Hello and welcome again. Please give me a few seconds to adjust the camera so that you can see me. Okay, let us start Hello and welcome to lecture three of become a minimalist. Discover the fantastic power of frugality. I am David Ruffin was lecture three, downsizing and retirement. First question, Are you prepared for downsizing in this unpredictable economy, even the best qualified and competent employees can lose their jobs.

Do not assume that your excellent qualifications experience and wisdom will always get you a well paying job. Even billionaires and fortune 500 companies can get wiped out just like how mighty rivers dry up. So unless you save money for a rainy day, you will be in deep trouble. Hence always spent less than your interest the difference in security investments. This is the only way you can accumulate money for your future or a rainy day. The effect of losing a job can be shocking, especially if you have no second source of income.

Oscar Wilde once said, It is better to have a permanent income than just be fascinating. This is a very powerful message for everyone. When your income suddenly drops, life can become very chaotic not only for you, but to all of your dependents. And it is not possible to depend on friends, relatives and neighbors to run your livelihood for months and years when you are down. For example, if you were to lose your job tomorrow, how prepared are you? This is why experienced financial consultants say you should always have enough money saved to cover at least six months worth of expenses in case you lose a job or cannot work for any reason.

But when it comes to money, think like a pessimist and aim for a 12 to 18 months of expenses if possible. I'll teach you how to do this. For example, suppose you're earning $5,000 a month and your monthly expenditure for the absolute essentials is 3000. Then you should make it a habit to save the remaining 2000 every month. This way if you say for each You will have $24,000 with you. Suppose you lose your job, then this $24,000 will help you cover your monthly expenses for eight months, while you can look out for another job without going crazy.

Now the second question, are you ready for retirement? Most people think retirement is far away and they need not worry about it till they cross 50 years of age. So they live a lavish life of purchases, vacations, eating out, etc, when they're young and earning well, but this is a dangerous mistake. Because time travels fast and retirement can hit your heart. A very large percentage of people who have severe difficulties or just into retirement and a sudden drop in income For example, have you ever imagined what it is to be old, retired? Or have your monthly income dropped to one fifth of or less than what you're earning today?

Will you still be able to maintain the lifestyle you are accustomed to for many years? Do you have the courage to instantly downgrade your life, but with minimalism, you can get ready and be prepared for retirement for many years before. Now, take a scary imaginary tip into the future. Think 10 years 20 years ahead and imagine whether you will still be able to maintain the lifestyle you're currently living. If you get a chill down your spine, then you need to quickly change your spending lifestyle to accommodate for the future. Now we shall discuss another concept called Stop dreaming of the glorious day.

Let us begin with a quote by one Mr. Alfred D'Souza. For a long time, it had seemed to me that life was about to begin real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something that had to be gotten through first, some unfinished business time still to be served, and a debt to be paid. Then my real life would begin at large, it dawned on me that those obstacles were my real life. Basically, what Alfred is saying is, we will have obstacles at every step in our life, and we have to live with it. People are conditioned to think that they first need abnormal amounts of money in their bank accounts to be happy.

They dream of a day when all their obligations will be fulfilled, all debts will be paid, all unfinished business will be completed. And immediately after that, they'll get enough time to enjoy a leisurely life. Hence people slog day and night for decades trying to make lots of money, get power and status. So they can have the freedom on some future glorious day to do what they love or dreamt do from yours. But sadly, by the time they get to that day, many years would have passed and they will only have the money and no friends family health or time to enjoy it. Now let us learn the story of a fisherman.

One day a fisherman was sitting lazily near a river trying to catch fish. A hard working entrepreneur who was walking by noticed this and asked why this fellow was wasting time fishing instead of working hard and earning more money. You can't catch many fish the way you are doing, said the entrepreneur. The fisherman looked up and deployed. What should I do for that? Well, you should get bigger nets to catch more fish the intrapreneur answer.

Then what will be my reward as the fisherman the entrepreneur replied, You will make more money and also be able to buy a big boat, which will help you to catch more quantities of fish. Fishermen again at the same cost, then what will be mighty work? The businessman got annoyed with the fisherman silly questions but continued You can buy a much bigger boat and also hire people to work for. The fisherman repeated the same question, then what will be my reward? The basement businessman now got angry. Don't you understand what I'm saying?

You can have a fleet of fishing boats sail all over the world and let your employees catch fish for you. The fisherman persisted with the same question, then what will be my reward? The businessman was no furious and shouted at the fishermen. Don't you understand? You can become so rich that you won't have to work for your living again. You can spend all the rest of your day sitting on this river looking at the sand and fishing happy, you won't have a care in the world.

The fisherman looked up and smiling. He said, What do you think I'm doing now? The entrepreneur suddenly felt like being hit with a truckload have wisdom and slowly walked away. Though you may not want to go the fisherman way, what this interesting story teaches you is, it's still possible to enjoy life whenever possible with what you currently have, without always dreaming of the glorious day in the future. But if you still don't agree with me and keep dreaming of acquiring terrific, well then look at it this way. Even if you have a dozen cars, how many will you drive at a time?

Even if you want 10 houses in how many will you stare at a time? For example, in the Middle East royal families have lavish best palaces everywhere, but many remain empty for years. Do you know why? Because the family royal family and their members prefer to stay in the capital to fulfill all their political and moral obligations rather than roam around from palace. To palace. Next, even if you have a supermarket at home, how much food will you eat per day?

Even if you have 100 pairs of shoes, countless waters and a massive world drops how many sets Will you wear per day and even if you have a stubborn plan to enjoy each one of them in your lifetime, you will soon run out of time patience and energy. This is because the unavoidable Law of Diminishing Returns will set in and you will unconsciously detach away from them. Secondly, you will have to continuously slog to under tons of money necessary to maintain and protect all the luxuries you now one so when will you find time to enjoy your luxuries, it will become a catch 22 situation where you will require a lot of money to buy all the luxuries need and earning a lot of money will take a lot of time and energy. And if you spend all your time and energy in earning that money, then you will not have any time and energy to enjoy those luxuries.

Now let us read a quote from Steve Jobs. After he got fired from Apple, the company that he founded. He once said, I didn't see it then. But it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the Lightness of Being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

Similarly, in life, if you voluntarily aspart to go down in your lifestyle rather than constantly go up, then you will gradually become happier. Basically, there are two tragedies in a human's life. One is the sufferings of not getting what your heart desires, and the second is the sufferings of getting it. Hence, it is always advisable to be moderate in everything. If you understand this timeless wisdom of the saints and our forefathers, then you have already crossed the halfway mark of becoming a minimalist. This concludes lecture three.

I hope you enjoyed the session, and we'll start implementing the suggestions in your life. Thanks for listening. Thanks again. You may now please proceed to lecture four to finish the course.