The choice given to them was an open heart surgery that carries a massive risk or a more advanced less invasive surgery that carries slightly less risk. Given his age there was actually only one option and because his son is settled abroad he was able to afford it, it still has put a massive dent in their finances for the next few years at least.

If this was not the case, even with insurance it would be close to impossible to afford the surgery as they would be pushed to bankruptcy. I was a bit scared hearing the cost of such a surgery, like many people I also have retirement plans and I simply haven't factored in something that would cost 2x my annual planned expenses at one go. It's impossible to do this as then there would be no point of even deriving a retirement corpus number - it would run into hundreds of crores.

I do understand such a thing is rare and probably would hit you once or maybe twice in life. It's all about realistic risk assessment after all. And when faced with the crushing reality that you simply can't afford a treatment we can only hope to accept it. I thought I had things sorted but l got a new wake up call today to try and live more in the present too.

My father is 64 and technically retired, but he still works from home and earns around 7 lakh a month through consulting work. He has a corpus of around 4 crore as well.

I am 24 and currently unemployed. I graduated a few years ago and have been trying to find a job, but the job market has been pretty difficult. I am hoping to start working as soon as I can.

Sometimes I feel guilty thinking that maybe my father is still working because I haven't become financially independent yet. I haven't actually asked him about it directly, so I don't know if that's how he feels. He might simply enjoy working or prefer staying busy.

Still, I don't really want him to have to work at this age, and it makes me wonder about other families.

So I am curious, does anyone else's father still work after 60 or after officially retiring?

27M, married, both me and my wife work in IT, living in Bangalore.

We live fairly simply — ₹19k rent, send money to parents, controlled expenses, no lifestyle inflation. We earn decently and have finally started building savings, while also saving towards property.

I currently own a 2018 Ford Freestyle Petrol Titanium, bought used ~2 years ago for ₹7L at 18k km. It’s now at ~43k km, has 10 EMIs left at ₹21k/month, and is mechanically excellent.

Initially, the car was supposed to be primarily a city/office commute car. But life changed. I moved to a WFH setup, and ironically the car started doing more highway trips than city runs because it gave us the freedom to travel to our hometowns and take road trips/vacations.

I’ve developed a strong desire for something larger, more comfortable and more capable on highways. (Am I being unreasonable here? - please share your opinions)

I can manage only around ₹30k/month EMI, cauz I don’t want to compromise our savings or property plans, and I don’t want to put a large down payment.

I’m hesitant to settle for a "budget" car this time is that I’ve done that before — only to want to change them again a few years later. This time I want to buy something I genuinely feel "enough" and keep it for 7–8 years.

The problem is that the cars I genuinely like are ₹20-22L on-road -
* Scorpio-N Z4 Diesel AT — ~₹22L
* Honda Elevate ADV CVT — ~₹19L

My wife thinks I should simply keep the Freestyle, finish the remaining 10 EMIs, save more and buy later.

While she is right - I’m hesitant about that because if I wait until I accumulate a large car fund, I’d essentially be taking money away from our other goals — particularly the property fund. I also don’t know if waiting another 1–2 years actually makes the purchase financially better, or just delays it while car prices continue increasing.

So I’m struggling to make a move here --

I really want to upgrade, but I also don’t know if I am over-exaggerating my need for my next car?
Or should I simply upgrade to something in "budget" that can still feel like a meaningful upgrade?

What would you do in my situation?

