5 Money Lessons We All Can Learn From The Success Of Chandrayaan-3
Last week on 23rd August, our entire nation witnessed a historic and proud moment when Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the moon¡¯s south pole, a feat achieved only by India till date.
Last week on August 23, our entire nation witnessed a historic and proud moment when Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the moon¡¯s south pole, a feat achieved only by India to date.
While Chandrayaan-3¡¯s success did highlight major scientific achievements by ISRO, there are also some money lessons we all can learn from this extraordinary accomplishment.
Money Lessons We Can Learn From Chandrayaan-3¡¯s Success
1. Be prepared to play a long-term game
The success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission serves as a historic milestone in India's space exploration and highlights the value of a long-term approach. Chandrayaan-1, India¡¯s first moon mission was the result of decades of hard work by ISRO scientists, followed by Chandrayaan-2.
From conception and execution to achievement, space missions like the Chandrayaan-3 demand unwavering patience and a long-term vision. This gives us a key personal finance lesson as well. Just as space missions require time to explore and unravel mysteries, investments need time to grow and compound. Cultivating a long-term investment strategy enables individuals to harness the power of time and market trends to achieve financial goals.
Also, a key reason why ISRO was able to contain its costs on Chandrayaan-3 is that it opted to take a longer route to the moon, allowing it to use less powerful ¨C and cheaper ¨C propulsion systems. Chandrayaan-3 took more than 40 days to reach the moon, looping through widening orbits to use the Earth's gravitational force as a slingshot. On the other hand, Russia's Lunar 25, which was expected to be much faster and aimed to land on the moon before Chandrayaan-3, eventually crashed and failed.
Moreover, ISRO has many upcoming short and long-term missions as well, for which it has already been planning.
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2. Be ready for emergencies
ISRO adopted a 'failure-based design' strategy, prioritising scenarios of potential failure to safeguard the mission against challenges and secure a successful and safe landing. ISRO chairman S Somanath said, ¡°We have also made sure that if two of the engines don¡¯t work this time also, it will still be able to land. So the whole design has been made to make sure that it should be able to handle many failures, provided the algorithms work properly.¡±
Similarly, when it comes to your personal finances, it is important to plan for possible contingencies in your financial life. There are two important things you need to do to be prepared for an emergency situation. The first is to create an adequate emergency fund, which essentially entails keeping six months of your mandatory and recurring monthly expenses. Second is to have adequate health insurance so that you are protected in the event of hospitalisation, which could eradicate your lifelong savings. Also, life insurance, which protects your family in case of an eventuality is also important.
3. Factor in risk management when planning
Space missions are fraught with danger, and financial life is no exception. Mission planners on Chandrayaan-3 carefully assessed potential risks and devised mitigation strategies. Similarly, you must diversify your investment portfolios in order to effectively manage risks. Given that diversification acts as a safeguard against unforeseen financial challenges, try Investing across asset classes as it lessens the impact of market volatility on one's overall financial position.
4. Persistence is the key to a successful portfolio
Despite Chandrayaan-2 not succeeding in 2019, ISRO persisted with its lunar exploration program and eventually ensured Chandrayaan-3 that turn into a successful mission. In personal finance too, setbacks such as falling markets, non-performing investments, or economic recessions, need to be tackled with persistence. However, it is necessary to remain persistent, track the progress of investments, and stick to your financial goals. As and when required, you need to make adjustments to your finances as well.
5. Planning does not end at retirement
Just like the Chandrayaan-3 mission does not end at a successful soft landing, with data collection and other key tasks still going on, even one's financial planning does not end at retirement. Click here to understand how you can handle your retirement corpus and make it last longer.