How much money is enough for you?

POSTED BY Jagoinvestor ON April 29, 2019 COMMENTS (111)

Do you know how much money is there in this world?

It’s $36.8 trillion (or 2569 Lakh Crores)

What if you get all this money? Imagine you wake up one day and your bank balance shows 2569 Lakh Crores. However, you also find that you are the only person left on this earth while every other person is missing.

All the malls, all the shops, all the movie theaters, all the entertainment parks, all the jewelry shops, all the real estate, all the fruits and restaurants and everything you can imagine is intact. It’s all available there.

how much money is enough

 

So what can you do with all that money with you?

The answer is NOTHING.

You can’t do anything, because you can only exchange money with something and if you already have everything available on earth lying there and already available to you, the money just loses its role completely. That 2569 Lakh Crores with you is nothing but trash.

Coming back to our life, at the start we do not have much and money is something which can help us get access to lots of things in life. However, we move from having “Nothing” to “Something” to “Good enough” to “A lot” and then slowly “Almost everything we wanted”

In this transition over years, the importance of money comes down in our life. We already have most of the things we can wish for. You already have a house, a car, nice furniture, a second home, great vacations, eating out, etc. etc.

The Race of Earning Money

While money is very important in life, we are conditioned to think from our childhood that money is the solution to everything in life. We are subconsciously in this race of earning more and more money without setting a target. More is always better it seems.

Note that.

  • There is a limited amount of food you can eat in this world
  • There is a limited number of vacations you will take
  • There is a limited number of houses you can live in
  • There is a limited number of cars you can drive
  • There is a limited number of things you need to have a great life

How much money do you need?

5 crores, 10 crores, 50 crores?

I strongly suggest that you need to target a number or a range after careful thought and then let that number define your speed. There has to be a number which is ENOUGH for you.

You will be able to lead a very good, desired lifestyle in that much money.

Trust me you will eat the same thing and dress quite in the same manner if you have 10 crores or 50 crores. Rakesh Jhunjunwala or Mukesh Ambani eats the same thing as you do.

running after money

It should not happen that you keep acquiring wealth in life, and later it turns out to be nothing more than trash.

The Dalai Lama when asked, what surprised him most about humanity, he said:

Man.
Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money.
Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.
And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present;
the result being that he does not live in the present or the future;
he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

 

So what is the role of money in your life?

You need to define how much money you are targeting to acquire in your life. How much money is enough for you? Are you in a mindless race, acquiring all the money you can imagine and later, think where did my 60 yrs go? Or you are going to define the range which you want to acquire?

Something like “10 crores” is good enough for me once I retire. This is important because whatever time you give to earn money can potentially go somewhere else.

  • If you are working later hours for money, and coming home at 11:00 pm at night, then it means that you can’t wake up early and go for an exercise.
  • If you are working in some other city away from your family to earn a better income, it means you can’t spend that much time with your loved ones
  • If you are away from home during festivals so that you can earn/work extra, that means you are not going to spend that particular time with your family.
  • If you are not attending a wedding for your close friend, because you don’t want to lose those 6 days of a pay cut, that means that you will have that money, but then you will not have that memory of your friend’s wedding
  • If you are not taking your family to a nice vacation, then you will have that money in the bank, but you won’t have something to talk about years later when your kids grow.

Just like these examples above, there are multiple instances in life, where we have to decide between using our money and exchanging it with something.

Your Target = 1000 times your monthly Expenses

A simple calculation tells us that when a person accumulates around 400-500 times of their monthly expenses, they have enough to last for another 30 yrs.

This means that if you have monthly expenses of Rs 1 lacs per month, then 4-5 crores is a reasonable corpus for you. Let’s take 1000 times? So for a person, 10 crores if enough to last his lifetime (a very high-level calculation tells us that). In the same way, you should know what amount you are targeting for yourself.

So make sure you are clear about the importance of money in your life. While we have seen that a lot of people are not working hard enough to achieve all their financial goals targets, we see that a lot of people are putting too much emphasis on earning money and spending all their limited time into the race of earning money. While earning money is not bad in itself, make sure you know how much you need in life?