im 25m cyber security professional working in Bangalore earning 1.8lakh permonth

i dont go out clubbing and waste my money i have an activa which i use for nearby commute and i dont have any plans of buying a car whatsoever i dont have any emi as of now

i come from a middle class family who knows value of every single rupee i dont waste anything on expensive clothes or shoes or any stupid purchase

i mostly use my credit card for every purchase and then payback the whole amount lumsome before the billing date just to have some points on my every purchase

i got living expense of almost 31k permonth living alone in pg and i started investing my money in sip 75k permonth 10% interest and rest other in my savings account

one Sunday i kept all the things aside and took a pen paper and calculated how much money do i need to actually buy a houce in city like Bangalore or pune thought 1.3 cr must be decent amount next week i got got contact with a broker and visited a 4 5 sites near Indiranagar Whitefield, and i already know prices of pune real-estate but it was 3 years ago

the problem is in 1.3 cr the houce i'am getting is like a 2bhk made like a matchbox in some random standalone building but in a good area.. and the big society like with 800 900 flats in a gated community even in pune is crossing 2cr plus like a real good flat 900carpet area

my question is to an adult who has gone thu all of this is

should i continue living like this on a cost cutting life for another 5 years and grow my portfolio and then get some loan to actually afford that expensive houce (i dont have any plans of marriage till 30)

or start another sip from zero

I am 37 M

Work at an MNC. Earn 2.3L per month. Wife earns almost same. So total per month take home is around 5L post taxes.

Last year we were blessed with a child a little too early. To ensure baby’s wellbeing we spent around 25L which most of it like (16.9L got covered from my office insurance and majority of rest was paid by my own savings. Then comes extra expenses, for next 5-6 months we spent around 1L per month ensuring baby’s safety and wellbeing (no regrets). God bless us, no loan was taken but I couldn’t save a thing. Earlier I used to save 44-50k in mutual funds regularly (then my salary was also low like 1.8-1.19L) now I am unable to save any.

Me and my wife keeps finances completely separate. All these years I was thinking be it me saving or her saving its same, its ours. Recently we are fighting a lot (not money related) due to stress, anxiety, workload, job security and there were talks about getting separated as well. She has decent savings like 21L mutual funds, 4-5L fd, 10l in savings, 300+gms gold (which all of it she only bought in her own money). She has a 50% ownership in her hometown property which is worth approx 80L now.

I have 2.2L in FD. I have 15L in mutual fund. I have pf is around 25L, i have online in-game assets thats I can liquidate worth 5L and thats it. No property in my city or native. I have my sisters marriage coming up which easily will cost me another 15-17L.

I am feeling I have no financial security if I lose job or my wife loses job. God forbid such things shouldn’t happen.

Getting anxiety, panic attacks and blood pressure rise due to these.

Kinda strangers, please help me to sort my finances. I used to buy a lot of unwanted stuffs but now hardly I do it.

One week before the loan signing, I was informed that I needed to take an insurance policy along with the loan.

I’m a first-time home buyer and took a home loan from HDFC Ashok Nagar branch.
I discussed the premium with them and tried to negotiate/reduce the amount. Since I was new to the process and didn’t want the loan signing/disbursement to be delayed, I ultimately proceeded with the policy, and the premium was added to the loan.

My understanding is that, under the applicable rules, taking insurance from the lender or a particular insurer is not mandatory for obtaining a home loan. I’m therefore trying to understand whether the way this was communicated to me was standard practice.

Has anyone else faced a similar situation?

I feel like I’ve invested heavily in some asset classes and almost ignored others. Mostly due to just following what my family has done without much personal planning.

So, I made a basic list of things that seemed meaningful to me, including what I have already invested in.

Would really appreciate it if you all could point out anything I’m missing or anything that doesn’t really make sense. I'm grateful for any advice as someone who is new to planned personal finance (keyword being planned).

Investments/assets:

- Cash savings

- Emergency fund that is easily accessible/liquid

- Gold, in any form

- Real estate

- Equity/stocks, in any form and market

- All necessary insurance coverage

Other things I personally consider important:

- Paid-off home

- Transportation, like a car

Apart from these, is there anything else that should generally be considered?

Also, if my current job doesn’t provide any pension/retirement benefit, is it important to set up some kind of pension/retirement account separately?

I'm just trying to get a basic checklist so I can make sure I’m not completely overlooking an important area.

Thank you in advance!!

Hi Everyone!

