24 things you need to know in 2024

"My job is a job. I'm fun." -- Dave Chappelle, The Dreamer, Netflix, 2024.

One of the lists that the Forbes magazine regularly publishes is ‘30 under 30’, where it chooses a list of thirty notable people across various industries who are under the age of thirty. Now, dear reader, you might ask why does it choose 30 notable people under the age of 30, and not 29 or 31? Well, clearly there is no logic to it, other than the fact that it sounds good to the ears. It sounds like something that can be turned into a brand over a period of time, as it has been. It sounds like something that is likely to be noticed. And in this attention-deficit world burgeoning with content, we need to do things to get noticed.

Dear reader, you might wonder why I have headlined this piece ‘24 things you need to know in 2024’. Well, like ‘30 under 30’, it sounds good to the ears, and I was hoping you would notice. Now that you have, please do get around to reading what I have written. And even if you don’t like it, please do share it. It’s the new year after all.

So, here we go, and for those who like order in their lives, let me say this, what follows is quite random.

1) There is nothing that is true all the time. But there are broad principles that have stood the test of time, and if you follow them you are more than likely to emerge successful on that front. On the money front, to be able to build wealth, you need to save more than you spend. Also, buying depreciating assets, everything from a car to an expensive mobile phone, on a loan, is almost always a bad idea.

2) Most professional relationships run on the perceived incentive: What’s in it for me? So, while dealing with professionals around you, do try and understand their incentive. Why is a 20-something relationship manager at a bank hard-selling an investment-oriented insurance policy to you when you want to start a fixed deposit? It helps if you understand this.

3) Most people who make a living from appearing on TV or turning themselves into influencers are basically performing. In a sense, they are not much different from actors acting out a role from a script given to them. Also, given that they need to keep creating content, they will eventually end up contradicting themselves or saying things that they don’t really mean or as Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass Sunstein put it in Noise—A Flaw in Human Judgement, they will end up making “meaningless, pseudo-profound statements generated by assembling randomly selected nouns and verbs”.

Of course, many a time they say things they have been paid to say, but they won’t tell you that they have been paid to say what they are saying. Financial influencers are by far the best example of this phenomenon. In a world which is receptive to bullshit this is a great strategy to stay relevant in the short to medium term.

4) There will be a lot of debate on social media at any point of time. You don’t have to necessarily be a part of them or even think about them for that matter. One useless debate on the money front that happens all the time is how much would you have managed to accumulate if instead of paying a home loan EMI you invested in an equity mutual fund through the systematic investment plan (SIP) route. This is a stupid debate, simply because the person initiating the debate doesn’t know who you are. You may have your reasons for buying and living in that house. Your parents might have wanted to live with you. There might have been spousal pressure on you. You might have wanted your children to have a stable lifestyle, where they don’t have to make a new set of friends every time you change a house, and so on. Investing in a mutual fund couldn’t have fulfilled any of these needs.

5) Test drive a car before you buy it. And not just cars.

6) Tomorrow will be like today, until it isn’t. So prepare for risks rather than try and forecast them because among other things risks include what you don’t know that you don’t know. In money terms, if you have dependents buy a term insurance policy and a health insurance policy. Also, have enough money in fixed deposits and savings accounts. Sudden deaths and health emergencies aren’t something that almost always happen to only other people. As Mick Herron writes in Slow Horses: “Most of us hold that some things only happen to other people. Many of us hold that one such thing is death.”

7) If you are buying an unfinished apartment as an investment, be very careful. Builders do tend to disappear. Projects do get endlessly delayed. And you perhaps don’t know how to calculate the rate of return on an investment. And just because Sharma ji’s son-in-law had a successful punt at investing in real estate doesn’t mean that it’s your turn now.

8) Your attention is limited. Be careful about what you consume and how much you consume because ultimately it will impact the way you think. Also, just because the attention span of people is getting shorter, there is no reason for you to join them as well.

9) Most analysis is carried out on the basis of what has already happened. Given that there is no way to forecast the future for sure, most decisions should be made on the basis of multiple things that can possibly happen. Be aware of the counterfactuals.