Question for you

I would like to know from you – “How far are you from your target?”. Do you think money has a bigger role to play in our happiness or a smaller role? Please comment below

Note: Note that I am not saying money is not important. I understand and acknowledge that money brings peace of mind, a sense of security and makes us powerful in away. I am only trying to give a perspective about the role of money in life. I am not saying that earning more money is bad or good. So in case you have hate comment, please read the article once again fully and point of the para or line which you want to debate on.

111 replies on this article “How much money is enough for you?”

  1. Rushabh says:

    1000X agreed but where should this money be that needs specification. Do you mean having 1000X in a bank account or fixed deposit or stocks where? Again if you get 1000x you want money to be working for you so how do you calculate how much you want on monthly basis?

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      You can have it anywhere, just that it shall be able to give you monthly cashflow at the end. If you have it in FD, you can withdraw the money .. or in mutual fund

  2. Ravindra says:

    This needs to be taught in schools from their childhood ….

    Great Article …Thank you..

  3. Gunesh Apte says:

    Hello,
    I liked the article and message.
    I assume that, 1000 times of the monthly expenses are considered including the inflation over next 20-30 years after retirement. Then yes, it looks a good number, and should be sufficient.
    Good article and logical thoughts.

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Yes Gunesh

      But remember that this 1000 times is when you want to retire.. Which means if your expenses at RETIREMENT are X , then you have wealth of 1000X !

      Manish

      1. Dan says:

        I think it also depends on the location and community you live in. For example, I live in a remote indigenous village farming community. We have free water, and free food growing in nature or in our farms. We use money for things like used clothes (cheaper), medicine if needed, and for building a house if you don’t have one. And also electricity, but that bill is around the equivalent of $4 USD per month. Old people don’t really “retire” here, they keep active to not slow down, and they stay with their families. It’s certainly better than the rat race in my opinion.

        1. Jagoinvestor says:

          We are mainly talking about urban communities which is part of the RAT RACE 🙂

  4. Ramsh says:

    An eye-opening article! Thanks to the writer. Earning money may seem difficult, but that is not always the case in spending it. Keeping control over the income ensures financial stability in the long run.

  5. Bob says:

    So according to this, I will need 6 million dollars. Ridiculous

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      If not 6 , then may be 3?

  6. HS says:

    Hi,

    I read this article only now and commend you for it. It is thought provoking for most of us who slog for 5-6 days a week not having the time to think the future through completely. The immediate thought that came to my mind when i read this piece is that i need to define the difference between need and greed for me. If i calculate on the basis of need, perhaps 300 – 500 times corpus will be enough. The moment i get into the greed zone (I also want this) the requirement of the corpus will keep going up.

    Again, appreciate the article.

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Very true ! .. well said !

  7. Rajesh Shekar says:

    I really appreciate the article, All are working hard to an unknown goal of wealth accumulation and not sure of how much actually needed, the thumb rule mentioned is quite simple to understand and make it clear where do I stand.

    1. Anuradha Singh says:

      Hello Mr. Rajesh, Thank You for appreciating.

      Anuradha

  8. Bala says:

    Great Article as it makes one to see the “Accumulation of Money” in a very different perspective of “Real Needs”.

    Most of the articles and Calculators take in to account various factors like Inflation over years, Diminishing return on Corpus, Increased medical expenses over years, etc etc

    But finally they most often come with a bloated corpus for Financial Freedom at 60, making people simply amass I think this thumb rule of 400 to 500 times the Monthly Expenses as Corpus itself is an excellent one as it takes care of all the above factors indirectly. In fact it provides a safety margin too as 300 times itself will be good enough

    Hope this article will make people pause and think for a moment

    “Do I need to run in this rat race or I can call it off?”

    and live life more fully.

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Yes, that’s exactly is the essence of this article .. 🙂

      Manish

  9. A Ashok says:

    Very much informative. It is a kind of eye opener and clarifies a lot of issues especially for retirement planning and fixing a financial goal. All the points discussed are genuine. Thank you for sharing my friend.

  10. Raghu says:

    When you say monthly expenditure does it include the current outgoing EMIs aswell?

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      No, it does not include the EMI .. because when you retire, it will not exist

      Manish

    2. Nilesh says:

      Beautifully put.
      Thing is we should reach our full potential (buy financially as well as career wise), Leo what you need and donate the remaining to the needy.

  11. Manoj says:

    Interesting post. We should set a limit for everything including making money. 1000 times monthly expenses is more than enough to put a stopping point. Well said.