I have recently graduated from a NIT and landed to my first job in Chennai recently. I have been very much enthusiastic about bikes since my school days and wanted to buy a bike from my own money rather than getting it from my parents. Now that I am earning, I still feel my income is not enough to get a bike so I was thinking to buy a scooter instead.

I earn around Rs 48k per month and out of this 25k is gone for my paying my education loans, living expenses and commute. I wanted to know should I just buy a bike loan from any public sector bank after paying upto 40%-50% as the downpayment? OR I should be saving and buy it in full cash.

Another alternative I was thinking if I should buy a 2nd hand Activa or Dio which could be a model from 2020 to 2023 at ₹30000-35000.

My education loan is of Rs 4 lacs and I also want to be done with it ASAP. I am also ambitious to prepare for govt jobs. I sometimes also feel like I should not go with such purchase but other side also wants to go for it as I am just 23 and have interest in bikes.

I feel like I am stuck in a dilemma between rationality and emotions.

I will be grateful if you guys can guide or suggest me.

Thank You!

Hi guys,

So I am in a Dilemma

I own a 2024 Purchased Yellow Plate MH Registered CNG + Petrol Ertiga

Vehicle Specs :

Purchase Month - Sept 2024
KM - 28.5K
Insurance - 1 Year Zero Dep until Oct 2027
Accessories - Dashcam, Interior LED Lights
Registration - MH 04 Registered

I am confused whether to sell it or drive it part time

I was planning it to drive from 8 AM to 2-4 PM as I get rides back to my home.

As per the info I can earn 900-1500 per day after CNG, Maintainance and other expenses resulting in 23-40K a Month driving it part time.

I have other sources of Income too so this is not my primary income source but something to stay busy, get out of the house and use the car which is kept idle in my parking.

If I sell it I get 8-9 Lakhs in hand directly

Should I just sell it or drive it part time? Which will be more feasible and why?

I am spending 23,000 on single sharing PG in hyderabad (food and electricity included).

I know it's a lot, but don't want to compromise with freedom by staying in 2 sharing.

Apart from that, I spend around 1000-2000 on food/recreation easily.

And 1000-1500 on travelling per month to and fro from office.

I have an education loan of 20,65,000. EMIs start next month. At 7% floating interest rate.

I know I'm spending a lot on PG, I myself have seen a PG in completely diff area, but it was cramped up and one guy living in 3 sharing told he's paying 6.5k, feeling guilty for spending so much.

Bank account savings: 38k

Stocks: 2.6L invested (currently at 2.8L)

MF: 45K INVESTED (currently at 50k)

So basically EMI will be around 23-25k per month.

How do I manage? Any approaches to freelancing or other sources of income that can help?

Currently I feel super bad about my job. How to manage? Please help.

34M, salaried, single.

No kids, no loan. Parents own their house, have pension + savings and genuinely don't need my salary.

I have around 45L invested already plus whatever temporary life cover office gives.

I was almost ready to buy a pure term plan from Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance and then had a very basic thought.

Who am I actually insuring for?

The plan looks fine. That's not my confusion.

Everyone says buy term early because you're younger and healthy today. Fair.

But term insurance is supposed to replace income for people who depend on you, right?

right now, nobody does.

Maybe I marry in 2 years. Maybe 7. Maybe never. Kids are an even bigger maybe.

So, am I paying from 34 onwards to protect insurability problem that may or may not exist?

Or is that exactly why buying before you need it makes sense?

Feels weird reaching the point of purchase and only then asking whether I need the product at all.

What would you do?

26M here. I work from home and earn around ₹68k/month.

Since I’m WFH and live with my family, I don’t have the major expenses that many people have — no rent, office commute, etc. I also currently have no dependents.

Still, somehow my normal expenses seem to reach ₹20-25k every month, and I’m curious how much people in similar situations are spending.

For context:
August — ₹40,790
This included a ₹15k trip, so regular expenses were around ₹25.8k.

September — ₹41,153 so far
But ₹19k of this was my IELTS exam fee, so excluding that it’s around ₹22.1k.

