When I was choosing the name for this website, I thought different and various possible names. Finally, I ended up with money really matters because I really made sense. Money really matters to every human being in this world. Don't you think?
 

Money really matters to our livelihood.  It  obviously matters to each and every one of us to exist in this world. We all want a money tree or Duck laying golden eggs. But, let me rephrase with a caveat. It is not only that matters for our life. In our life many important things matters like family, friends, love, joy, fun and much more. "Life shouldn't be printed on dollar bills", said by Clifford Odets. socialist.  I totally agree but those bills surely brings and binds it all together. Let me share 5 factoids which I came up, why Money really matters to each and every one us.


Fact #1: The Life Supporter

Money is our life support like breathing to our body. Without taking breath, human cannot survive. Similarly one cannot survive without money in this earth. It helps to satisfy our essentials, needs and wants.  Zig Ziglar, an American author and motivational speaker once said, Money isn't the most important thing in life, but it's reasonably close to oxygen on the "gotta have it" scale. 

Fact #2: The Driving Force

Money is the driver behind all our lives. Almost every one of us wake up every morning and run to work or to their business just to make buck or more so all can live our lives and take care of our family.  It is the driving force but you are the driver behind the wheels. Don't ever make the money drive you crazy.  Robert Orben, famous magician and comedy writer once said, "Every day I get up and look through the Forbes list of the richest people in America.  If I'm not there, I go to work".


Fact #3: The Problem Creator & Solver

Finally, Money  is the problem creator and as well the solution for it. Studies in many countries have shown that the main reason for breakup in relationship or divorce is money. It is the force behind your muscle which need to be controlled and never let it give a loose punch. "Money is neither my god nor my devil.  It is a form of energy that tends to make us more of who we already are, whether it's greedy or loving"  said by Dan Millman, former Tramphilon world champion athlete, college professor


Fact #4: The Dream Enabler

Money is the enabler of our dreams. It helps to reach our life financial goals which leads to personal growth. When you set a timeline to your dreams, it becomes goals. When you pave the way to achieve them, you draft a plan. When you implement your plans to get to your goals by taking action, it becomes a milestone or success. Money many times helps you get to your dreams whether its a dream vacation to visit 7 wonders or buying a home.


Fact #5: The Social Signature

Money gives you a strong signature in the society to show your status. If you say, you are millionaire or billionaire. You are surely going to good reception in society. Having a luxury car, bigger home or beach house really adds up to your image. Money identifies you and me to this world whether by categorizing as middle class, lower, higher or upper middle class. 


But Mr. Warren Buffet, one of richest man in the world said, "Of the billionaires I have known, money just brings out the basic traits in them. If they were jerks before they had money, they are simply jerks with a billion dollars." It is that simple.


So money really matters to us but you decide how it actually matters to you. Whether to you shape your life or actually start a life. What is your factiod about Money? Share with us..



Image sources: universityofvirgina.com, newbeetleclub.com
Quote sources: quotegarden.com,brainyquote.com

Many countries like US, UK, Spain and others around the globe are watching and looking carefully at countires like Germany, China and India on their fast economic recovery from recent recession. India is reported to grow at the pace of 8-9% GDP by end of this year even after struggling from recession last year. But economist know very well, economy growth and Inflation are like double edges of the knife. India is now trying to handle that double edged knife.

Balancing both growth of economy with nominal inflation is a major task for the finance ministry, otherwise countries economy can go out of control because of hyper inflation stunning the growth causing lot of trouble to people. Economist has the easy way of explaining it. According to them, it all boils down to demand and supply equation.  

When economy grows, people earn well and spend good so the demand for good increases. So supply for the goods has to keep up with it. If the supply doesn't keep up, it is going to cause more demand and inflates the price. That's inflation. If the supply is more than demand, it will cause deflation. It has be balanced properly. It seems like India is facing more demand and struggling to meet the demand because of meager supply.

It is good to see the india economy is chugging along and growing faster than any other economy after the recession. At the same time, Inflation is skyrocketing in all spectrum and it has to be controlled otherwise it can cripple the economy. I read a interesting and informative post about the current Inflatory condition of India. It will surely help you understand and see where the indian economy is heading these days. Read on...

