
I’m pleased to share my monetary journey on this platform and want to thank Pattu Sir for giving me the chance. I’ve structured my journey into three sections: Household Background, Monetary Errors, and Course Correction.
Opinions revealed in reader tales needn’t signify the views of freefincal or its editors. We should recognize a number of options to the cash administration puzzle and empathise with various views. Articles are sometimes not checked for grammar except essential to convey the precise that means and protect the tone and feelings of the writers.
If you want to contribute to the DIY neighborhood on this method, ship your audits to freefincal AT Gmail dot com. They are often revealed anonymously when you so want.
Household Background
I hate to begin with a cliché, however I come from a poor household. Greater than the monetary struggles, the tough dwelling state of affairs made my childhood a bit bitter.
I misplaced my mom to a coronary heart situation throughout highschool. Throughout her sickness, my father, who was a development labourer within the gulf, returned dwelling with indicators of psychological sickness, which later become schizophrenia. We depleted all our financial savings for her remedy, leaving solely 50k when she handed away.
My maternal grandmother stood with us (me and my youthful brother) and supported us in persevering with our research.
Throughout childhood, primary requirements have been a luxurious for us. My acquaintances typically recognised my garments greater than my title, as I wore the identical pair of outfits all yr.
Lengthy story quick, I used to be satisfied that by training, solely I can carry my household out of this example. I pursued my research with a single thoughts.
After finishing my grasp’s I began working as a analysis assistant in a analysis institute in Bangalore in 2011.
I labored there for 2 years with a stipend of 16k-18k. I’d ship some cash to my household and save the remaining to fund my ambition of pursuing a PhD overseas.
In 2013, I went to Europe for my PhD and stayed there for 7 years. Throughout this time, I obtained married and blessed with one child.
Monetary Errors
I used to be incomes and saving nicely throughout that interval, however I wasn’t investing. I used to be fairly naive about monetary issues and had no understanding of ideas like inflation. I used to consider that lending cash for curiosity was incorrect. This mindset led to a number of monetary errors.
Listed here are a few of them:
(1) Similar to houseflies are drawn to honey, family and pals would typically ask me for cash, and I’d lend it to them. Once I began asking for the cash again, I misplaced each the relationships and the cash in lots of instances. In some situations, I managed to get better solely a part of the quantity or simply the principal. A very good portion of the cash continues to be tied up right here.
(2) I purchased actual property with a mortgage in my hometown. Though I managed to clear the mortgage over the following few years, the situation of the plot was on the outskirts, resulting in a really modest appreciation within the land worth.
(3) I bought endowment LIC insurance policies for each myself and my father. At the moment, I used to be solely conscious of FDs and LIC insurance policies as funding choices, so I purchased these insurance policies by an agent.
(4) I invested a lump sum in a pal’s fishery enterprise, however he declared chapter in a single day, and I misplaced the complete funding. This pal got here from a well-off household however was nonetheless unsettled in any career. Together with one other pal, I made a decision to assist him and put money into his fishery enterprise. Inside a yr, he shut down the enterprise, claiming that the yields have been low and the costs of the fish have been too low.
(5) I spent lavishly throughout my marriage attributable to peer strain, spending closely on many pointless issues.
(6) Coming to the fairness investments, I opened Demat account in 2019, did some YT programs and made sporadic funding in some random shares with minor good points or losses. By no means drawn in the direction of to FNO however utilized to IPOs in preliminary days and obtained caught with some for years.
I used to be holding lumpsum with me through the corona crash and wished to take a position if market falls additional down from 7500 which by no means materialized. I used to be simply ready and ready for the correction and missed the bull run for subsequent 18 months.
In late 2020, through the pandemic, I made a decision to return to India completely to maintain my father attributable to his well being situation. I took a six-month profession break. Throughout this time, I found a few Telugu YouTube channels targeted on monetary literacy. Intrigued by the ideas, I started studying and studying extra. Alongside the way in which, I got here throughout Subra’s YouTube channel and Pattu Sir’s Freefincal web site, which felt like a gold mine to me. Slowly, I started to grasp the monetary errors I had made.
Course Correction
I consulted a monetary advisor to guage my monetary state of affairs, and with their steerage, I took the next steps to right my monetary path:
(1) I acquired a time period insurance coverage coverage with a protection of 1 crore.
(2) I secured medical insurance by choosing a household floater plan with a base protection of 10 lakhs and a 25 lakh tremendous top-up plan.
(2a). My company insurance coverage gives protection of 5 lakhs, which incorporates my spouse, son, father, and me.
