Mahatma Gandhi's Eternal Financial Advice for a Sustainable Future

He played an enormous role in attaining freedom from the British. While India was ruled by the British colonial government, Mahatma Gandhi founded the Satyagraha and Ahimsa movements. He made a significant contribution to the civil rights movements in India through his non-violent methods and capacity to win people over with love and compassion.

The Salt March in 1930, where Gandhiji led a 240-mile protest against British salt taxes, demonstrated the power of non-violence and attracted both national and international attention. His philosophy of non-violence, or Ahimsa, coupled with truth (Satyagraha), became the guiding force of the Indian independence movement. Mahatma Gandhi dedicated his life to India's struggle for freedom.

Unfortunately, on January 30, 1948, Nathuram Vinayak Godse assassinated Mahatma Gandhi in the compound of Birla House (now Gandhi Smriti), a large mansion in central New Delhi. Mahatma Gandhi was 78 when he was shot three bullets into the chest and abdomen at point-blank range. Moments later, he succumbed to his injuries.

Since he gave the world a powerful tool for nonviolent conflict resolution, the UN General Assembly declared October 2nd the International Day of Non-Violence in his honour.

On October 02, 2023, India will commemorate the 154th anniversary of the birth of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, fondly known as Bapu by children and the Father of our Nation. It is a great opportunity for the citizens to pay homage to this freedom fighter, who sacrificed his life for the independence of the country.

Mahatma Gandhi, the face of India's freedom struggle, is revered as a source of philosophical inspiration for both Indians and the rest of the world.

Renowned personalities who have acknowledged the effect of Gandhian ideas on their lives include John Lennon, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela. Over the years, people have continued to be inspired by his thoughts, beliefs, and way of life, and even today we can draw inspiration from them in different aspects of our day-to-day life.

On Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti this year, let us look at the preachings of this great man and find out how they can guide us in our investment and financial decisions.

1. Simplicity - Practice Delayed Gratification

Mahatma Gandhi's most well-known philosophy was to live simply. He wore clothing made of khadi and spun it on a charkha. This encourages us to respect a modest existence rather than seeking out materialistic pleasure.

Many individuals have a desire to live a lifestyle beyond one's means and the focus is on satisfying their instant gratification. Do remember this could lead to spending recklessly or borrowing to fulfil your immediate needs, it will leave you with a debt burden and insufficient financial stability to survive in times of crisis.

Try to resist the urge to splurge your income to fulfil instant gratification; instead, you must practice delayed gratification. The ability to delay the impulse for an immediate reward to receive a more favourable reward at a later time is a standard definition of delayed gratification.

[Read: Here's Why You Should Buy Into the Idea of 'Delayed Gratification']

Delayed gratification is a muscle you can grow to serve your future self. For instance, you want to purchase a car so you opt to take a car loan. This will create a debt burden for you. It will take away a portion of your income and leave you with very little to spend and save every month.

With the help of delayed gratification, you can plan to save and invest in worthy avenues for your short-term goal of a desired car and stay out of debt or any financial constraints. Knowing how to delay gratification is an effort to serve a more important and more gratifying goal, which makes all the difference in achieving that goal.

2. Start Small, But Start Early

"The future depends on what you do today" - Mahatma Gandhi.

Mahatma Gandhi's victory in the Salt Satyagraha is perhaps the clearest illustration of this philosophy. It was one of the major non-violent protests in the history of India's freedom struggle. If Gandhiji had not started this movement, India would not have been liberated from the salt tax imposed by the British government.

When it comes to managing your finances, it is crucial to make prudent decisions. People often make the mistake of postponing savings and investment plans for tomorrow while they enjoy their earnings today. However, it is your choice now to practise sound money management, which will make your future prosperous.

The key is to concentrate on the future you want and define S.M.A.R.T. financial goals for each stage of your life. Financial planning has various layers to it, it's not just about earning, but making your money grow to fulfil your future needs.

With effective ways like investing, you can plan for a secure financial future, build a wealthy corpus to fulfil your financial goals and maintain your financial well-being. There are various investment options where one can choose to invest their hard-earned money.