Have Indians become Immune to Inflation?
Author: Viral Dholakia
From Track.in

How many times in India have we witnessed opposition political parties creating hullabaloo over high inflation against the ruling party?

Take a recent example of the opposition stalling Parliament proceedings over high food inflation. Before that, the NDA and other political outfits had also called for a 12-hour ‘Bharat Bandh’ on July 5 on the burning issues of hike in fuel prices and untamed inflation.

Economic Growth and Inflation are said to be 2 sides of a same coin. Sustained growth triggered by rising aggregate demand can lead to acceleration in inflation as the economy consumes its scarce resources, leading to inelasticity in the near-term supply side dynamics.

Unfortunately, in most cases the finance minister of the ruling party postulates the root cause of high prices as supply-side constraints, backed by the robust domestic demand fuelled by growth, to shield itself from the spiraling inflationary scenario and accelerated food prices.

For the last two post, we have been talking and sharing lot about Millionaires and their mindset. Particualy in the previous post, I listed few questions which was asked by my friends and even asked myself many times. So I wanted to dwelve into those questions and crack some myths and misconceptions about Millionaires from research/study.

Let's start with something simple.

#1. I have to become a millionaire/rich person to live happily.

That is not true but many think that way. If you ask me, that's a misconception by many people. It became ingrained in many people minds after looking at rich people,  that they can live happily once they become a millionaire/billionaire or rich person. 

One person's success in life shouldn't be all about money and how much he/she makes. It is just a part of the puzzle. It is mostly about how you live with what you make and how you help others to get what they want.Studies have for years shown that cash has only a small effect on our well being.  One can still  lead a miserable even after getting a windfall of money and there are many examples to prove that case.

#2. Millionaires are lavish spenders.

That's totally wrong. If you take Mr.Warren Buffet, he is one among the richest people in the world but he still lives in his old house. He drives his own car which is pretty old too. There are many other rich who lead a conservative and frugal life. Many new millionaires are true frugalers and made to the list by saving and conscious spending. Not everyone makes to millionaire list by winning a lottery. You should check out the book, frugal millionaires(http://www.thefrugalmillionaires.com) and you will understand how millionaires think differently than normal person.

#3. I will be financially free when I  become a Millionaire.

Don't count on it not in this current economic situation and expected high inflated one in the future. These days, simply being a (one) millionaire is not enough to be financially free, depending on ones age. Financial freedom is totally independent of being rich person. Not all rich people call themselves financially free. Here is an interesting reportfrom study conducted by Universty of Belgium, UK and  Canada about Wealth and well being. Actually money makes you financially dependent. When you have more money, you become more dependent on it for everything and anything.


#4. Only men are up against Million dollar goal.

According to a report, nearly half of all millionaires are all women. There is no big difference among Men or women when it comes to making millions. Here is the listof women billionaires all over the world.


#5. You need to have Millionaire Mindset to be a Millionaire.

Not entirely true but it helps to reach the goal quicker. You can ask, What is millionaire mindset? It is explained in detail in the best selling book wrote by famous network marketer Bob Protector. He shows how an ordinary person can create his/her own economy by using their mind and thought process. You can read more at free ebook copy.  I also found this ezinearticleto be more precise and short. To be short, it is about fine tuning your act and mind to decide your own the destiny and move towards as the only goal. I don't truely follow up them since I believe in my simple 3P strategy, Plan, Persist and Perseverance.  


#6. I really need a Millionaire goal to be successful.

Not actually. It depends on each individual. Every individual is different in their own approach but many analyst recommend having a higher goal can lead to higher success rate. As I said earlier, success in life is different for each individual and it doesn't have to measured in dollars.  Sometimes it is fun to track numbers and dollars to see the progress. But most of the time, it is about pride to say that you are one among list of High networth individual in this world.

Also tracking Many experts from their real life example, "What gets tracked, gets improved?" If you don't track your progress, you won't know where you were and where are you now. Tracking the progress is an important part for financial advancement.


#7. Everyone can't become a Millionaire.

