Khushi and Joy, Episode 5: “The Festival of Money”

It was Diwali time and Joy was down with a slight fever…he was upset at the timing of his falling sick. 

It was the time of the year when all the extended family members met at each-other’s house and had a great time, not to mention the food!  Joy was a foodie and would wait to binge on the different delicacies that would be prepared by everyone.

Khushi’s Diwali was a very unique affair.  Her parents believed that it was the “Festival of Giving”, they would buy lot of gifts for the needy and the underprivileged.  Khushi had actually started enjoying the – Joy of Giving.

 It involved lot of contemplation on what to buy and she always accompanied her parents on shopping trips during Diwali.

What’s more?

She felt elated when she saw happiness on the faces of the needy and underprivileged when they received the gifts that they (Khushi and her family) had bought for them.

Here’s a question to all of you. Whichever festival you celebrate, what’s the essence?

Do you spend just for yourself?

Or

Do you spend for a cause? 

Spending on self and family is also important, but we can attempt to make that festival great for a lot of other people, who are like us, but unfortunately, can’t celebrate like us…

This year, Joy and his family accompanied Khushi and her family, on Khushi’s request.

Since Joy was sick, he wasn’t able to go around to his relatives’ house. Instead of buying expensive gifts for his friends and cousins, he decided to use his money wisely, and made sure that he struck a balance between what he gave his near and dear ones, as well as what he donated to the needy and underprivileged.  He bought gifts (and got them gift wrapped) and gave them to people he met with very often. 

As Khushi would do year after year – he made a list first – his house help, school bus driver, person taking care of his streets cleanliness, etc. and chalked out a budget – similar to the budget he had last year and divided it and found to this astonishment that he could actually each one of them a gift for around ₹1000 each!!!

The process of planning – shopping and personally handing over the gift was so satisfying that Joy promised to Khushi that he would be carrying on this ritual year after year…it was way beyond the momentary pleasure he would get by celebrating the way he used to..

One of the best use of money is giving it to the needy – it gets valued the most!!! Think about it.  So starting from the next festival season – can we have a pre-planned percentage earmarked to buy gifts for the needy.  …? Let’s make it a planned Money festival!!

Author: Mr. Nirmal M Jain | Mr. Nirmal M Jain is a Co-Founder at HappyWise Financial Services. He has helped over 100 Families over the last 15 years of his services in the Financial Planning Sector. He has been a mentor to several people to help them better understand investments, stocks, mutual funds, financial planning, personal finance and above all his favorite term “The Power Of Compounding!”.