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Yes .. thanks Manoj

  12. Like Chatur in 3 Idiots, we are all chasing success. Instead, if we chase excellence, success will naturally follow. If we try to excel in whatever we do and start finding meaning in our daily jobs, we would excel in whatever we do. Money will follow, and at the end of our lives we would not feel that we have lived in vain.

  13. Can you please show the math which explains that 400-500 times monthly expenditure is good for 30 years?
    Can you please show the math which explains that 1000 times monthly expenditure is good for a lifetime?

    Please ignore if the calculation is a part of Jagoinvestor trade secret.
    I have been a fan of your writings since you started and cannot thank you enough for your blogs.

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Hi Sambaran
      There is no trade secret here and its pure maths which you can do in excel. Assuming a starting corpus of 300 and monthly requirement of Rs 1 , which means yearly its 12 . Below is the working done in excel . Yearly withdrawals increase by 8% inflation and assuming the corpus earns 10% .. You can see that the corpus finishes in 34 yrs.

      Year Starting Corpus Yearly Withdrawal (8% Increase) Remaining Corpus Growth In Corpus at 10%
      1 300 12 288 317
      2 317 13 304 334
      3 334 14 320 352
      4 352 15 337 371
      5 371 16 355 390
      6 390 18 372 410
      7 410 19 391 430
      8 430 21 409 450
      9 450 22 428 470
      10 470 24 446 491
      11 491 26 465 512
      12 512 28 484 532
      13 532 30 502 552
      14 552 33 519 571
      15 571 35 536 590
      16 590 38 552 607
      17 607 41 566 622
      18 622 44 578 636
      19 636 48 588 647
      20 647 52 595 654
      21 654 56 598 658
      22 658 60 598 658
      23 658 65 592 652
      24 652 70 581 639
      25 639 76 563 619
      26 619 82 537 591
      27 591 89 502 553
      28 553 96 457 502
      29 502 104 399 439
      30 439 112 327 360
      31 360 121 239 263
      32 263 130 132 146
      33 146 141 5 5
      34 5 152 -147 -162
      35 -162 164 -326 -359
      36 -359 177 -536 -590
      37 -590 192 -781 -859
      38 -859 207 -1066 -1173

      If you do the same thing with corpus of 500 .. Then the corpus keeps going up and never finishes assuming if the inflation is just 8% and corpus earns 10% ..

      Year Starting Corpus Yearly Withdrawal (8% Increase) Remaining Corpus Growth In Corpus at 10%
      1 500 12 488 537
      2 537 13 524 576
      3 576 14 562 618
      4 618 15 603 664
      5 664 16 647 712
      6 712 18 694 764
      7 764 19 745 819
      8 819 21 799 879
      9 879 22 856 942
      10 942 24 918 1010
      11 1010 26 984 1082
      12 1082 28 1054 1160
      13 1160 30 1130 1243
      14 1243 33 1210 1331
      15 1331 35 1296 1425
      16 1425 38 1387 1526
      17 1526 41 1485 1633
      18 1633 44 1589 1748
      19 1748 48 1700 1870
      20 1870 52 1818 2000
      21 2000 56 1944 2138
      22 2138 60 2078 2286
      23 2286 65 2220 2442
      24 2442 70 2372 2609
      25 2609 76 2533 2786
      26 2786 82 2704 2975
      27 2975 89 2886 3175
      28 3175 96 3079 3387
      29 3387 104 3283 3611
      30 3611 112 3499 3849
      31 3849 121 3729 4102
      32 4102 130 3971 4368
      33 4368 141 4227 4650
      34 4650 152 4498 4948
      35 4948 164 4784 5262
      36 5262 177 5085 5593
      37 5593 192 5401 5941
      38 5941 207 5735 6308

      The thing is once the person accmulates the corpus beyond 300 times of monthly expenses, he/she is in a situation where hte corpus is big enough and the yearly addition is much more than what they need in a year .. so it creates a cycle that never ends.. However thats pure theoritical .. But I guess you got the idea of what I was trying to communicate.

      So as an investor, your motto has to be to reach a situation where you have 300 times of your yearly corpus and that day you can call yourself “Financial Free”

      Do let me know your thoughts .

