Part Time Sleaze?

Since May 27, I have been aggressively hunting for a job with a suitable profile for my highly qualified status. Not that I am getting no calls for interviews, but the jobs being offered are not suitable for my profile. So meanwhile, I started hunting for part time jobs so that till I land on the desired job of Equity analyst, I get a chance to monetize my vacant time. Thus started the procedure of charting out a fresh CV that spoke more on my writing talents. I was keen on fielding jobs related to content writing. It has been two weeks since I started on this new venture. Half of the jobs I applied do not exist in reality. Those that exist want the candidate to work full time. Salary is so low that even peanuts seem to be a luxury product.

I also looked up part time jobs in classifieds and newspapers that announce vacancies. I was not a bit surprised that all the part time jobs in newspapers and online classifieds are 100% bogus. If the salaries they quote in the news ads were really true then why would people travel in the crowded trains and buses to earn half the amount they quote?? One ad claimed that their "Victim" could earn INR.50,000/- pm!!

Hey friends and readers, I have researched thoroughly what I am writing on! All the jobs that talk about work from home, doing envelope stuffing, craft assembly, or other tasks where you are (supposedly) paid by a company as an employee are all frauds. I have come across two sites that will describe in detail how those frauds work! http://bit.ly/9LPy1T   and http://bit.ly/beuMXL

Not every part time job is a scam, but today the situation in India is such that one is ready to work full time for a part time wages. Then why would an employer think of hiring a part time worker?

In universities abroad, students cannot afford the accommodation, medical expenses and tuition fees, so the student goes for the part time work at libraries, does medical billing work, or other small jobs. But in India, a student becomes suspicious hearing the part time job! In India, most of the part time job offers are con-jobs a way of defrauding and cheating people of money! It is nice to earn while you learn but there are better ways to do it!

More articles on jobs that can be done to afford your education, and entertainment expenses soon.

Money Mantra - Part I of IV

Last week I was shopping for new clothes with my friend. I was done with my shopping but my friend could not get clothes that suited his taste. So as we moved through the market, I observed an attitude of people, a behaviour that moved in patterns. I saw something very interesting!

On the basis of observation I categorised people in three names. They are:
Poor-person consciousness(PPC) These people need not be actually poor. Their bank account may have Lakhs of rupees but it does not matter. Such people will always hunt for price list first. Then they look at the cheapest price. These people are least bothered about quality. They just want that product at cheapest possible price. One thing that must must not be forgotten and that is PPC is just a attitude of mind and it can change anytime. Here the main issue is the people with PPC will ask the price of the product. Hearing the price the person compares it with the amount in their wallet or in bank account. If it is not affordable then the person with PPC will ask for products of lower price range. They are ready to compromise on the quality front.

Rich-person Consciousness (RPC) These people need not be rich actually! I know that there may be confusion in your mind. PPC's may not be poor and RPC need not be rich. That's simply because here I am not talking about the financial status of the person concerned. It's the mental attitude that we are focusing on!

A RPC will go to a shop and straight away buy a product with the quoted price. Person may bargain a little bit but will buy with no questions asked. It does not mean that the purchasing will be over in few minutes. The person may spend as much time in the shop till the person finds the product that he or she needs. The person may be buying from his own money or borrowed money but is not disturbed by the price tag. Most of these people have someone else to fund their purchases! These are Care-Free buyers

Wealthy-person Consciousness (WPC) These type of people CAN be rich or poor. The essential difference is a person with WPC will seek a product he or she wants. If the price is with in the budget then fine, else the person will stat thinking how to get more funds to afford the product? That's what make these type of people outstanding. Such people are rare in life. Most of the time you will get to see people with PPC or RPC. People with WPC have a spirit of an entrepreneur. They will not settle for less but will work out a way to afford what they want. They will spend in the cycle of 60-30-10!

What is 60-30-10? Well, wait for next blog on the spending cycles.

This is the part one of the four parts series of Money Mantra!
O.A.K.

