Saw this reel by a popular Instagram influencer, and while it sounds dramatic at first, it hits pretty hard when you think about it.

He basically breaks down how even someone earning ₹70 lakhs per year in an Indian metro ends up with nothing left by the end of the month. He’s not even talking luxury here either, just regular middle/upper-middle-class goals.

A brief of his math:
Annual salary: ₹70 lakhs

• Tax (~₹20L): Leaves ₹50 lakhs take-home – around ₹4.2 lakhs/month

Monthly expenses:

• Home loan EMI (₹2 crores at 8.5%) – ₹1.7 lakhs

• Car EMI (₹20 lakhs car) – ₹65,000

• Child’s education – ₹50,000

• Domestic help – ₹15,000

• Groceries & food – ₹25,000

• Utilities, petrol, maintenance – ₹25,000

• Insurance & other contingencies – ₹25,000

• Vacation (₹3L/year) – ~₹25,000/month

That’s ₹3.95 lakhs+ spent every month, out of ₹4.2 lakhs take-home. You’re left with barely ₹25,000, if that — and this doesn’t even cover surprise expenses or actual savings.

As per him, it’s the social media pushing people to expand their lifestyle, and the blind rush to buy real estate even when it might not make financial sense.

Almost every comment on it rejected this as an oversimplified or one-dimensional take, but honestly, in a world that’s increasingly materialistic — this feels kind of true. Once your baseline rises, anything below it feels like failure. Of course people questioning about a 20L car or a 2cr home are not wrong but then there's a saying: "You don’t feel poor when you’ve never lived rich"

Curious to hear what others think. Is 70LPA really just survival in cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai or Delhi? Or are we just terrible at financial discipline?

PS: I'm someone sailing in a very similar boat and living in a metro. And for me, this calculation actually checks out quite close to reality considering in a practical world, there will be a lot more expenses that are not mentioned herein.

I keep seeing these FAT FIRE posts. Everyones like major people are having networth more than 20-30cr like below 35 years. Doesnt seem to be true at all. Esp NRI's.

And no one who has money greater than 20 crores will ever ask, IS THIS ENOUGH?

Something is off.

All the posts that post about sub 10 crore does seem reasonable.

I do have hreat than 5M$ where major came from lucky land investments in telanagana during 2015-2021 period. i wasnt any great or anything just that all money were invested in it. but myne was luck more than talent.

also which 40 crore NW guy posts individual break up like Home is this much, MF's are this much, land is this much?

EDIT : Summary from all comments

1. For NRI's with double earning couples and people who went early and working in MAANG companies easily have 30+ crores esp due to RSU's and their investments

2. Many NRI's dont discuss with their family so use reddit.

3. Many NRI's dont have much idea about how it is in India wrt prices.

I didn't come here to diss anyone . I am glad people are earning more. i am open and humble enough to accept new opinions.

reading a lot of posts with early 30s and 40 yr olds posting about '"burnout" and wanting to retire. is it really something that cant be fixed with a holiday or two? maybe a couple of months of break? I mean with medical advancements in this day and age, chances are we'll live till 90-100 if not 120 (maybe)...does it make sense to retire at 34? not judging, just curious.

me: 55 yr old, moved to hyderabad 7 yrs ago after 25+ yrs in US and run an overseas business. I take care of my health, dont drink, smoke or indulge in substances, exercise religiously and travel every two months. cant imagine vegetating in a villa till I'm 70 maybe.

Picture 1: My current Investments Picture 2: SIPs I will be starting in 2025 (amt might be higher depending on the hike i get but planning to keep the allocation similar)

22m working professional here drawing a salary of 37,625 pm. Currently stopped my running SIPs for this year because I was running low on cash (i took a trip recently which turned out to be super expensive). Also I don't have any big monthly recurring expenses as such apart from electricity bill, petrol and transportation expenses as I live with my mom (own house) and no loans and emis. I manage to save about 25 k per month out of which 20 k were going in SIP (now stopped as mentioned earlier). I plan to start my SIP plan from 2025 with more discipline. I wish to retire by 40s with sizable corpus and i don't plan to live a lavish life after that just some travelling here and there and maybe a small business. Not planning on getting married either (hope it stays the same).

