The Savings Account balance that witnesses disappearing zeros

One of the biggest sources of strength for a salaried class apart from his family is the savings account in his bank. The moment he gets an SMS on the 1^st “Salary credited to your account” he heaves a sigh of relief that fuel has been refilled and that his life will carry on smoothly.

Ever since the world of the salaried class got exposed to the pandemic, everybody desperately looks forward to the salary credited message. A slight delay in the message from the bank and the heart skips a beat. There are thousand and one questions in his head. Am I still on the payroll? Is my company closing down? Did I cross the line while questioning the boss on the zoom meeting? And so on.

The savings account on the 1^st of every month is obese with a lot of extra fat in form of zeros. However, as the month progresses, it seems that the savings account has undergone a massive transformation. The disappearing zeros make it look like a healthy person transforming into an undernourished one. By the third week, it seems the savings account is gasping for breath and by the 4^th week, it seems it will barely survive the month. Come 1^st and it gets a fresh lease of life.

During the course of the month the money in the savings accounts of a salaried class comes under tremendous pressure and starts losing the zeroes.  By the mid of every month, a salary figure of 1,00,000 loses one zero and becomes Rs 10,000. By the end of the month, it tends to lose another zero thereby becoming Rs 1000.

The loan sharks waiting to empty your coffers

The moment the salary is credited into your account an early warning signal is received by the housing loan and the car loan companies on their radar.  They can see a blinking red light on the radar along with a beep. The euphoria of seeing the balance in the savings account with 5 zeroes is short-lived. The next day there is a notice from the loan company asking you to keep a minimum balance as the EMI cheque will be presented. You curse yourself on why you opted for a smaller down payment and a higher EMI. You could have made a bigger down payment to acquire the new house or the latest model of Honda City. That way your EMI payment would have been low.

On the other hand, the utility company is desperately waiting to recover its dues. The power supply corporation, the water supply board are looking to recover their monthly dues. While making payment to them sometimes you wonder if the political leaders are making you a sacrifical lamb. It’s they who promise free electricity and water to the poor class. Any subsidy to them is recovered from your pocket.

Also, your attempts to cut down electricity consumption at home is never a success. You have heated arguments with the kids on switching off the AC’s, lights, and fan whenever they are out of the room. You risk giving instructions to your spouse on keeping an eye on every family member to save electricity.  As a result, she doesn’t speak to you for a week and to cool her down you have to keep the AC running 24/7 for a week.

When teaching turned into an education industry

We have grown in a land of Mahabharata where Arjun fulfills a task for Guru Dronacharya by winning a kingdom for him. He gave the kingdom to his guru as a guru dakshina. Times have changed and now instead of Dronacharya, we have BYJU’s and Akash as the guru. The only difference is that in present times the guru will ask for the dakshina at the begining. In case you are unable to pay a lump sum, he will give you the option of EMI’s. The simple guru dakshina of earlier times has metamorphized into a well-oiled education industry with obnoxious fee structure.

The school fees, the tuition fees for competitive exams like engineering or class 12^th boards are fixed expenses for a salaried class. This is one expense that a family is not willing to compromise at all. And if the resources are limited he is willing to take an educational loan. To supplement it further he cuts down  his household expenses just to ensure that his kids have a bright future.

The education fees further act on the savings account reducing it to 50-60% of the original figure.

E-commerce, the bottomless pit that empties the savings account

The entire world has succumbed to a virus called covid resulting in economic activity world over coming to a halt. The pharma companies have worked day and night to come out with a vaccine that will protect human beings from the virus. On the other hand, the pandemic has resulted in another virus spreading through the smart world gizmos in every household. This virus is called “Impulse buying” and spreads through the e-commerce platform.

Governments and health experts the world over asked people to stay indoors. The idea was to control the spread of the covid virus. However they didn’t realise that another virus called “Impulse buying” will strike people while they were confined at home. E-commerce has fanned the spread of the “Impulse buying” virus amongst the entire family. People open the e-commerce portal for buying a necessity but end up buying much more than what is required.

The lady of the house while ordering groceries on e-commerce is bombarded with cosmetic ads  announcing huge discount sale. The result is that when the courier guy delivers the grocery package, he also delivers a package that contains a full range of skin creams and hair treatment shampoos.

This “Impulse buying” virus further attacks the savings account bringing it down to alarming levels.

The unplanned expenditures creating a hole in the savings account

However well you plan your expenses for the month there is always a surprise element. This surprise element is like a blood clot that blocks your aorta and gives you a mild heart attack. The unplanned expenditure ranges from a medical insurance premium that you forgot to pay or a new demand from your kid’s school about an extra-curricular activity planned for the class.

The unplanned expenses burn a hole in the pocket. Whatever savings you were planning by the month-end goes for a toss. Ultimately you end up frustrated as the there is hardly any savings left in the account.

The tech world gizmos need a password to access your savings account

And how about the promise you made to your daughter that if she scores more than 95% in class 12^th board you will give her the latest iPhone. She rightfully makes a claim to her entitlement and this is one expense that you can’t say no to. You ultimately decide to buy one but on an EMI.

You add another new EMI to your expense list and are back to stage 1 from where you started.

Enjoy reading more such stories on my blog. Click on the link below:

The last week of the Month – the days of Bankruptcy

Salary and Expenses:Two sides of the same coin

If you want to learn the tricks of investments then log onto the following site by one of an ex-editor of Outlook Money.

http://fundoomoney.com/