Preserve and Protect What You Have

“What should be our focus in life?” I was asked the other day. The question was in reference to spiritual and life goals.

The answer was clear. “Preserve and protect what you have,” I replied.

So what happens when times are tough? Well, for one thing, those who lose less can be considered winners in a way. This works for money, wealth and other things we value in life. It does not matter whether the gains are spiritual or material.

• When we lose spiritual gains by criticism, judgmentalism, or other offense, recognition of this and correction ensures that one’s loss is minimized.
• The first danger is lack of acknowledgment of the offense.
• The ultimate danger is in ignoring this and not correcting oneself.

Signs from the Universe

When we choose to ignore the reality of what we are doing, the universe steps in to help us. We will get many signals from people around us.

People will let us know that we are acting from an egoistical position. When this happens we tend to dismiss this as jealousy, envy, or enmity. It would be better to pay attention to what these people are saying–very often we can learn more from critics and enemies than friends.

This is because enemies are quick to deflate us, while friends may hesitate, wanting to avoid giving us pain. In such a case our critics and enemies are to be valued at least as much as our friends if not more!

Dead Cat (Revisited)

In our February 2008 issue of the Newsletter we had mentioned that Dr. Doom (Marc Faber) was expecting the Sensex to drop to below 14,000. Today the Senses is hovering around 13,500.
In its downward journey there are bounces upward and falls again to lower levels. These is the ‘dead cat bouncing’ pattern of lower lows and lower highs made by a falling stock market that appears to have an artificial life ‘bounce’. In reality of course it is a dead cat bouncing. We discussed this in our March 2008 Newsletter.

Savings for less loss

Those who have been putting their tax-saving funds in ELSS (equity linked savings scheme funds) would have lost about 30% to 40% of their capital in the past 6 months. However, since there is a lock-in of 3 years for these funds, there is a very reasonable possibility that this loss would be recovered over the next 2 or 3 years.

However, going forward, compared to equity schemes, a safer tax-saving option for this year would be to invest in a public provident fund.

• A PPF currently pays 8.5% interest per annum. (The interest rate changes as per government rules from time to time.)
• The interest is calculated on the lowest balance from the 5th of the month to the end of the month, so it is essential to deposit the money in this account on or before the 5th to get interest for that month on the deposited amount.
• There is no tax on the interest, and no wealth tax on these savings. When you receive the money at the end of the scheme (15 years) there is no tax on any of it. Also, the amount in a PPF cannot be attached in any legal proceedings.
• As the money is guaranteed by the central government this is relatively very, very safe.

So, although the current annual inflation rate is around 12% and rising, 8.5% tax free is better than losing your capital in equity schemes in addition to the 12%+ inflation as is currently happening.

When in doubt stay in cash,savings and real assets (think gold!) –Limit your losses and be a winner! Preserve and protect what you have.

Blessings, love and light for success–Be with the Force!

Nalin K. Nirula