Shame on ‘sacked’ and retirement planning – A conversation

September 15, 2022
Devinder Dhingra

Sundaram (The Guidance)

This Monday I was sitting with a guy who asked me, “How did you write on such a topic? Is it not a shame to talk about such things publicly? I mean…”

Of course, he was talking about my latest book ‘Sack Me If you Wish’.
“Have you read it?” I asked.
“No,” he answered.
“If you had read it, you wouldn’t have been even using a word like ‘shame’,” I said.

He was not convinced. “See, ‘sacked’ is something bad. I mean, I can understand a layoff but…”

“Would you be comfortable if I change my book name to ‘Ready yourself for a layoff’ or ‘Hand me a pink slip if you wish’?” I asked.

His face expression remained the same, still reflecting ‘shame’; all the titles appeared to him bad.

“You need some years and experience to achieve that kind of mental state in which you’ll not feel so,” I simply said. “It’s all in our minds. Sacking, layoff, termination, pink slip, they all are a part of the same game.”

“Well, perhaps…,” he said, and continued after a pause. “Anyway, I’m in control. Right now, I’m 45, earning twenty lacs (two million) per annum and have fifteen years left for my retirement. I’m confident I’ll be earning forty lacs (4 million) per annum at my retirement and twenty times of that, i.e. eight crore (80 million) is what I’m planning for my retirement fund. What else do I need to know?”

“If you’re starting for it now, you’ll not be able to achieve that target without taking risks in your investment planning and stressing your household budget,” I replied at once. “But more than that in reality you don’t need to have eight crores for your retirement fund looking at the way you’re living at present. You need less.”

“How can you say that?” he asked. “These are standard rules; I’ve been through many sites.”

“If I assume your job remains safe, your salary rises the way you’re expecting and you’re able to save on average twenty lacs per annum in the next thirteen to fifteen years, you require your money to grow more than 12% per year to achieve your target. However, as I said, you need less and you can achieve it without stressing anything in your budget,” I reiterated and then asked him to read my book to know the details if he wished.

He straightaway refused to do so and asked me to just provide him with the tips. “You’re saying it to sell your book. I just asked for some hints, that’s it.”

“C’mon, how can I tell you something in short on which I’ve written about 100 pages. At least respect my time if nothing else.” I answered. “The fact is there are many tips in the book and they all are interconnected.”

“Who will buy and then spend time reading it?” he then said.

“Your problem is buying or reading?” I asked. “If it is buying, I’m ready to gift a copy to you, although it is available cheap currently. If your problem is reading, I’m afraid no one can help you. And if your problem is that ‘shame’ feeling, rest assured no one except God will be knowing that you’re reading it unless you tell someone yourself.”

At times, we keep on doing certain things without knowing why we are doing them and do we really need to do them,

take for example, an excessive retirement fund planning, not recognizing our insurance needs, our investments and so on. We even sometimes chase our certain goals at the stake of our basic life or our real dreams, without thinking for a moment whether we are overdoing it.

Getting sacked, oh, sorry, I mean a termination, is not a curse.

Only you can make it so if you’re not prepared and your mind does believe like that.

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