      Manish

      1. Thanks a lot for your detailed reply Manish.
        In your reply to my question, is the 300 a typo in your penultimate paragraph? Should the motto be reaching 500 times (instead of 300)? You just showed that 300-times-monthly-expenditure is not enough (assuming 8%-inflation and 10%-return). The money finishes in 34 years.

        1. Jagoinvestor says:

          Its not typo … I know 300 is a good enough amount but it still lasts in 30-35 yrs … So if inflation is high or return is a bit less, 300 is not the right number even then or we can say that 300 is still a number which will keep you worried .. So to be on a safer side, I said lets target for 500 times or 1000 times to be truly worry free ! . I hope you now understand why I said 1000 times or 500 !

  14. GuruBox says:

    Excellent..Eye opening article

  15. gspal says:

    Both, my wife and myself, are senior retired citizens with no more medical / accidental insurance LIC endowment policies have matured and gone into our bank accounts. Bank balance is getting depleted over the years to cover our expenses of daily living. A year later daughter would be working in another city and we need to provide some money to her to cover her aged parents medical insurance, rental, etc. I estimate needing Rs 5 lacs per annum. An inheritance is in the pipeline of about 2.5 cr. I believe to invest the same in low risk cumulative and non-cumulative govt/RBI securities and bonds. After IL&S crash, etc. I don’t want to invest in stocks and mutual funds. Quite a headache. Fixed deposits in PSU banks provide lower interest than govt/RBI securities and they are at high risk because such banks have very high debts. Any eyeopener advice?

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Thanks for your comment. I did not understand if you were just sharing your life or you also had a query?

      1. Gurmeet says:

        It is a query to u shared with ur readers where I have given my situation as an example

        1. Jagoinvestor says:

          Sir, I think as you are highly risk averse, you should invest in senior citizen saving scheme along with RBI bonds and fixed deposits.

          Mutual funds however are good choices , atleast for a small portion of your portfolio, but I think your relationship with stocks and equity has already gone for a toss, so you better avoid them now.

          Manish

  16. Pradeep says:

    Is it possible to share this article to our humble politicians?

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Please do ahead 🙂

  17. Senthil Balaji says:

    It’s really a good article… we need a stop point. But considering inflation, 1000 times of current monthly expense may not be sufficient…

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Thanks .. 1000 times is indeed a good enough amount to retire .. do the maths

  18. Hitesh says:

    It was a nice eyeopener about living in present and spending !

    But, at the same time, the figure 1000 times of monthly expenditure needs to be kept at retirement – seemed huge and it may not be achieved, by many, with their current profession… In order to achieve 1000 times, they might have to stretch too much and that will put them in a situation you’ve described in your earlier para (distant living, not spending time with family, etc.)….

    Ultimately, through this article, the reader’s might have got confused ! Whether to live in present without thinking much about Future? Or, to work/over-work for 1000 times monthly expenditure! Because, for many both together seems distant dream…

    This is solely my point of view.

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Hi Hitesh

      In a way you are a bit correct. 300-400 times is a good enough estimate you need to accumulate by the time you turn 60. But some people want to have an extra buffer so I thought let me give you a max range of 1000 times.

      So now you can see the range as 300-1000 times. 300 is minimum and 1000 is maximum.

      Manish

      1. nikhil Bhandare says:

        cool

  19. R says:

    1000 times at which stage of your life Manish?

    Retiring @ 40 with 1000 times the monthly expense is different than @ 60 years?

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Whenever one accumulates 500-1000 times of their monthly expenses, they have enough food for next 40-50 yrs .. SO one can retire at that moment.

      If a person at 40 with expenses of 1 lacs per month is able to accumulate 5-10 crores, they are good to retire!

      Manish

      1. R says:

        Thanks for your time Manish!

  20. Krish says:

    Great article!!! but without money what can we do?

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      I never said you don’t need to earn money .. obviously you should !

  21. sastry says:

    Nice article. No point in running for money to achieve that number and realize you reached end of life is very good msg.

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Thanks for your comment sastry .. Please keep sharing your views like this..

      Vandana

  22. sadashiva says:

    Very nice article an eye opener

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Thanks for your comment sadashiva .. Please keep sharing your views like this..

