Where does this road lead to?

“Where does this road lead to?” I was surprised that two people asked me the same question on a single day. I had gone for a morning walk and within just 10 minutes, two persons asked me this.

My answer to both was, “Where do you want to go?” The moment they told me the destination, it was easy for me to guide them which way to go. They both knew their destination and still asked a wrong question. Had I tried to answer the question without probing, I could have told them anything. The chances are high that my answer would not have been of any help to either.

While reaching the destination is more important, we keep focusing on speed in a journey. As we all know that in a journey, direction is more important than speed. If the speed is slow, but the direction right, you would reach the destination late, but if the speed is high and direction wrong, you may reach somewhere else. We all know this simple fact. Still, the discussions about investments focus too much on speed – the rate of return and not the financial goal, which is the determinant of the direction.

Identify your financial goals and then plan to achieve those. Which scheme should be a part of the plan is a secondary question.