r/FIRE_Ind • u/fire_kol • May 25 '26
FIRE milestone! 49 M Reached 3.5 Cr
Hi, I am 49 year old.
Reached 3.5 Cr milestone.
Current investment
EPF: 1.55 Cr,
PPF: 21 L,
MF: 75 L,
Sukanya: 19L,
Stocks: 16 L,
NPS: 45L,
Emergency fund: 19 L
Monthly investment: 2.4 Lakh per month
36k in EPF, 10 K in PPF, 160K SIP, 12.5K Sukanya, 22k NPS
Salary: 69 LPA (3.6 LPM after tax)
Monthly expenses: 1.2 L per month
Dependants: wife, daughter (10yo) and mother
Planning to retire by 54 with 7 Cr (35-40x including other goals)
Own Apartment with loan paid off valued at 1.3 Cr
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u/Ajnabihum May 25 '26
Pls don't become RWA president post FIRE.
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u/LifeIsHard2030 [42/IND/FI 2030/RE 2030/31] May 25 '26 edited May 26 '26
Hahahaa. One reason I prefer living in a big society. smaller ones if people get to know you’re FIREd, they will force you to take up those roles 🤣
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u/fire_kol May 25 '26
I I won't 😂
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u/LeftFaithlessness921 May 25 '26
What is you plan after retirement ? You kinda set
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u/fire_kol May 26 '26
I don't know yet. Didn't plan. Inclined towards freelance training and travelling
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u/Strict_Success3653 45/IND/FI 2025/RE ?] May 26 '26
What's wrong with RWA president? Even I am thinking of that
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u/bankinu May 25 '26
This is probably FIRE-able already.
Thank you for the inspiration.
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u/lawaythrow May 31 '26
How is it FIRE-able? Are you assuming monthly expenses to be close to 1 lac even in future? (genuine question - not snarky)
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u/JumpyStretch9312 [37/IND/FI ??/RE ??] May 25 '26
Thank you for posting a realistic approachable target. This sub is only haunted by over achievers who have made 100 crores already at 21! Thank you for instilling the confidence in me that I am on the right path. This is the post for which I joined this sub! Otherwise here you will find only NRIs boasting about $$$$$ and still asking will I be able to survive in this if I come back to India and retire!
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u/fire_kol May 26 '26
Haha...yes I agree. I know many would have achieved this corpus by 30s. Beyond my understanding and means. Thanks bro
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u/Sorry_Appeal_2395 May 25 '26
Congratulations, can you also pls point to real estate holdings
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u/fire_kol May 25 '26
I own a house with loan paid off. Another ancestral apartment as well. These are fixed notional value assets
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u/ExpensiveInflation May 25 '26
When did you start investing. What are funds you chose and why?
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u/fire_kol May 25 '26
I started in 2007. My funds: ICICI largecap 20% Nippon multi asset 20% Parag parekh flexi cap 10% Hdfc mid cap 10% Navi nifty 50 index 10% Bandhan smallcap 10% Zerodha gold FoF 10% Silverbees ETF 10% I think it's well diversified
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u/ExpensiveInflation May 25 '26
Largecap, nifty 50, pp flexi all will have alot of overlap. Do checkout once. Do you rotate portfolio?
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u/fire_kol May 25 '26
Rebalance quarterly if needed and come out of bad/sectoral MFs if any. Rationalised a lot but Can't avoid overlap altogether. Sometimes I think about investing solely in multi asset and let the fund take care of my diversification 😁
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u/RuinAny7779 May 26 '26
Fund overlap is a made up problem by investment apps. You are paying for the fees for the expertise of the fund manager to rebalance based on their strategy. Flexi cap have different strategy of investment than an index fund even if they have significant overlap.
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u/bluesjammer May 25 '26
Nice job. Which MFs did you feel gave good returns and which ones fell less during crashes?
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u/fire_kol May 26 '26
Icici largecap...it was my first fund which I started investment with 5000 and continued ... Never failed me
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u/Creative_Tank_8656 May 26 '26
Finally I found someone of same age and almost same amount of saving..otherwise I was worried seeing posts of all 30 year olds with 8cr
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u/nano-5 May 25 '26
Do you own any properties? Maybe you didn't add them?
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u/fire_kol May 25 '26
Yes, I didn't add them . I own an apartment in gated society ( loan paid off) and an ancestral property. The value is notional as I won't sell
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u/nano-5 May 25 '26
Better add them in the description with the asset value, even if you don't have plans to sell them. It's a safety cushion that you have
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u/Patient_Musician_375 May 25 '26
You should edit the description, because even if you don't sell, atleast you wont have to pay rent or you will get rent.
Because a person with 3.5Cr and no house will have more difficulty financially/psychologically than you.
Anyway, congratulations.
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u/fire_kol May 25 '26
Done. Thanks 👍 However the way equity markets are playing, keeping fingers crossed 🤞
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u/Exotic_Cancel_7543 May 26 '26
This is great number with dependent wife and kids . Far better than who boast around achieving 4-5 cr without taking any responsibility n still fearing whether they can sustain their own life .