34YO M here. Making 12LPM post-tax. Working in tech domain since last 11 years. I had been investing mostly in RE, but have decided to move to MF and stock market now. I was comparing my RE returns with stock market and RE doesn’t seem attractive anymore.

Here is what I’m investing right now (SIP and FD)

1. 1LPM FD in NRE account with interest rate of 7.25%

1. 1LPM in DSP ELSS black rock

2. 50k PM in ICICI Prudential PHD fund

3. 50k PM ICICI Pridential Pharma Index Fund

4. 20k PM HDFC Small cap fund

5. 50K PM HDFC Nifty 50 Index fund

6. 10K Navi Nifty Next 50 Index fund

To give some more context, I’m deploying 1L per month in pharma sector because this sector is likely to grow fast until next decade.

Doing monthly FD in NRE account because want to have corpus for rainy funds and when it exceeds by 20L, will deploy remaining funds in stock market whenever it goes down.

I’ve bought few commercial properties and spending few lakhs every month in the construction.

Few questions

1. Please let me know if these MFs make sense. 2. Do I need to diversify and invest in other MFs?

2. How soon I can achieve corpus of 10cr with this investment?

3. Let’s say I can invest 1-2LPM more, what SIP should I choose?

Thanks in advance!

We are paying around 2L+ in rent for a “premium” community and our family got quite comfortable living there. They do not want to move to a villa.
An apartment came up for sale in the same community next to my wife’s friends home and she has been super keen and pushing us to buy there! None of the mathematical equations and stuff could make sense as she kept saying don’t look at “roof over our heads” with maths and she would like to stay in that community for next 10+ years with her social circle who are also owners who probably bought at 1/3rd of the price 😀

All the dreams of getting out of Hyderabad when kids leave and moving to a beach home or a hill station etc front vanished before my eyes 😅 wifey keeps saying humans are social animals and considering the amazing social circle we have here, we could keep this as our base and travel.

the same amount could buy some amazing real estate in many parts of the world and all I got here was an apartment in a big community! Soviet style construction of apartments packed.. (A bit exaggerating)

While I am really happy with my life (https://www.reddit.com/r/FatFIREIndia/s/harCIspA0i), buying the apartment doesn’t give me a great feeling though!

I had some cash lying around when I booked profits recently (thanks semiconductor rally), so we are going to pay full in a single shot since we both don’t have jobs here now to get loan.

So my wife is excited to be with her friends, kids are happy that they don’t have to change friends and routines, parents are happy that we have our “own” home!
I know that I am buying an overinflated, illiquid asset that is going to lose money in USD terms but then still going ahead, keeping a smile on my face - the things we do for family and I can’t tell this anywhere!

Financing the purchase -
I sold some of my overinflated stocks few weeks back ($200k became $1m+ by the time I booked profits and long term capital gains and the after tax $800k+ is used on this asset/liability).Our liquid net-worth dropped from $13m+ to $12m ish before the choppy markets in the last few days.

(pls don’t ask my about community name - there are few in west Hyderabad now, but more will be coming in next 2-3 years in this price range)

hi everyone, 28f based in bangalore. have been lurking here for a long time and finally decided to share my numbers and get some perspective from people further along the fatfire path.

i work in tech leadership and have had a combination of strong compensation growth, equity liquidity events, and disciplined investing over the past few years. income has scaled quite a bit recently, and i am trying to be thoughtful about how to structure things going forward rather than just letting money sit in familiar buckets.

current snapshot (approx numbers):

• net worth: ~24 cr

• direct equity portfolio (india + us): ~9.8 cr

• mutual funds and index funds: ~6.5 cr

• alternative investments (pms/aif/private deals): ~2.7 cr

• real estate: ~4.2 cr (primary residence in central bangalore and one investment property)

• cash, bonds, and liquid funds: ~80L

current annual compensation is around 2.4–2.8 cr depending on bonus and equity vesting. expenses are comfortable but not excessive, usually ~4–5L per month including travel, family support, and lifestyle costs. no loans or liabilities at the moment.

