What Happened to Lehmans

LATELY, I have been thinking a lot about the Lehman crisis .
Spending money that they didn't have and going beyond their means is one of the
main reasons for their situation today. In fact that is the cause for
the current economic crisis in the US.
When all this happens, I remember the good old days.
People looked down upon those who took loans.
Parents would not give their daughter's hand in marriage to a man with
loans.
But of course, the times have changed now. Everyone I know has a loan.
The buzz word is EMI (equated monthly installment).
Today, you can buy everything on EMI - a house, a television, an i-Pod. In fact I know of
someone who just bought a fancy BMW 3 series on EMI, instead of
buying a cheaper car outright with cash.
Anyway, coming back to what caused the crisis.
Imagine having $ 200,000 in your bank account, no regular income, yet buying a house worth
$6500,000 in the hope of selling it for a higher price.
Even if the price of the house fell by just 5 per cent (that is $ 300,000), you
will go bankrupt.
This is what Lehman Brothers did; with around USD 20 billion they went
and bought assets worth over USD 600 billion. Isn't it suicidal and
simply foolish?
I am sure things would have been different, had I been the head of
Lehman brothers. But who wants a conservative to head a complex financial institution.

But there are a few lessons that we can learn:
1.Live a balanced life and avoid overspending.
2.Don't buy things we don't need.
3.Don't buy Branded good's.
4.Don't buy excess Food, Cloths, Cosmetics, Footwear, electronics and
Fashion accuracies
just think before you buy.
Tip: World still has a lot of growth ahead and the future holds
immense opportunities for us. Let us make the most of it and save and
invest
it wisely instead of wasting our precious little on things we don't
need.

5.Try to balance life with work (No one is happy to work in their
profession's).
6. Don't stress out your self, after work try to do some extra
activities like swimming, yoga, walking, running where you can
divert your mind from stress.
A thumb rule: Health is more important than money.
7.Try to understand each other (Wife and Husband) in financial
matter's and help each
other.
Tip: As soon as you get your monthly salary, set aside a fixed amount,
usually 35 per cent, for insurance, savings and investments. You can
then spend the rest.
8. Not all loans are bad. Loans that are 'need based' (home loans,
education loans) can always find a place in your finances against
those
that are largely 'want based' (Credit cards, personal loans, car loans).

9. Borrow only if repayment is financially comfortable.
A thumb rule: Keep EMIs within 35 to 45 per cent of your monthly income
In that respect, there is one American who I really respect - WARREN
BUFFET. He has lived in the same ordinary house for over three
decades,
drives his own medium sized car and leads an extremely regular 'middle
class' life. If that's all it takes for the richest person on earth to
be happy, why do all of us need to take extra stress just so that we
can get things which aren't even essential?