On Tue, 2014-04-08 at 19:18 +0530, Udhay Shankar N wrote: > WHAT ELSE SHOULD I DO WITH MY MONEY?
Udhay, that was a thought provoking article with plenty that I agreed with. Both money and materialism are considered evil by a segment of Indian society. A segment, but not everyone though. I found the reference to real estate and gold in the article interesting. Money per se in India tends to get hoarded as "savings" rather than spent on consumer goods. But among big ticket expenditure, real estate (a plot of land/house) and gold are traditionally considered among the best long term assets. The argument against real estate in the article indicates that tax structures in the society the author lives in are unfavourable for people who attempt to hold real estate as an asset. Right now that is not true in India. Gold, of course is eternal for Indians. The author seems to come from a society in which people have some sort of buffer or social security that will help survival when all else is lost. This is non existent for most Indians, so money becomes valuable for "savings", real estate and gold which serve as buffer against uncertainties of the future. shiv