(2b). My father can be lined below my brother’s insurance coverage plan, as he’s a authorities worker.
(3) I had a New Jeevan Anand LIC coverage with a sum assured of 5 lakhs. Regardless of solely receiving 30-40% of the cash again, I made a decision to give up the coverage as I didn’t need to proceed paying premiums for one more 10 years and wished to simplify my investments.
(3a). I made a decision to maintain my father’s coverage with out paying the premiums because the insured quantity was not important.
(4) I recovered a number of the cash I had lent out and invested it in PPFAS CHF and DAAA funds as an emergency fund.
(5) Bored with ready for market corrections from 2020 march, I began investing by SIPs from late 2021. I wished a easy and easy-to-track strategy, so I selected UTI Nifty and Subsequent Fifty index funds together with PPFAS Flexi Cap for my SIPs. I even have some direct shares (largely giant caps), which I plan to consolidate sooner or later.
(6) As a part of my goal-based investing technique, I allotted index funds for retirement, flexi cap for my son’s training, and actual property for my future dwelling shopping for plans.
Belongings Allocation

Within the liquid debt phase, I invested within the PPFAS DAAA fund, and for fastened debt, together with my EPF, I’ve funds within the PPF accounts of my spouse and son.
The following step is that a good portion of my internet price continues to be tied up in illiquid actual property. My plan is to progressively shift funds from actual property to fairness over the approaching years.
I haven’t included the lent cash in my internet price. As and if I obtain these funds, I plan to maneuver them into fairness.
My retirement corpus is at the moment 6 instances my annual bills. Since this text is already fairly prolonged, I’ve determined to debate the detailed breakdown of my asset allocation within the subsequent audit.
Conclusion: In his famend ebook Antifragile, creator Nassim Nicholas Taleb describes three responses to uncertainty: fragile, resilient, and antifragile. Fragile refers to being weak, resilient means withstanding challenges, and antifragile means the flexibility to develop stronger within the face of adversity.
I’ve managed to evolve from being fragile to resilient, and the journey towards turning into antifragile has simply begun.
Reader tales revealed earlier:
As common readers could know, we publish a private monetary audit every December – that is the 2023 version: Portfolio Audit 2023: The Annual Review of My Goal-Based Investments. We requested common readers to share how they assessment their investments and observe monetary targets.
- First audit: How Suhas tracks his MF investments and reviews financial goals.
- Second audit: How Avadhoot Joshi evaluates his investment portfolio.
- Third audit: How a single mom is on track to financial freedom
- Fourth audit: How Gowtham started goal-based investing & took control of his money
- Fifth audit: Why my financial independence & early retirement plans were postponed by four years
- Sixth audit: How Abhisek funded his marriage & is on track to financial freedom.
- Seventh audit: How Rohit’s early struggles defined his investment journey
- Eighth audit: Why my investments are still on track despite job loss and lower income.
- Ninth audit: How a retirement planning calculation scared me to take action
- Tenth audit: I made several investment mistakes but have turned my life around.
- Eleventh audit: My net worth doubled in the last financial year, thanks to patient investing!
- Twelveth audit: My financial journey: from novice to goal-based investor.
- Thirteenth audit: My journey: from a negative net worth to goal-based investing.
- Fourteenth audit: From Fixed Deposits to Goal-based investing in MFs.
- Fifteenth audit: My 10-year financial journey – mistakes made and lessons learnt.
- Sixteenth audit (half 1): How I achieved financial independence without mutual funds or stocks.
- Sixteenth audit (half 2): Lessons from my financial independence journey and future investment plans.
- Seventeenth audit: How I plan to achieve financial independence and move to my native place
- Eighteenth audit: I used the current bull run to reduce my mutual funds from 14 to 4!
- Nineteenth audit: How a conservative investor created his financial plan
- Twentieth audit: I plan to achieve financial independence by 46; this is my master plan
- Twenty-first audit: I have made many investment mistakes but am on course to financial independence by 45.
- Twenty-second audit: I felt worthless six years ago but have achieved financial stability today
- Twenty-third audit: My financial journey was directionless until age 40: this is how I made up for lost time
- Twenty-fourth audit: Why I increased equity MF investments by 275% and reduced PPF contributions.
- Twenty-fifth audit: How I track financial goals without worrying about returns
- Twenty-sixth audit: I am 24 and started investing 1Y ago, but what am I investing for?
- Twenty-seventh audit: How we plan to achieve a retirement corpus 50 times our annual expenses.
