A Curse is a Blessing in disguise? [Assets and Liabilities]

Do we really need to count our blessings while we are living? Of course why not..!! That would boost our morale and in turn, gives us a chance to ponder over things and improve our well-being.

For that, it is important to list out all the blessings at any given point that we have. If we correlate it to the financial realm, I call them as Assets. Also at times, we might have curses as well along with the blessings and I call them as Liabilities.

If someone asks you a question, what do you value the most (or) what is your biggest asset? You might be thinking about your material collections over the years, gifts that someone gave you, or maybe the something that you bought with your first paycheck.

But the genuine answer, in general, would be much bigger than all these and it is YOU. Yes, you are your Greatest Asset. Everything else will come later.

Pyramid of Assets

Assets are something we value and can aid our needs in our socio-economic setup. Assets are either inherited or earned or accumulated over a period. We can create more assets and can also strengthen the existing assets for improvement in the quality of life.

If we draw a pyramid having various levels, with a list of our assets based on their intrinsic value, then at the bottom it is YOU with all the physical, mental, and emotional faculties that constitute the primary Asset. No wonder mental and physical health is considered an important part of our wealth.

Assets in the next level will be time and energy. The third level will be Family and Relationships etc. The final and the Fourth level constitute Money and all other Material possessions.

The ones at the bottom would be core assets and which acts as the foundation for a robust framework in order to build wealth. These would reinforce those in the middle or at the top levels.

Investing in Assets

Investing is an inevitable function that we all have to do and unavoidable, being part of interdependent socio-economic ecosystem. Given the importance of investing, when it comes to prioritizing the areas of investing, the above-mentioned pyramid would be the right structure to follow.

The order of investing would be from the bottom to the top of the pyramid. When we invest in any of the bottom layers they would in turn get compounded and will be reflected while building assets, in not just bottom layers but at the top layers as well.

A simple example would be to invest in our health via practicing Yoga for physical and mental health would yield more dividends in terms of peace of mind, strengthening Emotional Quotient and improving Emotional intelligence and in turn happiness.

Further, one might do their daily activities without much effort resulting in better performance, promotions, and paychecks. Herein lies the compounded benefit of investing at the bottom layers.

Investing in self could be anything from eating the right food, reading books to improve our knowledge and thought process, learning a new skill, or simply practicing meditation just to cleanse our mind from unnecessary clutter.

At the higher level, Conservation and utilizing your time and energies for the right purposes would fetch better dividends than spending them for trivial stuff. For example, spending quality time with family, having proper sleep, would always be helpful and give benefits which are manifold.

Further investing in family, friendship, or relationships will help you build your lifelong insurance, during ups and downs, stand beside you like a rock.

Finally Investing in monetary and non-monetary assets would be at the top level of the pyramid, wherein it helps us meet our short term to long term financial needs.

Liabilities

Liability is anything that negates the positive growth in our life. It could be a toxic relationship or a stock that is making losses repeatedly or negative thoughts within our mind and based on consequences it can be rightly called a curse. So, the objective should be to get rid of Liability, whatever be the type it is of. 

Liability should not be confused with debt as the former is a broader term and the latter is a specific type of the former. Also, liabilities should not be confused with assets. When we buy a house with a bank loan, it cannot be considered as an asset but a liability until we repay the entire principal along with the incurred interest. In fact, it is an asset for the bank and not for us.

Assets converting to liabilities and vice versa

At times there is a chance that an asset might get converted into a liability. For example, a real estate property bought during the growth cycle might have a better valuation but the same asset due to the uncertain economic environment might get converted into a liability due to lowered value.

The vice versa is also true. Same property if increases in value within a short span would convert into a bigger asset. Again based on the risk associated, sometimes it can be a blessing in disguise and sometimes not.

Reduce Liabilities and build/strengthen Assets

The goal is to build and strengthen assets over a period and reduce our liabilities for improvement in our quality of life. Our understanding of Assets and Liabilities here is not restricted to the financial jargon, but terms which are broader in nature and extend to all facets of our life in general as discussed before.

Developing habits like meditation, regularly saving and investing a part of our income, building healthy relationships, creating value through the activities that we do, exchange of knowledge through reading and writing, experimenting with ideas and the list goes on.

Assets can aid us in following our passion and do something worthwhile in our lives. Liabilities bring down our ability to do that.

Start building assets, of any type, that enrich us and add lasting value to our lives along with creating value to the society. In fact, the presence of a learned person can help in creating value within society.

Coming back to the question that we started with, in the beginning, what is the most important Asset you possess? And by now you already know. We have the potential to negate the curses and create our blessings.

So, build and strengthen your assets by investing in the right ones along with reducing liabilities. And it all starts with YOU. And yes, a curse can be converted into a blessing…!!!