A few weeks ago, Swati wrote: “I regularly follow the Reader Story section on Freefincal and deeply appreciate its effort in sharing valuable insights into personal finance journeys. As a strong advocate for women’s financial independence, I understand the critical importance of women taking charge of their own finances, rather than leaving the responsibility solely to the men in their families”.
“Unfortunately, in the socio-economic circles I am familiar with, women, though often educated, are rarely economically independent. Even those in professional roles often have limited awareness or understanding of personal finance management. This lack of knowledge and awareness creates a significant gap that needs addressing.
I also believe that women benefit immensely from relatable role models who inspire them to embark on their own financial journeys.”
“The Reader Story section has the potential to create multiple micro-role models for women, celebrating their achievements and promoting financial literacy. Such stories can undoubtedly inspire young women to take the first steps toward financial independence”.
“However, I have observed that the majority of contributors in this section are men. While their stories are valuable, men and women often encounter distinct challenges in their financial journeys. Featuring women’s perspectives can provide a richer, more inclusive narrative that resonates with a broader audience. May I kindly suggest inviting women to contribute to the Reader Story section or as fee-only advisors to write for freefincal? Their experiences could serve as powerful inspiration for others.”
Our past efforts in this regard did not bear much fruit. This is one rare instance: How a single mom is on track to financial freedom. I requested Swati to share her story in the hope that it would be the start of more reader stories from women in 2025 and beyond.
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Opinions published in reader stories need not represent the views of freefincal or its editors. We must appreciate multiple solutions to the money management puzzle and empathise with diverse views. Articles are typically not checked for grammar unless necessary to convey the right meaning and preserve the tone and emotions of the writers.
If you would like to contribute to the DIY community in this manner, send your audits to freefincal AT Gmail dot com. They can be published anonymously if you so desire.
Please note: We welcome such articles from young earners who have just started investing. See, for example, this piece by a 29-year-old: How I track financial goals without worrying about returns. We also have a “mutual fund success stories” series. See, for example, how mutual funds helped me achieve financial independence. Now, over to the reader.
I began working in 1994, fresh out of university. A year later, I got married, and in 1997, we welcomed our first child. Coming from a middle-class background, I experienced the traditional and gendered expectations placed on many Indian women in the 90s.
Marriage was a major life shift, and like many women of my generation, I found myself balancing work, family, and societal norms. Amidst the whirlwind, one emotional dream emerged, fueled by family dynamics: to own a home in my “own” name. Back then, I had no understanding of financial planning,
As life stabilized, I shifted my focus to building a corpus for my child’s education and other financial goals. Despite earning well—with an expense-to-earnings ratio of 35% in 2008—our personal expense inflation was steep, exceeding 8%. I prioritized giving my children a well-rounded upbringing, which came with significant costs. Compounding the challenge was my family’s aversion to market-linked investments, which were dismissed as “gambling.”
Despite the scepticism, I was curious about stock investing and sought opportunities to learn. In 2004, I gained access to an online trading platform and cautiously entered long-term stock investing. However, I soon realized it demanded more time and expertise than I could dedicate. By 2007, I turned to mutual funds, starting with HDFC’s ISA service.
Around this time, I sought professional investment management but was fortunate to connect with Vipin Khandelwal (later the founder of Unovest). He encouraged me to manage my finances independently. With his guidance, I crafted my first financial plan in 2008—a pivotal moment in my journey. I am always grateful to him.
At the time, our net worth was heavily skewed: 58% in real estate and just 9.5% in equity. After accounting for all our goals, we had no allocation for retirement savings beyond EPF/PPF or annuity-based plans. The silver lining was time, and while expenses were high, our savings were adequate to meet our goals. I began working towards financial balance.
In 2017, I faced a layoff. A year later, dissatisfied with a new work environment, I revisited our financial plan. By 2018, with 94% of our retirement corpus in place, I retired—a challenging but rewarding decision.