Why not? If school drop outs like Bill gates, David Mudrock(Dole foods CEO) can do it, you can too.  You don't need an MBA or doctor to be a Millionaire. Here is the list of all drop out millionaires,  and here is one from forbes 2010 list of top ten drop outs.

If this makes you feel better and get you working on your Million dollar goal, go for it.

I have unrevealed some myths about millionaires, now you might ask how can easily become a millionaire?

It is actually a million dollar question and nobody has silver bullet answer for this question. If I had known the exact answer, I would have been a millionaire by now. Obviously, you cannot be a millionaire overnight unless two things happens, winning lottery or waking up with million dollar idea. There are "n" number of ways to become a high networth individual(over 1million).

A very conservative approach many banks suggest is to save a particular dollar amount from your early age like 21 every month and you can be a millionaire when you are 60 years old. It is also not set in stone because it depends on factors like saving rate and economical condition. But there are other ways like starting a new business, inventing some new product, work on multiple investment strategies etc., 

Just hook on to a strategy which works for you according to your comfort level and keep at it. Don't give up, just keep trying...


Image source: westLoh.com

Last blog post was an article from Trak.in about "India's Millionaires" and how the number got doubled last year even with all the economical uncertainity. I decided to continue the topic by writing about Millionaire Mindset and evaluating my own goal of becoming High Networth Individual (HNW).


I remember a funny saying, "You can easily get rich in two ways, by birth or by marriage." First one is obviously not in your hands but second option is feasible if you are confident about your people skills. But if you are a believer of  yourself, there are better ways. Things took a new turn especially during the dot com era and people mentality started dreaming on high places. Thats the same timeframe when "Who wants to be  a Millionaire?" show started airing and creating buzz all about becoming a millionaires. It surely boosted the moral of many individuals to aim big particularly many entreprenuers in the middle class.


Following the hit of the show and dot com era, many millionaires made news more often than ever and millionaires list started growing. According to the "World Wealth Report" which is a report on individuals with a net worth of at least $1 million in all assets except their primary residence. In the World Wealth Report 2007 - "The 11th annual World Wealth Report from Merrill Lynch/Capgemini finds the World’s High Net Worth (HNW) population growing to 9.5 million with their assets rising to $37.2 trillion.


Talk about becoming a Millionaire was everywhere in the internet. Many self made millionaires called themselves as gurus and grabbed the chance to preach their very own mantras via seminars and books. To name a few, Donald Trump, Robert Kiyosoki and more... But recently due to economy crash, investment values plummented and many millionaires dropped from the list.  "The number of U.S. households with a net worth of $1 million or more, not including first homes, fell by 2.5 million to 6.7 million in 2008, according to the Spectrum Group report, as reported by Reuters. As of 2009, there were 2,886,200 HNWI's in United states. 


Even after seeing the uncertainity of market, job losses and economy struggle, millionaire fire continues to live on among many brave souls. Whether I consider myself as a one among wannabe millionaires or it is just one of my goals, I strongly feel it is a challenging goal to have in your list. It is surely not a easy task for any one especially a guy like me who came from middle class indian family. But it is an achievable target for any hard working individual.


If there is a WILL, there is always a WAY to reach it.  Whether you choose to work hard in your profession, spend less and save more or putting money on different invest vehicles or trying to invent new business ideas or products like iPhone or Joined MLM network, every route has got challenges and worth trying it out.


First thing I did was started tracking my progress by updating networth every month towards my goal to become millionaire in 2015. It really helps me to put things in perspective like where I was, where I am now, know periodic progress and what I need to do move forward in my journey.


Being a hardcore wannabe Millionaire, many times I asked myself number of questions like,

Is the Millionaire goal truely worth it?
Do I have to become a millionaire to live happily?
Why do you need to have Millionaire goal?
Can I have my Financial Freedom when I become Millionaire?
Does only men are up against Million dollar goal?
What is Millionaire Mindset?
Are Millionaires lavish spenders?


Are some things just myths about being a Millionaire or real truth? I plan to dwelve more into these questions in my next post. If you have any questions like above, please share your thoughts and views.

