Recently i pondered about buying a car, thinking over it i realized if i buy a internal combustion engine car today i would absolutely look like a fool in 2030. Not only that but the infrastructure around electric vehicles has still a long way to go. Our apartments , homes and even the grid is not yet ready for the faster adaptation for electric vehicles. Also there is a drastic change in technology that is taking place.

From the overall perspective i see car sales going down in the 2-3 years. Whenever we are in a interest rate being high scenario. Car sales shoot up initially when the effect of interest rate hikes are not felt in the economy. But as the rates are passed on to the consumers eventually, EMI’s go higher and this becomes a deterrent in the car buying experience. Now this can have ripple effects in the entire economy especially when inflation is higher.

Car sales as of now are pretty buoyant and continue to remain so, either the increase in per person income is happening rapidly or this is just a phase where the car sales will go up and eventually come down. For me personally i will probable postpone my decision of owning a car.

Until a few years ago, maybe around 15-20 years ago, my idea of a holiday was going to my maternal grandmother’s place and spending time with my cousins and relatives. We used to play games on the road(not the main road), we used to all sit together to eat food and this memory was my ideal definition of a holiday. Nowadays times have changed, the idea of a vacation usually means going to a destination where there are sights to see, this has become the new normal.

As the per person capital of a country increases people are bound to visit places which are destinations for culture, pleasure or nature. This adds a significant value to the people living in those destinations. This also boosts sectors like airlines, hotel, railways. Since some of them might take personal loans to fund their trips, credit as a category might go up as well. As disposable incomes went higher, people started travelling abroad bollywood played a major role for them in discovering the locations to travel to.

There has been a shift from pilgrimage with families, to group tours, to customized tours, and finally towards traveling to enrich our lives. All of this will majorly boost the economy when destinations are more standardized, tourist friendly. In china, the citizens used to opt for many international destinations, after covid the government encouraged people to check out the places in their own country and this has given a major boost to the economy as well. Going ahead there will be policy more focused towards building India as a tourism destination.

Dopamine is closely associated with satisfaction in human beings. Dopamine is also a double edged sword when it comes to regret. If an individual gets into the regret cycle, he tried to increase dopamine through some experiences and then regret having that experience. This increases the chances of being depressed.

Having a alert but calm state of mind is the ideal situation that everyone wants to be in. To achieve this a lot of people choose different methods. This can include drinking, drugs and other dopamine hitting practices which does give this effect for a certain period, but not without causing harm to your body. And as the effect isn’t constant you get addicted to this and health goes underhill.

Cold water is known to increase the levels of dopamine and the good thing about this is the levels can be sustained after it. Although it might be different compared to addictions, but it can be a good way because it doesn’t affect your health. This can help in getting the same feeling , increased focused experiences after that.

When it comes to setting the stage to be better at most things like, increased focus, increased determination and increased discipline. There is one thing that is the foundation to most of these things i.e sleep. Sleep is the fundamental habit that we need to develop, if we do not get it consistently our body looses the energy required to perform things to stay ahead. And we downgrade our ability to build things like determination and focus.

Every cell in our body has a circadian rhythm , which means it needs to get rest at a particular time. That’s why we get affected when there is jet lag. Also most of the problems like depression , anxiety , obesity. Can be solved by just starting a habit of waking up early and going to bed early and maintaining that. With the extra time you either work out, play a sport or read a book.

This helps your body also to build a routine and helps you to discover the body slowly. You understand metabolism, you can eliminate food products that affect your sleep. All this just by having a morning routine.

EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services) as a category is almost worth 3 Trillion USD. Majority of the value pertains to the manufacturing of apple products. India has only 3-4% of the global EMS market. The majority of the business is still dominated by products like mobile phones and white goods. Going ahead medical , renewables and aerospace are going to take a larger pie. Also since a large part of automobiles is going electric this is also going to be a segment to watch out for.

There are a few listed companies which do have a formidable business in India, since most of these companies are assembly based. The proxies to this industries also will benefit in the long run. As the country’s per person capita crosses 2500 USD in 2-3 years. The internal consumption of these products are bound to increase as well. This will lead to these companies needing more capacity to manufacture and will lead to increasing revenues.

A good example of this trend is to look at Foxconn, the EMS manufacturer who grew rapidly from 1995 – 2010. Sometimes growing 50% year on year. In 2010 they decided they want to grow slower and focus on efficiencies. This opened a huge opportunity for other players to get in the market. Also with countries relying on their own supply chain it is more likely to grow in a country like india which has a dual advantage of consumer interest rising and its ambition of being a developed nation.

