GoofyBoba

Stealth

Let's talk money habits.

Hello folks. While I'd like to remain anonymous very much, here's what I can share about myself.

Working in consumer finance.
Love personal finance and helping people out with it.
Have published 10,000+ pieces of financial content in the mainstream media.
Wrote a best-selling book on money management. It was No. 1 on Amazon once upon a time.
Lately been appearing on TV regularly for personal finance discussions.
Saved like crazy through my 20s and 30s, brought two apartments; have an 8-figure net worth mostly thanks to my mutual fund investments. It's not much but it's hard-earned.
My unrealised aspiration is travel and I'm working on it now.

No, I'm not selling anything. No commissions, no referral links, no finfluencing.

Just want to talk, exchange ideas, and learn from you all. Maybe I'll feature you in my next book. :)

Ask me anything.

15mo ago

Find out if you are being paid fairly.Download Grapevine

GoofyBoba

Stealth15mo

Pardon the grammar and spellers. I just realised there's no way to edit.

PrancingNugget

Stealth15mo

Not an issue...It happens with everyone here

Would love to know about the strategies you employed in your 20s for savings and investments. Let's assume your earnings were between 10-15LPA during that time, and with some potential uncertainties, you managed to save 30% to 40%. How would you plan to utilize that saved money?

GoofyBoba

Stealth15mo

Thanks for the question. Bold of you to assume I was earning 15L in my 20s. 😁

My 20s, which were a while back, were mostly about focussing on savings and making bad investment decisions.

I didn't hit 7-figures until my late 20s. I went over the mark only because of my stock options going 5x over a two-year period. Good times.

Before that, savings did manage to help me buy a home and my car before I turned 30. The stocks helped me be debt-free.

Most of my investments in my 20s were life insurance policies. Needless to say they didn't pay -- even the ones I held to maturity.

I didn't start an RD till I was 25. They helped quite a bit. I moved to mutual funds in my early 30s, and that was the best investment decision I've made.

I'm currently working towards FIRE and I've realised that 300x my monthly income need is enough. I'm halfway there net of my real estate holdings.

If another bull run happens, I may get there under five years.

ZippyMochi

Stealth15mo

Your thoughts on financial inclusion?

GoofyBoba

Stealth15mo

People hate Aadhaar, and they're probably going to hate me for saying this, but it's contributed enormously to finclusion. It wouldn't have been possible without Aadhaar. Which is not to say people shouldn't be suspicious of this government's attempts to surveil the citizenry in various ways.

FloatingWaffle

Flipkart15mo

Why do we hate aadhar? We don't? Because of black money?? That's cool then...
Though life is not straightforward and govt isn't saint & people with black money may not necessarily be too wrong/bad, it's still good that govt aka elected reps get more power than mafia

BouncyBurrito

Stealth15mo

How do you decide your monthly expenditure and extrapolate that for FIRE? You mentioned 300xmonthly expense is all that you need.
What about kids education? Critical care etc

GoofyBoba

Stealth15mo

No kids. I have health insurance. No major liabilities.

There's no way to confidently say any number is good enough. Inflation is an absolute bastard. But the important thing is to spend at a rate lower than it grows at.

FIRE is incumbent on frugal living and allowing your funds to compound in the markets. So if I get there, I intend to go slow the first few years. That will give the money time to grow some more. So 300x could potentially become 600x in 5-6 years if I do this right.

My math says 300x is good enough. I would love to do 500x. But it's not easy and incumbent on several things going right.

DizzyLlama

Freelancer15mo

Apologies, I am not smart here. May I know what FIRE is? Also, how did you learn about which MFs to invest etc?

SparklyNoodle

Stealth15mo

Real Id se aa financewithsharan

GoofyBoba

Stealth15mo

LMAO I'm a corporate, not a finfluencer, and I have nothing to sell.

SnoozyBurrito

Stealth15mo

NGL my 1st thought as well

DerpyPotato

Stealth15mo

@mangoman would you change the amount of savings you did in your 20s and 30s?

Did it in any way mean you had lesser fun? I know it’s tough to say that in retrospect, but curious.

GoofyBoba

Stealth15mo

Probably not. My early years were about living paycheque to paycheque. I did try to work on income expansion with limited success.

Adsense for publishers was a huge thing back then, just as Twitter and Youtube payouts are now. I built a few networks that gave me additional monthly income.

My preferred investments were life insurance, which sucked.

I wouldn't change the percentage I saved, because I was maxed out, but I would like to change how I invested. I would put my money in an ELSS and forget about it.

GoofyBoba

Stealth15mo

To answer the second part, yes, I had lesser fun for sure. I focussed on being frugal. Plenty of my friends blew their money on foreign trips. I waited for my time.

I don't come from money. But today I have everything I need. My needs are few but wants are many.

I can buy any gadget or vehicle I want. But it's important for me to continue being frugal.

I still drive my 2011 hatchback for family needs, and ride my bike to work.

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