prostitution was deemed illegal. Most countries across the globe have declared prostitution as illegal. Same is true for India as well. The irony is that despite laws, prostitution as a profession continues to thrive across the globe. So what does this indicate? The trade addresses a very basic physical need of mankind and any amount of regulation cannot subjugate the demand for such a service. The economic forces of supply and demand will enforce themselves, thereby creating a viable market for trade. Government enforced ban on the trade creates a divide between supply and demand; it does not curb the demand.
Let us consider the economic implications of the ban:
a) The government intends to kill “supply” of the service by banning it. The “demand” for the service is subdued only marginally, because of fear. The point to be noted is that the demand still exists, only surreptitiously.
Ban on prostitution effectively implies a price ceiling of 0. Legally there would be no supply of the service. Therefore buyers will have to pay a much higher price (than what would have been a free trade equilibrium price) to avail the service. The price will factor the compensation of the service plus the cost of additional risk attached to the trade. (Because of the illegal nature of the service). In effect the consumer surplus is minimized. The providers of service (in this case, middlemen) extract maximum possible benefit from the consumer. Therefore the producer surplus is maximum.
b) Since a reasonable “undercover” demand exists, there is a significant section of society fulfilling this demand. Therefore a significant amount of money is transacted and all of it remains unaccounted. Therefore the government loses out on taxes which it could have earned.
c) The police exploit the prostitutes and demand favours in cash or kind to let their business continue. Therefore the ban encourages corruption in the society.
So the question to be asked is why should we not make prostitution legal in India?
One may argue against it on moral grounds, but there can be no denying that a market exists, whether anyone likes it or not. In each and every city there are known “red light areas”. There are more than one lakh prostitutes operating in Bombay alone. My argument is that legalizing prostitution and letting it work as an organized industry in the free market would lead to a larger economic and social benefit to all. The following are some of the benefits that can be accrued:
a) A legal certificate to the prostitution industry would eliminate the corruption associated with it. Therefore prostitutes are freed from economic exploitation and are free to charge as per market price for their service. Therefore they have the opportunity to maximize their profits.  Prostitutes also get a legal social status in the working class.

b) The buyers of the service will benefit as the risk associated with the transaction (of being apprehended by the police) is removed. The price they pay for the service would be the equilibrium price and no more. So in effect, the consumer surplus increases.

c) The inherent health risk associated with the trade remains. At the same time, it opens up a huge market for health care industry to freely popularize contraceptive products such as male and female condoms. Medical insurance companies have opportunity to come up with innovative plans to provide health cover to both buyers and sellers.

d) The government can issue trade permits to legalize the prostitution service as an organized trade. This will help to bring a large section of currently untapped transactions under the purview of tax and therefore increase revenues of government.

e) The law enforcement agencies, such as the police, can focus their energies towards serious crimes such as murders rather than worry about prostitutes. This means that the taxpayer’s money is put to a better use.

f) Legality will also help to protect the prostitutes against physical exploitation and abuse. Currently prostitutes cannot seek justice against exploitation. Legalizing prostitution would mean that they are protected by law.

Prostitution is a low skill, high returns trade. Organized prostitution gives an opportunity to women voluntarily engaging in trade to generate a better return and improve their life style. Regardless of the moral stand we have, it can be seen that:

1. The free market and the forces of supply and demand are the true deciding factors whether a trade can exist in society or not. If there’s no demand, the trade automatically dies.

2. The socio- economic benefits of legalizing prostitution are undeniable.

Therefore it can be concluded that having government policies allowing organized prostitution in the form of free trade will lead to a larger welfare of the society.

9 Steps to professional effectiveness and a fabulous appraisal

1 Define Clear Goals and Measurable Objectives

Goals are abstract in nature and are defined in terms of ‘the state of being’.  Objectives are the measurable steps you take to achieve the goal.   

Example:  ‘To learn French’ is a goal. To clear the French ‘A’ level exam is an objective. 

Identify the KPI’s for each objective. Define targets for each KPI.

Example:   Percentile Score is a KPI for the French exam objective and the target is 90 percentile

2. Keep objectives relevant to work context

It is important that your goals and objectives are aligned with your team’s / group’s / organization’s objective.  Discuss your goals and objectives and discuss with your manager.

Both of you need to agree on the goals, objectives, KPI’s and targets that you set for yourself.

3. Create an ‘Accomplishment Log’

This is a critical, though often overlooked, aspect. We need to log our deliverables, achievements and contributions to the organization.  It will be too cumbersome to re-collect or browse through the mail to arrive at all accomplishments. This must be done every Friday.  

At the end of the week, you should feel good about yourself.  If you don’t, then you know that you are expecting more from yourself!

4. Structure your work / tasks

Take time to understand your assignment.  Understand the expected deliverable and the expected quality of deliverable. Break your assignment into ‘daily deliverables’! (Not necessarily for your manager, but for yourself).  Knowing what you need to accomplish every day @ work will bring incredible focus and efficiency.  It will help develop an understanding of your productivity. It will bring a self-realization on the areas of improvement.  Over the longer term you’ll develop near accurate estimates of work execution.  At the end of the day you’ll leave with a sense of accomplishment. 

5.  Prioritize

More often than not, there would be multiple tasks demanding your attention at any given time.  Prioritize or be doomed! 

6.  Take it to closure

Never leave loose-ends of any assigned tasks.  Always know your prioritized list of activities. Don’t wait for management follow-up!  Take ownership and ensure completion!  Even if it means connecting with people, seeking help or whatever else. Incomplete or abandoned items have the uncanny habit of appearing at all the wrong times! 

7.  Results are important, Efforts are not

Simply putting a lot of effort with no tangible outcomes is pointless.  Efforts without results can’t be recognized.  Therefore it is important to understand the desired outcome and construct an approach towards it. 

8.  Stop blaming management / others

Take responsibility of your professional success or failure.  One can only change what’s under one’s control.  Bosses can be difficult, work environment can depressing, colleagues may be pretentious and there could be hundred other things.  Be aware, but give your best. Ensure that your colleagues and management are aware of the outcomes you affected.  Quoting ShahRukh Khan from one of his interviews: “Early to bed and early to rise”, “Work your ass off and advertize!”  

9.  If nothing else works, find a new manager/employer OR employ yourself!

If you are so diligent, hard-working and capable of executing all the above steps, this should be easy!

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Composting at home

The inevitable is upon us ! We have succeeded in converting the erstwhile garden city to garbage city ! Whether we like it or not, we need to take responsibility of the “waste” we create ! No, it’s not the house-maid or the servant or the municipality that is responsible for disposal …. whenever you see the garbage mound around you start thinking “It is ME who is responsible for that”.

One simple and a responsible step to take is to initiate “composting at home”. This is an effective way of managing organic waste. I live in an apartment and I have recently initiated composting at home with the help of "www.dailydump.org”.  The picture here is of the composting pots that are placed in a corner in the balcony.  The top and middle pots have meshed bottoms. The bottom pot collects the final output. The process is stench free, provided you are disciplined. Know that compost is nutritious soil. Even if you throw away the compost it is very useful for the environment.

Visit www.dailydump.org to know how you can do this by yourself, for yourself. All it takes is willingness and responsibility.