talkersthird we will all live longer after the initial years of loans and liquidity crisis and the middle age worries about career progression we will sail past the pangs of entrepreneurship and freedom and land in that place where we will worry if the money will last a lifetime maybe it will living with regret about decisions not taken on time is awful what are those concepts principles and ideas that might help us let me put in five things to think aboutfirst personal finance is not about the many decisions you make in your life it is about the few strategic decisions you make for a lifetime all else is implementation if your goal is financial independence you cannot achieve it without a steady income controlled spending and accumulation of assets make sure your everyday decisions fit within that big picturesecond if sensible investing is on your mind you must commit to strategic asset allocation and diversification if you mindlessly added financial products to your kitty or invested most of your wealth in property since you think it is the best or left cash uninvested in the bank because you have no time and cant trust anyone else you have made serious asset allocation decisions that will come to bite youthird grasp the idea of growth vs income and decide how well your money is aligned to your needs given the phase of your life what you need every day must be served by your income and all else must be invested to grow in value the marketplace can offer a million products you must ask whether what is on offer delivers income or growth and if that is what you need your money must work for youfourth every decision has a pure formthe right thing to do grasp that completely and fearlessly then deal with what the compromises are and if you are willing to accept those compromises given your situation whether it is a loan a credit cards unpaid dues the ipo that you bet on the policy you signed up or the fund you bought you have to be satisfied they are right for you and explicitly know what you compromised for whatfifth as peter drucker famously said a decision that does not degenerate into work is but a good intention decisions are at a high level of competence they need thorough conceptual understanding and expertise to deal with the entire cycle of thought action observation and correction be sure about what components of this cycle you would deal with and what you will outsource do not hope that your distributor or relationship manager who executes your decision will also provide the expertisethere are components of your financial life that you have to take charge of and you must make decisions while being there columnists like me hope to help but the task remains yoursthe writer is chairperson centre for investment education and learning