My Bonus Payout

I was in the middle of a discussion with my colleague, when my boss approached us. He was holding two envelops in his hand. Our years of experience instantly told us that it was the time for yearly bonus payout.

He smiled at us, handing over our respective envelops. “So what do you plan to do with it?” he enquired jokingly.

“Depends what is in it!!” my colleague retorted almost immediately. Boss smiled and left us.

I preferred to keep quiet.

I had been taught long ago, ‘what is in it will depend on what I want to do with it’.

It was more than a decade ago.

I was still in my first role of my first job. I had a long list of pending purchases, unmet desires and yet-to-be achieved goals. I was struggling to decide what to prioritize as a necessary expenditure, fitting in my miniscule budget. It was then that Mr. Agarwal, my boss at that time, came to me with my first ever bonus payout.

Just to give a brief introduction, Mr. Agarwal belonged to a family of accountants. An astute financial planner, he had inherited the skills in his genes.

Sticking to the cliché, he asked me the same question. “What will you do with it?”

I smiled sheepishly and told him that I am still trying to figure it out.

He patted softly on my back. “First decide what you need and what you want. Money earned without an objective is only greed. Proponents of higher morals may not agree with me. But it’s important to plan an increase in your expenses in order to achieve a healthy increase in your income.”

Now, almost a decade later, I am again holding this envelope. And now I know what to do with it.