How many of you aware new Indian rupee symbol? It may be a news to many of you but I been following up the past few months since our other bloggers Srikant blogged about  the competition for the symbol selection. I thought of posting about when its finalized and they did it at last. As of Jul 16th, they finalized the symbol and congress rubber stamped it.  Here is the approved symbol,

The symbol combines the Roman letter ‘R’ and its equivalent in Devnagari—a script which is employed in Hindi and in some other North Indian languages that were derived from Sanskrit.  The symbol, which replaces the oft-used shortened form of rupee such as ‘Rs’ or ‘INR’ (Indian Rupees), will take about two years to be fully implemented considering the time needed to update various software and computer keyboards.

But adopting the new symbol, rupee has thus joined the club of currencies such as UK’s pound sterling, US’ dollar and the Japanese Yen that are identified by a symbol. With this, the Indian rupee is expected to be seen as a distinct entity from its namesakes in the neighbouring countries such as Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, where either rupee or rupaiah are in vogue.

For the government, having a symbol for the domestic currency has been a matter of prestige for the fastest growing free market democracy in the world. The symbol, selected by the finance ministry from over 3,000 entries and approved by the Cabinet, is designed by D Udaya Kumar, a post-graduate from IIT, who has been newly appointed as an assistant professor in the design department of IIT-Guwahati.

The government will try to adopt it within six months in the country and globally within 18 to 24 months, information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni told reporters here after the Cabinet meeting.

“The symbol for the Rupee would lend a distinctive character and identity to the currency and further highlight the strength and robustness of the Indian economy,” the government said in a statement. The symbol would be incorporated in the ‘unicode standard’, which is a character coding system to facilitate worldwide communication of written texts in diverse languages and technical disciplines.

The government, the software industry body Nasscom and the Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology would take all steps to ensure that computer keyboards allow the use of the symbol, the government said here.

You can read more about the selection process, controversy surrounded it and much more also at Track.in. Are you also wondering how to type the new rupee symbol in the keyword, we would have to figure by google research.. Let me know what do you think about the new symbol. Are you excited about it?

Sources: financialexpress.com

While the US senate has just passed the Financial Reform Act to reform wall street actions, an interesting article which was published last month would be really worth reading.

Bare knuckle in Basel
The Economist
Posted online: Jun 02, 2010 at 2223 hrs
From - FinancialExpress.com

Anyone who doubts how hard it is to reform finance should consider the past fortnight. In America Congress edged towards passing the biggest reform of Wall Street since the 1930s; the heart of this is a pledge that taxpayers will never again be on the hook for failing firms. On May 24th the global banking industry’s biggest lobbying group made a similar pledge. Yet at the same time borrowing costs for banks have spiked up, reflecting fears that southern Europe’s woes might bring a big bank down. The response of investors and supervisors has not been joy at this reassertion of market discipline. It has been dry-mouthed terror, and, one suspects, a familiar thought: what can the state and central banks do to help?

The impulse to both punish and save finance reflects society’s conflicted aims. Voters want banks that can fail, just not now. Creditors must pay for failures, but when creditors get wary, the authorities rush to prop up markets. Banks must shrink and have big safety buffers, but not if that risks a double-dip recession. To reconcile these aims is a tall order.

America’s package is an important step. Its best bits should cut the odds of bad stuff happening. The Federal Reserve will get powers to police almost all big firms, ending some regulatory turf wars. A new consumer-protection agency will combat dodgy lending. Many derivatives contracts will be brought into the light by being put through clearing houses and exchanges. There are some less-than-convincing bits: banning banks from proprietary trading feels good but won’t make them much safer; the package doesn’t tackle Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the failed housing agencies; and legislators could include some harmfully draconian prohibitions on derivatives. Still, overall, it does more good than harm.

Build up the buffers

Yet the assumption must be that crises will still happen. Hence it is vital that banks carry bigger safety buffers of capital and liquid assets. This job has been outsourced to the Basel club of regulators, which aims to finalise its proposals by the end of the year and implement them by December 2012. Behind the scenes an almighty brawl is raging. Banks dislike some of the fine print and also claim that the cost of “Basel 3” will force them to raise the price of loans, devastating the economy. The French Banking Federation, for example, reckons it could eventually knock more than 6% off the euro zone’s GDP.

