Telltale signs

Even those not convinced that Andre Agassi was the best tennis player of his time will readily admit that the American, outdid all others in attracting attention. Beginning in the 1980s, Agassi was a teenage phenomena who blazed onto the pro tour in flamboyant, stone-washed denim, skintight compression shorts, shades — that blinded many to the granite consistency of his game: the compact, bludgeoning ground strokes, the lethal service return, the lightning reflexes.

Andre Agassi?played tennis professionally from 1986 to 2006. Often ranked number one, he captured eight Grand Slam singles championships. In a?2017 interview with The Players Tribune's Unscriptd, Agassi said that he used to struggle mightily to return Boris Becker's serve. With powerful serves and an attacking style, Becker overpowered his opponents. At age 17, Becker became the youngest champion in the history of the men’s singles at?Wimbledon.

Undaunted by the aggressive German's game, Agassi took to going over films of Becker's past games. After some study, he realized Becker would indicate how he was going to serve by moving his tongue.

"I started to realize he had this weird tick with his tongue," Agassi said. "I'm not kidding. He would go into his rocking motion, his same routine, and just as he was about to toss the ball, he would stick his tongue out. And it would either be right in the middle of his lip, or it'd be to the left corner of his lip.

"If he's serving in the deuce court and he put his tongue in the middle of his lip, he was either serving up the middle or to the body. But if he put it to the side, he was going to serve out wide."

Learning the tick helped Agassi return Becker's serves, but he had another challenge: not letting Becker know that he could guess his serves.

"The hardest part wasn't returning his serve - it was not letting him know that I knew this," Agassi said. "I had to resist the temptation of reading his serve for the majority of the match and choose the moment when I was gonna use that information on a given point to execute a shot that would allow me to break the match open."

After losing to Becker in their first three matches, Agassi then won eight straight over Becker, including some high-profile wins like the 1990 U.S. Open and French Open semifinals. He finished 10-4 all-time against Becker, though Becker's fourth win came in the 1995 Wimbledon final.

Telltale signs can foretell the moves of a formidable adversary on the tennis court. Telltale signs can also foretell if you are headed for trouble in your personal finances. Here are some telltale signs that you could be headed for financial trouble:

1. Lack of a Budget:?If you do not know how much of your monthly income goes towards paying living expenses and how much towards saving and investing, you are leaving too much to destiny.
2. No Emergency fund:?If you do not have enough money set aside to cover at least 1 year worth of living expenses.
3. Lack of sufficient Health Insurance:?Health care isn’t cheap. The pandemic has only heightened the need for health insurance cover
4. Depending on Parents, Friends or others to help you out:?Relying on outside help to pay the bills is not a long-term solution.
5. Not Investing enough in yourself:?Sustain your ability to earn a sufficient and regular income by investing in skills that are in demand. Without regular income your present is in peril.
6. Getting turned down for a Loan:?If you have recently applied for a loan or a credit card and have been turned down.
7. Taking a personal loan on your Credit card:?Emergencies happen. But taking personal loans too often to manage living expenses points to financial trouble.
8. Taking a Car Loan for tenure of more than 5 Years:?EMIs will be low if a Car Loan tenure is over 5 years but you will be paying an obscene amount of interest
9. Standing as a Guarantee for a Friend's loan: If you wish to help a friend financially, lend him/her an interest free loan; but standing guarantee on a loan is to welcome more than your share of financial uncertainties, in case of a default
10. Buying a House for the wrong reasons: Exceeding your budget while buying a house (even for self consumption) can result in delaying or under funding other financial goals
11. Developing a bad Credit history: Being late on your EMI payments can lower your credit score, lowering your ability to access credit in emergencies.
12. Dipping into Retirement savings before time: A depleted retirement corpus can take you only so far in the vulnerable years
13. Paying only the Minimum balance on your Credit Card dues:?At first glance that minimum payment may make any purchase seem affordable, but interest rates are amongst the highest you pay on the outstanding balance
14. Investing your money Inappropriately:?if your investments are not providing a return in excess of inflation rate, you are depleting the value of your money.
15. A lack of well-defined Goals and a plan to reach them:?Goals provide a way to gauge success. Having well-defined goals will help ensure you reach your financial and personal goals in life.
16. Getting late on paying Income Tax dues: the tax authorities don't tolerate excuses, they only add interest charges which grows with time.
17. You Shop when you’re depressed: Buying things you don’t exactly need
18. You’re starting to have Arguments about money with your spouse or loved ones: Or are hiding financial transactions from them

Telltale signs hide in plain sight and will reveal themselves when you face the facts. The earlier you recognize the facts, more is the time you have in hand, to set things right in your personal finances.?Believe me, there is never a better time like the present.

Author: Ashish Joseph George, MMS, CFP. The views shared in this article are my personal views and don’t reflect the views of any organization. This is not an investment advice