Today, my spouse continues to work, and our children are pursuing their academic dreams. I’ve settled into hobbies and passions that bring me joy. Our retirement corpus is ~35 times our annual expenses, with separate allocations for all goals and emergencies. However, high personal expenses, inflation, and tax outflows remain ongoing concerns.
Our current net worth consists of 13% in real estate and physical gold, with the remainder in non-physical assets, allocated as follows:
- 36% Equity (mutual funds and stocks, aiming for 40%)
- 28% Retirement funds (EPF/PPF)
- 9% Annuities (NPS and pension funds)
- 15% FDs and bonds
- 8% Debt mutual funds
- 4% Gold ETF/SGB and insurance-linked savings
Our equity portfolio, built during 2004-2008, is far from perfect. Stock selections, often guided by external advice, yielded mixed results. However, services like Equitymaster’s ValuePro provided some excellent recommendations then. Our mutual fund portfolio, while over-diversified, reflects caution rather than FOMO. I’m hesitant to allocate too much to a single AMC or fund. This complexity is being managed through Excel and programming, though it remains a challenge.
Currently, 46% of our mutual fund portfolio is in active direct large-cap funds, 26% in flexi-cap, and 22% in active mid-cap. Small-cap exposure is below 1%, which I plan to increase a bit. I am gradually transitioning residual regular funds (10% of our mutual fund portfolio) to direct index funds. Since we are underexposed to equity, I haven’t formally rebalanced yet, though I book profit time to time. However, I periodically review the portfolio and act if a mutual fund or stock underperforms my expectations for over a year.
My focus now is on simplifying our retirement corpus investments and minimizing taxes. I understand that age may impact decision-making capabilities, so careful planning for post-75 years is a priority. All our investments are managed online, and my family knows where to find the details if needed.
Despite exploring professional financial planning services, I’ve found it challenging to obtain personalized, actionable advice that is comprehensive and backed by in-depth product knowledge.
Reflecting on my journey, I feel immense gratitude. The lessons I’ve learned—and continue to learn—have been invaluable. My greatest accomplishment is raising two financially literate and disciplined children.
P.S. As a natural pessimist, I’ve always planned for worst-case scenarios. While I refer to “our” portfolio here, we maintain clear distinctions between individual assets linked only through nominations. Building family wealth is important, but I firmly believe every woman should prioritize creating her own portfolio for personal safety and independence. After all, you cannot safeguard your family unless you’re secure.
Reader stories published earlier:
As regular readers may know, we publish a personal financial audit each December – this is the 2023 edition: Portfolio Audit 2023: The Annual Review of My Goal-Based Investments. We asked regular readers to share how they review their investments and track financial goals.
- 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!
- Update: How I achieved investing nirvana.
- 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 (part 1): How I achieved financial independence without mutual funds or stocks.
- Sixteenth audit (part 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 published audits have had a compounding effect on readers. If you would like to contribute to the DIY community in this manner, send your audits to freefincal AT Gmail. They could be published anonymously if you so desire.
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About The Author
Dr M. Pattabiraman(PhD) is the founder, managing editor and primary author of freefincal. He is an associate professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. He has over ten years of experience publishing news analysis, research and financial product development. Connect with him via 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 investors. (2) Gamechanger for young earners. (3) Chinchu Gets a Superpower! for kids. He has also written seven other free e-books on various money management topics. He is a patron and co-founder of “Fee-only India,” an organisation promoting unbiased, commission-free investment advice.Our flagship course! Learn to manage your portfolio like a pro to achieve your goals regardless of market conditions! ⇐ More than 3,000 investors and advisors are part of our exclusive community! Get clarity on how to plan for your goals and achieve the necessary corpus no matter the market condition is!! Watch the first lecture for free! One-time payment! No recurring fees! Life-long access to videos! Reduce fear, uncertainty and doubt while investing! Learn how to plan for your goals before and after retirement with confidence.
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