That is just one estimate—the Basel club will produce its own study later this year which is likely to be less alarming. But it will still face an onslaught and to do its job it will need to appeal to a wide audience, in the language of common sense. It must make clear that the timing of bigger buffers can be staggered and that their cost must be compared with the benefit of fewer meltdowns (the Bank of England reckons global GDP in 2009 would have been 6.5% higher without the crisis). And it must insist that as a bare minimum the system has enough capital and liquidity to absorb a crisis as bad as the last one.

The good news is that big banks probably now have enough capital to absorb the aggregate loss rate suffered by the system from 2007 to 2009 (although their build-up of liquidity reserves has been patchier). But buffers can be set at these pragmatic levels only if there is a credible way to deal with the outlier banks that typically lose three to five times more than the average. This is why “resolution schemes” for bad banks, that put losses onto creditors not taxpayers, are so important. They are a linchpin of reform, allowing politicians to argue that bail-outs will not happen again and regulators to resist calls for bigger safety buffers or a radical break-up of banks.

No existing proposal looks sturdy enough. America’s reform package and the industry’s plans will create the bureaucratic tools to push losses onto creditors. But will they be used? In a crisis supervisors will still be terrified that the threat of hundreds of billions of dollars of losses will fuel panic.

Faced with a near collapse they are far more likely to give banks’ creditors a guarantee than to hurt them.

What may be needed is a rejigging of banks’ balance-sheets to try to contain this panic, with a clearer line between those who bear losses, including shareholders and junior creditors, and those, such as depositors, senior creditors and counterparties, who can be assured of business as usual. The Basel club is now making a stab at this task as well as trying to co-ordinate resolution schemes globally. Unless it succeeds, every time banks’ borrowing costs rise, the response will not be satisfaction that investors are discriminating against weak firms, but dread that things may spiral out of control again.

High Networth Individuals(HNI) or Millionaire lists always grab my attention any time of the year. Because I am interested to see who made to the list and get inspired so I can make to the list one day.  

I came across this interesting article from Trak.in about the India's Millionaires count doubling in the recent year. A developing nation where millions of people still live under poverty line but can still produce more HNI every year only proves the point that Rich are getting rich more and Poor are getting more poorer. The gap is widening and there is no solution on the sight to bridge it. Check out the article.

India Doubles its Millionaires!

It is quite surprising to see the wealth of High Networth Individuals soaring  drastically even though we are just coming out of a global recession. Last couple of years have been tough economically through-out the world – but the wealthier seem to have gone even more wealthier, while the middle class&lower class seem to struggling even more.

According to the World Wealth Report recently released by Capgemini and Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, most countries in the world have increased their HNI (High Net-Worth Individuals) count. While, India has more than doubled it – maximum compared to any other country in the world.

In 08-09, India had 84,000 HNI’s which grew by 50.9% to take to the number to 1,26,700 HNI Indians !

In Asia Pacific region, Hong Kong saw the maximum rise with 105% growth in number of HNIs followed by India (50.9%) and China (31%).

I think one of the main reasons for such kind of growth in India is appreciation of stock market in India. The market capitalization increased 103 per cent in 2009, compared to a dip of 64 per cent in 2008.

Here are some of the highlights of the Report

Some recent developments in the Indian banking scenario have finally corrected the bias against the small consumers of the banking service. Here’s a look.

Interest on daily product: Savings account holders in Indian banks are now getting more interest from their accounts as the interest is now being calculated on a daily basis from 01st April 2010. Previously this interest was calculated on the minimum balance between the 10th and the last day of the month.

So even if you had Rs 10 lakh in your savings account through out the month but had to withdraw it for some reason on the 29th of the month, you would receive no interest on this amount at all. No doubt it was really unfair, archaic and not in keeping with the current scenario of computerised banking operations in India. But with the new method of calculating interest, the account holder gets his fair interest and is credited to his account semi-annually.

Now there is also a proposal to deregulate the savings bank interest rate (currently at 3.50%) thus giving banks the freedom to fix their own rates. Such a move is expected to offer higher rates to the account holder as such funds form a low cost stable source of funding for the banks. The interest rate would depend on the liquidity position of the bank in particular and the economy in general.

