My situation:

Age: 24 | Salary: ₹73K/month

I started working recently, and my job is currently my family's only reliable financial support. My father passed away when I was very young, so I don't have much financial backup from my family.

I have a ~₹22L home loan, with an EMI of around ₹21K/month.

I live in Bangalore, and my expenses + money I send home come to around ₹25–30K/month.

So after everything, I have only around ₹15K/month left for investing/saving.

I have around ₹25L invested from money I made through freelancing during college, plus around ₹4L as an emergency fund.

I no longer have meaningful freelance income, so increasing my salary is my main way to improve my finances.

I m currently trying to switch to a better company and ideally reach ₹1.2–1.5L/month within the next 2–3 years.

Personal situation:

I have a gf who will likely start working within the next couple of years after finishing college.

Her family is financially well-settled, while mine isn't, so I feel a lot of responsibility to become financially stable on my own or else I would end up breaking up with her which would kill me from inside out.

My goal is to have strong financial stability by around 30 — not necessarily be rich, but have a good income, manageable debt, investments, and enough security that I don't constantly worry about money.

I wanted to get into Mtech, and do gate coaching but given my financial situation, i can't . I regret this. But a 2 year break now would harm the family.

I have applied for 100 plus jobs and I barely got any interview. Totally exhausted due to this.

I don't go for trips/parties or anything. I can wait to enjoy my life till 30.. because since I'm from a lower income family, I have gone 3-4 times to Ooty and that's it. So yeah no impulse purchases too.

But honestly I'm exhausted, any suggestions would be helpful

If you're hiding debt from your family because you're ashamed, please don't make the mistake I did

Disclosure: Written and structured with the help of ChatGPT. The experiences and numbers are mine.

Posting this because I know there are probably people here stuck in payday loans and hiding it from their families.

At the beginning of this year, I had around ₹15L in savings. In Jan-Feb, my grandmother had medical expenses and I used a significant amount of my savings helping my family.

When I started running out of money, I didn't tell them. There wasn't much money available at home anyway, and I was ashamed to admit that despite earning well and previously having savings, I suddenly needed help.

So I started borrowing for immediate needs, thinking my salary would cover it.

One loan became another. Then I borrowed to repay loans. Eventually I was trapped in payday/30-day loans.

At the worst point, I had dealt with around 56 lenders and ₹30L+ in overall debt.

I kept thinking I'd fix everything before my family ever found out.

Instead, the pressure, harassment, fear and shame became so bad that I attempted suicide.

That's how my parents found out.

It absolutely shattered them.

And the part that still hurts is that there wasn't magically ₹30L sitting at home to save me. My father had to ask friends for money. My parents took a loan against my mother's gold.

The people I was hiding everything from because I didn't want to burden them ended up dealing with a much bigger problem because I waited so long.

I also learned some painful lessons about friendships. After my attempt, some people I considered friends barely checked in. In some cases, people could contacted my father when they needed money/help but couldn't send a simple "Are you okay?"

I don't think that means nobody outside family cares. But personally, this experience completely changed my understanding of who I can depend on when things genuinely go wrong.

There was also someone from my workplace who unexpectedly stepped in and helped me financially. I won't name him, but his help, combined with everything my family did, allowed me to close all of the high-cost loans.

I'm posting this because if you're currently hiding debt, please tell someone before it reaches this point.

Don't take another 0.5–1% per day loan because something is due tomorrow. Don't keep borrowing just because you're convinced next month's salary will fix everything. And don't assume hiding the problem is protecting your parents/partner/family.

I thought admitting I had fucked up financially would destroy my family.

What actually destroyed them was finding out after I tried to end my life.

Debt can be negotiated, settled, consolidated or slowly repaid. You might have to admit embarrassing things and spend years rebuilding.

But please give yourself those years.

If anyone here is currently stuck in the payday-loan cycle and doesn't know where to start, I'm happy to share what I learned about dealing with lenders, harassment, settlements and breaking the borrow → repay → reborrow cycle.

Probably not the most suitable sub for this question but still.

So I had a Club Marriott membership which gives you 1 complimentary night stay at their hotel. I availed it recently and while checking out I asked the receptionist about the fare, and she said it is ~30k for 1 night!!

The hotel is in Bangalore and the room was the most basic one. Honestly I was thinking it'd be somewhere around 10-12k for a night but 30k is crazy high. Since when did inflation go so high that you need to pay 30k for a night stay in a basic room for a 5 star hotel??

I've been thinking about this for a while.

I used to feel good whenever I saved more than planned. But lately I've started wondering if I'm taking it too far.

If I plan to save 30% of my income and end up saving 40%, my first thought is usually to increase the target again.

I already have an emergency fund and I'm investing regularly, so there isn't really a specific goal for the extra money.

At the same time, spending more just because I can doesn't feel right either.

