“I created 1.5 crores in last 7 yrs” – here is an Inspiring Money Story !

This time we are going to share money story of another reader of ours (Name not disclosed as per request). This person is from Bangalore, belonging to the middle class and is now working in the US from the last 2.5 years. He is a regular reader of this blog and agreed to share his money story with a bigger audience.

Money Story from India

Over to him…

When I was Growing Up

Born and Bought up in Bangalore, I have spent ~30 years of my life in Bangalore and 4 outside of India. Yes, I have seen Bangalore go from a quaint friendly place where I could cycle 20 km in 30 odd mins through peak traffic, be out any time of the night, ask strangers for help to the current madness on the streets.

My parents were both employed in Banks. My sister and I were never left wanting for anything that would enrich our lives. Looking back; there are things that are more evident to me now with some wisdom that I have gained.

My dad standing in ration line 20 odd years ago for necessities like sugar, our first vehicle – A Luna if anyone remembers, the frown and anger (a reflection of his inability to shell out more cash ) when I asked for something by the month end.

Our Financial life improved with new Pay Scales

Things improved significantly around 10 years back when with new pay scales and an open economy, and a mortgage that was paid off, my parent had more disposable income and could get us (almost) anything we wanted – All I wanted was 500 INR per month pocket money when I was in engineering.

dreaming of money

We did have a very sheltered life though. My parent’s primary focus was to get us educated and to ensure there are no stones unturned in giving us a quality education

I completed my BE in Computers Science and after 3 years of work experience, completed MBA from a top 3 business school in India

The Financial Struggle – Money Matters

Unfortunately, like most Indian families, this education never covered financial education. While it’s easy to now look back and fathom what my parents underwent financially when we were growing up – I still remember an incidence when I was in high school and I wanted a quiz book which costed around 5 INR (yes, 5 INR . Not a typo).

My father had told me he can only get that after a week (payday) and I had thrown a fit calling him names (I was a mean teenager). That night, when I was miserable for shouting at my father, I walked towards his bedroom to apologize and I could hear him almost apologizing (sobbing) and informing my mother that he couldn’t get what was necessary for me.

This incident for some reason stuck with me through.

Parents financial struggle for children

I have seen poverty up close through my relatives and some of my friends (while we were relatively bit better). When I was in 5th, I realized that a friend of mine wasn’t able to pay his school fees for the month. It was Rs 30 per month (I studied in a small govt aided Kannada school) and I had asked my mom to pay his fees which she graciously did until he completed his schooling!. Experiences like these made me dread having less money than what was necessary to sustain and to some extent experience life

No money matters discussed openly!

Money matters were never openly discussed and this translated into my spending habits in my initial working years. I was making around 25k take home a month ( a princely amount on 2007 ) and I just burnt through all this – Food, gifts for friends. Zero savings except for a ULIP plan of 60k per year and a couple of LIC plans based on relatives recommendation.

Fair to say that when I wanted to complete my post-graduation, I had to borrow the ~15 lacs for my MBA from banks and relatives and also withdrew the 1 lac I had in PPF

3 years of work and negative 16 lacs to show for it!

Then my financial life took a new and positive direction

During MBA, thankfully, I ran into some good, positive money minded individuals, courses, blogs (Jago investor and Subra money for example) which opened my eyes towards my financial fallacies.

27 year old, out of MBA school and 20 lacs in debt, with a salary of ~1 lac per month, I ensured that I paid off the debt in 2-2.5 years ( I had a consulting stint for 6 months in Canada that helped). My parents btw thought I had gone cuckoo in trying to repay my loans early and selling off my non-performing ULIPS and LIC plans (at a loss).

Now, 7 years later, with 7 more years of work experience, I have more than ~1.5 crores in assets. I don’t own any real estate and am looking for the best investment. I am not in love with Bangalore anymore, as I used to and the area I would like to stay is way-way-way beyond my reach.