2. Base lending rate: From 01st July 2010 Indian banks have moved to the base rate from the earlier Prime Lending rate (PLR). PLR was supposed to be the rate that the best of the bank’s customers got. Most of the loans to retail customers of a bank, like housing loan, auto loans etc were linked to this PLR of the bank and were supposed move up or down with PLR. But unfortunately the banks were reluctant to lower the PLR when interest rates headed south and conveniently lent below the PLR only for their biggest customers with bargaining power. Effectively the PLR was not lowered and the retail customers with no bargaining power paid a relatively higher interest rate. Quite simply, the retail customers were subsidizing the corporate customers. . Thus the PLR lost its sanctity.

Now banks have to declare their base lending rates below which they cannot lend. So effectively, the retail loans which would now be tied to the base rate would see higher correlation with the base rate and hopefully offer these retail customers a better deal because when the base rate for the corporates goes down, the retail interest rates tied to the base rate also will go down. But RBI has made some exemptions to this base rate like agricultural loans, loans to exporters etc which we hope do not dilute this whole exercise over a period of time.

Here’s how I lost an opportunity to earn Rs 2.50 lakh, and so easily.

The Indian government had, some time back, announced a contest for suggestions to select the symbol for the Indian Rupee, thus making it part of a select club of currencies globally to have such a symbol. The purpose of this symbol was to make the currency easily recognizable and familiar among the global financial community.

The two important conditions laid down for the proposed symbol were:

1. It should represent the historical and cultural ethos of the country
2. It should be applicable on a standard computer key board.

The winning suggestion would have received Rs 2.50 lakh as the prize money. There were numerous suggestions that were received by the ministry of finance and five are short listed.I do not know if these are usable on a key board.

Well, what an opportunity I missed. Because my suggestion would have been the simple and humble “ ! “ (yes, the exclamation mark) and it would have won hands down. It’s a no-brainer really. Is there any other symbol that can represent the Indian nation better today? Yes, it is readily available on the standard computer key board. Now how does it represent the Indian culture and ethos? India is a miracle whichever way you look at it.

1. India continues to exist and thrive despite Pakistan’s best efforts, in concert with China!

2. India is such a huge collage of diverse languages, cultures, castes, religions etc!

3. India has a vibrant democracy even with a 1 bn+ population, thousands of political parties and poor literacy!

4. You need a minimum qualification if you were to apply for a peon’s job anywhere in the country, but no such conditions for the job of ministers or chief ministers or prime minister who determine the fate of the country!

5. Millions of people starve and food inflation surges even when millions of rats feast on the government’s food stock which lies in the open!

6. Farmers commit suicide by the thousands even while the babus have their periodical jaunts abroad, palatial bungalows and black cats to guard them, all for the country!

7. The richest and the poorest of the world co-exist in India!

8. You are considered an alien if you are honest to the taxman!

9.  India continues to grow spectacularly despite bad governance, rampant corruption, poor infrastructure, obstructive bureaucracy etc!

10. India produces million cars annually though there is little space to drive or park them!

11. Indians have the guts to get on the road despite knowing its an utter chaos!

12. And the government will subsidize your fuel for the BMW or Rolls Royce that you drive!

13. India produces millions of graduates every year, of which more than half are not fit for employment!

I can go on. But I leave the floor open for the readers to add their bit!

But, isn’t India a miracle despite all these!

Don’t you wonder!!

And wouldn’t you vote for my symbol!!!

Last week I am so happy and mentally relaxed, felt a big sigh of relief.  I finally completed the CFP course and I am so excited about it.  Yes, I did it after all!!

Many of you know or might have saw it listed as one of my goals is to get CFP Certified by 2010. Completing 6 course series is one of the education eligiblity requirement to sit for CFP Certification.  While I am thrilled about finishing the course, I know my journey is not over yet. I just crossed half of the ocean. I need to cross another half and hope to make to the other side soon!!

Like my friends you might ask, what is CFP actually? What is the big deal in getting CFP certified? Let me explain a bit if you didn't google about it.

What is CFP?