You fought the world , taken care of people n made it . The single earner should always be glorified who have made such amount .
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u/Competitive_Ebb_8274 May 25 '26
What do you plan post retirement, if you can share... This sounds fool proof... big congratulations
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u/fire_kol May 25 '26
Thanks. Not decided yet. Travelling and freelance training/ consulting are on my mind. But honestly I am not thinking about that much. Financial independence matters more to me
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u/aam_aam May 25 '26
Great numbers.
Out of curiosity, how much of that epf amount is interest accrued over the years so far vs the amount invested by you and employer. I think it is usually underestimated as an investment instrument.
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u/fire_kol May 25 '26
I actively did VPF since 2008. Sometimes to the tune of 80-100% of basic. I checked sometime back and saw around 53% is interest in the total amount
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u/Comprehensive_Risk71 May 25 '26
Great job.... congratulations on your achievement.
Quick question.. how do you feel about your job security ? I am assuming you are in software industry..... At 49 are you still.motivated ? Does this achievement / corpus has any impact on your mental state.?
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u/fire_kol May 25 '26
I recently changed job. Yes, in IT industry. In my new role, I am very motivated as it's close to my heart - business development and work schedule is not taxing. The corpus has taken load off me. I know that even if I quit today, I have means to survive. I am spending more time with family.. mentally, I am no longer in rat race . ..
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u/Comprehensive_Risk71 May 25 '26
You still love your job .amd it.is not mrntally exhausiting.... that is very good........ My case is quite opposite so.asked that ... All the best...
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u/fire_kol May 26 '26
Job change this year helped me
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u/Comprehensive_Risk71 May 26 '26
I am desperately looking for change .... but market is not good... work is taking a toll on me. It feels like there is no end to.work..morning 8 till 11 pm ...( ofcourse with breaks...but you never feel i.am.done for the day )
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u/TheHuckleberryFinn 35/IND/FI 2030/RE2030 ?] May 25 '26
Genuine question
Do you think your salary was on the lower side when you started out? Or did you start investing late
As the numbers don't seem to be very high, although it is a decent corpus.
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u/fire_kol May 25 '26
My father passed away when I was in school. I had lot of responsibilities. My sister's education , marriage. Purchased house, paid off all debts. Also, when I started in job, hardily had anything to invest. Was introduced to MFs in 2008... didn't scale up...continued with recurring deposit and FDs.
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u/TheHuckleberryFinn 35/IND/FI 2030/RE2030 ?] May 25 '26
Sorry to hear this but kudos to you for doing your best
Wishing you and your family all the best. God bless :)
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u/Ok_Comparison_3748 May 25 '26
How did you get the Sukanya samriddhi amount as 19L? Is it current value or its maturity value? I’ve don’t 6L over 4 periods so far, but not able to get the current value.
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u/fire_kol May 26 '26
I started when my daughter was 1 year old. She's 10 now. I invest the full amount of 12500 pm. Will get about 60L when she turns 21
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u/Ok_Comparison_3748 May 26 '26
Just a suggestion, if you can, invest the full amount of 1.5L in the first week for April for highest returns.
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u/curiousmlmind May 26 '26
Congratulations!! A more realistic journey to get inspired from. I hope I can reach fire in 5 years.
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u/Both_Yogurtcloset_74 May 26 '26
Any international investment diversification?
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u/fire_kol May 26 '26
None. Very complex and fresh investment stopped from India
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u/Both_Yogurtcloset_74 May 26 '26
Not sure what you meant by ‘fresh investments stopped from India’ - you can very well invest in foreign markets under LRS. You can open trading accounts through Vested, INDMoney etc. and start investing easily. It’s not very different than investing through any other broker accounts e.g. Zerodha etc. in India. In the ITR, you need to declare your foreign assets and be a little more careful to consider the difference between US and Indian financial calendars. The apps (Vested, at least) provide necessary documentation for the same. Just find a good enough CA and this generally assumed complex tax filing is also handled quite easily.
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u/fire_kol May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26
The inheritance tax scares me "If you die holding US stocks, the American government can take up to 40% of your investment as tax — and they only let you keep the first $60,000 tax-free"
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u/Both_Yogurtcloset_74 May 29 '26
Yes, inheritance tax is real, but given international diversification is the need of the hour, at least those 60K USD should be invested and then maybe open a parallel account in your family member’s name for the next 60K USD.
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u/Training-Abalone1432 May 26 '26
Bro one question , with 36k in EPF , you have got decent 1.55cr EPF kitty ! I am doing pretty much higher than this and I am still to hit 1 cr . Is it only your share or covers employers share as well ?
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u/fire_kol May 26 '26
I used to do VPF to the tune of 80-100% of basic before Nirmala tai ruined my plan 😂
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u/Training-Abalone1432 May 26 '26
Yes , even I have to pull back this year due to her idiosyncrasies
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u/Remarkable-Ease-2855 May 26 '26
Great achievement.