Here is my current breakup

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My savings Amount
401(K) (retirement saving in the US) $55000 (Rs 33 Lacs)
Mutual funds (in the US) $35000 (Rs 21 Lacs)
Liquid cash (in the US) $50000 (Rs 30 Lacs)
Mutual Funds in India Rs 55 Lacs
Stocks in India Rs 3 Lacs
PPF Rs 21 Lacs
Fixed Deposits Rs 10 Lacs
Total Rs 1.73 Crores

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Let me share how I started my savings

Once I started saving money, they were always in small amounts. The guideline was to keep aside 15-20 % take home income into savings right away. This was apart from the mandatory cuts like PF from pre-tax income. Just think that your take home is 15% less and stretch the rest of the money for your needs. Else, your monetary demands will always stretch to match the supply.

I was surprised at how quickly they all add up. Investing in PPF is a good example.

It’s surprising to see that I have 20 lac in that debt-like instrument. Or the mutual fund which was mainly based on small SIPs of around 20-25 k per month, to begin with. With the way markets have behaved over the past years, they quickly grew and have resulted in the current amount.

Over a long-term, a small investment on a regular basis can create huge wealth .. below is one small example of it.

I have learned that the difficult part is to start and I maintain disciple in investing systematically. Once you do that, they give you some surprising results.

My next 6 yrs plan

I intend to not touch my Indian mutual funds, invest another 50 lacs there over the next 6 years and just let it marinate and grow over the next 20-25 years when I retire.

These numbers indicate that I am potentially ahead of some peers in the income and asset curve in the same age range

Money for me now is a means of where I want to be in 20 years from now while enjoying life on the way and being able to help everyone who matters to me. I hope I am able to use money as a tool to enrich not just my life but many others – Next stop, for now, is a small home of my own.

How important is money in life?

Currently, Money is a contributing factor for peace of mind.

I’m glad that I can provide for my family, spend some good amount, have a security blanket in case of emergencies, help my family and potentially don’t have to worry about money when I retire.

It’s not the end at all but is a means to achieve my goals. I know people romanticize having less money, but having stared at poverty up close in many cases, I can tell for sure that it’s always better to have enough money to ensure peace of mind. At the same time, the definition of “enough money” keeps changing. In college, 500 INR per month was enough money.

First job – 7000 per month for the first 6 months was enough for me to live like a king. My salary jumped to 25k per month and 3 years later and I thought I ruled the world. This is how I felt!

How happy one feels when one gets the salary first time in life

Now, with 15x – 20x that income, I am still not sure if it’s enough money (especially as I plan my retirement and my child’s education 15 years from now). I am still trying to find my answers there. My wife calls me a compulsive worrier and over thinker and maybe that’s true.

I started educating others on money

When I meet my friends with less money than me or family members with less money, my first thought is how to help – not necessarily financially, but in terms of education. But it’s not always easy. I tried educating my uncle on how his LIC policies are a bad investment and he can look at markets and MFs as he’s retiring 20 years from now and I was snubbed as a know it all in some circles.

I also donate at least 10k a month or two into micro ventures such as https://www.rangde.org/ to ensure I can contribute some way and make a difference in some small way. One of my goal, when I retire, is to ensure I have enough money to generously help those in real need

Don’t make stupid mistakes when it comes to money

When I see my cousins burning through their money in their 20s with no investment or investing in something just for the sake of 80C, friends buying the latest gadget (iPhone upgrades every year ! ), spending insane money on cars, to me it looks like people are finding happiness through small things which is never-ending.

There will always be the next thing that money can buy. I don’t want to judge anyone. Maybe they know something I don’t. But I find this very running after materialist things/brands and spending without a thought about the future very concerning

My younger cousins make fun of me (all in good humor) for not wearing branded clothes. But I am glad in the “cheaper” clothes that keep me comfortable and have never understood why I should pay 5k for a pair of Nike floaters

I am glad to share my story

After I shared my story with all readers on Jagoinvestor platform, it bought back so many memories – I’m literally in tears thinking about what our parents had to go through to get us this life that we now take for granted. I feel lucky to have such parents and in general to have been bought up in an environment that could get me to where currently I am.

Thank you for giving me an opportunity to share my experience with you ! and I request all readers to share their own money stories with all of us, there is so much to learn and know how others have lived their financial life and think about money matters.

What is your money story?

If you want to write your money story, Leave your details here and Jagoinvestor team will get in touch with you with next actions.

What do you think about my money story? Did you enjoy it? Can you share your views about money and how it changed over the years?

