Sunny Side Up š³: Dhobis in malls & The Everything Goes to Sh!t Financial Plan!

Hey folks!
Remember the meme from 2016 that went viral because someone scribbled āSonam Gupta Bewafa Haiā on a ā¹10 note?
We ask because the chatter around āscribbling on notesā is back. Thereās a message doing the rounds thatās causing some panic. It claims that writing on banknotes could make them invalid.
And the Press Information Bureau stepped in and did a quick fact check. Ā It said that a few scribbles on a banknote wouldnāt strip it of its legal tender status.
But hey, that shouldnāt encourage anybody. Scribbling can deface a banknote and reduces its shelf life. That means more soiled notes and higher currency printing costs for the central bank.
Which is why former RBI governor, Dr Bimal Jain introduced a āClean Note Policyā in 1999 to suck out soiled notes from circulation and issue fresh or clean notes. 2 years later the RBI even urged banks to use bands instead of stapling notes to increase their life.
So, although the viral message turned out to be fake, the intentions behind it probably werenāt! Using crisp and clean banknotes is a different feeling after all.
Donāt you agree?
Hereās a soundtrack to get you in the mood šµ
Dreaming In My Mind by Jaden Maskie
Have you poured yourself a hot beverage yet?
Letās get started!
What caught our eye this week š
You can now take your chores to a mall!
What would you do if you had just a one-day weekend and had to shop, but also do stuff like laundry and get a haircut?
If I were you, Iād first do the chores and check in to a salon. After that, if I had any time (thank you traffic) and energy left, Iād probably think about stepping into a mall. Or maybe just postpone my shopping plans.
But what if malls offered a whole host essential services and you didn't have to hop from one place to another? It would be quite the life-saver, no?
Well, some mall operators have caught on to this idea. And theyāre diversifying their tenants now. Theyāre roping in tailors, cobblers, pet groomers, launderers and even pop-up health labs so that people donāt skip mall visits and run helter-skelter to finish their errands.
Now itās not a selfless cause, of course. Theyāve realized that they need to innovate and keep up with the times.
See, mall operators earn their rents these days in either of these two ways.
1. Ā A fixed fee is charged from the tenant. So theyāll make money irrespective of whether stores make good sales or not. But if malls donāt woo customers and sales remain flat, then thereās a high chance of brands closing down their mall stores. The mall could turn into a āghostā mall ā with low footfall and high vacancy. And theyāll lose revenue.
2. Ā A revenue-share model. If the stores do well, the mall operator can pocket a bigger fee. So if people reduce the time spent in malls because theyāve got other places to be, it can dampen sales or at best, itāll stagnate. And the money doesnāt pour in either.
So by giving everything under one roof, theyāre simply trying to get people to spend more than the typical 2-3 hours at the mall. More time at the mall = more money being spent = more revenue for the mall operator!
Infographic š
Quirkonomics šø
The Diamond-Water Paradox aka the paradox of value
What if we told you that weāre doing a Finshots giveaway of a diamond solitaire?
Itās obviously a hypothetical scenario. But didnāt it thrill you for a moment?
Now imagine that we told you that weāre giving away a bottle of mineral water. How would that make you feel? Meh, weāre guessing.
And thatās probably to do with how expensive diamonds are. But have you ever thought why the inconsequential diamond is costlier than a life-saving liquid like water?
Well, Adam Smith (the father of modern economics) did. In 1776, he pondered over this conundrum in his book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. And he couldnāt quite put a finger on it.
Economists tried to explain it using various theories. Such as the labour theory. Meaning, the more labour it takes to produce something, the pricier it is. After all, water was available in abundance. In streams, rivers, everywhere. Whereas diamonds were rarer, they were deep underground and hard to get. You needed more manpower for the job. So diamonds naturally were more expensive.
But not everyone was convinced. Because there were places where even water was rare. Like the deserts. So why didnāt water prices reach stratospheric levels in the desert?
Well, it took 100 years, but Alfred Marshall finally cracked the paradox and put the debate to rest. He said itās not the absolute level of utility of the product but rather the diminishing marginal utility which matters.
In simple terms, the first litre of water is precious. It will quench your thirst. But what will you do with another 5 litres of water? You could store it for use but the more water you have, the less you start valuing it.
But thatās not the case with diamonds. Each additional diamond has the same allure. No one says no to the extra bling. You put this and its scarcity together and boom, you have a high price!
So yeah, thatās the Diamond-Water Paradox for you in a nutshell.
Money tips š°
The āEverything Goes to Sh!tā Financial Plan!
When the good times are rolling, we just think lifeās going to be a bed of roses every day. But one day, reality strikes ā you hear terms like recession, layoffs, and funding winter being bandied about. And you think ā maybe the job isnāt so secure after all.
The question is ā do you have a plan B if the worst were to happen? How can you trim down your bloated spending habits?
Thatās why you need the āEverything Goes to Sh!t Financial Plan!ā Think of it as a survival pack youād need in case of a zombie apocalypse. You use it only in the direst situations.
Step 1:
Whatās the bare minimum amount you need to survive each month? Iām talking only about the essentials. Things like housing, groceries, and utilities. Salaries to your cook and house help donāt fall into essentials. You can make do without them. You can cancel your Netflix subscription too. Just the bare minimum.
Step 2:
Get your healthcare situation in order. Everyone relies on health insurance provided by the employer. But when youāre laid off, that disappears. And itāll be the worst time to make a trip to the hospital. You can rack up a hefty bill pretty quickly if you have to visit the doctor and it can wipe out any savings you have. So make sure you have substantial health insurance coverage. And if you donāt, please schedule a call with my colleagues at Ditto Insurance ASAP!
Step 3:
Start building your emergency fund. If your monthly expenses are ā¹50,000, start by saving up towards that amount first. Gradually, increase that to a point where you have at least 6 months' worth of these expenses in your bank account. It should be readily accessible. And itās okay if it doesnāt earn you sky-high returns. The purpose is safety. Just so that you can sleep well at night.
Oh, and be honest about what youāre trying to achieve. If your friend calls you and says, āHey, letās go on a trip,ā and youāre trying to shore up your emergency fund first, let them know. Maybe even convince them to get their finances in order first. Once itās set, you can take your holiday in peace knowing that youāre in a financially sound place!
Do these 3 things first and youāll breathe easier.
Readers Recommend šļø
Liner - a web productivity extension
This week we picked an amazing recommendation from our reader Mehak Jain. Liner is a browser extension that lets you highlight anything you see online. Be it articles, images or even videos! The extension saves everything you highlight in a folder so that you can look at it later, all in one place.
āYou can also pinpoint time stamps of any YouTube video via it. Itās very handy and convenient and a great tool for research.ā she says.
Thanks for the tip Mehak. Thatāll surely help us when weāre researching for our stories and we hope our readers find it useful too.
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With this, weāre wrapping up this edition of the Sunny Side Up.
We hope you enjoyed it.
Donāt forget to tell us what you think and send us your book, music, business movies, documentaries or podcast recommendations. Weāll feature them in the newsletter! Just hit reply to this email (or if youāre reading this on the web, drop us a message: morning@finshots.in).
Weāll be back next Sunday!
Until then...
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