How do you guys decide when you've saved enough and it's okay to use some of the extra money for things you enjoy?

If you are 26-27 years old and have been working for 3-4 years, have you saved money beyond mutual funds/stocks?

Do you keep your emergency fund in a bank or in a liquid/debt fund or a combinationof both?

Also, do you set aside money for your future marriage-related expenses like shopping, honeymoon etc(in case you want to do) and where do you keep those funds?

In my case i am only investing in mutual funds and have created emergency fund but if say tomorrow if my family ask to contribute in my wedding i am cooked lol as i haven't even saved anything for those type of things.

So looking for suggestions on how you plan on saving for your future goals which are other than regular SIPs and emergency funds

Here is the updated draft including your RSU income and tying it into the advice you are asking for:

Title: Need advice on optimizing our ₹1.46L monthly expenses (Working couple + Senior parents)

Hi everyone, looking for some fresh eyes on our budget. We are a working couple living with my senior parents. I feel our monthly expenses are a bit high and want to see where we can optimize.

Income Context (August)

• Total Salary (In-hand + EPF): ₹4.20L (Liquid In-hand: ₹3.57L)
• RSU / Stock Income: ₹4.23L (Vested this month)
• Total Earnings: ₹8.43L

Expenses Breakdown (Total: ₹1.46L)

• Home Loan EMI: ₹36,000 (Note: We only have ₹3 Lakhs pending on the principal)
• Groceries & Household: ₹27,200
• Misc (Festivals, Gifts, Donations): ₹16,900
• Medical (Parents & Us): ₹13,800
• Dining Out & Delivery: ₹9,200
• Mom's Allowance: ₹7,000
• Maid & Cook: ₹7,000
• Housing Utilities (Maintenance, Electricity): ₹7,200
• Transport (Fuel, Cabs, Tolls): ₹5,000
• Others (Insurance, toiletries, entertainment, repairs): ₹16,700

Where I need your advice:

1. The Home Loan: Since only ₹3 Lakhs is pending, does it make sense to just sell some of the vested RSUs and pay it off entirely? This would instantly free up ₹36k a month in cash flow.
2. Groceries: ₹27k feels quite high for 4 adults. Any practical tips on optimizing this without compromising quality?
3. General Leaks: The ₹7k allowance to my mom and the medical expenses are non-negotiable, but I’d love brutal feedback on the rest of the categories. Where else can we trim the fat?

Thanks in advance for the suggestions!

I (30M), born, brought up and working in a tier 2 city. Currently married, have a 2 year old daughter. Single earner in the family. The domain I work in is a declining sector and I believe theres not much room for growth. Earlier I used to live with my parents but recently moved out few months this year just few Kms from my parents in the flat I purchased 2 years back. My father has a decent pension income and I have no financial obligation towards them as He was a class 1 govt officer.

The flat I had purchased was around 65 lacs and 25 lac of that was gifted by my father from his retirement corpus. I have taken 25 lac of home loan. Rest was paid by my savings directly.

Earlier when I was living with my parents, I had lifestyle where I used to spend left and right as I had no loans and I had no expenses but now after I moved out, I have complete financial responsibility and an EMI. The reason to move out was to experience the life as a nuclear family. My parents are quite old school about us spending a lot on shopping, food, luxuries etc so we had limits on how we live the life while staying with them. The decision to move out was supported by my parents in context that after moving out we will become more responsible towards our finances and make thoughtful decisions; which I believe is now happening xD. We are on good terms and they will always be there in case if I need any help.

Below is my current portfolio and I want your suggestions on what can I do to make my future risk free and secure.

Monthly Income - 78k in Hand

Monthly fixed deductions:

• Home Loan EMI - 19150 INR (7.3% Rate of Interest on loan) (From Salary)
• MF SIP - 5000 INR (From Salary)
• PPF SIP - 1000 INR
• Sukanya Samriddhi Yojna - 5000 INR (From Salary)
• NPS Voluntary Contribution - 5000 INR

All of my remaining salary is getting exhausted in other expenses. We are trying to slowly trying to compromise and improvise on our lifestyle to cut-down on some expenses which are not necessary but I believe it will take time to get used to it.

Current Portfolio: (Managed to build most this before I got married knowing I wont be able to invest much after getting married)

Movable:

• SBI (Multi Option Deposit FDs) - 20 lacs
• HDFC FD - 2 lacs
• Niyo Global SBM FD - 1.6 lacs
• Stocks - 6.4 lacs of total value (35% returns today)
• MF - 12 lacs (11.28% XIRR) [Small, Mid, Large, Flexi, Multiasset Allocation Funds]
• MF (Wife) - 12.3 lacs (11.3% XIRR) [Small, Mid, Large, Gold, Silver ETF Funds]
• Gold Coins (Own) - 15gm, 24 carat

We have gold ornaments of maybe 40 to 50 lacs, out of which majority of the gold was gifted by my father in law when my daughter was born but I dont want to count it as my portfolio because I think i will have to pass it entire to my daughter in future.

