Thursday, November 3, 2011

$1 Million jackpot: Should Sushil Kumar rejoice or worry?


$1 Million jackpot: Should Sushil Kumar rejoice or worry?

On Tuesday 1 November 2011, 10:32 PM
Sushil Kumar from Bihar just won the Rs 5 crores jackpot (Rs. 50 Million) on the fifth season of Kaun Banega Crorepati. (For those who do not know KBC, this is the Indian version of Who wants to be a Millionaire)
Sushil Kumar will not receive the entire Rs. 5 crores, the tax department will eat up about one third of his jackpot leaving him with about Rs. 3.5 crores; that's still a sizeable amount.
Let us see how it can help Mr. Sushil Kumar - a post graduate in philosophy and an IAS aspirant - in his life. He is currently a school teacher earning a meager Rs. 6000 per month.
In an interview Sushil Kumar revealed that he has some obligations that need to met first before he invests the rest of his money
  • An elder brother who wants to set up his own business
  • A younger brother  wanting to quit his 'piddly' Rs. 1500 per month job and also wants to start a new business.
  • His parents will want a nice big house - befitting the 'crorepati' son's status
  • Sushil Kumar himself plans to quit his job in order to concentrate on his IAS exam.
Sadly, along with a big amount of money God does not gift one with 'financial wisdom' - not even the wisdom of knowing that he needs unbiased financial advice. I can see a tomorrow and, therefore, find it difficult to rejoice in his success.
Why you ask? Here's why
Even in his small village there will be a lot of people chasing him — "investment consultants" There will be greedy hands pulling from all sides:
Namely, LIC agents, mutual fund agents, bank managers, other life insurance companies, pension providers, brokerage houses and bankers.
It would be really interesting to track his life over the next 10 years on a year to year basis to see how much this money is scaring him, helping him, torturing him and helping him to meet his goals.
The author P V Subramanyam is a Chartered Accountant by qualification and a financial trainer by profession. Writing being a passion he also regularly pens his thought in his blog
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