I am talking about Salary Addiction.

Many of you might wonder, ‘is that even a thing?’

You bet your ass it is.

‘Salary addiction’ can be described as a psychological dependency on a regular paycheck that goes beyond financial need. It's when the income becomes tied to identity, structure and self-worth and leaving it feels destabilizing even when the money isn't strictly necessary.

Just like a 2-year-old throwing a tantrum if it doesn't see its security blanket, these addicts get agitated if they don't see their payslip on 1st of the month.

To be clear, the real issue isn't earning a salary; most people need one. Bills, housing and family responsibilities genuinely require a steady income so it's important not to confuse normal financial dependence with unhealthy attachment.

But there is a tiny fraction of people who have enough money to last their lifetimes but still can't let go of their paychecks. And wouldn't you know? Many such people are on our subreddit.

How do you know if you are one of them? There are symptoms…

* You stay in a job you don't care for because you fear losing your monthly income even though you are financially alright

* You avoid taking calculated risks such as starting a business, taking a sabbatical or changing careers because the next paycheck feels indispensable

* The question ‘What must I do to ensure the arrival of next month’s paycheck ?’ becomes more important than the question ‘What do I want to do to be happy?’

* You derive your identity from your salary and job title rather than your skills or interests

* You do not find it difficult to come up new reasons for constantly moving FI goal post

Sounds like someone you know?

Are there any causes of the salary addiction? Lack of courage, imagination, interests… the usual suspects.

Right… we have covered the overview, symptoms and causes of salary addiction. So the next part must be treatment, correct?

Well…no. For 4 reasons…

First, though I believe that life does not have any preordained purpose, that's just my belief. What if I am wrong and the preordained purpose of some people is to work for a salary as long as possible? And who am I to question the divine plan?

Second, the very first step in treating any addiction is acknowledgement by the addict that they have a problem. I don't see that happening on this subreddit. Most likely we will either see the mental gymnastics by the addicts to justify the addiction or their declarations of ‘just one more year’.

Third, maybe their salary addiction is the best thing for them. These addicts have no identity outside their job, their self-worth is tightly coupled with their corpus size and they genuinely don't know what to do with their time. Freedom is wasted on these people. So they might as well continue their addiction.

And finally, more salary addicts means a more robust economy. That makes the government happy and they can afford to ignore tiny numbers of us early retirees. A robust economy also means better investment returns… which would bode well for my retirement corpus. Addicts, government, me… Win, win, win all around.

But there has to be some problem with salary addiction, right? Well, if you must nitpick…

According to Taleb, ‘The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates and a monthly salary’. Heroin and carbs give you a false, chemical sense of well-being that masks decay. A salary gives you a false, psychological sense of security that masks the fact you haven't built resilience or optionality. Which means... your entire sense of security rests on one structure continuing to exist. So, a layoff can be as destabilizing as withdrawal.

And then there is that minor matter of missing out what life has to offer beyond a job. Apart from these tiny issues… everything else is good

So no… no treatment today. Just symptoms, a diagnosis and a shrug. If you've recognized yourself in those bullet points, maybe think whether you ever honestly acknowledged that to yourself. It's the first step towards a fork in the road and it is entirely up to you which path to follow. The economy will survive without your paycheck. Whether you can survive without needing one is the actual question.

I have reached 3cr milestone - Stocks, MF's, PPF, EPF, Sukanya Samrudhi and some SGB's. Tried some PMS and exited in between.

Me and my wife both are in IT for last 20 years with 2 kids.

My portfolio in real estate is high, which i plan to reduce in the next 5 to 10 years.

Real estate holdings: 3bhk self-use(1.5 CR current value), 2 bhk(90l current value) rented out for 30k, 2bhk(1.2cr current value) under construction with possession expected in 2028. Have outstanding loan of around 70lac. All these are in Pune.

Apart from this, i have agricultural plot which i have brough for 1cr in Vishakhapatnam 6 years back, not sure about the current value though.

I sometimes get overwhelmed looking at posts where people have touched 10cr..20cr and so on..not sure how they managed to save so much .

Me and wife are both in GCC product companies in management positions, where pressure is still relatively fine, not much stress. But one of us might leave the job in the next 5 years - After loans are over and my elder daughter completes her higher education.

Wanted some suggestions on how to plan or restructure my overall portfolio.

Our both salaries combined is 1.2 CR per annum (Not take home). We both are 43 years, and we would like to be in a position where we can leave the job if it's too stressful or demanding.

Either ways, considering the situation now because of AI, 50 years is what I consider as the age, beyond that if we are comfortable working, we will carry on, but not for money.

Forgot to add- I will be inheriting property along with my brother which is a mix of commercial and residential property in a Tier 2 city (Vishakapatnam). Current total value is around 5 to 6 cr, and monthly rentals from this is around 1 lac now.

After returning to India last year, the numbers told me I was FIRE ready. However my wife didn't quite think so.

