Despite personal challenges, we are on track to achieve FIRE in seven years

Published: August 2, 2025 at 6:00 am

In Aug 2024, we published a reader story about a young earner’s journey to one crore and plans to build further wealth: Crossing the Million Mark: Our Journey to the First Crore. This is an update.

About this series: I am grateful to readers for sharing intimate details about their financial lives, which benefits us all. Some of the previous editions are linked at the bottom of this article. You can also access the full reader story archive.

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 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 have also started a new “mutual fund success stories” series. This is the first edition: How mutual funds helped me reach financial independence. Now, over to the reader.

First, some background. I come from a Defence background where, to be candid, we often faced financial constraints due to familial responsibilities that my father, as the eldest child, had to manage. My exposure to investing began during my college years. In contrast, my wife hails from a well-established IT background with exposure to investing since childhood. We both completed our B.Tech. degrees, with me graduating in 2018 and my wife in 2019. My parents stretched their resources, even taking a loan, to secure my admission to a Tier-1 Private College in Chennai, while my wife opted for a regular college in Hyderabad.

Both of us started our careers with the same company at the age of 22. We got married during the COVID-19 pandemic, managing to keep expenses under 10 lakhs. Beginning in the IT sector with entry-level salaries, we understood the challenges of being at the bottom of the pay scale. Despite this, we stayed with our first company longer than anticipated before realising our potential for growth and deciding to move on to positions with higher earning potential.

  • The past year was challenging, both personally and in the markets.
  • Two major life events happened: I left my job at PwC after a year due to burnout, and we sadly experienced a miscarriage after three months.
  • FY25 became a year of learning and adapting — the markets tested our patience, and personal events influenced our financial choices.
  • Our total pre-tax household active income for FY25 was ₹50 lakh. We also received about ₹30,000 in dividends from our holding companies.
  • There was a one-time windfall of ₹25 lakh from a family real estate sale.
  • The % growth compared to last year is skewed due to this windfall. Excluding it, the actual income growth comes to around 67%, i.e., ₹50.3 lakh.
Income SourceFY24FY25% Change
Salary₹30L₹50L66%
Dividends₹20k₹30k50%
Rental Income₹0₹00%
Side Hustle₹0₹00%
Windfall Income₹0₹25LNA
Total₹30.2L₹75.3L150%

Expense Summary

  • Our total annual expenses were around ₹24.30 Lakhs. 
  • Travel continues to be our biggest discretionary expense. Over the past year, we took trips to Singapore, Bali, Meghalaya (with family), Goa, and Andaman (with family). In FY26, we’ve already completed a week-long workation in Kerala, with upcoming trips planned to Goa and Japan.
  • As part of family support, we contribute monthly to my parents, even though they are financially independent and still working. Their investments have largely been in debt instruments, making them relatively unfamiliar with equities. To help them gradually build comfort with equity exposure, we’ve opened a mutual fund account in their name, which I fund indirectly. This will allow them to diversify their portfolio as they approach retirement in FY29.
Expense CategoryAmount (₹)% of Total
Household6 Lakhs24.9%
Travel12 Lakhs50%
Healthcare30,0000.2%
EducationNilNil
Miscellaneous6 Lakhs24.9%
Total24.30 Lakhs100%
  • Savings rate = (Income – Expenses) / Income = (75.3L – 24.30L ) / 75.3L = 63%

*The calculation is again skewed by the windfall received during the year. After excluding it, the savings rate stands at 50%, which aligns with our annual target.

Investment Performance

  • We track our overall portfolio across four family members — myself, my wife, and my parents — covering Equity, Debt, Gold, and Other investments.
  • We exclude real estate from our investment calculations as it is primarily for self-use, has irregular valuations, and lacks liquidity. Real estate will only be factored in if and when an actual sale occurs and proceeds are realized.
  • We monitor both absolute returns and percentage growth, while also comparing our portfolio performance against benchmarks such as Nifty, Sensex, and relevant mutual fund indices.
  • The returns on stocks and mutual funds have seen a significant rise this year, largely due to deploying a major portion of the windfall directly into the markets. In addition, multiple Systematic Withdrawal Plans (SWPs) have been initiated from a funded arbitrage account.
Asset ClassValue (FY24)Value (FY25)% Change
Equity ( Stocks )65 L1.06 Cr64%
Equity ( MFs )15 L26.70 L76%
Debt ( PFs )67 L75.5 L13%
Debt ( PPF )27 L30 L12%
Gold4 L5 L25%
Others (Unlisted)NilNilNil
Total1.78 Cr2.43 Cr

Net Worth Update

  • Opening Net Worth in Mar’2024: 1.78 Cr
  • Closing Net Worth April’2025: 2.43 Cr
  • 37% change YoY in the NW backed by market recovery from the earlier drop of 30% from PF-all time high.
Asset allocation of a reader who, despite personal challenges, is on track to achieve FIRE in seven years
Asset allocation of a reader who, despite personal challenges, is on track to achieve FIRE in seven years
Asset allocation comparison and % change per asset class of a reader who, despite personal challenges, is on track to achieve FIRE in seven years
Asset allocation comparison and % change per asset class of a reader who, despite personal challenges, is on track to achieve FIRE in seven years

Key Learnings & Mistakes

  • What worked well: Our equity portfolio saw a sharp 30% dip from its all-time high in October but fully recovered over the following six months.
  • What didn’t work: We missed the opportunity to add to our equity positions during the downturn. This was mainly because of financial commitments towards a planned family vacation and my ongoing job transition.
  • Behavioural observations: Despite the 30% drop, we stayed calm and focused on analysing which stocks presented the best opportunities to add once funds were available. Diversification across the portfolio gave us peace of mind and reduced anxiety about any single holding.
  • Market takeaway: Markets reward those who stay invested and avoid turning temporary paper losses into permanent ones.

Changes in Financial Goals

  • Our Financial Independence (FI/FU) target is to reach the $1 million mark, which is based on our current projections, should be achievable by FY32 — about 7 years from now.
  • The goal for the upcoming year is to grow our combined net worth to ₹3.23 crore, which represents a 33% increase from the current year.

Action Plan for FY26

  • We are making better use of credit card rewards to help offset travel expenses, especially for flights and accommodations.
  • Our overall asset allocation remains conservative at the family portfolio level, with a 55:45 split between Equity and Debt.
  • We’ve started exploring turnaround opportunities, particularly where company insiders are increasing their ownership during market downturns.
  • No changes have been made to our budgeting approach, as things are progressing according to plan.
  • We post our monthly numbers along with any portfolio changes at direct equity level on Twitter (@FundaInvesting) regularly. 

Closing Thoughts

  • Some things in life are simply beyond our control. The best we can do is accept them and keep moving forward. Life will always have its share of ups and downs, and no one can ever say with certainty whether “this time it’s different.”.
  • Thank you for reading this far. If you have any questions or thoughts, feel free to drop them — I’ll be happy to answer and discuss.
  • This is for informational purposes only, not financial advice.

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.

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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Pattabiraman editor freefincalDr 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.
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