"Financial freedom to me means being able to fulfil my bucket-list"

Rahul Sharma earned for the first time at the age of 19 in the year 2008. The Kaisa Hai Yeh Rishta Anjana actor had done a commercial for a pharma company and got paid Rs 500 for the same.

“In 2015-16, I got to know the value of money and how important it is to take care of it and plan things accordingly as to when you want to spend, when you have to save. I am not into professional financial planning because in our Indian families we are not taught financial planning, so it took me time. Later I started learning about finances and started applying whatever I learnt,” he says.

We all have seen how our parents work hard to give us the best life and fulfil our needs during our growing up years. And, when we start earning, they help us understand the importance of it and how we should maintain the same.

“In 2017 when I started earning, my perspective towards money changed and definitely the values that I learnt from my parents that I should save money and value it and plan on spending and saving, I understood its true meaning,” he adds.

Financial independence is necessary. “Having a beautiful lifestyle, I think that’s what can be provided by financial freedom. Financial freedom to me is travelling wherever I want to, fulfilling my hobbies, changing my career and trying something new, basically switching things in my life. It’s like fulfilling dreams that you didn’t achieve in the past as you wanted to fulfil other goals in your life. You can be choosy when you are financially secure. By this I mean, you can choose the projects very wisely and that’s what is important. Being able to choose and tick all the boxes in the bucket list means financial independence,” he says.

Sharing how his father has guided him to take care of his finances, Rahul adds, “My father and also the situations I have faced in my life, taught me to be financially secure. It is the first and the most basic thing that should be taught to every child at home. Saving money is just a part of it and the most important part is investment, especially in properties and gold. You can invest in the new terms which have come up like the share market, mutual funds, if you can manage or understand it well. Dividing money into five different earning investments is also a good idea.”