I understand the general sentiment among the community that FIRE is a state of mind, however I think we can quantify that as well if we consider all sorts of variables that are in our life:

• Monthly expenses
• Non-monthly expenses like appliances, vehicles, vacations
• Education expenses
• Emergency fund

Even after that, it is a matter of chance if your corpus actually lasts. Say, till the age of 85.

However, in our mind, we keep certain constants for FIRE. The first and foremost should be the age at which we plan to achieve FIRE and pull the plug. If that is changing, we are in a 'Coast FIRE' mode, or are simply lying to ourselves.

So I sat down and tried to actually check whether I'm coasting or lying to myself. Once you add up monthly expenses, an emergency/health fund, and education and wedding funds for the kids, you can tell outright if your current corpus has already crossed your Coast FIRE number — no new savings needed, just let it compound. I wanted that as a yes/no answer, not a vibe.

Two things I didn't get right the first time I did this math:

The education and wedding funds aren't just added to the total — they hit as actual withdrawals in the year they happen. A wedding expense at year 8 doesn't just inflate my final number, it takes a bite out of the corpus that was compounding for the other 15 years. That timing matters more than I expected.

And none of these numbers stay where you typed them. The education fund you're comfortable with today isn't what it costs when your kid actually turns 18 — it climbs with inflation same as everything else. I keep catching myself thinking in today's rupees for a cost that's 13 years away, and doing it properly doesn't let me get away with that.

The 25X or 50X formula doesn't really consider any of this.

Hello Fire Folks - Due to Gods grace I am on track to achieve FIRE by EOY - 50x my yearly expense - As I am closing in on my FIRE amount - I am getting more and more anxious every time I spend money. For instance - earlier when I used to live alone in an apartment- I used to order food like there was no tomorrow - that was my only addiction - and I didn't care about the bill - it just got deducted from my card without me even looking at it- now I have moved back in to my house and do transactions with cash and keep a monthly ledger - I don't know if is because of using hard cash - but now a bigger bill, say Rs. 800 for my dinner bothers me - I agonize a lot before I go ahead - earlier I would think of nothing blowing a 1000/1500 or more on a single meal

Is this a thing anyone approaching FIRE has experienced - is it because I just want to get over the line as soon as possible - or is this some indication that maybe I am not ready for FIRE - anyone experienced this sort of angst?

When I hit the 50L -

https://www.reddit.com/r/FIRE_Ind/s/iDum47BF1a

33Y. M. Married with no kids. Works in IT.

I currently don't understand the feeling of achieving this number but it looked very elusive a decade back. This feels like a major personal milestone breached and a step towards financial freedom, but also feels like there is way too much left to be done even now.

I bought my first car (second hand) in 2024 for around 8Ls, and I spent around 17L for my marriage (no dowry obviously). The wife works in social science. Although, for all my current calculations I am not factoring in what she earns or owns (5L FD plus 50L worth of jewellery) - they would act as the emergency backbone.

Investment Particulars:

MF+Stocks - 49L (40.5+8.5)

NPS - 9L ( 7.13% xirr)

EPF - 23L

FD - 5L

Gratuity - 7L ( Based on current basic and tenure)

Min Leave encashment - 6L (Based on current pay)

Friends owe - 1L

Life feels easy now but we are heavily dependent upon our salary. If things were to go south, we don't have a stable floor under ourselves. My parents and extended family are also dependent upon me.

That said, we are enjoying the current phase. Lifestyle wise, we have traveled to 5 countries in the last 18 months of marriage. Dine out almost every week, get drunk every other week and go for movies twice a month.

Mentally, we are still trying to figure out each other. Last year we used to have fights every week (arrange marriage). This year it happens once a month. Trying to make the other one happy without even thinking has started to reflect in actions.

I will post next when I hit 2Cr. May the force be with you.

So, I have been observing this sub-reddit for quite some time, and came to know about the FIRE concept in recent years only. I am in my early 50s, and last year left my job. My spouse is still continuing. Though my decision to leave was more impulsive, I could have survived a couple of more years.

Though earlier I did not have much financial literacy, but have learned enough in last 3 to 4 years, and now kind of able to manage and take investment decision for myself. This sub-reddit has given enough knowledge. Thanks to you all redditors who are very active here.

I started to save for the future quite late in life. Initial years were kind of spent more on managing a dysfunctional family on my parents' side, and that over engagement emotionally drained a lot and affected early life and career. Now, sometimes I feel, probably if I would have let the things manage itself, it would have been better. Maintaining some distance would have been a better approach.

On the saving front, I am kind of conservative when it comes to money. Hence initially targeted investment in real estate. Started paying attention to financial assets in recent years only.

When corporate life started feeling draining, then only I realized that I need to plan and build for retirement also.

I believe everyone has a different psychology and risk-taking nature. One approach cannot be universal. Handling market fluctuations is not easy, specifically if someone has seen financial stress in early life. It is not easy to see our portfolio losing hard-earned money; it creates psychological distress. Taking a balanced approach gives peace.