      Vandana

  23. Karan Doshi says:

    Nice read.. Well written

  24. Navneet Karnani says:

    Can you point is to the ‘simple calculation’ that points to the 400-500 number ?

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      think of it like this. Lets say you have Rs 500 with you. Find out how much monthly pension it will provide you for next 30 yrs taking care of inflation? It will turn out to be Rs 1 ..

      Manish

  25. Sushant Gharat says:

    Dear Manish Sir,
    Please write more article like this.
    This article is asking to our mind that “How far are you from your target?” .
    Real fact based article.defining us to figure out my target (amount) to fulfill daily need & coming out from the rat race to achieve financial freedom.
    Very inspiring & churning article.

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Sure Sushant ! .. will do more articles like these !

  26. Ankit Sharma says:

    Should we set our limits for money? You can help more people if you have abundance of money. So why to put limit for Money?

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Don’t put limits if you want to help others. I never said that.. Even for personal use, you don’t need to set limits, its all about knowing how much you need ! .. that’s all . Most of the people have no idea about that!

  27. Renjith Paramban says:

    I feel that the article is shedding some light on the value of time (how undervalued it is). I truly believe that Time Management is more important than Money Management because of the scarcity of the quantity. If we start to compare time as a quantity deposited in a virtual account, we realise that we are unable to see the balance, which itself is chaotic. Further, assuming that we have X units of time in there, based on peers and social standards, we find out that, for our survival, we need to sleep, cook, eat etc on a daily basis, which consumes certain units of time from this virtual account. This alone takes roughly 45% of the time allotted to us in this lifetime, which unfortunately we don’t know.
    Money is important in life, to the extend that it gives us access to basic goods and services, of our choice. And this freedom of choice is what, in my opinion, that truly gives us happiness. I still have a long way to get to my target, but slowly reach there without missing out on the flavours of life. Money does gives access to a lot more other things, which can play a bigger role to our happiness. Financial stability gives us access to time that we can spend for things that we truly care about.

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Very well put Renjith .. You are correct. THe real use of money is to but time which we can the use to find happiness ..

      Manish

  28. Lalit says:

    Appreciate the article! It makes people think of setting up limits to their money earning desires. Nevertheless, there is another factor in addition to money, which gets unnoticed within the entire article i.e. Knowledge ( with the help of which we can achieve our money earning goals in short span of time). There is a saying “Money pulls the more money”. Therefore, Making investments at an early stage of life at the right place will make you earn more money in the background, while you enjoy precious moments of your life with your loved ones, family and friends.

    So have a curiosity to learn always & implement it wherever needed !!

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Very good angle .. This is exactly why one has to invest early in life so that they can also buy some time in future to spend quality life.

  29. Mohit Goyal says:

    “How far are you from your target?”
    My Answer: Going about the 1000-times ballpark that you’ve mentioned; I am 66% on the target for me. However, I’d like to debate the 1000-times or even 500-times monthly expense (1000months means 83 years! its like saying you are born and you are retired! )

    And instead suggest another – Portfolio (P) > 1000 where P = Age*Networth/ Monthly Expense. By this calculator, my P is 1652 so I am at my “peace mark” (yay!). God bless all.

    1. Mohit Goyal says:

      correction: P = Age*Networth/ Annual Expense

    2. Jagoinvestor says:

      Hi Mohit .. Any number is debatable .. I say all the numbers from my reference, and hence they are of no use from yours/others reference. BUt I think it will be valid for a vast majority. A person wanting 1 lacs per month income actually needs just 3-4 crores in corpus, but with 1000 times target, it will be 10 crores, will will make the 1 lac pension for next 30-40 yrs more predictable and stable ! ..

      Manish

      1. Mohit Goyal says:

        Sir, I am still debating the formula .. if you ask someone to chase 1000-times (i.e. 10cr), it just sounds/becomes too unattainable..also, it isn’t correct (it assumes return = inflation, while in reality the idea of g-securities is to be 2% above inflation levels)…
        I am all for the “intention” behind the article. It really is the RIGHT way of approaching personal finances and desires.

        1. Jagoinvestor says:

          That’s one a higher side I know.. 300-400 times is a good enough corpus as first level ! .. but 1000 is a level which really makes your planning 99% full proof ! ..

