Lessons from a School Teacher

Let me introduce you to my father. He started his career teaching Physics in India in the late 1970’s. He was born in 1954 and was raised in a small town of Ambala Cantt. in northern India. When I say a small town, I really mean a small town. Before writing this post, I went on Google Maps to see if I could find the house where he grew up but guess what the satellite view there doesn’t zoom the way it does here in Downingtown, PA – that says something about how small the town really is. He started his career with nothing – I am not even sure if he had a bank account at that time. His first salary as a teacher was INR 750 per month, in today’s dollar terms it’s about $12.30 per month. When he started teaching he was still living at home and he didn’t have a single thing to his name. He and my mom got married in 1980 and moved to a rented house. I was born in 1981 and was financially dependent on him till May 2003. During this period, he provided for us through his job and by tutoring after school. Some of the more significant achievements of this period are:

• Moved to the Capital of India, New Delhi
• Bought a house
• Raised two kids. Provided for their private school education when he had the option of sending them to public schools for free
• Created a small retirement nest egg by regularly investing in programs similar to 401k
• Invested in stocks for some of the best companies in India

It’s also important to understand some of the challenges & sacrifices he had to make to achieve what he did:

• My grandparents had 8 kids, with my father being the youngest. They were poor, a family of 10 lived in a small 2 room house with limited electricity & no sanitation
• Lived the most productive years of his life in a Socialist environment. India was a closed economy till 1992. Nepotism & corruption were rampant.
• Didn’t spend any money on himself. I don’t remember my dad ever talking about buying anything for himself or spending on a hobby
• Couldn’t afford a car because he was spending most of his earnings on my & my sister’s education
• Had a side hassle all his working life

He never forgot where he came from, led a hard-working disciplined life and made most of the opportunities that he got along the way. He also made sure that he taught his kids some of these important life lessons.

We had recently moved to New Delhi and I was enrolled in a private school. I was 9 years old and on the first of school he asked me a question. He said son, in this new school your friends will be rich, they will have things that I will never be able to buy for you. Do you think you will be alright in this situation? If not, then you are better off in a public school. I remember nodding my head in affirmation and I didn’t think any of it until about a year ago. But now when I think about it I cannot believe how big an impact that one lesson has had on me. I have never bought anything because someone else had it. In fact, I don’t even notice or compare what others have with what I don’t. I am certain that this habit has helped me save a lot of money with which I have been able to invest.

I am sharing this post because I think there is a lot we all can learn about life and investing from how he managed his life. The odds of leading a successful life were stacked against him but through hard work, discipline and by avoiding the traps of basic human emotions, like self-pity and jealousy, he built a life for himself and his family. Both his kids are well-educated and settled in their lives. He himself is comfortably retired and spends his time traveling, writing a blog and teaching Physics. If I compare my 36-year-old self to when he was 36, I don’t have any of the constraints that he had. All I have is a sea of opportunities and if I apply the same principles of hard-work, discipline, keeping my ego in check, making prudent spending decisions I should be able to achieve anything that I want to, specially in Investing. My point is that with what little resources he had, he still was able to find ways to save & invest. If you compare your opportunities to the constraints he had, you will find it hard to come up with excuses for not saving & investing. Thanks Dad! Happy Investing!