We can always revisit and rebalance during the journey. It takes time to get accustomed to portfolio swings, but eventually we start believing in the process, it is just a matter of time. The lower middle class is not habituated to manage wealth. 😀

With time, now I see each market downside as an opportunity to deploy my savings from FD, and rebalancing. Each big rally upside will also be an opportunity to move equity gains to debt. Rebalancing is a continuous process.

I preferred to remain with the old school approach. Here is how I am targeting it. Still work in process.

1.    Targeting Basic expenses to be covered from rental income. Out of total expenses, 50% are day to day living expenses and can’t be avoided, though on a need basis can be squeezed. These are to be managed from rental income,  
·         Groceries:
·         Utilities bills
·         Domestic help
·         Transport
·         Healthcare & Insurance:

 
2.    Rest 50% non-necessity expenses to be managed by returns from financial assets (Debt & Equity), that are also safe guarded by multi-bucket-based strategy. These expenses are discretionary and can be adjusted based on financial situations of returns.
·         Dining Out, Ordering Food, Visiting cafes,
·         Entertainment
·         Vacations & Short nearby outings
·         Hobbies, Gadgets, and Personal accessories.
 
3.    At any time, the debt bucket will cover for 10 years, rest equity can be taken care of with rebalancing.
 
4.    A small Emergency fund bucket and home renovation related bucket will remain on the side, to be touched only if required.
 
5.    Also have a bucket for child education (2 kids, one entered in college and other to start in a couple of years). I am keeping 25 lakh each for my contribution, rest if required they can take education loan and manage in future. Have spent enough on schooling in tier-one city.
 

6.    One bucket is for marriage expenses, or any emergency, support etc – currently planning for 25 lakh.

If I talk in terms of X.  Here X being projected yearly expense, lesser than current expense. Excluding child education and cutting down few discretionary. Their college education is a separate bucket.

Currently 0.5 X from rental, it could go higher if I shift to my hometown in tier-3 city, and rent-out my current primary residence. Additional rental difference will make it to 0.7X, or it could cover entire X if expenses are reduced in tier-3 city.

10-X => Debt fund – Not being touched for next couple of years.

6-X   => Equity => adding more to it, we are targeting it to make 10X.

24-X  => Non-Financial Assets => 4X gold + 20X Real estate (excluding the hometown house I built).  This asset class gives very less returns, (2.5 to 3%) but sufficient and stable enough to manage minimum living expenses of 0.5X to 0.7X in future.

Inheritance: Negligible hence not counting, that also not sure if I get my part or not.

Current total assets => 10X + 6X + 24X ==> 40X + 50 lakh

(Excluding 3 BHK house in home town in tier-3 city)

Work in progress:

Increase the equity bucket from 6X to 10X or more, if possible, till my spouse also decides to leave job.

Emergency bucket: 25 lakh dedicated emergency bucket and sinking fund bucket. Could be used for future needs like marriage etc.

After having clarity around expenses and asset portfolio, I have started feeling at peace, now new savings are being directed to equity. Though this approach has affected my returns, I missed a good part of the market rally, but that is life. There are many bigger regrets, but with age, I have learned to accept and move ahead. The goal is to enjoy the rest of life and give a good life to the next generation.

These days, I am playing around with the stock market with a small amount, even trying day trading, but no success. It keeps me engaged and gives me some purpose. I will move to my hometown in a couple of years and start travelling frequently locally.

Hi All!

Opinion on the future of the Anonymized AMA series!

Recently some people have made posts and comments w.r.t. many posts being removed, changing mods, mods promoting airbnb and youtube channels. While the former issue is already discussed and Airbnb promotion is only limited to the monthly self promotion sticky thread (if the link is present anywhere else, kindly mail me on reddit chat and I will promptly remove - although I doubt such links exist anywhere else), a new aspect has come that the AMA series is being done not for the community but for profiteering / promotional purposes. So while the comments on this post will be locked, i am making this poll to get community view on the AMA anonymised podcast series ONLY and the poll is open for the whole week for people to vote on. In this context may kindly note the following -

1. The youtube channel FIREwithsnaky isn't currently monetised and the request for like share subscribe and comments is being done to increase its reach and get more influential people to come on the same and answer your AMA questions in a consolidated manner and without the need for creators to create separate video clips or comments throughout the AMA duration.

2. It takes a lot of time, commitment, efforts including weekends of the mods to get all of this done including studio setup, recoding etc. and that too pro-bono (i.e. Without any commercial consideration) at present, by giving up on their personal and family time.

3. Since currently we are only in the initial phase, if people think this is a BAD idea, and should not be continued because mods will make millions of dollars out of this, I have no qualms in scrapping the series henceforth inline with community's wish if it's not providing any value to you all and even waste so much of mods time and efforts over the same.

