Save More, Grow Faster: Chanakya’s Money Tips Every Indian Should Know

In today's fast paced world where every one is turning to apps for advice on how to save and increase their wealth, people often end up dismissing ancient wisdom, thinking it cannot help in modern times.

But there is an Indian strategist from nearly 2,000 years ago who can teach us about tracking our finances better.

Chanakya

Chanakya was the creator of Arthashastra and he possessed significant knowledge of politics, money, discipline as well as strategy.

Additionally, his teachings on finances were not just applicable to our lives but were also surprisingly well-suited for our modern, chaotic, credit-fuelled lives.

Here are five financial tips that Chanakya suggested in his Arthashastra, which are relevant even in today's world and extremely useful:

1. Save During Prosperous Times For Scarcity:

According to Chanakya, one needs to accumulate wealth, during abundance in order to be safe during difficult times. In today's context we are fortunate to have relatively abundant resources available to us therefore, creating an emergency fund is important.

2. A Life Without Financial Planning Is Like A Ship Without A Rudder:

Chanakya's teachings gave a lot of importance to financial planning with foresight. He felt that if one lacks financial foresight for the long-term they will also lack stability.

failing to create a good financial plan often leads to over spending which can lead to easily accumulating debt in the process.

There are several tools to plan long-term investments including the public provident fund (PPF) or the national pension scheme (NPS) which lays the foundation for wealth accumulation.

3. Wealth Unaccompanied By Wisdom Is A Burden:

According to Chanakya, a man without knowledge is like a beast, even if he is wealthy. This is because Chanakya preferred wisdom over wealth. It is easy to invest one's wealth in Ponzi schemes and losing money and years and years of savings on the same. Therefore, it is an important responsibility to learn about personal finance.

4. Small Leaks Are Enough To Sink Big Ships:

This is one of the most useful teachings of Chanakya as we spend a lot on a day-to-day basis and this slowly leaks into our budget.

While a few leaks here and there do not matter, they slowly tend to become a part of our budget while hampering it.

5. Idle Wealth Is Wasted Wealth:

Chanakya believes that there are two kinds of wealth, one is static and the other is dynamic. The wise convert idle wealth into moving, growing wealth.

Since wealth cannot be hoarded indefinitely, Chanakya taught that money must be working, not just sitting there.

Allowing money to sit in a savings account collecting minimal interest while inflation continuously eats away at its value is wasteful. Let your money work for you in the form of Fixed Deposits, mutual funds, gold or through equity instruments. Wealth that grows is wealth that can work.

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