Dreams need Runways

My dad told me something when I was younger: "Never put yourself in a position where you need a favour from someone else." At the time, I wasn't entirely sure what he meant.

Studying in Delhi taught me a great deal. The city exposed me to different people, ideas, and opportunities. But one of the most important lessons I learned was about my relationship with money. Budgeting wasn't a chapter in a book for me; it was part of everyday life. Pocket money had to last, and spending on one thing often meant not spending on another.

Yet despite that exposure, I struggled with money. I misunderstood it, ignored parts of it, and assumed I would eventually figure it out. Many times, I did not.

That experience is why I often think about the thousands of other Naga students and young professionals who leave home every year for Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Shillong, and other places. Leaving home sounds exciting until you actually do it. Along with the freedom comes the responsibility of managing your own finances, and for many of us, that becomes one of the most important life skills we learn.

Adulthood arrives much earlier than we expect. One day, you're asking your parents for money, the next, you're budgeting for rent, groceries, transport, and trying to make sense of where the month went. Leaving home brings more than excitement and opportunity. It brings responsibility. And responsibility, unlike ambition, is rarely glamorous.

One of the greatest strengths of our community is that we look after one another. Wherever we go, somebody is usually willing to help. A senior helps you settle in. A friend introduces you to people. A relative opens their home. There is comfort in knowing that someone is there if things go wrong.

That support matters. But it cannot be the plan.

This is where money enters the conversation. Money is rarely the goal, but it often determines how much freedom we have to pursue our goals. It affects our choices, our timelines, and even our confidence. How long can you stay away from home? Can you afford to take a risk? Can you survive a setback? Can you stay long enough for your plans to work?

I started paying closer attention to these questions, in myself and in the people around me. Over the past year, building Moneybar has put me in rooms with students, professionals, entrepreneurs, and community members from across our community. What stood out was not a lack of interest or curiosity, but how often people held back from asking. Questions about money, careers, opportunities, questions they were clearly thinking about but reluctant to say out loud, often for fear of sounding uninformed. But the reality is simpler: most people are figuring things out as they go.

For me, financial literacy isn't technical. It is simply the ability to make better decisions, understanding where your money goes, how to budget, how to save, and asking questions before making expensive mistakes. I would call it an attitude. Because money problems often come down to habits, fear, or a lack of knowledge.

Financial literacy helps most of us stay in the game long enough for opportunities to find them. The length of your dream is often tied to the length of your financial runway. Many talented people don't fail for lack of talent; they run out of resources before their plans can work. And to add to that, poor financial decisions can create problems that never needed to exist in the first place.

This is also a question of how we think, not just how we spend. Many of us are raised to respect traditions and established ways of doing things, and rightly so. But there is a difference between respecting tradition and being limited by it. Just because something was done a certain way does not mean it's the only way. The same applies to how we handle money: just because nobody talked about it growing up doesn't mean we can't start now.

Moneybar came from this belief. I was trying to create the conversations I wish existed when I was younger, a community where people could ask questions without hesitation, where admitting you don't understand money is normal, and where people learn from each other's experiences and mistakes. If this resonates with you, come find us at Moneybar, on the App Store, Google Play, and follow our journey on our socials. This community is especially made for you and me.

The purpose of leaving home was never to escape where we come from. It was to become capable enough to contribute more when we return, capable enough to support others, create opportunities, and build.

And maybe that's what my dad meant all along. About independence, the ability to choose, to make your own decisions, survive uncertainty, and stand on your own feet when life becomes difficult.

-Paweii Kayina