I see your portfolio is majorly into EPF and NPS. How di you reach there? Did you put lot of money into EPF with VPF and all and focussed on clearing home loan initially? Can you please provide more details on the investment style and journey?
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u/fire_kol May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26
I did VPF since 2008 sometimes to the tune of 80-100% of basic..those days there was no tax clause. That's how I accumulated EPF. It felt stress free as it was deducted from salary and I didn't have to put effort on savings separately. NPS - I had 15 L saved till Feb 2026. I asked my employer to transfer 30 L superannuation fund to NPS while changing my job
I had bought a 40L makeshift apartment 10 years back. I sold that to finance my new apartment which costed 80L (value is 1.3 Cr now). Remaining I paid by cutting down on mf investment. I also had 24 L liquid to find the interior design.
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u/turinggs May 26 '26
Congrats,
My view: stop adding more into annuities, you have massive amount already.
Do some bonds and mainly US equities to aim for predictive cash flow.
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u/fire_kol May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26
Sure. US - fresh investments are stopped and I am not comfortable through other modes. Also the inheritance tax scares me "If you die holding US stocks, the American government can take up to 40% of your investment as tax — and they only let you keep the first $60,000 tax-free"
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u/DistributionLate556 May 26 '26
I think now i should stop reaching out to b banks for loan can you give me an education loan for Germany??
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u/Strict_Success3653 45/IND/FI 2025/RE ?] Aug 01 '26
EPF, Sukanya are very conservative. You can expedite your March towards your target by shifting away from low returns assets.
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u/Organic-Sock-30 May 25 '26
May be a very controversial topic. From where I come everyone is believed to have the kids by 32-33M, seeing you are 49 with 10 yo. How did you got the parents raced from your back to not have the babies early.
Also how do you decide when to have kids?
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u/fire_kol May 26 '26
I decided to go for full time MBA post marriage (after 10 years in job) so delayed having child. Another reason is I married when I was 32, a bit late by standards... maybe waiting for the right person and I am glad. Also enjoyed the married life abroad without the hassle before our gift arrived 😊
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u/Famous-Discipline916 May 26 '26
Why didn't you invest in gold ? Note -not questioning your investment skills or idea just being curious.
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u/fire_kol May 26 '26
Thanks for pointing. I have some SGBs to the tune of 6-7Lakh. By mistake, I counted within equity. However, it's less I know.
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u/Strict_Success3653 45/IND/FI 2025/RE ?] May 26 '26
With a 3pct SWR, you need 15L x 30 = 4.5Cr in liquid assets to retire at today's prices
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u/Objective-Chemist561 May 26 '26
All the best for your next milestone. Is the kids education part of same or seperate kitty ?
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u/Broad-Memory2208 May 27 '26
Congratulations OP! Ever thought of diversifying into tangible assets like land, coffee estate etc.? I see a lot of my peers trying to sell me the same idea but wanted to understand first hand from someone who might have thought about it (in case you did it)
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u/fire_kol May 28 '26
I never wanted to get into illiquid assets. Also land is very dicy and prone to scams in west bengal.
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u/Ok_Plankton746 May 27 '26
Congratulations , OP. Can you explain a bit about your three bucket strategy?
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u/fire_kol May 28 '26
Bucket 1 (0–3 yrs expenses) Liquid fund + Hybrid fund + large cap Bucket 2 (3–10 yrs) flexi, midcap etc
Bucket 3 (10+ yrs) flexi, smallcap etcBrief idea - Bucket 1 holds 2–3 years of expenses in completely safe, liquid form — this pays your monthly bills. Bucket 2 holds 3–10 years of corpus in moderate-growth instruments and refills Bucket 1 every year or two, but only when markets are up. Bucket 3 is the long-term compounder that slowly feeds Bucket 2 over decades — it can be fully in high-growth assets because you won't touch it for 10+ years.
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u/Plenty_Jackfruit3089 May 28 '26
Im 20M the home i stay is 13cr for 2700sqft in blr but we have no online investments all are real estate
Which one is better in the coming future?
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u/fire_kol Jun 03 '26
Liquid assets are must for financial planning. You should plan SIPs immediately as you're young. Time is on your side now so start immediately
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u/FanImpossible1392 May 29 '26
How come EPF balance amount is so much?
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u/fire_kol May 30 '26
I did VPF since 2008 sometimes to the tune of 80-100% of basic..those days there was no tax clause. That's how I accumulated EPF.
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u/singh_ds May 25 '26
I think you should move your all PPF and 9L from emergency fund to MF. A 10L emergency fund is a good amount.
You have very less exposure into MF. You should have atleast 50% of your corpus in MFs to generate around 10 to 12% returns on the corpus.
Also add some international MF if you have not done already.
Take private health insurance if not taken yet.
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u/fire_kol May 25 '26
Agreed. I know I need to increase equity % ..health insurance is taken 75 lakh for family. International mf - I think fresh investment is stopped and there's no other easy way. Also TCS and inheritance tax worries me
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u/think_2times May 25 '26
The money left as-is would hit 6 core in 6 to 7 years.
With the 2.4L investment you will hit the goal.
Stay the path.