We have witnessed so much amidst this pandemic – from unclear working hours to job uncertainty to losing a near one.No doubt we have been exposed to the old pains of stress and anxiety. As a result, many of us turned to breathing practices or deep mediation as a solution – whether we achieved it through several mindfulness and meditation apps or through the age-old concept of yoga. You would be wondering why we are so invested in breathing and mediation?
Well, as it turns out we can learn several things about financial planning and managing our wealth from breathing and mediation. What!? Yes, you heard us right. Let’s understand the several lessons that we can draw from mediation and breathing that can apply to money as well.
Lesson 1 – Go slow and deep
You would have often heard yoga teachers and breathwork facilitators asking their students to breathe deep, slow, and steady. Have you ever wondered why? Well, breathing slowly, deeply, and steadily helps to stable your mind. In the same way, slow, sufficient, and steady investments is the keytofinancial stability. You can do this with SIP investments that allow you to invest a small, regular amount of investments in mutual funds at regular intervals to attain a significant corpus after a period of time.
Lesson 2 –Say no to erratic
When it comes to breathing, erratic breathing is not recommended as it can put us in the state of fight and flight. The same goes for investing as well. When you invest erratically in the markets attempting to time the market, it can lead you further away from your investment goal.
Lesson 3 – Adapt to circumstances
As our breathing techniques change with varying needs of our bodies and circumstances, the same must apply to investments as well. As your income or other financial aspects and financial goals change, you must change your investment amount accordingly. If needed, you must also change where you invest.
Lesson 4 –You are never too old to learn
You can learn to breathe efficiently in a way that serves you at any age. Similarly, you can learn to invest in a way that serves your financial goals at any time. It’s about the intention and as you must have heard – age is just a number.
Lesson 5 –learning to prepare for emergencies
When we are underwater, we can practice holding our breath. The amount of time that you can successfully do it depends on how well you have practiced and trained your lungs. The investing world works on similar concept. Think of your lungs as emergency funds. These funds will help you keep alive when you are underwater (in financial aspects).
Lesson 6 –Learn smart breathing/investing
Breathing in a certain way can be used to calm us in nerve-wrecking situation. Similarly, investing the right amount, at the right place by adopting the right asset allocation strategies can help you stay calm financially irrespective of the nerve-wrecking situation in the markets (market volatility or market fluctuations).
What we are trying to say is that you must invest just like how you must breathe –calmy, steadily, and with a certain purpose in mind. Happy investing!