In this edition of the reader story, we have a debt-to-riches story.
Opinions expressed in reader stories do not necessarily 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 it is necessary to convey the right meaning and preserve the tone and emotions of the writers.
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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 graduated in Mechanical Engineering in 2008 and began my career in India with a modest salary. Like many of us, I was focused on survival and growth, without much financial awareness in the early years.
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In 2012, my life took a serious turn when I realised my family was burdened with more than ₹25 lakhs of debt—bank loans, high-interest outside loans, and loans against family jewels. That phase taught me the true meaning of financial stress and responsibility.
In 2013, I moved to the GCC for the first time. Over the years, with job changes across India, Abu Dhabi, and Muscat, my income improved gradually. In 2015, I took a personal loan in the UAE at a much lower interest rate and closed all my family debts in India in a single day. That remains one of the proudest moments of my life.
Marriage in 2016 and starting a family brought new responsibilities. Initially, managing EMIs and expenses was tough, but a major career breakthrough in Muscat helped stabilise both my financial and personal life.
Along the way, life tested us emotionally as well. In 2019, my brother was diagnosed with cancer. Despite spending nearly ₹10 lakhs on treatment, we lost him in 2020. That loss reshaped my perspective on money, time, and priorities forever.
Between 2020 and 2022, by pledging jewels, using gratuity, advances, and all available savings, I invested in land plots worth over ₹1 crore. These decisions were not easy, but they were made with conviction and long-term vision.
In recent years, I consciously shifted my mindset:
- I exited a mis-sold LIC endowment policy after identifying flaws, fought a one-year case with the Insurance Ombudsman, and recovered my capital.
- I took proper term and health insurance.
- I built an emergency fund backed by gold.
- I started learning equity investing seriously and now focus mainly on index funds and flexi-cap funds.
Current Snapshot (2025):
- Land investments: ~₹1 crore (current value ~₹1.5+ crores)
- Gold investments: ~₹50 lakhs (current value ~₹1.5+ crores due to recent surge)
- Equity investments: ~₹50 lakhs and steadily increasing
- Fresh investments are now fully focused on equity to build a balanced portfolio
Habits That Helped Me:
- Saved nearly 95% of income during bachelor’s life in GCC
- Still saving ~60% even with a family and two kids
- No major lifestyle inflation for over 10 years
- Driving the same second-hand car for nearly a decade
- Never compromised on food, health, kids’ education, or experiences
- Took my first international vacation only on my 10th wedding anniversary
Aspirations Going Forward:
- Focus more on happiness than accumulation
- Travel and explore the world
- Raise confident, knowledgeable, and humble kids
- Build passive income streams
- Explore entrepreneurship
- Aim to be wealthy in values and freedom, not just rich in numbers
This journey taught me that discipline beats income, patience beats timing, and clarity beats complexity.
If my story helps even one person stay calm, hopeful, or disciplined during tough phases, this sharing is worth it.
Summary of my journey so far
2008: Mechanical Engineering graduate. Started my first company job in India. Monthly salary: 15,000.
2009: Monthly salary: 21,000.
2010: Monthly salary: 28,000.
2011: Monthly salary: 28,000.
2012: Monthly salary: 32,000. Came to know the family had 25 lakhs+ debt (10 lakhs bank at 8% + 10 lakhs outside at 36% + 5 lakhs from relatives/jewels).
2013: Career milestone: first time to GCC (Oman). Monthly salary: 60,000.
2014: Career milestone: second job in GCC (Abu Dhabi). Monthly salary: 1,10,500.
2015: Career milestone: increment in the same job. Monthly salary: 1,44,500.
2015: Continued in the same job. Monthly salary: 1,44,500. Took a UAE personal loan of 22 lakhs (4.5%) and closed all family credits in India in a single day (“dream day”).
2016: Personal journey: got married at 27. Continued in the same job. Monthly salary: 1,44,500. Faced difficulty managing UAE EMI and expenses with family.
2016: Career milestone: third job in GCC (Muscat). Monthly salary: 3,24,000. A major salary jump helped manage EMI and personal life.
2017: Personal journey: first kid (daughter). Continued in the same job. Monthly salary: 3,24,000. Bought first car: second-hand Toyota Corolla (5 years old) in Muscat.
2018: Continued in the same job. Monthly salary: 3,24,000. Closed personal loans and took an LIC endowment policy (2 lakhs yearly) as retirement backup.
2019: Continued in the same job. Monthly salary: 3,61,000. Brother got cancer; spent up to 10 lakhs for him.
2020: Continued in the same job. Monthly salary: 3,61,000. Lost brother.
2020: Continued in the same job. Monthly salary: 3,61,000. Pledged wife’s marriage jewels, used gratuity/advance/savings, and bought the first land plot property worth 50 lakhs+.
2021: Continued in the same job. Monthly salary: 3,61,000. Cleared marriage jewels loan, accumulated jewels, pledged again, and bought two more land plots worth 30 lakhs+.
2022: Personal journey: second kid (son). Career milestone: fourth job in GCC (Muscat). Monthly salary: 4,50,000. Cleared marriage jewels loan, accumulated jewels, pledged again, and bought two more land plots worth 30 lakhs+.
2023: Continued in the same job. Monthly salary: 4,80,000. Bought a brand new Toyota Glanza for my parents.
2024: Career milestone: fifth job in GCC (Muscat). Monthly salary: 5,30,000. Started learning equity investing and began investing aggressively (mainly index funds and familiar flexi-cap funds).
2025: Continued same job. Monthly salary: 5,80,000. Took term and health insurance; built an emergency fund of 80 grams of gold chain; closed the LIC endowment policy after a dispute and recovered 12 lakhs capital after a year via the Insurance Ombudsman. Current portfolio noted: ~1 crore in land plots (now ~1.5 crores+), 50 lakhs in gold (now ~1.5 crores+ due to surge), and ~50 lakhs in equity with a continued long-term focus toward a balanced portfolio.
Current habits: Saved 95% income as a bachelor in GCC; saving 60% with family (2 kids); no big lifestyle upgrades for 10 years; driving the same second-hand Corolla for ~10 years; no compromise on food/clothing/entertainment/kids’ education & extracurricular; first international vacation on 10th wedding anniversary.
Aspirations: Do more of what gives happiness; travel and explore more; raise confident/knowledgeable/humble kids; build passive income (none yet); try entrepreneurship; aim to be wealthy rather than rich.
Reader stories published earlier:
As regular readers may know, we publish a personal financial audit each December – this is the 2024 edition: Portfolio Audit 2024: 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.
- Twelfth 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
- Sixty-second audit: Building Wealth and Breaking Barriers: How Swati Took Control of Her Financial Future
- Sixty-third audit: My financial journey: How I missed the Compounding Bus!
- Sixty-fourth audit: My MF investment journey: From thematic funds to a 3-fund portfolio
- Sixty-fifth audit: From Debt to ₹1 Crore Liquid Net Worth: My Journey of Financial Awareness.
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. You can also publish them anonymously.
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