How Will My Lifestyle Affect My Children?

Dear Ms.Vibha Verma

Thank you for asking a very valuable question, that has a deep impact both on your life, lives of your immediate family, including your children.

Leading a simple lifestyle, even when you can easily afford a luxurious one, is very important in all respects - financially, philosophically, spiritually and in common sense.

Since I believe in ‘Value Investing’ I will approach your question from the financial management/ investing angle.

Leading a simple lifestyle makes immense common sense. It will leave a lot of cash in your hands, which you can invest to generate ‘Passive Incomes’, which in-turn will lead you to ‘Financial Freedom’ and ultimately to riches and wealth.

By leading a simple lifestyle even when we can afford luxury is teaching a highly valuable lesson to our children, for which they will be thankful to us, the parents, latter in their lives. The urge to splurge is the modern and ubiquitous malady and controlling the ‘Urge to Splurge’ is the remedy.

Comfortable lifestyles is fleeting. Suddenly calamity may strike and cripple a family from maintaining a luxurious lifestyle. I have experienced such a situation myself, when suddenly one day from a rich and powerful stature I was dragged on to the streets without a penny in hand and a family to take care of. From a rich and influential person with powerful friends I became worse than a blade of grass - that is how life can play tricks. Children who are pampered with comforts will be unable face situations like this and that day will curse their parents.

In conclusion, parents have to lead by example living simple lifestyles, which will inculcate the same good habit in the children, for which they will ultimately be thankful to the parents, even though during childhood them may resent the frugal living. Pampering children with goodies and comforts is not right way of showing true love - rather it is spoiling them for which we shall be solely responsible. On the other hand we will be doing immense good to them by leading a simple lifestyle ourselves.

I thank you once again for the valuable question.

With Best Regards

Anand

Please Note: This is almost a reproduction of the question I had answered on the website ‘Quora’, which I thought could be useful to the visitors to this blog site also.