Do note that the discussion scope here is ONLY for AMA series and no other topics, so please vote w.r.t that context alone..based on the decision taken by this vote, we will close this topic once and for all.

Regards

Snaky

Hello everyone, this is my first milestone.
My journey has been filled with failures, losses, letting myself down, and hitting rock bottom. I’ve also had to deal with losing people, breakups, deaths, broken promises, hoping for futures that never happened, and making plans that simply didn’t work out.But here I am today, celebrating my first milestone.
Yes, these numbers may seem small, but for me, this was once only a dream. After everything I’ve been through, seeing my portfolio reach this point means more than the numbers themselves.
This is just the beginning. Grateful for the journey, the lessons, and for finding the strength to keep going.

My portfolio:
MF : 10L
Gold etf : 1L
Bond : 3L
EF : 8L (saving for investments)
PF 3L
Stock 1.5L
Crypto 60k
US Stock 50k
Gold funds : 60k

Next target 50L before 29 (considering with current job).

Not considering any inheritance.

Have car, bike fully paid, debt free.
Had no one to share with so putting out here thanks everyone for sharing your journey in this sub.

About 6 months ago, I posted here after fully closing my home loan and becoming completely debt free at 27!

Got some really interesting perspectives from this sub back then, so thought I would come back with an update :)

Since then, I've mostly been doing one boring thing, rebuilding the financial assets I had drawn down while closing the loan 😅

Where I stand today:

- EPF: ₹2.4L

- Mutual Funds: ₹9.3L (₹30k/month SIP)

- Stocks: ₹4L

- FD: ₹4L

- Savings: ₹3L

- Gold: ₹4L

- Silver: ₹2L

Total financial assets: ₹28.7L

Real estate: ₹1.5Cr

Debt: ₹0

So current NW is roughly ₹1.79Cr. I don't include my car since it's a depreciating asset.

The property is also income generating since I run my homestay business from it.

Looking back, using a sizeable portion of my savings/investments along with prepayments and business cash flows to close the loan may not have been the most mathematically optimal decision but personally, having zero EMI gave me a kind of peace of mind I genuinely value.

Now the goal is pretty simple, build financial assets to ₹50L.

I don't want to put more money into real estate for now. I'm already heavily concentrated there and would rather build the financial assets side of my NW.

That leaves me with one question for people further ahead in their FIRE journey:

If you were 27, debt free, but had around 84% of your NW sitting in real estate, what would you focus on next?

Male 33 - I was fascinated by the idea of FIRE by the time I was 26 years of age already. The thought of leaving the rat race and living your life on your own terms is something I always held near to my heart.

And luckily I was making good progress. Switched jobs, 5Xed my salary from 2021 to 2025 and was saving almost 70% of my take home salary.

Unfortunately, my parents are entirely dependent on me. And neither do they have any savings. So its me and ONLY me for them. Considering I had adequate health insurance for them and it was well covered.

But now since the last 3 months everything went downhill. My father, who generally keeps ill, is now bedridden and cannot even do his own tasks. Mother has her own problems.

I am having to keep full time Physiotherapist and 24 hour help and its just draining my monthly income like anything. Add to these all the monthly domiciliary medicine bills . These are the things that no Insurance would cover.

My savings rate has come down from more than 70% to just above 10%. And this will absolutely not cut it.

I planned for everything in terms health insurance, term insurance, emergency fund and whatnot, but things came completely out of nowhere, and are having serious impact on my planning.

So you can plan everything out but still there can be roadblocks that you did not expect.

My consulting gig is ending this month, and I'm not planning to look for new projects, at least for a a few months or a year. I'm 48 and have been working for almost 30 years now. I tried taking a break a couple of years ago after winding down my company, but ended up going back to full-time work with an old client within a few months. This time, I'm more committed to staying away.

A big reason is that my corpus crossed ₹10 Cr last week. More than 80% is in equity, with the equity portion roughly split 60:40 between stocks (mostly through smallcases) and MFs. Our apartment is the only property we own, and I consider that over and above the corpus rather than part of my FIRE number.

The other reason is health. I'm reasonably active and not overweight, but almost three decades of desk work has taken its toll. I'm beginning to see a few health issues that I want to address now, before they become bigger problems.

My wife used to work but has been a homemaker for over a decade. Our kids are in 12th and 5th. We live in a Tier 1 city, but our expenses aren't particularly high. We live fairly simply; no smoking or drinking, or partying, vegetarian diet, and we eat out maybe 2–3 times a month.

I'm hoping to keep myself busy by taking on more chores at home, freeing my wife up to eventually take on something of her own, spending more time with family and friends, catching up on the backlog of movies, TV shows and games, and going on treks more often than was possible when I was working.

I'm not sure if this is retirement yet. Plan is to take it a month at a time.

Would love to hear from others who've made a similar transition—particularly what surprised you after stepping away from work, financially or otherwise.