Will power in simple words is the motivation to do things & the motivation to resist things. Now this process helps in building discipline and helps you stick to good habits. Increasing will power does give you an edge over others at situations which present as opportunities and the only way ahead is getting out of your comfort zone.

To build a habit seems easier in the early days , where you have made up your mind and executed it. Now the hard part is building discipline for it, now this is a distinctly different process compared to just starting a habit. Both are different processes and both need to be looked at differently. This process requires effort or some extra energy on bad days. Often times we face resistance from the environment and internally to not carry on your habits. The only difference between not carrying out a habit and continuing a habit is WILL POWER. But how do you govern this within you ?

Motivation is one of the primary source for willpower. I believe that having a positive outlook on life does make you look at things very optimistically and this makes you look forward to things that you want to do. This process helps you to motivate yourself and in the journey you get to build on things like will power and tenacity. Internally this process helps you to have an edge over others.

India being a primarily a Hindu country, spends almost 32 Billion $ during the festival months which start from August all the way till December. That’s almost 1% of GDP. This is a staggering number, although in a developed economy like in the United states , holiday spending is almost 3% of GDP. Most of the spending in India is towards diwali supplies, home renovation, home repairs, some white goods, festival groceries.

Despite high inflation Indians have not toned down their festival spendings. Now in terms of investing, this seems to be a cyclic theme for a large number of companies associated with this theme. Maybe chocolates, sweets, paints(to certain extent) do well in a country like India. I am yet to find a suitable investment for home improvement as a theme. I guess the proxy to play most of these industries is packaging.

Also the average spending per festival of an indian family has increased over the years and this will keep increasing as the per person income goes upwards. Investments can be thought of in a way that indian companies manufacturing imported substitutes in this area can create wealth going forward.

The world will be a radically different place in the next 5 years. Mark Twain did say that ‘history doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes’. Events like major wars where the world where most of the countries are involved happens approximately every 100 years. Where the superpower of that time is tested. The wealth gaps of today does reflect a lot of the same thing that the world experiences almost a century ago.

When it comes to the financial health of the countries, debt levels of today are unprecedented and can destroy the economy of the country. Even the populist beliefs between the leftists and rightists have become completely opposite. The world order of today has been changing. We are experiencing things that one would have not experienced during his lifetime.

How do you invest in such situations ? If your doing a monthly contribution towards your investment, it shouldn’t be much of a difference to your portfolio as you will be investing in bad times as well. But if your trading in stocks or have a lumpsum to invest then now would be a time to hold your horses. Keeping it in cash or short term debt can be an attractive proposition. The valuation of today has limited upside and more chances of it going down south. Now holding on to cash or short term debt can be an advantage when markets start correcting.

Most people young or old , are content to being passive consumers and spend out their dopamine towards doing essentially meaningless work. And most of them spend their days consuming food and air which is harmful them – Andrew huberman.

Lifespan is limited to every individual and there is a reason that only some of us make a difference through our day to day lives. I think most of the people who do make a difference are those who question the decisions they make and make the necessary changes that is required to address it. The framework to this might be the practice of making notes on their day to day activities.

Writing down your own thoughts do have a profound impact on clarity. Doing this on a daily basis reduces the trivialities in life, helps you keep you in conveying messages in a crisp way. The act of putting pen to paper helps you sort the thoughts in your mind and helps in processing your emotions and gain clarity. This process improves clarity and helps you with patterns to understand and introspect better.

Emotions form a big part of our lives. It’s fair to say that whoever you are as an individual is a sum total of decisions you have taken when pushed into difficult emotional situations. We can say that the decisions we take in our lives is based on things like, whether it made us happy or made us sad, a range of different emotions. Everyone’s perception of emotions is different. The idea of happiness can be different for different people. Now this process defines you.

Awareness forms a major part of how you deal with emotions. Self awareness in the ability to see ourselves clearly. People who are self aware have a higher chance to create better relationships, more fulfilled, better communicators. Asking ‘why’? , does it create alternative facts ? According to research to ask ‘What’ is the better way to do it. This can be done after the emotional situation takes place.

Asking what is a better way to direct emotions. We do live in a world where most of the decisions are influenced by emotions and the decisions we take will form the base for the future as well. When we try to ask ourselves questions like why this is affecting me ? We can get multiple answers to suit our emotions for that moment. Rather if we ask the question What is it that i can do so that i don’t feel that way ? We can get better rational answers. Maybe this helps in facing future situations where we have to take decisions based on emotions.

Ask WHAT , and Don’t ask WHY.