In this edition of the reader story, “Hi, I’m Pretorius, a 30-year-old Software Engineer, sharing my 2026 financial audit. My upbringing has been very middle-class, so investing, saving and spending money prudently is almost second nature to my family. I review my personal finances and retirement portfolio annually, and I would like to thank Pattu sir for giving me the opportunity to share this memory stamp with all of you folks for the year 2025”.
Previous audits by Pretorius
- How I learnt to keep it simple and build a net worth 19 times my annual expenses
- My Investment Journey to a net worth 29 times my annual expenses.
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.
If you would like to contribute to the DIY community in this manner, send your audits to freefincal AT Gmail dot com. You can publish them anonymously if you wish.
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.
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This past year brought a major life event, marriage and relocation to a workplace city and with it came a recalibration of lifestyle and spending. My monthly expenses, on average, include a 16% lifestyle inflation uplift due to a shift in location and new responsibilities, representing a new stable baseline. Though there are no more WFH-related perks, I am still managing to invest close to 3.5x of my annual expenses through disciplined investing.
Gains this year have been muted, just 2x of the annual expenses, predominantly from the debt side of PF.
What Changed Since Last Year
– Marriage‑driven lifestyle upgrades have been fully integrated into financial planning. Bringing the partner on board for the shared vision is key (integrating her) into the plan as they have the power to support or derail the same. Fortunately, I’m blessed with the former.
– Residue of the old ELSS funds, and pruning older tax‑saving products, is still an ongoing process.
– Made 3 smaller disciplined rebalances during the previous year to manage equity allocation (from debt to equity) at different intervals.
– Continued the same equity investment strategies and conservative hybrid funds making it the core of the debt allocation by reducing some PPF invested amount influx to bare minimum and even managing to do a partial withdrawal and move the same towards Debt Funds.
Freefincal’s role: Freefincal and goal-based investing have helped me commit big, chunky contributions to market-linked instruments and understand the risks involved in each instrument. As Pattu sir reiterates in his videos, “invest like a machine.” The returns aren’t in our control, but the inflows and expenses are. This has been my motto for the last 5 years and the foreseeable future.
My current net-worth is close to 35 times same as previous FY as my annual expenses have inflated and PF returns have been muted in this FY. Asset allocation is 61:39 (Equity: Debt). But as it is market-linked, so this could get slashed if the market corrects/crashes.
Current Portfolio (Jan 4, 2026 Dated)
Equity Mutual Funds:
– Mirae (ELSS)
– UTI Quality 50 Midcap.
– UTI Low Volatility Index.
– Parag Parikh Flexi Cap.
– Parag Parikh ELSS.
Hybrid GILT Funds:
– PPFAS Conservative Hybrid.
– PPFAS DAAF.
Direct Equity:
– Diversified multi‑cap stock portfolio across large, mid and smaller companies (75,15,10% Split in Large, Mid, Small caps)
Debt / Gilt:
– SBI Gilt Fund.
- Fixed debt instruments. Weight: 7%, XIRR: 8.2% for EPF, 7.2% for PPF
- Liquid debt instruments. Weight: 32%, XIRR: 9.1% (Debt MFs)
- Equity in Mutual funds. Weight: 23%, XIRR: 18.45% (Most of it is due to the influx during covid)
- Equity in direct stocks. Weight: 38%, XIRR: 12.3% (The equity returns have been dwindled due to the concentrated nature of the same)
What Helped Me Reach Here:
– High savings discipline and understanding & supportive family.
– Consistent equity investing through cycles without worrying about returns.
– Minimal churn and rules‑based rebalancing.
Insurance & Safety Nets:
– Employer‑provided term coverage. (3x Base has been reduced. Haven’t added a personal one because net worth is decent)
– Health cover through employer; personal top‑up reviewed after marriage. (50L for each of us HDFC Optima secure)
– Emergency buffer maintained in liquid instruments. (1 year) Dividend income close to 2Months expenses.
Withdrawal Readiness
– FI multiple allows me to do a coast FIRE for now but I prefer to retire only when withdrawal rate is close to 1.5% for the remaining years of retired life
– Hybrid and debt for stability; equity for long‑term growth, Most of my networth is liquid.
My Game Plan for 2026:
– Maintain growth‑tilted allocation with gradual debt strengthening close to 20x in Debt would be ideal considering the field I am in has both geopolitical and AI-based impact.
– Build a multi‑year safety buffer. (75X is my personal target)
– Keep fund count minimal. Reduce the ELSS when the exit window comes.
– Limit lifestyle upgrades and increase dividend income to 3 months’ expenses (Try at least).
Final Word:
My journey to a 35× annual‑expense net worth has been shaped by steady investing, anchored expenses, and staying invested in all market cycles. Marriage has introduced new dynamics, but a well‑planned baseline and disciplined investing have ensured the FI trajectory remained intact. My expectation from equity is 10%. This helps me to concentrate on the influx rather than the returns. My piece of Gyan is to keep it simple: Focus on the influx & assess risk profile (goals) instead of concentrating on products, returns, as they are secondary and random in nature.
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 I 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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