- Twenty-eighth audit: I thought equity investing was a gamble, but now I aim to hold 60% equity for retirement
- Twenty-ninth audit: My journey: From 5 lakhs in debt to building a corpus worth six years in retirement
- Thirtieth audit: My investment journey: From random purchases to a goal-based portfolio
- Thirty-first audit: My investment journey: from product-driven to process-driven
- Thirty-second audit: How a young couple is trying to balance travelling and investing
- Thirty-third audit: My journey: From Rs. 30 bank balance to financial independence
- Thirty-fourth audit: Our journey: From scratch to a net worth of 18 times annual expenses.
- Thirty-fifth audit: From a net worth of Rs. 6000 to auto-pilot goal-based investing
- Thirty-sixth audit: How I retired from corporate bondage at 46, two years ago!
- Thirty-seventh audit: How I learnt to keep it simple and build a net worth 19 times my annual expenses
- Thirty-eighth audit: How Abhineeth plans to achieve financial independence and build a house.
- Thirty-ninth audit: How Sahil plans to achieve financial independence by efficient tracking
- Fortieth audit: My Journey to a Ten Crore Portfolio
- Forty-first audit: Burdened with debt for several years, I am now aggressively investing in equity
- Forty-second audit: From Engineer to Librarian after Financial Independence and Early Retirement (FIRE)
- Forty-third audit: I lost six months’ income in F&O and ditched it for systematic investing
- Forty-fourth audit: My retirement plan to handle the harsh realities of the IT industry
- Forty-fifth audit: My investment journey: mistakes, 10 years of MF investing and recovery
- Forty-sixth audit: My MF portfolio is worth six crores despite multiple mistakes
- Forty-seventh audit: Saving, Investing, and Running Marathons: My 25-year Journey to Financial Independence
- Forty-eighth audit: Never Too Late to Start: How I Became Financially Savvy at 40
- Forty-ninth audit: My Investment Journey to a net worth 29 times my annual expenses
- Fiftieth audit: How I audit my portfolio without tracking returns
- Fifty-first audit: Financial Lessons Learned During and After a PhD
- Fifty-second audit: Investment & Financial journey of a 23 year old
- Fifty-third audit: The system I use to draw income and spend after retirement securely
- Fifty-fourth audit: From Start-Up Employee to Millionaire: A Success Story of Resilience and Smart Investing
- Fifty-fifth audit: 25-Year-Old Software Engineer’s Investment Journey: From Stocks to Mutual Funds and Beyond
- Fifty-sixth audit: Crossing the Million Mark: Our Journey to the First Crore
- Fifty-seventh audit: Navigating Market Volatility: How an IT Professional Transformed His Investment Approach for Retirement
- Fifty-eighth audit: How Sahil achieved a 10X retirement corpus by efficient portfolio tracking
- FIfty-ninth audit: How I achieved financial freedom by 45 without onsite assignments or ESOPs
- Sixtieth audit: Building Wealth on a Government Salary: Lessons Learned
- Sixty first audit: Minimalism, Index Funds, and Staying Calm: My Investing Journey at 28
These revealed audits have had a compounding impact on readers. If you want to contribute to the DIY neighborhood on this method, ship your audits to freefincal AT Gmail. They may very well be revealed anonymously when you so want.
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Dr M. Pattabiraman(PhD) is the founder, managing editor and first creator of freefincal. He’s an affiliate professor on the Indian Institute of Know-how, Madras. He has over ten years of expertise publishing information evaluation, analysis and monetary product growth. Join with him by way of Twitter(X), Linkedin, or YouTube. Pattabiraman has co-authored three print books: (1) You can be rich too with goal-based investing (CNBC TV18) for DIY traders. (2) Gamechanger for younger earners. (3) Chinchu Gets a Superpower! for teenagers. He has additionally written seven different free e-books on numerous cash administration matters. He’s a patron and co-founder of “Fee-only India,” an organisation selling unbiased, commission-free funding recommendation.
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Most investor issues might be traced to a scarcity of knowledgeable decision-making. We made dangerous choices and cash errors once we began incomes and spent years undoing these errors. Why ought to our kids undergo the identical ache? What is that this ebook about? As mother and father, what wouldn’t it be if we needed to groom one means in our kids that’s key not solely to cash administration and investing however to any side of life? My reply: Sound Choice Making. So, on this ebook, we meet Chinchu, who’s about to show 10. What he desires for his birthday and the way his mother and father plan for it, in addition to educating him a number of key concepts of decision-making and cash administration, is the narrative. What readers say!

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