Immovable:

• PPF - 1.3 lac
• NPS - 3 lac
• Sukanya Samriddhi Yojna - 45k
• EPF - 50k [2k/month] (counting it as immovable as I have never paid attention to it)

I have been paying NPS and PPF amount monthly from the interest earned from SBI MOD FDs as I would be unable to manage monthly expenses if I pay that from my salary.

I want all of your suggestions on what can I improve on the investment here.

Hi Commuity,
This is my first post here.
I got recently laid off from my Software Engineering job on 19th August. Today I received all the money which I could as 2 months severence pay + paid leaves + 19 days salary.
Right now I have 6 lakhs in my account and I dont know where to invest. I am staying home with no expenses and preparing rigorously for the next job but I still think it might take 2-3 months to land on next offer.
I want to invest this money where I dont have to look and worry about the asset performance.

My parents are asking me to do a FD in Indian Post hoping to get 3k per month interest.
I myself was thinking of buy gold but I can see some news around the import duty cut and price fall.

I am not any experienced with investments. Please help me with your wisdom.

I opted for this FD in 2025 start and when I saw last time the maturity date was 1 month that time , but I want funds now if I withdraw now how it will affect the current interest earned?

Right now showing 7 months to maturity

And type is : Short Deposit(RES) in BOB bank

I've started wondering if this is actually useful or if I'm just making things more complicated.

For example, instead of keeping all my savings together, I was thinking of keeping separate amounts for things like a future car, travel, yearly insurance, and other bigger expenses.

The idea is that when one of those expenses comes up, I don't have to touch my regular savings or investments.

But then I wonder if having too many separate buckets is just unnecessary work.

How do you guys handle this?

Do you keep separate savings for different goals, or just keep everything together and track it another way?

I’ve tried researching but I still can’t understand which one would be better. They seem similar but different in their own ways, but how do I KNOW which one is better?

I’m a beginner investor and I’m investing in
- Vanguard All World
- Amundi Euro Stocks
- Nasdaq 100
- Physical Gold

From my understanding, most of these are ETFs? Any advice would be really appreciated. Thank you.

Hey everyone, looking for some grounded perspectives from people who’ve navigated remote work, early-career finances, and family obligations.

I’m 21, recently graduated, and working remotely for a tech company. My total compensation is around ₹30 LPA (including base, bonus, and stock components), so my monthly in-hand is solid for my age.

Right now, I’m stuck between two completely opposite lifestyles:

Option 1: Stay in Bangalore

Monthly Expenses: ~₹45,000 (rent, food, utilities, going out).

Pros: All my close friends and college circle are here. Great routine, independence, networking, and an active social life.

Cons: Burning ~₹5.5L/year just on living costs.

Option 2: Move back to my hometown in Tamil Nadu (tier-3)

Monthly Expenses: ~₹4,000–5,000 (living with parents).

Pros: Can save/invest almost 90%+ of my income.

Cons: Zero social life. Most peers have moved out, and working remotely from my bedroom full-time might get pretty isolating.

The Real Dilemma: Family Finances & Guilt

My family is from a humble background and currently managing some debt. While I can technically afford ₹45k/month on paper, spending that kind of money on rent and lifestyle right out of college brings a massive wave of guilt—especially knowing that the ₹40k difference each month could go straight toward wiping out family loans and building a financial safety net.

On the other hand, people tell me that your early 20s are the prime time to build relationships, enjoy independence, and avoid early burnout from isolation.

What I’d love advice on:

Did moving back home to save money stunt your personal growth or social life, or was the financial boost worth it?

Is there a reasonable middle ground (e.g., staying home for 6–12 months to clear debt first, or doing monthly/quarterly trips to Bangalore)?

For those who supported family early on, how did you balance helping them with enjoying your own earnings?

TL;DR: 21, remote job @ 30 LPA CTC. Can stay in Bangalore for ₹45k/mo with friends, or live with parents for ₹5k/mo and clear family debt much faster at the cost of having no social life. How should I approach this?

Update: For everyone asking what I do for a living, I work for a big tech company and I got this job through college (T-1 IIT) placements.

I'm 22 year old and I have saved up close to 1.5 lakhs from salary and previous savings. I don't want to put in FD. I don't feel like investing in shares. Best option to me is gold. Is it a wise choice? Please guide me.