          2% about inflation is a decent return to chase. Here is a simple working with corpus of Rs 500 and requirement of Rs 1 per month

          Year Starting Corpus Yearly Withdrawal (8% Increase) Remaining Corpus Growth In Corpus at 10%
          1 500 12 488 537
          2 537 13 524 576
          3 576 14 562 618
          4 618 15 603 664
          5 664 16 647 712
          6 712 18 694 764
          7 764 19 745 819
          8 819 21 799 879
          9 879 22 856 942
          10 942 24 918 1010
          11 1010 26 984 1082
          12 1082 28 1054 1160
          13 1160 30 1130 1243
          14 1243 33 1210 1331
          15 1331 35 1296 1425
          16 1425 38 1387 1526
          17 1526 41 1485 1633
          18 1633 44 1589 1748
          19 1748 48 1700 1870
          20 1870 52 1818 2000
          21 2000 56 1944 2138
          22 2138 60 2078 2286
          23 2286 65 2220 2442
          24 2442 70 2372 2609
          25 2609 76 2533 2786
          26 2786 82 2704 2975
          27 2975 89 2886 3175
          28 3175 96 3079 3387
          29 3387 104 3283 3611
          30 3611 112 3499 3849
          31 3849 121 3729 4102
          32 4102 130 3971 4368
          33 4368 141 4227 4650
          34 4650 152 4498 4948
          35 4948 164 4784 5262
          36 5262 177 5085 5593
          37 5593 192 5401 5941
          38 5941 207 5735 6308

  30. Utsav says:

    Your Article came to me at the right time.. I needed it badly! Thank you for this food for thought.. Good value addition, this is one thing that i appreciate about your blog! 🙂

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Welcome Utsav !

  31. Krishna says:

    This article is an EYE OPENER for greedy people.

    How we set target like i want only one kid or two kids not many kids, like we have to set the target
    “how much money is enough” for me.

    I am appreciating the author for writing the fantastic article.

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Thanks Krishna for your comment !

  32. eshwar says:

    Wisely Said.

  33. APURBA DEB says:

    “Trust me you will eat the same thing and dress quite in the same manner if you have 10 crores or 50 crores. Rakesh Jhunjunwala or Mukesh Ambani eats the same thing like you do. ”

    Disagree with you, kindly give some explanation with some example.

    I think their life style completely different from common people. They grab all the best things from all over the earth, it may be home / food / dress what ever may be. They just poses a “Aladeen ke Chriarg”

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Hi Apurba

      I hope you understood in what spirit and context I said that. If you take that literally then obviously what you eat in your plate is different from what they eat. But for the most of the part of your life, do you think they lead a very different life then we do in terms of survival. I am not talking about the vacations they can take or the kind of hotels they can live in. I am talking about day to day life. What do you feel All the rich people eat in their breakfast ? What do they have in their dinner in daily life?

      I was pointing to that thing, which is the daily NEEDS , not WANTS

      Manish

      1. Pichai says:

        Very true..every one must have a target and gradually work towards that. Vague ideas about money when we say lot of money..will take us no where

  34. Akshay Agarwal says:

    I think the basic education, medical treatment expenses, basic House hold expenses must be easily fullfilled and then if something surplus is left one can invest anywhere

    1. Vandana Manwani says:

      Thanks for your comment Akshay Agarwal .. Please keep sharing your views like this..

      Vandana

  35. Bhupendra says:

    A very eye opening article on how to live life. When whole world going towards how to earn money, you provided the article on the thing “how to earn satisfaction & memories”. It really matters to earn more money but it also really matters more that how to utilize it wisely, logically and to fulfill the needed requirements. Hats off to your work.

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Thanks Bhupendra !

  36. ARNAV GOEL says:

    very thought provoking article… nice!!!

  37. Dipak Shah says:

    An interesting article.

  38. Sanjay Karia says:

    Fantastic article !!!

  39. Vivek Pal says:

    Definitely food for thought

  40. Kishore kumar says:

    Hi,
    Money has an important role in today’s life style but it is not the only important thing in life. The goal of money should be to make our lives happier and comfortable but not miserable. As you said I do not say earning more money is bad. If some one can earn more money, he has more options to do something for others. Running for money all the time is not good.

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Thanks for putting up your thoughts on this Kishore !