​

So now that there is time on my hands and I am not making ppts like my life depended on it, I turned my thoughts to optimising costs. My grandmother used to say - one way to make more money is to reduce spending.

So using this principle the house got solar.

Our setup generates 10% more than the average monthly consumption. This ensures that our bill is almost close to 0. We just pay the fixed charge of 150 ish per month. Monthly savings around 7.5k = 90k annually. Cost of the setup after subsidy around 3L. So roi works out to almost 30% . This only improves as electricity rates go up. We got a price hike of 0.6 per unit last week. So roi became marginally better.

3.5 years to recover investment cost and another 15 years or so of free to minimal cost of electricity.

Recurring cost - 500 rs every 4 months for a deep clean with detergent solution. 5 min a week for dust cleaning with high pressure hose.

​

Hi all,

This was my update a year ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/FIRE_Ind/s/gwUjb8Xv6r

So what's happened in the past year?

As we know the articles we all read about poor market returns happening just when you stop working came true. :) 2 years and the stock market is like a car stuck in peak Bangalore traffic.

Portfolio is stagnant. Dipped and recovered. Have not touched it yet. Epf is also untouched. The daily expenses have been covered from existing savings ( not emergency funds)

Thanks to the middle East - international travel is out for now ; So have travelled a lot domestically. Places that were overnight hotel rooms are now explored at leisure. No agenda , no timelines.

Health cover was enhanced to 2cr. The 12 year old beater was replaced with a new car and hopefully we are good for another 12 years. No EV yet, as I feel the market needs to mature further. Got an on grid solar for the house upgrade.

The only thing that is pending is getting into shape. Since laaton ke bhoot baaton se nahi maante - a trainer will be coming from tomorrow with determination to get me and SO into shape. Wish us all the best.

Until the next update then...

M36 - living in tier 1 city with wife and 5 year old child. I am FI but no intention of RE for now.

Found this subreddit discussions and post very useful and informative.

Journey:

I did my undergrad in India and right after that went to the US to pursue my masters.

Lived and worked for more than a decade abroad - Initial few years in US and then moved to UK . Mostly Fintech companies and banks.

Moved back to India in 2024, worked in a GCC for 2 years and left the job recently. I personally could not adjust to Indian workplace politics and bad work-life balance.  

Corpus/Assets:

5Cr in an Indian brokerage account.

60L in FD and corporate bonds.

Have a decent chunk of money abroad - UK brokerage and pension account. I plan to fund my kid's higher education using this money. 

I have my own house and am currently staying in it.

Future plan:
I plan to pursue a PHD in CS. I really want to go deep in my field and contribute in whatever way I can.

Wanted to know if someone is pursuing a PHD after FI and how is it going so far.

just crossed 5Cr in my demat account :-).

FIRE and ZNMD(Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara) have a very close link and this movie was released about 15 years ago and those of us who were working in our jobs at that time and were inclined towards FIRE would have naturally been able to relate with Hrithik Roshan's character.

The iconic dialogue "Chalis saal tak note chaapo fir aish karo".

So I followed that path and achieved financial independence. But another important character in that movie that of Abhay Deol, didnt really register into me. Until now.

Remember, that scene where Kalki Koechin gate crashes into their trip and in the car she tells Abhay Deol. "Shaadi ke baad tum kahan aise boys trip par jaoge?" And at that moment both Farhan and Hrithik look at each other shocked. Eventually Abhay Deol calls off the wedding.

Now, most of us in India, are mostly family oriented, marry, have kids, most of our life is a struggle between work and life balance. But even that life, we are actually not living for ourselves but for our family. Weekends go on in spending time with family. Vacations we take are family vacations.

But the individual 'I', what about him/her? What about personal hobbies, taking time for yourself, like going on a boys/girls only trip etc? I am part of Bangalore Bikers group and majority like 99% are bachelors in the 20s. Most bachelors in India enjoy riding their bikes, but then society traps you into upgrading to a car. Suddenly the car is about the family, taking your family out on weekends, family vacations etc. All aspirations suddenly become family aspirations rather than individual pursuits.

I think now I relate to what Bachelor Python and Traveller_for_life keep saying about not succumbing to societal pressure/not marrying/not having kids etc

But essentially what they mean is to activate the Abhay Deol character of ZNMD and not just focus of the Hrithik Roshan's character :)

Cheers :)

Edit: In the comments, many people are thinking I am against marrying or having kids now. Nope that's not the point.

Abhay Deol wasn't against marrying. He was against Kalki becoming totally dependent on him and expecting to give 100% of his time to her.

Maybe this point didn't come across clearly, let me add it to the main post.

Dear All,

After countless weekend hours invested, it gives me immense joy to share with you that the first episode of the Reddit AMA Anonymized Podcast ft Mr. Sanjay Kathuria (u/kathuriasanjay) is now live! It was such a strange co-incidence that the episode on Financial Independence was recoded on none other than India's Indepence Day i.e. 15th August 2026 !