True Urban Development

Every year the newspapers and magazines come out with the analysis of which city is the best place to live. Our dear Mumbai ranks 142 out of 205 cities. Last year it was holding 148th rank. A marginal progress!

The question that popped up in my mind is what do the best cities have in common that mumbai does not have? What is the one factor that makes a city worth living. After considerable research, the answer was Urban Public Transport. And mumbai is currently facing a real challenge on that front. Especially considering so many people from all over mumbai shifting their base from their shanties in rural areas to customised slums near the pipelines and railway lines of mumbai!

While developing any city, great care and diligence is needed to decide how much portion of the navigable space should be road and how much should be footpath for pedestrians. And in city like mumbai even an inch of space matters a lot. Allocating more space to roads means more preference is given to motorists rather than pedestrians. If it were any city in America where population is less, most people have cars; then this approach, of more road space than footpath, would have been justified. But in Amchi Mumbai. There is plentitude of motorists and pedestrians. This will eventually lead to traffic jams not only for motorists but also for human beings. The railway bridges of major station of the central and western line are jammed by the human traffic during peak hours. The day won't be too long when there will be traffic lights for humans to move and stop.

The only solution for this would be efficient Public Transport. In the span of one hour on a busy road, all the cars and transport more than 4500 passengers. (assuming all cars are running on car-pool) But the same road in the same time can transport more than 40,000 people. Our mumbai locomotive trains transport more than 90,00,000 passengers on a daily basis, no exaggeration!! But if you look at the Mumbai transport system, least importance is given to Public transport. while private transport is given a great scope! Not that I am against private cars or motorists. In fact I too have a motor vehicle which I drive everyday.

What I mean here is a city like mumbai should improvise on the public transport more than what is now. Expansion of roads will mean more room for motorists to ply on but a dedicated lane for bus will mean faster bus movement. Certain cities have special areas where motor vehicles are not allowed. Only pedestrians and cyclists are allowed. This model can bring a lot of eco-friendly-ness in the city. But all this is very much hypothetical to begin with. What we need now is something more practical to begin with. The MMRDA has mooted the sky-bird plan. That is the mono rail that will ply along side the roadways of the city. But how much this will help is what I doubt!

This is one city where the people will never stop pouring in. The problem of public transport will be always a unsolved issue. But the development of a city mainly depends on it public transport system.

Dry Sweets

Do not be surprised if you are offered dry fruits every where you go this diwali. This Diwali, there is a high chance that the sale of sweets will be very low and sales of dry fruits very high. Reason? Since ganesh chaturthi, lots of fake mawa, a main ingredient in making of sweets, and their notorious manufacturers have been held. The market has also seen lots of fake clarified butter (Ghee) occupying the shelves of grocery stores. Even the Ghee-racketeers  have been cracked down. The result is a severe shortfall in genuine Ghee and mawa. Adding to the bitter woes of sweet mart, the prices of sugar have shot up to Rs.35 per kg, from mere Rs.17/kg. The effect is the cost of production of the sweets is too high.


Also there is no guarantee of the quality of sweets. Corporates gift their clients and partners with exotic sweets. But the news of food poisoning due to consumption of sweets are making rounds, so no one is taking chances this diwali to offer sweets. To be on the safer side they are offering dry fruits which entail no risk and the business relation still can be maintained!

I have bought lots of laddoos from the a trustworthy shop. And I now I am going to eat them. So meet you after I finish those tasty laddoos! You too get something delicious to eat...

Jai Gurudev.

Pocket Money is Recession-proof!!!