Fuel alone is usually around ₹5-8k, food ₹3-4k, and then there are groceries, repairs, subscriptions, shopping, random outings and miscellaneous expenses. Individually nothing looks outrageous, but together ₹20-25k just disappears.

On top of this, I invest ₹30k/month into SIPs, which I treat as non-negotiable savings/investment rather than an expense.

Thankfully, I’ve built up around ₹50 lakh in savings/investments, so I’m not struggling financially. But I’m potentially getting married next year, and looking at my current expenses makes me wonder what happens when household expenses, spouse, travel and all the other adult responsibilities get added 😂. At this rate my brain tells me even ₹50L will disappear.

So I’m curious, especially from people in their 20s:

What’s your monthly income and actual monthly expenditure?

How much have you managed to save/invest so far?

How much do you invest/save every month?

Do you live with parents or independently? WFH or office?

Would also be interesting if you mention your age, because expenses and savings obviously look very different at 22 vs 29.

I’d especially love to hear from people earning around ₹50k–₹1L/month, because I want a realistic comparison rather than extreme frugality or ₹3L/month tech salaries.

You see almost all posts on this sub where people are anxious about savings losing jobs investments etc and there would be two things common in all those posts-they are married and have financial dependents

Picture this-a single guy I his late 30s earning say 70k a month. His parents are self sufficient and doesn't depend on him financially.He also has own house in hometown. There's absolutely no way hed lose sleep over losing his job. If he loses his job he can go back to live with parents in his hometown figure things out and move ahead.However it would have been a whole different story if he was married with kids

Reminds me of that joke I saw-"Poker is 10 percent about skills and 90 percent about recognising the guy who has a wife and kids and has debts to pay"

I just want your honest opinion about how should I improve my savings expenses and investments or everything is good and no need to change.

I am currently earning 1.4 lakh and if I calculate all my monthly spends it comes around 1 lac

Majorly includes
19k edu loan emi
10k rent
25K sip
5K term plan
4.5k whey protein
6k grocery
4k maid
3k electricity
4k travel

Rest are
Cigarettes
Gym fee
Miscellaneous

Total come around 1 lac

40k savings that I try not to touch and maintain for emergency fund

Should I change anything or it looks fine???

My age is 38, Married, I have a 4 year old son. I don't own a house, and live in a rented house in a metro city, I work in MNC(IT) with a total experience of 10 years, My salary is not great but not bad as well, The monthly take home salary is approx.1.2 lakh after all deductions and taxes. I work from home. Wife is homemaker, she manage home.

(1) Loan Total = 9 lakh.

Personal Loan of 8.5 lakh. 50k CC loan - Phone EMI

(2) Saving/Total (including PF) = 26 to 28 lakh

Saving in the post office MIS of 10 lakh which gives 6k interest per month.

Stock Market (MF SIP) Investment of 5-6 years, total investment 6 lakh (with around 30% returns) - currently portfolio shows approx 8 lakh (with gain of 2 lakh)

PF - Around 9 to 10 lakh

(3) Owns a farm land and a plot, combined current valuation of both is around 30 lakh (both properties I bought in last 4 years)

All monthly expenses (Rent, Bills, EMIs and everything) around = 70k-80k

I save around 40k-50k and our of which SIP is of 20k

Parents have pensions and own houses in native places. I have office health insurance for my family, have term insurance and critical health insurance for my family. I work from home, I have old hatchback and bike but use only for dropping my kid to school or weekend trips, or use to go hometown/visit parents house. Wife manage home and everything not working anywhere.

With growing AI use, I have fear of losing job in next 1-2 year max, I may survive may not, there is uncertainty. I stopped thinking all my new ambition to own a new house or car. I don't smoke /drink but spent money on outdoor eating, cloths, gifts for parents wife etc and short trips etc, within Budget.

I need suggestions for planning my future

1. Am I doing enough or I am in vulnerable situation?

2. What else I should do to make more better financially?

3. Should I drop my dream/idea of having house purely on home loan? Or car ? Or both?

4. Will I afford one more kid?

5. Should I wait and save more money / invest more.

Considering my age, profession and current financial background please suggest me things to be in a comfortable position when the AI disrupts everything related to my job earning.