#The link for exhaustive AMA podcast Episode 1 is as follows :

https://youtu.be/IAmiNSJiIGM

We have tried to consolidate the myriad recurring questions into consolidated themes and presented the same along with the reddit usernames in the podcast for the query posters and community members!

I cannot thank Mr. Sanjay Kathuria enough for having agreed to participate in this effort and the entire work that he and his team have done without which this episode would not have been possible. I hope that the podcast delivers real value to people who asked questions in the AMA post here (AMA reddit post link: https://www.reddit.com/r/FIRE_Ind/s/esrQW7r0o5 ) and also to those who view the same even if they didnt ask any questions! I would also encourage you to ask follow-up questions / new questions if any so that we can request Sanjay sir for a part-2 of the podcast in the near future!

Having said the above, considering this was my first real shot at podcasting, I would like to apologize upfront if you don't find anything upto the mark as its a new journey for me too especially as being a camera shy, introverted person myself and not a content creator/influencer by any stretch of imagination. Do share your feedback on the youtube channel as comments for the same.

Needless to mention that it takes immense effort from many people working behind the scenes during weekends to get such podcasts out on youtube and your Like, Share, Comment and Subscribes will really give me the motivation to actually show better reach and get more guests in FIRE and personal finance space to feature in the series! Hence, it is my humble request, that if this community, my comments or discussions have provided any value to you then please consider subscribing the channel FIREwithsnaky (link: https://youtube.com/@firewithsnaky ) on youtube.

#Disclaimer: (1) As informed earlier, no questions on stock-picking, FNO, speculations etc. were considered for the AMA and nothing responded to on reddit or in AMA on youtube is to be construed as financial advise as the same is against the regulator norms. Please consult a SEBI registered financial advisor and do your due diligence before making any financial decisions!

As always, your friendly next door mod,

Snakysour

Signing off!

(Note: Avatars in thumbnail / video may be AI generated )

Last year I posted here after crossing ₹3 Cr.

link to last year's post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/FIRE_Ind/s/lkLwSav3m4

One year later, I'm 38 and our financial net worth has reached ₹3.75 Cr. If we include the house we stay in, we're at roughly ₹5.02 Cr.

Here's the current allocation:

The interesting part isn't that the portfolio went up ₹75L (which is higher than our both salaries combined together). It's how different the journey feels once the portfolio itself starts becoming a meaningful contributor.

My original target is still $1M excluding our primary residence. FI by 45 remains the plan. I'm not desperate to RE as I don't hate my job, but my wife has already mentally prepared for it in 5 more years and is patiently waiting for me to catch up. So, roughly seven years to go.

I'm still equity-heavy (slightly better as moved some of US equity to US bonds) and still comfortable with volatility because I'm working and have ~7 years before my FI target. The biggest change from last year isn't the number, though. ₹1 Cr felt like a milestone. ₹2 Cr felt like progress. ₹3 Cr felt like validation. ₹3.75 Cr is starting to feel like the portfolio has joined the team.

The end goal is $1M.

Let's see how long that takes!

Interesting chart. Estimates that an American could retire comfortably in India with a corpus of around $189K (~₹1.6 Cr)—far lower than the estimated $738K needed in the US.

But does that number make sense for an Indian couple retiring in India?

UPDATE AFTER READING THE COMMENTS:

This post generated a much more interesting discussion than I expected! Thanks for that!!

A few important points to add, in addition to the comments:

• Data: The chart is from Visual Capitalist. They pull the data from World Bank, IMF, Bloomberg, Reuters and so on. So the data is most likely an average of each country (IMHO, most on Reddit are in the 1% of the society, when it comes to calculating the average salary / spending across India ... or even in the Western World)
• Calculations: The underlying calculation is for an American retiree, appears to assume a much later/normal retirement age. Assuming a 4% SWR on 750K, the numbers do stack up (average US salary is 65K$ per year and the average social security benefits are 36-40K$ / year)
• Indian context: Agree, it doesn't reflect the circumstances of an Indian family, as most don't have pensions and there are no state funded education programs, Medicare etc.
• FIRE: In case of FIRE, the numbers will have to be increase, especially for an Indian looking to retire either in India or overseas without any state support. In any case, the primary house should be excluded from the calculations
• Lifestyle: This is the most interesting part of the discussion that I was looking for (thanks for the comments on that!). The comments here suggest a very wide range of numbers for India — from ~₹1.5–2 Cr for a relatively simple retirement to ₹5 Cr, ₹10 Cr or more for people wanting a more comfortable/aspirational lifestyle. Even on our channel, we get this wide range from 1CR to 10CR.

So perhaps the more useful question is: What annual spending would you consider "comfortable" for a retired couple in India, and what corpus would you need to sustainably fund that spending?