8 brutal mistakes investors make which destroys their financial life

The year 2017 is coming to an end and I would like to share some of the common mistakes which I have witnessed in some investors financial life.

You can never have a perfect financial life but you can always live a regret-free financial life. I take this opportunity to thank those who opened up their heart while I was helping them in designing their financial life.

investors mistakes

While you are reading the article look into your own financial life and keep your own financial life under a scanner.

Here are the top 8 fatal mistakes

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Mistake #1 

Rely on company health cover

Mistake #2 

Addiction to credit money or loans

Mistake #3 

Overs-pending because of Social Pressure

Mistake #4 

Heavy Spending Habits

Mistake #5 

Over relying on Robo Advisory

Mistake #6 

Getting attracted with FREE advice

Mistake #7 

Thinking that DIY is for everyone

Mistake #8 

Start-up ka bhoot

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Mistake #1 – Rely on company health cover

I suggested someone to buy a 10 Lakh health cover in the year 2015.

The person works in a bank and at that time he was least interested in having his own health coverage. In 2017 he calls me and says, “I have got a serious health issue, cancer detected in my kidney and doctors have suggested me to cut a portion of my kidney”.

He said, the Bank is ready to give only 3 Lakh and the actual expense is of 8-10 Lakh. He requested, can something be done to buy a backdated health policy to which I said NO.

There are many people who rely heavily on their company health cover and sometimes end up paying a huge cost. One illness and it has the power to eat away all your savings. See that you are having health cover of your own.

Mistake #2 – Addiction to credit money or loans

You see so many advertisements these days talking about buying things on EMI and low-interest rates offered on personal and credit card loan. One of our clients tried to learn the craft of shuffling money using different credit cards.

He will take a loan from Credit Card A and then use Credit card B to pay the outstanding. Initially, he got some success but eventually, he got into a debt trap. He was already having a home loan and car loan while discussing his plan we suggested him not to add any more liability and to stay away from credit card and personal loans.

He did not listen and eventually, he had to stop his SIP, his savings got NIL and is now regretting.

Mistake #3 – Overspending because of Social Pressure

One of our clients kept aside 30 Lakh for his daughter’s marriage but eventually ended spending 70 lakh. All the extra spending took place in the name of “trying to look good”.

Under the pressure of relatives and on the name of customs, he ended up spending heavy money. The extra money spent took almost 10 years to accumulate and it was part of his retirement corpus.

I see many buying a bigger house, a bigger car etc to show they are successful. It’s time to get rid of such social pressure, as no one is going to come to fund your retirement or future goals.

Mistake #4 – Heavy Spending Habits

A lot of people like to spend on gadgets and things which they really do not need. As Warren Buffet once said, “If you buy things you don’t need, very soon you will have to sell things which you actually need”.

warren buffet money quote

The words and advice by him are precious and everyone should check their spending habits. What are you spending your money on? And what value is it creating in tangible form? Stay away from instant gratification and impulsive buying habits.

It can be buying an expensive gadget, Treadmill or some fancy home equipment.

Mistake #5 – Over relying on Robo Advisory

There are many Robo advisory companies in the market. Now, using technology is not a bad thing but one has to check the quality and not the price of using some platform.

A few months back I accidentally happen to get on call with a person called Shubham Kapoor (his actual name), he said he has got some advice from robo advisory firm and he is not confident about his Mutual Fund investments. He shared his portfolio with me and the funds suggested were all shit. I immediately asked him to take corrective actions.

His current portfolio is designed by me and the funds are doing excellent. As I was writing this article I asked him to share his experience and he immediately shared his experience with me. I have not edited a single word, we do not hold any grudge against any robo advisory firm but at the same time it has to deliver quality advice.

Hey Nandish,

Hope you are doing good, my experience with Robo advisory is underlined…..feel free to edit

” After Reading through numerous blogs mentioning the benefits of fee only financial planners I came across a Robo advisory firm (Let’s call it ABC ) which guaranteed Advice free from any Bias and manual intervention. I agreed to the concept and after paying the fee plugged in my input details in their software tool.

