Personal finance isn’t just about money; it’s about managing emotions in relation to money. How?

1. Saying NO to close friends or family who are trying to sell you a life insurance investment policy without understanding your goals.
2. Politely refusing a down payment offered by your parents for purchasing a house when EMI payments will consume all your monthly surplus.
3. Politely refusing loans to friends or family if you know they will not repay them, or giving only an amount you can afford to lose.
4. Stop rushing to buy stocks because friends, colleagues or media gurus are telling you how you can double your money in a short span of time (especially when you don’t know the basics of stocks).
5. Controlling your credit card spending when you know that you will not be able to make timely payments (the interest on credit card payments is as high as 40% when you don’t make payments on time).
6. Stop convincing yourself that you will be able to make up for your losses in options and futures in your next trade. You will lose more if you have no knowledge about trading.
7. Understanding that it takes time to get returns when investing in equity instruments. Stop expecting returns in days or months; it can take years.
8. Believing that life is unpredictable. Security comes first, investments later. That’s why term insurance and health insurance are basic pillars of financial planning.
9. Making decisions to exit bad investments. Life is full of good and bad decisions. You may feel a little guilty that you are losing money because of a bad decision, but you can handle it.