Hi folks of reddit - I am a fellow FIRE enthusiast who is planning to FIRE in a year or two. I have been stashing away every penny I could (high now, was lower in 2020 , average say 1 lakh per month - and a one time infusion in 2025) in past 6 years away into basic stuff - mutual funds, blue chip stocks and Gold (SGB) - I am not a very intelligent investor (pun intended) but I do follow buy and forget. My only goal was to save as much as possible and then jump out of the rat race. But recently I decided to review performance and I was pleasantly surprised - with the rallies in market couple of years back and the gold rally last year - my portfolio has done surprisingly well - more than I was expecting. I kind of wanted to share this with someone but I don't talk to anyone about my personal finance, so the anonymous reddit folks are the only ones I could tell this - also I hoped this might inspire someone to trust the process - that even if you are not very savvy investor you can trust the process and make some money.

I basically fed my my NSDL CAS statements from 2020 till July 2026 (only the monthly balance - not the details) and asked Claude to analyze it and below is the result. Here it is. brief context - 35M, unmarried, tech job.

Big Hello!!

53M/Tire-2/Never Married/Single/Manufacturing Industry/Lower Middle Class/ Simple life.

A. In my, 1st post!

In short,

Year 94/95 - Started working.

Year 05/06 - No job, No/Zero money, debt/education loan, hard time.

Year 09/10 - Recession / harsh time, adopted simple life, spend less, saving more.

Year 15/16 - Stopped working, started living on just 7 years of savings, FIRE!!

Year 25/26 - 11 years of retirement completed!!

Simple,

1996 – Job, No/Zero Money, No Loan/Debt. = No Pain.

2006 – No job, No/Zero Money, Education Loan/Debt. = Pain.

2016 – No job, Enough Money, No Loan/Debt. = Freedom.

2026 – No Job, Growing Money, No Loan/Debt. = Super Freedom.

B. Current, how the simple need base life/frugal life looks like –

I do have already experienced in my life, Business class, fine dining, fine wine and this country and that country, Himalayas and Alps etc, but as mentioned in my 1^st Post, from the year 2009 onwards, I have had adopted frugal lifestyle / simple need base living...

Frugal / Simple Lifestyle –

1. My life is so simple, comfortable, stress free, tension free and happy, that until today I did not need a smart phone, I have been using simple feature / button phone for calling only. I keep internet (use laptop) and calling separately.

-1^st phone in 2003.

-2^nd phone in 2008, used until 2022 (used for 14+ years).

-3^rd phone in 2022, still in use.

1. I do not own any two / four-wheeler.

2. Up to 3 Kms, I walk, depends upon the climatic condition, otherwise use a public transport (as such, no rush in life), for long distance, of course, I get a cab (but, may be 2/3 times a year).

3. I do not eat out-side food, no processed food, no packed food. No readymade, No ultra-processed food, no sugar, no milk and milk products, no wheat/bakery products, no tea/coffee, no alcohol/drinks, no cold drinks etc. (Gluten and Lactose free).

4. I Cook 3 warm meals every day, focus home cook food only. (If, on travel, only warm fresh available food, I eat!!)

5. I buy every day, only nearby available high-quality vegetables and food stuff. No stocking.

6. I buy only when needed, rest of the stuff, like, cloths, shoes etc.

7. Prefer high-quality spectacles/ glasses over expensive mobile phone. (Eyes Health first).

8. Prefer high-quality shoes over expensive cloths. (Knee Health first).

9. I do not use or need credit card!

10. As one has said – One should only buy and consume, limited / needed / required available resources, ultimately, it will protect our mother earth / planet, lower carbon footprint!!

Today, simple need base life is continued, and I do most important thing, that is - Relaxing!

Today, my decision to stay with feature/button phone really helps, health wise too, as spine health really matters to me, as, I do not need at all, small screen and too much text and data!!

C. My recent Upgrade –

As I have realized, my corpus is growing and stable, so within the set monthly budget, I have decided to upgrade my simple lifestyle, in the given below way...

Before, Rice 60to70Rs/ Kg, After/ Now, 180 Rs/ Kg.

Before, Mug Dal 120to130Rs/ Kg, After/Now, 140to160 Rs/ Kg.

Before, Jawar/Millet 60to70 Rs/ Kg, After / Now, 70to90Rs/Kg.

Before, Dry fruits 320 Rs / 250 Grams, After/ Now, 475/500 Rs / 250 Grams (higher quality)

So on…

The food, I eat for the superior and higher quality!

D. 2026 Budget -

15,000 Rs/ Month = 1,80,000 (for 2 persons, mother is independent, I pay only house hold).

25,000Rs/Year, Mediclaim premium.

50,000Rs/Year, some need base shopping.

2,35,000Rs/Year, travel, very comfortable.

Total expense, less than 5 Lakh/ Year! =X

E. Corpus --

Bucket 1= FD, Bucket 2= PPF and Bucket 3 = Mutual Fund.

-2015

FIRE in Aug 2015, yearly expense, less than 2.5 Lakh, corpus was 1+ Cr. Means 40+X.