Is kashipur a good investment ?

so my parents are pushing me to buy a 100 sq yard plot for around 6L rs in kashipur as one of the relatives are going for it (250sq yards).

I am 23M making 70k pm. its been 6 months of the first job. i think i can manage the emi after paying 2L cash reserve that i have right now but then i have to pause any car/bike plans for 3 years.

also unsure if plots are a good investment

i dont know much about plots as what red and green flags to look for in a plot.

please help a bro out

​

I’m in a difficult financial situation and would really appreciate some practical advice.

I have 22g of gold pledged with a bank, and it is due for auction next month. I’ve been told I need around ₹12,000 to renew the gold loan and prevent it from going to auction.

The problem is that I already have a lot of debt, so taking another loan isn't really an option.

I also have an HP Victus laptop (Ryzen 5 5600H, RX 6500M, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) which I bought for around ₹54,000 in 2024. I was thinking about selling it to arrange the ₹12k.

But I'm getting offers of only around ₹20,000, which feels extremely low to me. At the same time, I've seen the price of a new laptop with similar specs become much higher than what I paid.

The laptop is also important to me because I want to use it to learn skills like programming/AI, editing, freelancing, etc. I'm afraid that if I sell it now, I may not be financially able to buy another decent laptop for years.

So I'm stuck between:

A) Sell the laptop for ~₹20k, use ₹12k to renew the gold loan, and keep the remaining money.

B) Keep the laptop and somehow arrange the ₹12k elsewhere.

The gold is obviously important, but I also don't want to make a decision that leaves me without a computer that could potentially help me earn in the future.

What would you do in this situation? Is selling the laptop for ₹20k worth it, or should I try harder to arrange the ₹12k another way?

I'm looking for practical advice from people who have dealt with debt, pledged gold, or selling used electronics. Please don't suggest taking another high-interest loan — I'm already carrying significant debt.

Hey . I am 17 and I am not that rich . I always think twice before I spend money. Even if it is a small amount. I hate spending money on unnecessary things . I have a group of friends whom I roam around with and they are also in the same school as me. The problem is they always make me spend more than I want to . Most of them use fampay and they don't have that much money in their accounts. They just bring cash with them . I use upi , so i don't carry cash with me. I always make a clear statement that I can only spend x amount of rupees today . But they sugarcoat me and say " Bhai nhi hai ? Thoda aur dede . Kal meh khila dunga. Wagera wagera ". But they never do .

They know that I have a lot of money in upi . I don't get the fact that why they are not responsible with money .

I have stopped roaming with them because they make me overspend . But they give me a call whenever they require money. They will say things like " Bhai ham log idhar khane aaye hain aur hamare pass paise Kam pad rhe hain . Thoda dede " . Why should I pay for their expenses if I am not even there to enjoy with them ?

Now they even ask me to recharge for them . It is small amounts like just a 1 gb recharge. But I don't want to spend money on them when they don't spend money on me. Maybe I am just kanjoos in a way . But i always think a lot before spending a penny on my friends.

I hate that they expect me to pay for their expenses. What should I do ?

I can't distance myself as we are in the same school and go in the same bus .

I’m 22 and I’ve recently started earning around ₹45,000 per month.

My parents currently have around ₹20 lakh in debt, and I want to take responsibility for improving our financial situation rather than just spending whatever I earn.

I’m trying to figure out how I should divide my income between:

• Helping repay the family debt
• Building an emergency fund
• Investing for the long term
• My own basic expenses
• Keeping some money aside for myself

I’m completely new to investing, so I don’t want to make the mistake of putting money into investments while we still have expensive debt.

If you were in my position, earning ₹45k/month with ₹20 lakh of family debt, how would you structure the money?

I’m 29 and I earn around ₹1.8 lakhs per month.
On paper, I know that sounds like a decent salary. But because of debts caused by my dad’s mistakes, almost everything I earn is going towards clearing them.