Many say CFP certification has reputation similar to ceritifications like CPA and tough to pass close to bar exams. It is recognized as standard among those who seek the knowledge and skills necessary to objectively assess their clients' current financial status, identify problem areas, and recommend appropriate actions--in short, to provide comprehensive, client-based financial planning. With trouble economy, consumers are looking for trusted and authority advisors. CFP is a symbol of authority for planners to show their expertise in financial planning to help guide clients in the right path of financial well being. 

What is CFP certified means?

CFP ceritification is administered by CFP board which enforces strict rules and ethics to be followed by the planners. This gives great level of comfort to consumers who wants to talk about their personal financial matters and their future growth. It is difference as simple as asking advice from nobody or certified plumber to fix your faucet.

The Certified Financial Planner® or CFP® Professional Education Program has defined the financial planning profession since 1972 and has been the basis on which many other financial planning education programs have been developed.  

To become a CFP certificant, you must get thru (5 E's):

1. Eligibility - To start with, certification will require an undergraduate bachelor's degree from an accredited college.
2. Education - Satisfy an educational requirement taking CFP board-registered program if you don't have finance background.
3. Exam - Pass the CFPCertification exam: a 10-hour test that takes 1.5 days (four hours on Friday and six hours on Saturday), conducted three times during the year (typically on the third Friday and Saturday of March, July and November).
4. Ethics - Agree and adhere to the Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibility
5. Experience - Acquire three years of qualifying full-time work experience (or equivalent). Qualifying work experience is defined by the CFP board as "the supervision, direct support, teaching or personal delivery of all or part of the personal financial planning process to a client.

As of now, I just got through 2 E's and need to get pass another 3 E's.

Motivation and Experience

I even asked myself, Why am I doing CFP? Being a software guy by education and profession, what is the need and motivation to take on this leap effort?  The answer in short, I am passionate about money management. At the same time, I want to share my wealth of every day successful experience about money and help guide others. In the blog flocked internet era, anybody who has small experience are also posting and sharing their experience. How can I differentiate myself and show authoritative. A person is only considered as an authoritative source only when he has formal education and experience.

Today, I share my knowlege and experience through this money matters website and other avenues as ordinary individual. But I want to be an authoritative source. I have motivator that's Mr. Ray Lucia, CFP who can talk and answer almost any type of financial questions. I want to be like him, may be work for him some day. Whether I make money or not, I want to help middle class individual with their money and financial issues. 

One more thing, I like to challenge myself now and then. I get bored if I don't do that. I took the challenge to run a marathon in 2002 just after starting to run in 2001. I completed in 3 hrs 41 mins. So this is another challenge which can help others too. I feel this is even bigger than Marathon. I have done many Microsoft certifications in the past and I thought it would be a breese.  I was proven wrong. I signed up for Self study course with Boston University CFP program. The program was well explained and also got good support from tutors. I paid only 60% of fees compared to other insitutions charge because I signed up the right time to get a very good offer.
 
I started at Dec 17,  2008 and took me till Jun 15, 2010. There were hundreds of topics discussed in detail manner. I thought of completing well in advance but once I started it took me 4 months to finish my first course and another 3 months to do the next one. I realized, I won't be able to complete all of the course in 18 months time period given by BU. I have heard many people took 3-5 years via self study path and I don't want to take that long. So I decided to speed it up and start to put more time and completed one by one in every 2 months by skipping the reading assignment.

I am so glad it's over and my long study hours are done for now.  It took around one and half year while working full time and having another baby along the way. It is well worth an experience to learn and connect every aspect to the real life scenorio. But it wasn't an easy task. I am happy to have accomplished part of my 2010 goal.

For all these, I owe a Big Thank you to my lovely wife. She stood behind me, pushed by reminding and encouraging me all the time to get this course completed.

Next Step

I am taking a break for couple of months. I am so close in getting my 2nd rental property and need to  work on it to put up for rental. After that, I plan to sign up for review classes in August to prepare for the Nov exams.

As per past results, CFP certification exam has only 50-55% pass rate. Currently there are only 80000 CFP's around the world so the demand is more. I have confident and hope to clear the exams in the first attempt and hope to one among growing CFP's community in the world.
 
Image source from bionicturtle.com