In past one and a half year, most parents have witnessed the tyranny of economic recession. It has definitely affected their wealth. However, The pocket money of their children seem to be recession proof. According to surveys conducted by the major research houses, like Nielson Survey, the pocket money levels have remained inelastic during the recession period. The primary spending of the teens remain dining and shopping. And the latest entrant is the mobile bills. Even after spending hours together in schools, classes, sports park, these kids have something or the other to talk. A humorous message must be circulated to at least 20+ friends else you are labeled as "uncool" or unkewl as they say. The bill ranges from modest Rs.250 to Rs.2500 per month. And this is no exaggeration! Kids in south mumbai just seem to have much to talk about. Nowadays, Teens and kids have much say over their spending habits. Earlier the parents decided whether the kids persistent demand should be met or not? Lately, dual income parents have serious lack of time to pay any attention to their kids. All they do is deposit some of their income into their kids bank account and the kid rightfully withdraws the moolah whenever needed. In my yonder days, Dad would hand over Rs.100 in denominations of ten, and would say, 'This is your pocket money for current month spend wisely.' Now kids just SMS or mail their parents notifying that their bank account needs a "Cash Reload". Within minutes, thanks to the internet banking facility and online fund transfers, the transaction is met in minutes! It is observed that the kids emulate the spending habits of their parents from a very tender age. Kids from tight fisted family will develop a habit of saving more than spending. Kids, belonging to family who shop till they drop, end up dropping their bank balance to near zero! Some families who are financially literate teach their kids how to maintain statement of expense. These kids for sure will be the next Kishore Biyanis and JP Morgans of future!Parents spend most of their income on kids for their education. Apart from education, seventy percent parents spend on additional learning tools and tutorial classes for their children, over 80 percent spend on toys and entertainment for their children and over half spend on extra-curriculum activities such as sports and musical instruments learning etc. Despite a sticky economic environment, two thirds of the parents think their current spending on their children is just right and 83 percent do not have plans to cut back, it's music to the ears for children-oriented businesses. It is good that kids nowadays are taking the decisions to purchase the products they want by themselves. Ideally, this can help the kids a lot in planning their own financial future. Parents can involve these kids/teens in their decision involving financial acumen. Our next generation is going to be financially smart and excellent decision makers. Only a good parenting can harness the best talent from the young generation Jai Gurudev

US Dollar

I loved this pic a lot!!! O.A.K.

Where did all the money go ???

In the recent turmoil of the financial markets, the governments of the nation have made a startling discovery. Personally, I think, that the government just reacted to this fact quite a bit late! The I-bankers (Investment Bankers) are getting big perks and the central banker do all the work!! Multi-million dollar bonuses and ultra-lavish perks were the norm for the I-bankers untill global financial system was brought down to its knees. The Govt. and the central banks around the world have now pledged approx. $3.2 trillion in bank bailouts, guarantees and market cash injections to keep the liquidity at sustainable levels. The use of taxpayers money to clearup the mess left by the decades of bank partying has irked the public and sparked the political outrage. Britain, US, Germany, France, Switzerland, Australia have promised to curb the culture of excessive salaries. Ben Bernanke, The governer of US Federal Reserve is one of the influencial personalities in the financial kingdom as he heads the Fed's effort to take US out of the prevailing crisis. His total earning of $191,300 seems loose change when compared to $500 million earned by Richard Fuld in his last eight years of service in Lehman Brothers. Merrill Lynch's CEO, John Thain, got $15 million cash bonus on joining the firm last November and UBS chairman got 130 million francs in his 10 year term. Compare this to the annual salary of Bank of England governor Mervyn King's $700,000 and ECB president Jean-Clude Trichet's $100,000!! And where does all this money go?? Buying yatch, extra-lavish luxury, buying mansions and castles where only ghosts stay! The governments have come out with the plan to deter ultra-big payouts to the I-bankers. Australia plans to outlaw excessive bank pay from next month while German finance minister claimed that all the bank who needs bailout will have to maintain the package to the max limit of 500,000 euros per annum. Now how much will that matter in resurrecting the global economy... Lets wait and watch.

