TechLahore

No Tech, as a nation and as a rule we don’t get money or financial planning. And the younger generation doesn’t get it period. There are exceptions but in general we tend to go with the conventional view rather than the really long term view. A small part of it has to do with our mindset and the joint family system. A large part of it has to do with the fact that living a protected life really doesn’t force you to think about money till its too late. I know I have been no exception to this rule despite my education and my experiences.

Agree with you completely. Perhaps a national service would be to help the young’uns develop a sense for how to accrue, invest and grow their money. I don’t see much of this going on at the moment.

There are few reasons that this issue exists in the society. We are as a society live in a nostalgia. The Muslim world has always the spitual dimention added in all span of life. After loosing the power (due to stagnant in thought) from the world stage some 5 centuries agos we are still stuck with the 7th century interpretations. The spritual leaders talks about the money as an evil so does the masses believe it while if you read the Quran or early history the emphasis was to spend but to spend you need to earn. There are few versus in Quran talking about the personal finances too but our Molvies talk about the Qaroon (Korah) too much. We have not made any mordern day Ijtehad on what is Riba and what is profit rate? The modern finance and theories are so much linked with market rate interest rate etc but the moment any percentage sign comes we get scared about the usuary. The modern day finance is not 180 degree different when we had critical thinkers and scholars you will find the terms Ijarah, Modarbah, Istisnah etc related to the financial theories. I personaly think that unless we have a change in the thinking process i.e. combining the spritual guidance with the modern needs we will not progress. The rest of world would be happy with our Molvies to keep us in the status quo and keeping more than 1 Billion population marginalized.

Adding this interesting link for food for thought.

http://www.netvert.biz/paklink/articles/RibaDefined.html

I just want to bring another perspective to this discussion. It is not just “us” who don’t get it when it comes to money, statistically speaking, a very small number of people in the whole world, including the ones who live in the developed part as well get it alright. Ask an average Joe on the street in the US how does Federal Reserve system works, and what does government do when it needs more money and you will get the same blank look. Also current variables and components important in tracking and managing financial instruments, including money has become so difficult that even most of the experts have a hard time following things completely. But in any case, I think the knowledge about the basics is always handy, and needs to be a part of high school level circulum. From experience, I believe lower middle class are much better at the brick and mortar of understanding finances. Try managing a budget in 6,000 rupees of minimum wage income. Frugality and thrift comes with austerity.

By an large, in my opinion, the way in which we think about economy and finance needs to go through a major overhaul, since the post Bretton Woods hangover is quickly becoming outdated, just as much as the 7th century financial skeleton in the closet that comes out every once in a while, given the current challenges facing economies and households. All financial systems have their pros and cons, but if they are not built keeping the whole ecosystem in mind, have the potential of doing more harm than good. IRR, multiple portfolios, stock options, all look good on paper, but in essence the fundamentals need to be brought into true perspective. I posted earlier on a similar topic on my blog over here :http://carbon4profit.com/2010/04/15/superfical-fixes-wont-solve-recession-problems/

Tech, Amir and C4P

Just a few random thoughts. I think at a broader level the question is the ability to handle money rather than understanding it. Either because of thinking, upbringing, religion or mindset, we just don’t have a handle on money. I know that when times are well we burn money like paper whereas my friends and colleagues from elsewhere in the world or even right next door in India have a much better handle on managing the transition from being cash strapped to being cash rich. But I think the only way you can learn is through bitter experience or through years of conditioning. This is not something that could be taught online or through personal interaction. In one way the current recession has been good for most of us because managing a family in 7,000 rupees of income or for that matter even 30,000 rupees a month is an impossible feat that requires us to make exceedingly difficult choices. I hope as things improve over the next few years we would remember the difficult lessons of 2008-2010.

Hey i am a regular visitor of your site….wt my perception is dat now u got nothing to discuss related tech as it was two years ago…lmao… which shows wr our country is heading….nt even a single positive thing to cheer n take pride….so sad !! God b with us.

@fadi. This blog is not just for technology it covers economy and other stuff. The tech in the South Asia is about providing some services cheap. This land is not for inventors it is a land of followers (look at the history it is always ruled by outsiders)if you remove cheap back office service from India then what innovation you find there? 100 dollar laptop
Don’t follow the media it will do nothing but depress therefore you don’t find any single positive thing. We are the victim of Great Game in central Asia and I hope this storm will pass soon to cheer our nation of mostly type A personalities. Self criticism is good but we are the only nation in the world with this pasttime.

fadi, don’t be an ass. go back and look in the archives, this site has always been about far more than technology.

our country may be headed in a great direction, but from your post it appears you need to head to remedial classes to improve your spelling, grammar, and most importantly, your comprehension.

@Amir, funny story. I was recently involved in a leveraged commercial real estate deal where a regional bank was the lender. The instrument used was an Islamic financing scheme. In a nutshell, while the concept behind this instrument is that you agree to provide the lender a certain amount of “profit” each month in consideration of his investment, in practice, the schedule agreed to keeps changing as the interest rates change. In other words, the “contract” is not honoured by the bank because it links the profit schedule – which is supposed to be agreed to up front, and then honoured through the term of the agreement – to the interest rate of the day. So, you end up paying 20+% and have to deal with constant changes in the schedule. This is no “islamic financing”. This is a bloody farce. It is, in fact, bordering on usury given the high fees, rates of interest and constant increases. In contrast, in a country like the US, you have the option of locking in an interest rate for 5, 10, 15 or 30 years. Once the deal is done, it’s done. You have a fixed schedule of payments which don’t change regardless of what the interest rate happens to be during the term of the agreement. That’s more islamic than what Alfalah, Faysal bank and their islamic brethren are offering consumers in Pakistan.

This is just one example of how we hide behind islamic terminology and labels, while in fact, we are ripping people off far worse than many of the US banks the media loves to hate. I bet you most people who sign up for “Islamic” financing, don’t know what they’re getting in to, and most certainly don’t realize how poorly it compares to traditional financing.