Reaching a net worth of Rs 1 crore, that too at a young age, is a major financial milestone. But for one 26-year-old investor, achieving the target brought with it a lesson he had not anticipated. He learned that saving and investing can become all-consuming when every purchase starts being measured against the money that could have been invested instead.
The man shared his experience on Reddit in a post titled “Reached 1Cr NW, and this taught me an important lesson.” He said he had never heard of the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement a few years ago, but had set himself the goal of reaching Rs 1 crore after he began investing.
“All Came At A Cost” “I’m 26M and this post is not a brag rather than a realisation and a reflection
of my investment journey,” he wrote. “I always wanted to hit a NW target of 1Cr as soon as I started investing, as I heard compounding starts to kick in once you cross 1Cr and it also gives me a mental boost that at-least I’m on the right path to make it to the end.”
He shared that his portfolio included Rs 56.5 lakh in foreign ETFs, Rs 33 lakh in Indian mutual funds, Rs 10 lakh in Indian stocks, Rs 4.4 lakh in PPF, Rs 3.7 lakh in gold through SGBs and ETFs, and Rs 2.5 lakh in cash. He said he had no loans and had not included his emergency fund or EPF in the calculation.
“But all of the above came at a cost, and I think I’ve learnt my lesson,” he said before talking about the “mental cost of aggressive saving.” He wrote, “I was living for the portfolio and not for myself. I found myself overthinking many of my purchases, constantly running mental math instead of just buying what I needed or wanted. Although I mostly bought whatever I wanted, I’ve always had the guilt that I could have saved instead of spending.”
He Said Saving Money Became An Addiction
He added, “Saving money went from being a responsible habit to an addiction. My brain was constantly occupied with moving the net worth forward, juggling Excel sheets, calculating how much it has moved over the course of time; man, it was mentally draining.”
The milestone ultimately changed his perspective on money. “Money is a tool to buy freedom and peace of mind, not a high score in a video game,” he wrote, adding that learning “how to spend without guilt” is as important as learning how to invest.
Internet Reacts To His Reflection On Spending And Saving
His post prompted people to share their own experiences with savings and spending, with an individual saying, “This is really impressive, I’m 26M at roughly 25L, I really want to hit 1CR before I hit 30, fingers crossed.”
Reached 1Cr NW and this taught me an important lesson.
by
u/randomuser_1804 in
FIRE_Ind
“I was living paycheck to paycheck at 26. Congrats OP. The saving mentality will hold you in good stead, but yeah, you might want to live a little and tone down the savings-at-all-costs mindset. Esp cos you can do things now that you wouldn’t like/enjoy ten years down the line,” another wrote.
Someone else said, “Congratulations, OP. I am at 2.3cr, and I still have the guilt of spending on certain items. Trying to navigate the miser vs frugal thing right now.”
Disclaimer: This article is based on user-generated content. The claims made in the original post have not been independently verified by News18.
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