From Now – Till Then



Dear Amrita,

Happy Birthday to you – future me!!! Yep it’s a brand-new year for you and I hope you have had a lot of excitement in the past 10 years. Yes, this is Amrita from ten years ago.   What’s the world like these days?  I hope it is not too weird reading from your past self.  I’m writing down some goals for this year and the next ten years, so I wanted to have something to remind me of what I’ve written. 

Let me remind you about where things stand for me at present.  I had a really good education and I completed my Masters over 5years ago (that is 15years to you), but I am currently not using my degrees.  I’ve picked up a few other qualifications from free and paid courses; however, my main occupation right now is parenting; and while this is a very noble and important investment, it is not yielding any immediate financial rewards. 

Remember how in our single days we dreamt about building a financial empire? The idea was to do so with Mr Right, right?  Well at this point, while I am still very secure in myself, Husband and I have not made as much progress as I would have liked on the ‘financial oneness’ front.  I hope you have better success at this than I have had so far.  This has led to my decision to make my own money. 

In order to do this, I propose to make a few changes in my life, such as getting in with the times and understanding basic technology – can you believe I don’t know the difference between an iPad and a tablet? Oh, I just found out from the husband – progress in motion! Just to clarify; focusing on me does not imply a neglect of our husband. I just realised that his plans are to make money and be the provider for his family, and he hasn’t seen how I can help with that – aside from taking care of our children and our home.  I am determined to prove to him and myself that I am capable of more.  I’ve decided to make some changes so that by the time you are reading this, our story would have changed significantly for the better.

Now to the plan! I’m still working on all the bullet points but in no particular order, these are some of the things you need to access as you read this letter. Firstly, I intend to use the currency of time with more wisdom. I thought I didn’t have the time to do anything else apart from house chores and mothering our children.  A closer look at things showed me I was wasting time and making excuses.  I had time to follow my soaps and talk for hours with girlfriends, so I am taking time to do something that invests in me.  I am working on setting a rigid time-table for the children, which in turn will give me more child-free hours in the evening to study or work from home.  So far, I have been able to take on short editing jobs which have brought in a few pennies.  By the time you are reading this, I hope that you have even more time to yourself to take on full-time job.

Secondly, while I have always been okay with managing my budgets, I’d like to take it up a notch. I am attempting to build some funds into that account I am not meant to touch.  Yes, over the years there have been so many emergencies that have emptied it, but I’m putting myself on a tighter leash from now, by knowing the difference between the urgent and the important.  Instead of rushing into it to solve every emergency, I’ll stick to the budget and make a few tweaks.  Worse case scenario, I’ll ask our husband to help – which is not being cheeky.  I just have to stop giving myself good reasons to go into that account!  My main challenge is not to touch it for one year. If I can pull this off, there should be a good investment made with profitable returns as proof, by the time you are reading this.

Then I am going to read because money matters. Not so much the size of my account or who is the higher earner, but for other reasons. There are so many faces and phases with respect to money and the bible recommends that we get wisdom and understanding.
I’ll begin with these two books; How to win friends and influence people, and Rich Dad Poor Dad.  Both books come highly recommended, so I’ll start there.  I know these books do not directly produce career growth, but I have a strong desire to broaden my understanding so that I can readily recognize other opportunities.  I did a little reflecting and I realised that there have been some opportunities missed due to ignorance so I’m working on not-missing such opportunities by having the tools to recognise and pursue them when they arise.

I am determined to ensure that the children don’t make our mistakes, so with husband’s cooperation – which he has given – I plan to teach the children “financial awareness” as early as possible.  I began by paying tithes on the child benefits they receive and giving an offering in church.  Some might argue saying this does not teach them much, but my desire and hope is that if they can partner with God on the matter of money from an early age, their attitude to money will be in-line with His principles.  Maybe its wishful thinking or me twisting scripture (as some may think), but if I’ve done this right, then you should be reaping some of the benefits right now.

All this already seems like a lot of work, but I know it is possible.  In the midst of this, I will continue to show more interest in what our husband is doing.  In a perfect world, husband and I would be working hand-in-hand to sharpen each other and I would most likely be sharing these thoughts with him instead of you, my older self. But our world is not perfect, and God has put my home in my hands, so as a wise woman, I have chosen to build my home by supporting my husband.  Two months ago, I reaped a benefit of this decision as our husband had to lean on me for support and I did not balk.  To be honest, it gave me pleasure to fulfil that role

I am sure there is more that I will do and consider but I’ll stop here for now. Ten years from now, as you read this, I pray you will have no regrets and you would have accomplished so much more than anyone could ever imagine.  I hope you have written some books by the time you read this and at least one of them has been published.  Gotta run now, still have school runs to think about.  Happy birthday to you (Me) and let’s get on 
with living life to the fullest.  You are truly loved.


Your Biggest Cheerleader,

Amrita


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