The Abundance Loop by Juliana Park talks about the abundance loop in lieu of the scarcity loop. I know there are a lot of Self Help books out there but I was intrigued to read this, because Juliana is a CFA, a Certified Financial Planner.

While in India recently, I had a conversation with a friend of mine and we both agreed that one of the biggest gap in the education we had in India was the lack of a proper financial education. We both passed out from a prestigious engineering college in the early nineties, I moved to the US and he to the Middle East.

I went into entrepreneurship and Technology and so on, and he moved into quality management and operations and worked a long time with a bank. He took a long sabbatical and is now taking time for the next phase of life and I still working and planning and a retirement is a long time from now. It might be a US thing, but I guess it is more.

I cannot explain more the importance of finance and also talk on the financial mistakes (misunderstandings/ignorance) I have made in my life. Over time I have realized how important a role finance holds in life.

The interesting thing though was that even when I was good at finance; on a business and corporate level, where I had to budget, plan and control costs and improve profitability as my work demanded it, when it came to personal finance, it sucked. It took a while for me to get on track and I know there is still a long way to go.

I found the book on my wife’s desk, who had attended one of Juliana’s talk at her office. I used to be a big self help books junkie back in the years but then lost interest. Now on and off I pick up things to read that I feel are more practical and pragmatic.

I honestly don’t like the, “You are so great but you just don’t know it, Let me tell you how” kind of books. So the CFA next to Juliana’s name kind of struck a chord. I like the fact that it is well grounded in it’s very financial and pragmatic approach to life.

I am a firm believer that “more than being taught new things, we need to be reminded of what we already know”.

I picked that up as a 20 something from a Zig Ziglar book. So I thought to myself let’s give this a try, she is a CFA and more information on personal finance will not hurt and it also had something beyond just wealth.

I loved the book for a few reasons. First I liked the way she draws a comparison between the ‘the Scarcity loop’ and ‘the abundance loop’ and explains various facets of life.

It talks of the fear and our inability and unreadiness to accept what might be uncomfortable to us and how that manifests in our actions and in the life we live.

Second I liked the detailed exercises on value to intentions to conscious actions plan with inroads into starting on your cash flow, budgeting and planning and so on. What I did was to type her exercises onto a Google spreadsheet so I can work on this over the weekend. Would be interesting. You are never at your best, there is a bit more to you than this.

I also liked her thoughts on Net-worth vs. Self-worth and made me realized that even when I questioned my net-worth I was always happy with my self-worth.

I think the book is much different from the many books that tell you “Go in front of the mirror daily and say you are great and then one fine morning you will magically just be great”

If you want a book, that is easy reading but also can give you some interesting tips; some that remind what you know and some that give you a new perspective, this is a good one.

My philosophy is that you do not have to agree with everything in a book to accept a book. May be when you read it you might accept a different part of the book than me. I think you should give ‘The Abundance Loop’ a real look.

Thanks Juliana for writing and sharing your thoughts.

Categories: Blog, Book Reviews, Books, Enjoying Life and Work

Tags: Financial Education, Julian Park, The Abundance Loop