We present a beginner’s guide to financial freedom dispelling common myths and misunderstandings on the subject. 1 What is financial freedom (FF)? A period of time when a person is not compelled to work for a living. This means having enough money to pay for known and known expenses, recurring and one-time expenses and associated…

Here is a simple formula to check your progress to financial freedom. It can tell you how long you need to be a salaried employee and shift the focus of portfolio review from returns to the corpus worth and, in the case context of retirement, how long would it last. It will work in any…

When I wrote the last article about how a minimalistic lifestyle can help you save money, people had some obvious questions and apprehensions. Some were sceptical that a lot of skimping may take the joy out of living and some others were worried about society and extravagant families waiting to judge them. About the author:…

In this article, author Smriti Tuteja explains how a minimalist lifestyle will help you save money as well as time to do things that give you joy. About the author: Smriti is an author, freelance content writer and avid reader. She quit her six-year-long IT career to embrace her love for writing. Her previous article…

Many of us cannot stand the thought of losing money; we cannot stand the thought of not getting regular income. This prevents us from taking career risks or investing risks. Some recognise that they are making a mistake but cannot break out of this mental barrier. The “logic” is quite simple: If you do not…

In this article, author Smriti Tuteja explains why having a baby doesn’t mean ending your financial independence and discusses options to earn money from home after a maternity break. About the author: Smriti is a freelance content writer and an avid reader. She quit her six-year-long IT career to embrace her love for writing. Her…

In the seventh edition of personal finance audits by readers, we meet 30-year old Rohit whose early struggles led him, to start investing early in a goal-based manner. As regular readers may be aware, we publish a personal financial audit each December – this is the 2020 edition: How my retirement portfolio performed in 2020. This…

In this article, Venkat describes how an incident in a “Xerox shop” changed his outlook on financial independence and financial literacy.  Venkat, 32, changed his perspective towards personal finance when he came across the idea of FIRE – financial independence and early retirement. He then invested more than ten hours as a hobby and went on…

In the sixth edition of personal finance audits by readers, we meet Abhisek; learn how he achieved his first goal – fund his marriage 100% and use that as education and inspiration to move towards financial independence. As regular readers may be aware, we publish a personal financial audit each December – this is the…

Let us discuss a question received a few days ago: “What return should a 30-year-old investor aim for their retirement portfolio?” Retirement is assumed to be a good 25 years away. The first step of having a clear goal: Why the money is needed and when it is needed is already part of the question….

In the next edition of personal finance audits by readers, we feature an account of why Mr Tailor had to postpone his financial independence & early retirement plans by four years. As regular readers may be aware, we publish a personal financial audit each December – this is the 2020 edition: How my retirement portfolio performed…

I have been tracking the amount invested for my goals in the same Excel sheet for the last ten years (2011 to 2020). These are some lessons from the journey. This sheet is only for tracking the amount invested and not its current market value. Between 2010-11, my retirement planning cash flow projection was in…

A few days ago, we discussed the lifestyle of Santhosh a middle-class crorepati. I received three questions from young earners that can be paraphrased as, “I cannot be like Santhosh. I like to live a good life with a car and expensive smartphones. However, I feel guilty that if I continued my lifestyle, it will…

The notion of retirement has changed considerably over the years. Retirement for our parents meant a complete dependence on salary up to retirement and then complete dependence on pension afterwards. If we build a well-diversified retirement portfolio – a retirement basket as PV Subramanyam of subramoney.com would say – we can approach retirement with confidence and…