Start small, but start early to gain the benefit of the power of compounding. You may begin a SIP in mutual funds with as low as Rs 500/- and increase the amount gradually as you progress. However, do note that you make investments in worthy and best suitable avenues depending on your investing horizon, risk tolerance, and alignment with your goals.

[Read: Begin with Minimum Investment in Mutual Funds And Watch Your Money Grow]

3. Make Mindful Investment Plans

When it comes to investing, it requires a lot of patience and confidence in our conviction. Mahatma Gandhi said that a living faith will last even in the midst of the worst storm. This teaches us that if we have a robust investment strategy it can withstand the fluctuations of changing market conditions.

The key to a financially secure future lies in sowing seeds of worthy investments at the beginning. The portfolio strategy is a roadmap through which investments can be made to achieve your financial objectives. Keep in mind that there is no one-size-fits-all type of portfolio approach while investing in mutual funds. Therefore, based on risk profile, investment horizon, and goals, one needs to invest in appropriate avenues.

[Read: How a Sound Investment Strategy Can Help You Mitigate the Impact of Market Volatility]

The secret to an investment portfolio's success is the right asset mix and an adequate amount of diversification. There could be many combinations of portfolio strategies spread across asset classes in a diversified manner. Essentially the aim is maintaining the suitable asset allocation and reducing dependence on the performance of any one fund or asset class.

Thus, to withstand the volatile market changes, investors may think about building an all-weather portfolio with a multi-asset investment strategy.

4. Maintain a Disciplined and Long-Term Approach

Mahatma Gandhi constantly emphasised honesty and self-discipline. Similarly, for maintaining your financial well-being, self-discipline is crucial. One should always stick to their goals, regardless of the uncertainty around them. Just like Mahatma Gandhi's persistence towards attaining the goal of Independence for the country.

The most convenient and one of the easiest ways to accumulate wealth is by investing regularly in worthy avenues and in a disciplined manner. The market noise may influence your choice of investments and have a detrimental effect on your portfolio. Refrain from following the herd and manage your investment wisely.

In addition, one must conduct periodic reviews of their portfolio to eliminate the consistently underperforming holdings and identify if rebalancing is required to enhance portfolio performance.

It could seem preferable to give in to panic and liquidate your holdings when market conditions appear to be deteriorating, but staying put and keeping your investment for a longer period will yield substantial gains. As per historical data, equity mutual funds are known to offer significant returns over a longer period. The impact of short-term volatility could be overcome in the long run.

Hence if you wish to achieve this financial nirvana, discipline and a long-term approach must be your key traits as an investor along with selecting worthy investment avenues.

To Conclude...

There are many lessons to be learned from the Father of the Nation, and thousands of people around the world continue to be inspired and guided by his teachings even today. You could use the Mahatma's teachings to help you make sensible financial decisions.

Thus, Gandhian philosophies are frequently seen as being about great self-discipline, emotional control, tremendous patience, and the capacity to see as well as persist in the long run and learn from mistakes - virtues that help deal with the complexity of personal finance and investment.

Mahatma Gandhi's life and lessons can serve as an inspiration for any aspiring investor, and the principles he upheld throughout his life can lead us to financial wisdom. The simple yet sure-footed perspective on life that Mahatma Gandhi adopted and preached throughout is the key to managing your investments successfully.

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MITALI DHOKE is a Research Analyst at PersonalFN. She is an MBA (Finance) and a post-graduate in commerce (M. Com). She focuses primarily on covering articles around mutual funds including NFOs, financial planning and fixed-income products. Mitali holds an overall experience of 4 years in the financial services industry.
She also actively contributes towards content creation for PersonalFN’s social media platforms in the endeavour to educate investors and enhance their financial knowledge.
 

Disclaimer: Investment in securities market are subject to market risks, read all the related documents carefully before investing.
This article is for information purposes only and is not meant to influence your investment decisions. It should not be treated as a mutual fund recommendation or advice to make an investment decision in the above-mentioned schemes.