In Search Of The Right Advice

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery.” A lot of money rationalists and advisors would still swear by that line, written by Charles Dickens in his semi-autobiographical novel David Copperfield. An axiom that’s common across cultures; our Indian version being “jitni chaadar ho utne hi pair phailao” (spend less than you earn). On the other hand, many may argue that the Dickensian world and some of its principles are too far removed from today’s times when borrowing has become a part of the Indian ethos. The reality, perhaps, lies somewhere in between, expressed so succinctly by Zadie Smith in her latest article in the New Yorker, “Oh, hi, Charles. Hello and goodbye and hello again.” However dated it may...