  41. Tohid says:

    Very self introspecting and eye opening article on money. Long time i have read something like this specifically relating to real life examples. So very true to know how much money you need – 1) to meet your goals 2) for your retirement where your regular income is gone.
    5 crores for retirement perhaps and rest based on the goals you have in life before you retire – children’s education, marriage, vacation etc..

  42. Niranjan patra says:

    Yes, obviously money has a great role which brings peace in our life. In my views, one crore is enough. Essential commodities like a good house, some clothes and foods for life is enough. Yes, out of this one crore some amount tobe kept to meet the emergency requirements and some amount tobe fixed to earn daily expenses for living.

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Yes Niranjan.. well put out by you !

  43. Amit Raj Tiwari says:

    Very well written article Jagoinvestor. But how we will decide how much is enough. We are living in dynamic environment where most of us have unsecured jobs, volatile economy and unpredictable expenses like child education, health care etc.

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      I have updated the article with that information. FOr vast majority, 500-1000 times of their monthly expenses is a good target !

  44. NITIN KHURANA says:

    Dear Manish,

    I’m referring the para “So what is the role of money in your life?”. Money is no doubt an important thing in one’s life, though we have learned that while earning/saving money we must enjoy the process (i.e. life) like playing with kids and spending quality time with spouse or parents and even kids, also giving time to self as well.
    Yet there is another line of thought, which comes to mind every-time, i.e. who-ever had made fortune with big names such Tatas, Birlas, Godrej, Dabur, had spent one of their generation into full hard-work and leaving all those quality time.

    And to the conclusion, which I’ve reached is that one generation has to sacrifice for next generation to have wealthy life with quality time and spending as per their liking. But a big question is “Which Generation” will take the initiative, because every generation want to enjoy their life to the fullest and believe to pass it on to other generation to do the needful. In other words, current generation is blaming it to old generation that they have not done any such thing and now we also don’t want to do it, hence expect that next generation will do it and this process would go on and on, unless one get the fortune like Zukerberg or Elon Musk to create the empire.

    In the final remark, I would say that me too standing in between the generations and believing that next generation will hopefully create their empire and we bless them best wishes, while we are enjoying quality time and earning/ saving reasonable funds for future.

    With regards
    NITIN KHURANA

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Hi Nitin

      Good perspective.

      I agree that one genernation works more and the next generation gets the fruits. But even if we consider that you do not have to leave any money for your next generation, still you have a limit in terms of moeny which you will truly enjoy. We are talking about that limit here in this article.

      Also, the word “sacrifice” comes to ones mind when they are not enjoying the process of earning. there are many investors who are saving money for future and also enjoying their own life ..

      1. NITIN KHUANA says:

        I agree, one must enjoy life with love ones and limit of earning money is endless.
        regards

  45. Mohit Goyal says:

    hmm, lets see.. speaking from personal experience.. 10cr once attained – one goes up an “arbitrary level” on Maslow’s need hierarchy theory (add a level for ‘legacy for kids’)… so then you want to earn to create a “trust fund/ buffer fund” for them…

    taking both into account – my personal number is 100-cr sometime in 2030s (present value around 50cr)

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Mohit .. Yes, once you achieve your target, one makes another target, and then another.. this is unending process and the article exactly tells why to limit that and fight off that temptation 🙂 .. Which I know is very tough !

  46. Mahesh says:

    The gist of the article is “you have to choose your number”.
    Till date – nobody can decide if that number you choose will be enough for you or not (unforseen circumstances)
    Hence this article – while it looks good on paper – is as good as that only – (looks good for an article and free advice)

    1. Jagoinvestor says:

      Mahesh

      Is there a minimum number which if given to you today, you will be happy for your all life? I know future is uncertain and future may have any expenses which can crop up from anywhere. But considering all that, what is the minimum number you feel is enough ?

      There is always some basic calculations you can do to arrive at the range (if not the number) . I have updated the article, and I think 1000 times of your monthly expenses is a decent high level target one can set !

  47. ABBASALI MAVA says:

    wonderful and eye opener, you are awesome. If anyone have clear financial goals with linked investment than he or she can understand the role of money. and can said i have “enough money”

  48. Balan says:

    Wow !! Excellent article. I really enjoyed it while reading all the points about money.

      1. Sameer says:

        I suppose Government employees who are earning lifetime pension of about 1 lac per month are excluded

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