Confessions of a SHOPAHOLIC an INVESTOR
By Prashasti Shandilya
When I started working, I only had a faint idea about investing and the need for the same. Despite being a financial advisor’s daughter, I hardly thought money had any other function than being traded for material things. However, there came a period, when I needed a significant amount to fund my start-up, and that’s when I reached out to my investments, which were largely on autopay, since my first job, on the instructions of my family office manager.
That moment, it was a swift wind of change. For the first time in my life, money served a different purpose. It helped me! My investments became a good old friend who lent me whatever I needed to cherish my late father’s dream of working on something promoting financial literacy for women. Since teenage, I was a maximalist and being a convent girl, flaunting labels, brands, logos and illogical expenses alongside an elite, fake and instagrammable life were some things, I took pride in. I remember buying a Versace “Bright Crystal” Eu De Toilette and Ferragamo too, worth a fortune just to feel good! Sometimes, I’d run to “Mall of India” for no reason and spend my entire salary on clothes, heels, bags and WHAT NOT! I remember buying a Charles & Keith handbag costing me ₹15,000 for no reason. I’d later tell my then roommate, “Dude, I’m becoming a shopaholic!”
Then came a time, where my startup required a lot of finance licenses and certificates. I studied hard. Period. Quit all social media and submerged every ounce of my energy in Mutual funds, Fundamental Analysis, Relative Strength Index and a million other things dealing with numbers! And man, it was a REBIRTH! Changing idols from Anna Wintour to Warren Buffett, does require a soul altering transition! Started buying ETFs, Mutual Funds and fundamentally strong stocks instead of everything glossy, beautiful and attention worthy. I remember, asking my husband for “expensive bags, belts and shoes only” as my birthday gift ideas and post my financial intellectual renaissance, I asked him for Sensex ETFs for my 2023 birthday! Yes, some transformation!
Of late, I’ve realized, that minimalism goes a long way! I mean, trust me hotties, I’ve put up pictures in basic tees and yet rocked my IG! Got more likes than my travel, elaborate outfits and logo revealing posts. FYI, I grew up watching SATC, Gossip Girl and movies like confessions of a shopaholic, so being spendthrift came handy to me. I had another weird obsession of hoarding new outfits, accessories and heels with price tags intact.
It was August 2024, and I had recently found out about my pregnancy. So, apart from being emotionally numb, I hastily packed all my hot girl outfits in a big airbag and submerged it somewhere in my bed box, thinking of my sassy 20s to be so over! Gave birth to a beautiful boy next year, and got back in shape months later.
It was time to return to my hot mom era with my enviable outfits, and OMG, the adrenaline rush before stepping into my glamorous past, just had me shaking in excitement! Took the big bag out and much contrary to my expectations, the price tag attached tanks, dresses, tops and maxis looked deplorable! Crushed, suffocated, old, ugly and cluttered. When I roughly estimated the cost of a portion of my past, it was somewhere around ₹50 – 70,000! Yup, all those discount deals, retail therapy stuff and inevitable spending urge, just dying in a bag, like a perishable pasta sauce!
Now, Reality Check
Now, reality check: Had I invested the same amount (₹70,000) in different investment vehicles, this’d have been the result:
- Multicap Mutual Funds: ₹80,000 – ₹90,000
- Gold & Silver ETFs: ₹1,50,000
- Large Cap Stocks: ₹90,000 – ₹1,00,000
- Debt Mutual Funds: ₹78,000 – ₹80,000
So, sassy wisdom time, queens. You might want to buy a sexy dress, lacy bodysuit or tan boots, imagining yourself in the same, but the best imagination, is the one, wherein you have splurge worthy, super financial portfolio compounding into millions! Clothes, heels, bags and scarves won’t help you in buying your Mercedes or Mini Cooper, but your investments will! And no, I don’t rest my case, until I’m done empowering you, Goddesses! Are you a shopaholic too? Time to be an investoholic, ladies! Let’s raise a toast to your newly acquired financial awakening. Hear, hear!