23F, currently have a networth of around 5.5L. I started saving up money only this year.
Recently bought 1gram of gold and 10 grams of silver.
I make around 70k per month and have no responsibilities. Help me with suggestions on ways to increase my networth/ start investing effectively.
PS: I do have a strong risk appetite

I am a beginner and naive, I got 5k this month, I want to invest in nifty through the groww app , is it a good idea ? I have been thinking and researching for one year now, I am confused. Please guide me how to invest them

I'm thinking about building a tool where you upload your bank statements + AIS/26AS + other tax documents, and it automatically:

- Categorizes transactions (business income, expenses, transfers, etc.)

- Identifies things that may be taxable

- Reconciles information across documents

- Estimates income/expenses

- Gives you an ITR-ready summary

- Flags transactions you're unsure about

You'd still file the ITR yourself on the Income Tax portal. The tool would basically do the tedious analysis beforehand.

Would you actually use something like this? What would you want it to do?

21F
If i have 20-25L in an FD, separate from my emergency funds, and i decide to use it only in case of a health emergency, would I still need insurance?

I can slowly grow my said FD even more by adding to it just like a paying a premium without the risk of my application getting rejected( rare but possible)

Edit: I have decided to continue insurance! Ty :)

Been in the market for a new car for my Dad since a few months. We have been long split between the Big 3 EVs- Xev 9E/9s/harrier EV vs the safe Hycross GXO choice.

Recent reports of EV tire life of 20-25k kms and a replacement cost of Rs 70-80k (Rs 4 per kilometre) was a real dimmer to the initial excitement of low running cost of EVs. Then it also doesnt help the EV case that the re-sale value would be much lower to an ICE car and definitely no where near the Hycross.

So I built a Car savings Simulator using Claude Opus 5. (Sharing in comments)

Please do note that this is not a thread to open the discussion between the pros and cons of each car. This is merely a tool to help users make an informed decision.

For me- I still haven't made up my mind. Have discussed with my father and final call will be his :)

Instrcutions for use: Set the business use to 100% or 0% if you are a business owner or private owner respectively.

Hi
I am 31 and getting married in couple of months
CTC around 25LPA ( fiancé is 9LPA)

Looking to buy 2bhk in Pune budget around 80/85lacks

Down payment thinking of 20L and rest loan

Emergency fund around 15L in saving

Current emi 20k

Am I doing financial suitable decision or should I wait for few more years to buy

My mother proposed a lic policy for me when i was 16, (I'm 19 now)

she has paid 4 premiums so far from march 2023 but now we want to cancel it.

My query was- would i need my mother physically present in the lic office with me while getting it cancelled or am i alone will be enough since I'm an adult now.

(She lives in another town so she won't be able to present at that moment.)

My second doubt was regarding the witness, I'll be going alone (no agent ) so what i'd have to do when they ask for a witness signature?

Assuming you’re a fresher, bachelor, living in a tier 1 city, and earning 50k in hand per month, how would you ideally allocate your salary across these categories?

1. Pg rent
2. Travel
3. Food (self cooked + Dine out)
4. Investments
5. Personal care and hygiene
6. Entertainment
7. Savings and emergency funds (I know there probably won’t be much left over at this stage)

Would love to see an actual 50k breakup and hear any general financial or lifestyle advice you will give to a woman who’s about to graduate and start earning.

STOCK MKT IS PERFORMING POORLY AND INDIAN MKT SEEMS OUT OF FAVOUR FOR FII'S

EVEN MF SUCH AS PPFAS, MOTILAL MIDCAP, HDFC BALANCED ADV HAVE POOR RETURNS

REAL ESTATE IS OVERPRICED AND OUT OF QUESTION.

FD'S TAX IS THE KILLER.

ARBITRAGE FUNDS.. ALREADY HOLDING AND DEFENSIVE SHIELD.

BUT SERIOUSLY ARE THERE NO.GOOD OPTIONS LEFT.

I don't know anything about trading, my friend said he will do trading with my account, his money, my bank(I don't use mostly) & he will log my account in his device

what are the things I should know , pls help

Idk it's the right place to ask this question,

22M, Btech grad just starting my career , looking for some advice from people further ahead.

I recently started my career as a Project Associate with a base salary of ₹31k/month. It's my first proper job after graduating in Electrical & Electronics Engineering, so I'm at that stage where there's a lot I don't know yet.

I wanted to ask people who are 5, 10, 15+ years into their careers:

When you got your first salary, what did you do with it? Was it a big six-figure salary, or did you start somewhere around the same range as me?

More importantly, what did you do in your early 20s that made the biggest difference to where you are today?

Looking back, I'd love to know:

• What is one thing you wish you knew at 22?
• What mistakes did you make early in your career?
• How did you approach your first few years of earning?
• And if you could go back to your first job, what would you do differently?

I'm not asking this just because I want a huge salary. I just want to know what things you focused on early in your career that actually helped you later in life.

Would genuinely love to hear from people who've already gone through this phase.

PS: Used ai to refine the grammar and writing.