Last Updated on July 30, 2025 at 8:12 am
In July 2023, we shared an interesting reader story about Shankar (not his real name), who had been burdened with debt for several years. He is now debt-free and rapidly building his equity portfolio. This was quite a different journey compared to an earlier story: My Journey to a Ten Crore Portfolio. As a follow-up, Shankar has provided us with 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 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.
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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.
Disclaimer: I am writing this blog for people who want to plan their finances before returning to Bharat. This blog will be useful for those who want to return to Bharat from Abroad. However, it may not be useful for those who want to settle Abroad, as the investment approach needs could be different.
Here are my investments split up as on July 2025:
-> In below table X is annual expense! (This keeps on changing each year. so, I will increase this once my net worth grows further. )
-> I am 37 now, Single income with No debts
-> parents are not financially dependent on me. And they have their own medical insurance.
All investments are in the Nifty, with no foreign investments except for exposure in Flexi Cap.
-> I use a single bucket strategy for all goals. I consider all the equity investments in a single bucket(mentally) and planning to rebalance based on the performance each year.
-> For rebalancing I will use the above DEBT+ cash + gold bees to rebalance with the equity.
-> I am heavy on equity, as I was late to investment. I completely aware of the risk in it. As I am investing in under valued large cap and mutual funds and I have enough gold bees + debt I can rebalance in case of huge market crash..
-> Passive incomes: (This is not considered for retirement calculation given in table). Rental income + dividend from stocks = will cover 4 months of annual expenses.i will use this for school education in India.
I will be staying here for one more year to add more to the retirement corpus, and planning to work on India until my retirement goal compounds to 100x.
| Goal | Current investment in multiple of X – annual expense (all rounded approx.) | Comments |
| Term insurance | 2 crores | |
| Health insurance floater | 15 lakhs – No super top yet. | Super top up and critical illness pending. Will get it this year. |
| Retirement – Equity investment (Mutual fund + stocks for dividends) | 18.5 X | High-quality stocks. Large cap fund. -> final goal 100x before age 60. If it reaches before 60, I will quit my IT job. |
| 2 Kids education – equity (Mutual fund only) | 6 X | Looking to increase as much as possible in next 2 or 3 years. Flexi cap + nifty 50 index fund. Final goal: 20x. I have 10 more years for my kids college. |
| Debt – Liquid funds, gilt, bond funds, suganya samridhi | 1 X | Will use this to rebalance |
| Cash -> STP deploying to equity each month | 1.5 X | Will use this to rebalance |
| Gold bees + physical gold-> will be considered as an emergency fund and later re-purposed for children marriage | 2 X | Will use this to rebalance |
Split up of the investments into 2 accounts.
The above investments gave me the confidence to think about returning to Bharat. Hope this helps ur return journey as well.
Happy investing! Jai Hind!
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.
- 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
- 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: How I learnt that investing is about finding the balance and not chasing returns
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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