Yippee! I’ve grabbed your attention and forced you to read this column. It's not easy to FIND TIME to read up enough in this age of information overload is it? Or do several other things you want to. ……

Because you’re working a minimum 10 hours a day, either at your workplace or at home, making things perfect for your family. Then there’s the daily commute of  about 3-4 hours on the road, juggling a workout in the gym maybe – another hour gone, an hour of Newspaper/TV perhaps to keep up-to-date, and an hour each day connecting with friends and family . Hmm, just about 6-7 hours of minimum prescribed sleep time left to get ready for another day of running with your lives.

In all of this, have you paused to ask yourself – I’m sweating it out 60-80 hours a week to earn well. Am I spending even an hour a week to look at where my money is going?

Or do you just end up signing any investment form that a financial agent brings you, only because there’s money lying in the savings account and you’re loaded on guilt for not putting it away? Better still, you keep hounding a supposed stock savvy friend for the next market tip and jump right into it, dreaming of doubling your investment in the shortest possible time.

Honestly, are most of us not caught in that trap?  We crib about a 5 per cent less than expected raise we may get, but we don’t worry about underperforming investments or the wrong choices of mutual fund and insurance schemes we’ve put years of hard earned money into.

The maths is so simple. There’s no reason not to get it.

Instead of 10 per cent if you could make 12 per cent returns on yearly savings of Rs. 4 lakhs, you would be *richer by Rs. 2 crores at the end of 25 years. Now try saving a just a little more, perhaps Rs. 4 lakhs a year to begin with, increasing it by  50,000 rupees every year for the next 25 years, and then earning a return of 13 per cent per annum - you will be doubly rich, making a whopping *6 crores rupees more (or Rs. 13.30 crores in all).  That’s how you get rich.

By saving regularly.

By investing to maximize your returns.

By NOT investing in wrong products or hugely inflated piece of real estate shoved by an agent or tipped by a friend.

30 minutes to wealth promises to help you do all that. Week on week we will scrutinise investments, insurance, real estate and other personal finance products to tell you what’s working and what isn’t to make you richer.