10) Constant tinkering doesn’t always lead to better results. In the world of money, you will probably be much better off by deciding on proper asset allocation and sticking to it, than chasing the hottest new game in town. Of course, while the hottest new game in town is the hottest new game in town, you might feel stupid about missing out on it, or about not betting all out on it. These days they call it FOMO, or the fear of missing out. Indeed, even doing nothing comes with a cost attached to it. And if you are bored with the way you invest you are probably doing it correctly, even if you are not enjoying it. For enjoyment there’s always Netflix.

11) Irrespective of what anyone tells you, there are only three ways to get rich quickly: steal, inherit money, or hope that a venture capitalist with a lot of money invests in your startup. If you are not in any of these positions, you are in for a lot of hard work and for the long haul. Of course, being at the right place at the right time always helps.

12) Your brain also needs exercise. So read long documents, or what they used to call books.

13) Don’t run everything on a tight leash. Have some slack built in. In everyday office terms, it means have some time in between appointments. Meetings can go beyond their stipulated time. People can turn up late due to traffic. And so on. In money terms, don’t bet your life on the latest fad.

14) As Martin Amis writes in the Inside Story: “… As [Philip] Larkin wrote (in a letter of 1958, complaining to a woman friend about the banal irritations of the Christmas season, and briefly comparing her trials to his): “Yours is the harder course, I can see. On the other hand, mine is happening to me.”” The grass will always seem greener on the other side.

15) If you run with the herd, be ready to be surrounded by a crowd and not get the right of way to reach where you want to reach, if at all you want to reach anywhere, that is. Also, for a while, running with the herd can seem to be the best thing that may have happened to you because those around you will clearly egg you on. It’s like wanting to go to a hill station over the long-weekend, when everyone like you wants to do the same. A traffic jam is bound to happen.

16) Learn to manage your money. Your parents (particularly fathers)—while they may pretend to be wise on this front—mostly have no idea. The friendly neighbourhood uncle, through whom your father is likely to get you to buy an investment-oriented insurance policy, also has no idea. His ignorance and the ignorance of those around him is a key selling point. There is no reason for you to join them.

17) Learn to calculate the internal rate of return on your investments. If you can’t, at least find a calculator that does it for you.

18) What you see in the public domain is people performing at their best level. You rarely get to see their dark negative side or when they screw up. So don’t put people on a pedestal that easily. Also, everyone is successful at a certain time and in a certain space, with a lot of luck to go with it. Do keep that in mind.

19) Diamonds are not a woman’s best friend. Gold perhaps is.

20) Do remember that in the public domain, an investment banker will always find initial public offerings attractive. A real estate company will always say that home prices will keep going up. And companies will forever keep demanding lower interest rates. People say things they have an incentive for saying. They may not always believe in it themselves. So, there is no reason that you should believe in everything that is said.

21) The world is very complex and human minds have their limitations. People always have an incomplete view of the world, but that doesn’t stop them from expressing what is going on in their minds. Ask me about it–I make a living from it. Also, in that sense our experiences are very limited and always in a certain time and context, but that doesn’t stop us giving gyan about everything and anything.

22) Everything you experience in life need not be turned into a LinkedIn post. Like only a few weeks ago I cleaned up my AC from the outside and I had five management lessons going on in my head while doing so. Eventually, I shared only one on social media: Even when you are alone, leadership is better than followership. Lead yourself, don’t follow.

23) Only when you don’t know where you are going, the journey is the reward.

24) Love your parents. But also do remember that it’s not all about loving your parents (with due apologies to Karan Johar).

25) And finally, here is a bonus point. As a character named David O’ Donell says in the second season of Reacher: “Less screens, more greens”. May that be your motto for living in 2024.

26) One more bonus point. Listen to the Bangla music of Salil Chowdhury and the Tamil music of Ilaiyaraaja. And do sincerely hope that in 2024, some woman out there decides to give a proper reply to the question that Anjan Dutt has been asking all these years: “Eta ki 2441139 (Is this 2441139)?” Bela Bose, we are all waiting.

27) Well, the end is normally never really the end. So, here is another bonus point. My view is my view. What’s your view?

Okay, so finally, this became ‘27 things you need to know in 2024’. Will this inspire Forbes to now move to 33 under 30?

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Written by Vivek Kaul

Edited by James Mathew

Produced by Nirmalya Dutta

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