The financial advisor from the firm fixed up a meeting with me via skype and the suggested portfolio to me(Auto generated) carried out 8 MF’s(SIP in total was 20K/month).I was not comfortable with the cluttered portfolio and also with the choice of funds.

after deliberating for couple of months, I went ahead with the suggested MF’s as it was Robo advisory which hopefully knew better than me!

the review was six monthly and every time my question on choice of funds(as they were performing very poorly compared to benchmark) were unanswered, the responses were vague and confusing.

I was not expecting immediate gains but after 3 such reviews in a period of 18 months i was still not getting the comfort and trust level, this is when I decided to stop my investments via them.

I am still baffled whether suggestions made through Robo Advisory were free from any bias or whether they were for their own commissions, your call!!”

Now, if you are investing your money with help of a robo advisor or a real human advisor, you have to make sure that there some quality advice delivered to you and some alpha is generated (extra performance, which you can’t bring on your own)

Mistake #6 – Getting attracted with FREE advice

This one is my personal favorite, many people get tempted to free advice.

It comes from the person known to you, your relative, your friend or some uncle who calls himself or herself your well wisher. One of my relative sends a pdf to me on whats app to check whether he should continue with his ULIP policy or not? The ULIP was sold as free advice.

I and my team did some working at our end and sent below email to him.

Hi XXXXX,

The return given by Reliance ULIP policy is only 6.75%. ( Extremely bad performance). You have accumulated only Rs. 354591/- after investing 3 Lakh

The policy has no loyalty benefits nor any extra benefits. If you complete whole policy period, the return will be equivalent to FD.

If you would have done SIP of 5500 per month for 57 months you could have accumulated Rs. 392000/- at the rate of 12%.

SA is only 15 lakh ( It is not giving you any higher cover)

Coming to charges:

  1. Upfront charge is 6 % as premium allocation charge. You paid 3 Lakh and they have charged upfront Rs. 18300/-
  2. Fund Management charges, mortality charges is around 4 % annually. These charges gets deducted from the amount accumulated at the yearend.

Better to come out of this policy as it has completed 5 years ( in this December) and there is no lock-in

Nandish

Guys, there are no free lunch in this world, go to a professional and look for authentic advice (if you cant take it on your own). Sometimes we also go wrong with a few suggestions/advice but the intention is never wrong. If you are taking free advice from some website, Facebook group, whats app free group stop the same immediately.

Mistake #7 – Thinking that DIY is for everyone

There was this one person who was on our client list and on one fine day he decided he will start managing his money on his own. I was happy with his decision but somewhere I was not sure about his money management skills.

I had many plans for him on how I can help him to grow his money but he concluded things very fast. He read a few books, did some seminars and is also active on various blogs and forums.

His portfolio grew from 0 to around 75 Lakh in a span of 7-8 years. I do not have his current numbers but if the portfolio is not taken care of his profits will get eaten away by the market.

I have seen people losing huge chunks of money because they focused on buying 5 star rated funds but somewhere forgot to control the risk on their portfolio. You don’t just need to learn the craft of money management but you also need to master it.

In India every Indian is a teacher, preacher, financial advisor and a doctor. Just ask any 5 colleagues about , “How to reduce weight? and you will get different answer from all sides” .

There is no athlete in this world without a coach. If performances matters you can’t do it with DIY model. You can take a few decisions on your own but cant paint the entire picture on your own. DIY is for a set of people who have high understanding of subject, great control over their decisions making, and a lot of passion and time.

Mistake #8 – Start-up ka bhoot

I remember when I and Manish started our business.

I asked Manish to continue with his job till we are not 100% confident about our venture. In Jan 2011 finally he decided to leave his job and got full time into blogging and writing. I have worked with a few entrepreneurs who jumped into business without any homework on personal finance front.

I always feel business is about taking risk, it is always like a free fall. My only request is, do not get overwhelmed by your business idea and do not mix your personal finance with your business journey. It’s not always compulsory to leave your well paying job and start a business because its “Cool”.

Final words

The year is coming to an end and it’s time to embrace your financial mistakes. In just a few moments the page will turn and we will step into the year 2018. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes but at the same time have courage to accept your mistakes and work on them.

Wealth creation is all about becoming honest with your own self in the area of money. If you wish you can share some of your mistakes of 2017 and fresh commitments you are ready to make in 2018.

Thank you, each one of you for being our partner in spreading financial awareness. There is a lot more coming up in the coming year and we look forward to your same love and partnership.