"Invest Like A MonK"

I was with friends over the weekend, enjoying the festive season, when one of them asked my spouse, “Is he taking to spirituality? ….is he done with his career?” Intriguing enough for anyone - my wife was stunned.?

She approached me to ask on how to address this matter.?

As clear as crystal, my response was categorically “No!”

I’m not getting spiritual. Yes, religious at the process of investing but not yet ready to becoming a monk.?

I have a long inning to play and enable leaders and organizations to be able to achieve their goals & objectives to unlock the value propositions; that exist and need to be harnessed.?After all, that’s why I have been on the path of professional and self development.

My Book - “Invest Like A Monk,” Co-Authored with Dr. Deepa Khemani has been an aspirational goal for me in addition to becoming a CFA Charter-holder, and the latter having been achieved.?

A dream, I had cherished for long to write, in spite of my professional engagement as a Chief Financial Officer for close to two decades with leading organizations in Middle East, Africa and Asian sub-continent.

My pre-occupation with work, wanting to learn as much & from as many organizations across different industries along with continuing professional education; made it challenging for me to write this book. But as time unfolded-I have come to experience the fact that we need to do, what needs to be done. Where there is will, there is a way. And, I am now, finally on the verge of concluding the act of achieving this former dream.?

I had made a resolution last year to complete this sooner than later and I had embarked on the journey of writing this book.?

In my journey of accomplishing these goals, and in hind-sight, connecting the dot’s - I came to realize of an impending urge, a genuine desire to serve the society in a way that would leave imprints to bring about the change not just for current, but for future generations to come. I set myself on a mission with passion, to educate children in their formative years at school on financial literacy, an essential skill most of us only get engaged with after the college and learn it the hard way. A very important and critical skill that we all need; to steer through our adult livelihood, irrespective of the?area of specialization.

And as if it was meant to happen, an the opportunity came my way. I was called upon to speak on the subject of “Financial Literacy” with the youth of today. Though, I had been in the arena of public speaking much before, I followed the cue and diligently gathered the resources………”Chance favors the prepared mind.” - Louis Pasteur

I am now preparing for the new opportunity of my professional life, while keeping the burning desire of “service to the society” in parallel. A balance between personal and professional life that needs to embraced.?

“Invest Like A Monk” is not just a book on financial literacy. It has essential take away of managing the money prudentially and consciously.

“Opportunity is everywhere. The key is to develop the vision to see it.” - Anonymous?