Circle is About To Complete

Because of my penchant for Economics and Finance , very often amongst my friends and known circle I am mistaken to be a materialistic and money minded person.
Whereas nothing can be farther from truth. And this I can say with absolute certainty because I have been in touch with my self for most part of my life. I have never wandered very far away from my inner self and have always striven to complete that circle of life which involves everyone and everything.
The name of this blog "holistic" , is an indication of my journey to try to complete the circle of my life by connecting various dots representing divergent aspects of human life...The Noble Eight Fold Path.
For me  money simply represents a fulfillment of today's needs and a modest security of future. Beyond this I always believed in putting this money to some use towards those people who were not only needy but also deserving. Otherwise who doesn't need money today.
However this charity part , I was able to realize quite late in life since I never had time or maybe  the direction.
Vipassna meditation helped me take this into different walks of life.
In my objective of guiding my colleagues was a necessary urge to help them plan a definitive life and retirement. Also a hidden desire was that once most of them had been put on that path I would introduce them to the virtue of charity and paying it forward.
Then I came across this association for Seafarers in Dehradun called DSWA. It was formed by a set of very young officers and they had succeeded where efforts by our seniors and ourselves had failed.
The acronym DSWA stands predictably for Dehradun Seafarers Welfare Association.
However what the association has been working for past 2.5 years is for the welfare of the society; giving back part of their very hard earned money to those whom they don't even know.
This was a compassion that I wished to impart to my younger colleagues, but it was already there.
Bright young people spending their quality time in orphanages, even celebrating their birthdays with those who don't even know their own birthdays.
Recently a Trust working with affected children and ladies ran out of money and gave a SOS call.
The members of DSWA immediately responded and in a span of 48 hours collected a sum which is a dream of most of NGOs.
The entire feeling of seeing humanity in the hearts of those who are so away from humans for most part of their lives, is so very touching.Probably the physical distance away from family makes them so sensitive.
There is huge personal satisfaction for me too, in knowing that my objective is almost over and THE CIRCLE IS ABOUT TO COMPLETE.

With Gratitude and Compassion to all my Colleagues

With Gratitude and Compassion to all my Colleagues at Sea

Exactly 30 years and a few weeks ago I had entered the hallowed portals of Shipping.
I was overawed by the traditions and beliefs that were passed down to us and were repeated at the cost of insanity and lack of logic...but we accepted.
As through a lot of mindless beliefs and traditions I also saw through the apparent lack of social security for the average sailor, despite being what looked like uniformed services and the discipline attached.
The Indian companies did have a defined system of Retiral benefits, but such was not the case with the Foreign entities. It was a "Soldier of Fortune" or hire and fire concept there- more of firing of course.
At the outset I understood that I had to find my own way out or "Retirement Nirvana" for myself, could not depend upon the shore management of the big and rich companies , however many slogans of loyalty they shouted.
Through a constant reading of books (mainly) by A.N.Shanbhag and International Retirement funds, I tried to find some easy and consistent way.
Even before my promotion to Chief Engineer , I had got almost 75 Officers and crew to open their PPF accounts which guaranteed 12% interest p.a. tax free.
Coinciding with my promotion in 1995 , the Indian Mutual Fund industry which was shackled by UTI till then- was opened up to private players.
Next 3,4 years were spent simply finding out how, where, which to invest in.
Till then. the desire  and drive was also not so great as the NRNR deposits gave almost 18% which compounded to 20% for a 3 year period.
By 2002 I was finished with the discovery and my basic tenets of investing were in place. Most of these tenets were of psychological nature.
I had understood that What was good for me is quite different from WHAT I WANT.
As I was investing myself , I was also introducing my colleagues to the Mutual Funds- who were not very keen on my theme.
However by 2005 I decided that I will help at least 500 of my colleagues to not just invest but plan their future in a systematic way .
The journey was very slow and painful. But I was patient for a change.
In 2014 I myself said goodbye to my beloved Sea and hence to a steady income stream. By then I had barely helped 175 people, to form their portfolio.
In 2015 I published my first e- book with the help of marineinsight.com titled- "Financial Planning for Seafarers".
The book was priced very cheap ( at about Rs.150 or $2.25) , still not people were able to buy because of payment platform issues. So the publisher consented to my request to make it free.
Today I'm happily told by a lot of colleagues returning from sea- that the book was there on all the Desktops and Laptops of the ship. Nothing could make me happier- in a world where everyone talks of piracy .

Then Dehradun Seafarer Welfare association (DSWA) roped me in and we had 2 seminars within a span of 5 months.These were attended by over 175 officers and their wives.
From here the movement of Seafarer's Financial Planning took a whole new turn.
Everyone was enthusiastic and livid. Even the young cadets were talking in terms of Equity exposure and STPs. My target figure of helping 500 Seafarers has long been crossed.
Now something even more phenomenal is happening.
Each one of these young officers have turned advisors to their ship-mates.
Captains have their new role cut out- as a financial guardian.
A young Captain who teaches part time in a college- says that he regularly teaches youngsters about finance during his regular classes.
I get about 5-6 calls a day and equal no. of emails asking me to help them fine tune their portfolios.
Last 2 years have been very important in the life of Mutual Funds when the retail small investor has helped the industry surge ahead of other Financial entities like LIC and other Insurance companies.
Somewhere in all this the seafarers also have their contribution. They do not even know that they are directly helping the country and helping themselves in return.
I am very happy for whatever is happening around me now.
No Sailor will be cheated by LIC and other insurance companies into buying expensive ULIPS.
Everyone will be adequately covered by Term Plans and Health Insurances.
All these gentlemen will slowly build wealth with aim and option to retire early.
And wherever I am then, I will always be thankful to them for having their faith in me and helping me to help them.
I hope and wish them success in their lives...
... their lives which are tough because of the nature of duty
... their lives which are tough because of being away from their loved ones
...their lives which are tough because of missing the birth, the marriages and the deaths of their loved ones
... their lives which are threatened by all the entropy and disorder in the world
... their lives where time is not counted in hours and minutes but in the number of stamped pages on their CDC.
May God bless my Sailors and their families.