Economics: A common sense subject

It was Sept 10th 2000, I was studying the most favorite subject among students; ECONOMICS. Exams were just around the corner. I had this book, "Managerial Economics" and spent an hour and a half studying that subject. That time I had not done YES!+ but still my face carried an expression as if I had just completed long kriya. Totally calm & serene. Nothing running in my mind... My head was blank like a recently formatted hard-disk! This subject used to make me introspect a lot. (now I know why I am spiritually inclined!). It used to make me think deeper about the existence of life, human beings and finally, economics. WHY in the earth did humans create ECONOMICS??? It after graduation (in Commerce) I joined Chartered Financial Analyst. CFA in short. Here again Economics came to haunt me! But this time I decided to confront the subject and settle the score once and for all. Fortunately, I found a professor of economics who shared similar interests. He too liked to shoo away the fear of economics from the students' heart. The very first introduction he gave about economics was by saying: "Economics is a common sense subject" Then I started a journey into the world of economics. I started seeing the same boring subject in a different perspective. It now appeared exciting and colorful. This subject really influences people's lives and the nation at large. And now that I have started blogging on variety of subjects, I thought, why not have a posts on economics that brings a paradigm shift in understanding of the subject in a beautiful way? Really this is one subject that anyone with common sense can understand. The subject of Economics is really quite mystical. Even after years of economics evolution people still ask the fundamental question; What to produce? How to produce? How much to produce? It is just like asking the ownself; Who am I? What is the purpose of my life? I really hope you are not asking yourself "why am i reading this?" Enjoy Economics! Enjoy Life!

Enter the Virtual Economy!

Just imagine a guy, expert in economics, getting paid lavishly for playing an MMORPG games! Weird, you may say. But not with Eyjolfur Gudmundsson. He is the Chief Economist with the CCP Games, the creator of a virtual world, Eve Online, a science fiction computer game run out of Iceland. What does he do there? He does what Y.V. Reddy does for India; manages and balances the economy of EVE. The monster of inflation bugs not only the real world but even the Virtual world. How you may ask. Take example of Linden Labs, the creator of Second Life. It uses the currency called Lindex with which you can trade any merchandise with-in the virtual world. Linden Labs have even pegged their currency with the US Dollars. As on Aug 08, 08 the rate was: 267.46 L$ per 1US $ . The Second Life has got a market place where you get all the information of the ongoing economic conditions of the Second Life World. Games like World of Warcraft, "Everquest, Lineage and Final Fantasy XI all have some unit of currency that is of value in its own virtual world. Generally these games have a "Faucet" from where you churn out point/currencies. This leads to increase in money supply with-in the virtual world. Now when there is more money supply, then more money chases fewer goods. This lowers the value of the currency. So what you could buy with 1 dollar now you need to shell out 2 dollars. Now that's inflation. Now how can the effect be negated. The only way to immunize the virtual world from over-heating of economy is to set "drainage". Now these drainage suck out the excess money from the virtual economy. It can be like more charges on ammo or skill-upgrades after a particular level. This higher charge will deter the "avatars" from wasting money mindlessly. This keeps the economy balanced. They are synonymous to the taxes of the real world. More you earn the more tax you pay. That's not all... well there are NPCs (Non Player Characters) who sell or buy from the virtual world to keep up the economy intact. So, If you find a guy who even after getting M.A. (Hons) in economics is interested in playing MMORPG then you be sure that the guy is gonna be some "Governor of some Virtual World Economy". But how can a world be free of more problems. There are something called COPYbots which was initially meant as a debugging tool with which you can export objects within Second Life to an XML file, which can then later be imported for use in the game. But now it is being used to "copy" the objects and own it without having to pay for it! From the whole drama written above, I am sure that Wachowski Bros' Matrix-like life is not far away. Right?? -- O.A.K. Tree

Financial Articles

It seems that the plan to spread financial literacy ultimately have to be scrapped. I am not getting any response, good or bad, from any readers as to whether I should continue writing posts on Financial Literacy. You can take Omkar out of the Finance but not the Finance out of Omkar! So I will continue writing blogs related to finance and economics. They will be something that you might have not come across. In case you want to know more about Finance & Economics or want me to shed some light on such topics, then mail me. Love! -- O.A.K. Tree

Fuel the fire

If you want the fire to burn then you must pour fuel into the fire! If you want to read more posts on Financial Literacy then I must get some response. Some comments or Star-rating will do. Else how do I come to know if the posts are of any use to you?? I am not writing the blogs on finance for myself !!! Jai Gurudeva! -- O.A.K. Tree

