Let's talk money habits.

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?

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

NGL my 1st thought as well

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.

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.

For consumption.

Anybody who isn't rolling in money should not invest in real estate.

Institutional data says the price appreciation is down to 0% per annum. Add 3% rental yield. Then minus loan interest, taxes, and maintenance. You get negative returns.

I had the bad luck to own property through a long period of very poor returns. When I finally sold it, the net returns were comparable to a savings account.

Since it's for consumption, I don't want to be sad about the returns. The truth is the MFs would have certainly given better returns. But I had a home in which I made a ton of memories with my family and friends. And that's priceless.

Missed answering this: apartments.

I would work on three things parallelly. First, create an emergency fund. I think 2-4 lakh would have been enough in my 20s. Second, invest in mutual fund SIPs. Third, buy health insurance to stop my money from evaporating in a crisis.

Thank you very much!

Build assets. Mutual funds are a good starting point. It's a whole wide world out there. Equity, debt, gold, index etc. Some are riskier than others. Some are more rewarding than others. The important thing is to buy low, sit tight, not panic, and sell high. Three to five years of SIPs give you a near 100% of positive returns. Before you do this, set your goals.

100% chance* of positive returns

What business is it? If you're comfortable telling that?

Let's just say I am in the Stock market.

You're saving and investing 40% of your take-home. That is impressive. You're off to a good start.

For your home purchase, you may have to direct more money to an RD. You'll need something like 30-40% of your property price for down-payment, registration, stamp duty, furnishing etc. A loan will cover the rest.

Before the loan, keep an eye on your credit score. Ensure it's always over 800. (Basically, never be late with any payments.) That will give you the best home loan deals.