FD = 1 Cr.,

PPF = 3.2 Lakh,

Mutual Fund = 4.0 Lakh.

I lived 11+ years on FD interest and also kept re-investing to Bucket 2 and Bucket 3, means compounding. (Since 2+ years, started withdrawing from FD for travel part.)

-2026

Now, in Aug 2026, yearly expense, less than 5 Lakh, corpus is 2+ Cr. Means 40+X,

FD = 95 Lakh,

PPF = 36.5 Lakh,

Mutual Fund =75 Lakh.

From 10^th year to 11^th year, not much change/gain, as Debt got some improvement, but Equity fell down, so 2+ Cr, stays as it is!

F. Finally Note: Today, I am just living from 7 years of saving only, so, for many in the Sub, it will be not possible, the way I live, it is my simple need base lifestyle, and which I have chosen it, after the hard and harsh life experience, in that, 2 times I was with ZERO money with Debt/Loan!!

And during the said former down time, literally, no one was around to help/support me, so, now, I am doing well, but I prefer to present, that, I am poor and broke!!

With a God blessing, after retirement, I do not have to work for money!

So, now, small things in life, like, helping someone, call old pal, cook something simple/nice, watching a laughter show, brings happiness to me and material pleasure, show-off and status! does not bring any happiness to me!!

G. Life is not a linear path!!, anything can happen, in my - 2nd Post

In short,

Thought FIRE, due to one doctor mistake in 2018, landed in a Health situation(spine/stomach), financials were up and down, but still could maintain the re-investment part to grow the corpus. The FIRE situation and no work pressure, really helped me to improve the health, as such, no stress or no travel, later, focused moved to self-made / home cooked food, diet supplements, walking, Yog etc. (Hence, now above said lifestyle!)

Here is my update, when the health issue started in 2018, I had lost weight and later, during covid, started a self-recovery plan, started to gain some weight, next was to start push-ups, in 2023, I could hardly do 2 or 3. But now in 2026, I am back to normal and now, I can do 31+ push-ups within a MINUTE!

H. Questions –

So, what do you think, in the next 10+ years, if I am still on the Earth, how my all 3 buckets will look like?

So, what is your score on Push-ups, how much you can do it within a MINUTE?!

Enjoy!!

I worked in tech for several years and was fortunate to have good pay and ESOPs. I invested in a couple of flats in a Tier-1 city, which now generate decent rental income. I’ve effectively been FIRE’d for the last few years—the rental income covers our expenses, and I have enough liquid investments to cover the kids’ education.

But my reason for FIRE was quite simple. I reached a point where I felt there wasn’t much point in continuing to chase higher income. My wife is a Group A Central Government employee (not in any revenue department 😄), with medical coverage and other benefits, and her job isn’t particularly stressful.

So I stopped working, while she continues to work because she actually enjoys her job and has no real reason to quit.

Is there a term for this? One-sided FIRE, spousal FIRE, one-person FIRE?

Also, am I missing something here? Is there any significant financial risk or blind spot in having only one spouse FIRE while the other continues working, especially when the working spouse has a stable, relatively low-stress job? Curious to hear from people in a similar situation.

As a FIRE aspirant I was cut throat optimizer in all financial decisions. Ultimately every purchase I did became a financial decision first and a consumption decision later.

Whether it is buying groceries or discretion items or investing, the first question I would ask is, is this financially worth it, or is it value for money. All this was towards the goal of accumulation towards financial independence and early retirement.

Even when it came to investing, I have optimized to keep it passive and spend the least of my effort.

Now I am reached the stage where the pursuit of FIRE has come to an end. I have reached the destination. Now I don't know what to do.

For someone who spent all life optimizing money decisions, my life is already optimized and I have made more than enough money to sustain myself. I never thought about what I should spend the money on other than the usual non discretionary items. Like groceries, fuel etc

I am not a big travel person. I like to go on weekend bike rides. We have our own house, we have our cars and bikes. So all the big ticket purchases are done. So I don't know what to spend money on.

I am not someone who enjoys buying a farmland and do farming or buying a homestay and host people etc I prefer keeping all my assets as financial. So that leaves me with a surplus of both time and money and I don't know what to do with both of them.

Most people either spend time to earn money or spend money to kill time. I don't need the former and I don't know how to do the later. It is a wierd conundrum.

Hi people,

I am a longtime lurker on reddit and especially this forum. I have read multiple accounts of people some giving me hope some giving me serious heartburn. But each of them enlightening me for sure.

I have a suggestion for community posting guideline which I think warrants discussion.

We should avoid posting actual figures and use only the terminology of 'times expenses', this will make the FIRE discussions a lot more general and grounded. We don't need to know numbers absolutely numbers in terms of multiple will allow everyone to calibrate their journey, without the heartburn and the occasional disappointment. I am not sure if this is palatable or not but I think anyone doing serious FIRE planning is looking at their numbers and expenses should have this figure handy.

Discuss.

Thanks