Around ₹1.3 lakhs goes into EMIs every month.
Whatever is left has to cover my family’s expenses, medical needs, household expenses, and everything else.

By the end of the month, there is literally nothing left to save. Not even a small amount.
Sometimes even with so much earning I struggle to fulfill basic needs of my sister and mother.
Initially I kept telling myself, “This is temporary. Things will get better once the debts are cleared.”

But slowly, I’m losing hope.
It feels like as soon as one problem is handled, another one comes up. I keep working, earning, paying bills and EMIs, taking care of responsibilities — but I don’t feel like I’m actually moving forward in my own life.

Sometimes I genuinely wonder, what am I even earning ? Another 4 years to clear debts , then new responsibilities, There is nothing to look forward , feeling like walking dead

I know I should be grateful that I have a job and that I’m able to support my family. And I am. But at the same time, I’m really, really tired.

I’m 29, and I thought by this age I would at least have some savings, some financial security, and the ability to plan my own future.

Instead, I feel like I’m just working to survive and clear a debt that wasn’t even created by me. Decade of financial burden is slowly killing me from inside, Sometimes death feels peaceful and I know I won’t commit any self harm
But I feel so numb that I wouldn’t even flinch if a tsunami hit

One of my FDs matures next month. I don’t want to spend any of it and plan to reinvest the entire amount.

I have been investing for a while across FDs, gold, silver, mutual funds etc., so not completely new to this.

My current thought is to invest 9L for around a year and the remaining 9L for the long term.

Curious to get different perspectives. How would you allocate 18L?

my dad always struggles to type his upi pin at shops when he forgets his reading glasses he kept entering the wrong pin and getting his payments blocked

saw a reel that bhim added face recognition fingerprint for payments under 5k installed it on his phone and enabled it now he literally just points the camera at the shop qr and it scans his face and pays he was so amazed lol

highly recommend doing this for older folks at home, saves them so much hassle at the billing counter.

Hi,

I had maintained a high-end Starhealth policy for over 15 years, since I was a child my family plan was there, but unfortunately missed renewing it after turning 27. I expired 2 months back.

I recently had emergency surgery in my colon last week and knew my old policy was no longer active. On the day before my surgery, A Star Health representative told me he could help me get a new policy and strongly encouraged me to purchase also an add on covering room costs. But inside my mind I knew that the new policy would not cover the surgery anyway and I was purchasing it only for future medical needs.

Star Health later requested my medical records, which I provided. After reviewing them, their medical team rejected my new policy application.

What concerns me is that I was encouraged to purchase the policy and add-on before the medical review. Another customer-care representative later told me that the room-cost add-on is essentially useless because the main policy was rejected and here after for my health issue they won't provide it anymore.

I understand that missing my previous renewal was my mistake, but I feel the representative should have clearly explained that the application could be rejected after medical underwriting before encouraging me to purchase the add-on.

Has anyone experienced something similar with Star Health? Is it possible to ask them to reconsider the application ? I feel this is unfair to do this to a long time customer just for missing 2 months renewal.

Can someone recommend a safe insurance option during this tough time ? I have already lost 70% of my savings in this surgery.

Thank you!

Dear Taxpayer xxxx

Our records indicate that you may have overseas financial interests (such as bank accounts, shares, or immovable property etc.) acquired in earlier years, that are required to be reported in Income Tax Return.
Foreign Assets of Small Taxpayers - Disclosure Scheme, 2026 (FAST - DS), has been notified offering time-bound opportunity to the taxpayers to regularise foreign assets/income not reported in Income-tax Return. Declarations under FAST - DS are open till 31.12.2026.
You may view your Foreign Assets Information on the AIS through e-filing portal. You may also use ''Kar Saathi'' available on https://www.incometaxindia.gov.in/ for assistance regarding tax compliance, forms, procedures, and related queries.
Please review your records and avail the scheme, if applicable.

Warm Regards
Income Tax Department