Do you wish to be rich or poor? Are you brave, or afraid of risks?
Well, if you think these are silly questions, or cannot answer them outright, think again. It is an open secret that you if want to be rich you must be brave; else be content to stay as you are. If you are brave, you are on your way to becoming wealthy!
Let’s say you had a 1,000 bucks and I asked you to put half of it in the stock market. Most of you would do it quite easily. Same for Rs 10,000 and even, to an extent, Rs 1 lakh. But what if you had Rs 10 lakh, or Rs 1 crore – would you? Rs 10 crore?
Just think about it. Would you invest Rs 5 crore of the 10 that you have, in the stock market? Why not – it’s the same 50%!
By now, you are in deep thought. But in all probability, you are not thinking about whether you would invest or not. Rather, you are scared! Just the idea of having to invest and manage Rs 5 crore scares you.
It is human nature – the more you have, the more fearful you are likely to be. But the reality and rationale does not change and we fail to acknowledge that. If you were comfortable to place Rs 500, why not be comfortable with Rs 5 crore? Whether you win or lose, it will be the same 50% of what you have.
What scares us is the quantum. Your perspective of wealth creation will change when you overcome this fear. This is no small effort – it’s a huge feat, a great achievement. It takes a huge effort to come to an agreement with ourselves and undertake such actions.
Let me suggest a way to experience this first hand. Set up two dummy portfolios and give yourself Rs 10 crore and Rs 1 lakh respectively. Then invest the way you like – but invest all the money on the same day. Buy the same stocks and in the same proportions. Then simply watch. When profits happen your heart will start pounding faster with joy. When you see losses you will feel blood flowing out of your veins.
But please mark this. The percentage gain or loss is the same for both portfolios. I am not talking only about stock in particular – it could be any wealth-generating asset. Fear arises from lack of knowledge, information and from our innate characteristic of avoiding the first step. That is where the highest level of bravery is required and the rest just follows.
Don’t let fear handicap you; do not dread fear. Rather experiment with it – people live their whole lives just desiring wealth but are too scared to do anything to build it. Start early – from the beginning of your earning age (20-25) to about 70-75, you have a long time to overcome it.
You have a lot to gain – some achieve enough to last for generations.
Overcoming fear is an important attribute common to successful people – they willingly take risks and give everything they have to achieve their goal.