Lesson 1. Managing the expenses

As promised, but one day late. Before starting with the lesson 1, there are three habits you need to inculcate in yourself, if you want to become rich and wealthy. Discipline, consistency and Sincerity with yourself. Without these habits, it will be very difficult to be wealthy. I start with the very basic step of managing the expenses. Everyone writes some kinda "accounts". Whenever I spend for any necessary items(also unnecessary items) I write down the amount. In short, record it. After one week, I do some balancing act. What's that?? I deduct the amount I spent from the amount I had in the beginning of the week. This happens every week. I do all that stuff on excel. If you see carefully the above picture, you will observe that the expenses are categorized in two classes: Budgeted expenses and non budgeted expenses. Generally, budgeted expenses are those expense which you expect to occur once in a day/week and you do not know how much amount you will be spending on it. Like Food-stuff, traveling, etc. You can arrive at the budgeted figure by calculation (22 days x Rs 8 per seat in rickshaw) or by using your gut feeling! Un-budgeted expenses are those for which you need no budgeting. Such expenses may happen suddenly, unexpectedly. Or in some cases you may know the amount and the period when you will be paying. Like Railway pass in my case is non- budgeted as I take a quarterly pass. So it happens only once in three months. I know when I need to buy a pass, I also know the amount I need to pay. I do not require any "budgeting" for it. Now, why undergo such an ordeal? Well, budgeted expenses helps you understand whether you spend within the budget or you overspend. Un-budgeted expenses lets you know how much have your spent on the "uncontrollable" part of you expenses. When I know this I get a fair idea of how my expenses will be in next month. That's the estimation part. We shall learn that later. Over the period you will be able to know the trend of the expenses. Is your actual more than the budgeted? Is your budget increasing every month? etc. Go ahead and check out the new style of expense management. You can make modification in the statement as per your requirement. The above photo is what & how I maintain the expenses. Next lesson will be on "Personal" Finance. It gonna be very personal... P.S. The next blog on finance will be published on Aug 2, 2008 Saturday as next Saturday I'll be busy with YES!+ जय गुरुदेव -- O.A.K. Tree

Lessons on Finance - A Prelude

Today is Saturday and from today, every Saturday will be "Finance Literacy Day". I had already mentioned in the earlier post about the importance of Financial literacy. Well, so I have decided to impart some basic lessons on managing the personal financial, online. Every Saturday, I will post a lesson on personal finance. I will begin first from managing the personal finance and then, over the period, we will look into managing your personal portfolio of wealth. All in very easy steps! Do not worry about the terminologies! They will be simplified to the maximum extent possible with example (where ever required). Now, there are zillions of web-pages dedicated on managing personal finance, so what makes this stand out from the rest of the crowd. Well, just keep reading my blogs on finance and you will soon realize !!! Jai Gurudeva. -- O.A.K Tree

Managing your finances

Hi friends,

I recently met a guy who needed a personal loan of Rs. 2 Lakhs. The only problem was he is a software engineer and is not financially literate. Just to take a loan he could not decide where to go. Private banks or nationalized banks? He was unaware of margins, cut-back percentage and many other things. He was ignorant about the hidden charges which private banks apply. He felt helpless when he realized that he was illiterate in finance. At that moment he realized the importance of financial literacy!

Today, Financial literacy is a major issue. In the coming years, our Indian economy will be seeing rough days. Are you ready for that? Is your financial position, right now, secured enough? If no, then are you at least financially literate? Asking this Q to yourself is really important. Why? If our financial condition now, is such that we do not feel secured financially, what will happen when we retire from our work, a few years down the line? Financial literacy is the ability of individuals to make appropriate decisions in managing their personal finances. And only if we plant a tree now, we will receive the fruits later in life.

Good news is that I am soon going to start a financial literacy camp where all the folks (who are uncomfortable when it come to finance) can get educated about managing their finances, at a very small fee. I will provide some reading material which will be used as reference in future.

Remember: Learn to Earn and Earn to Learn. JGD. OAK Tree