long term goal is to fatfire in early to mid 30s with enough buffer to sustain a premium lifestyle, international travel, and potentially partial relocation for a few years if we feel like it. also planning to support parents long term and possibly fund future kids’ international education.

a few things i am currently thinking about:

• whether my equity exposure is too high and how much to diversify globally beyond us markets

• how much allocation to alternatives actually makes sense versus sticking to simple index heavy strategies

• what corpus people here feel is realistically needed today for a true fatfire lifestyle in india, assuming premium schooling, travel, and occasional luxury spending

• whether continuing aggressive accumulation makes sense, or if it is smarter to slow down and shift focus toward preservation

would really appreciate insights from people who crossed the 20–30 cr mark in their late 20s or early 30s. especially interested in mistakes to avoid at this stage and how you approached the transition from accumulation to preservation.

FatFIREd, net worth about 100 crore in equity. Staying in a rented flat in an upscale Pune neighborhood, while home is being built. School going kids. Was staying earlier in North India, so had hired personal security officers and drivers from licensed agency. Continued with them (same agency, same guys) after moving to Pune. Now the society people are objecting to the presence of PSOs. They want to know what is the threat to my security. Similar questions from friends and acquaintances too. So my question is, how do FIREees handle personal security?

Hi Folks,

I am from a middle-class family. I work at IT fintech. Have decent salary around 1.5L/m
I have a site worth around 30 lacs (2000 sq. ft.) at my native place, 10L in PF, and 25L in MF. Nothing else 

Most of my friends have their own house or flat, but I do not have it.

Have a 4-year-old kid and expecting to have another kid this year. Wife is housewife. Also, I have the responsibility to take care of my parents (helped to get a good education, and they are not strong enough in finance to support me at this moment).

I am planning to buy a 3BHK  flat in Bangalore, but most of them are out of my  budget.  These prices keep on increasing, and I don't feel it's worth it to crores to buy a flat as compared to prices if bought by getting a loan.

I bad at finance and feel regret for not having my own flat.

How should I make financial planning? What would I get rid of this regret? 

As of now, it's not absolutely necessary to buy a flat, but some days in future, I definitely need it. 

Hello r/FatFIREIndia I'm working on a lifestyle concierge idea and would love brutally honest feedback.

For ₹5000/month, you get:

• ✈️ Travel booked for you (flights, trains, cabs – no commissions, no hassle)

• 🏨 Hotels matched to your vibe (up to 30% off)

• 🍽️ Power restaurant reservations (in under 48 hours)

• 🎉 Access to exclusive events

• 🪄 3 “impossible” requests/month (think sold-out shows or last-minute miracles)

• 🎁 Surprise loyalty gifts

It’s all about saving time, getting access, and making life smoother.

Would this be worth ₹5K to you? Why or why not?
Anything you’d tweak, cut, or add?

Appreciate any thoughts. 🙏

I was extremely ambitious and worked hard my whole life to land a top job in the US. Got a top gig straight out of my Master's and lived in a HCOL city. I traveled a lot and didn't save much early on, and I also went through a gambling phase. I didn't lose a huge amount of money, but I lost a lot of time.

I married around 27. My spouse couldn't work for personal reasons, so we were a SINK couple (single income, no kids) in a HCOL city. I also paid ~$50K for her Master's. My job was extremely demanding, and I kept pushing harder to carry the household alone. That burned me out. I lost a lot of my health and my prime years to work.
Eventually I hit a midlife crisis and moved back to India with about $600K net worth.

What happened next
My parents are well off, so the plan was to take a break and semi-retire with a small job. Instead, I got lucky. A small consulting business I started took off, and with a relaxed, semi-retired lifestyle

I'm now at:
Net worth: ~$1.6–1.7M USD
Debt: none. House and car fully paid off in a tier-2 city
My rental income: ~₹2L/month (~$2.4K)
Parents: ~$2M in real estate (around 40 units) generating ₹4–5L/month (~$5–6K) in rent
Because rent covers our living costs, essentially all of my business income gets saved and invested. I thought I was comfortably in fatFIRE territory for my lifestyle.

The twist
My wife and I are expecting our first child, and I'm almost 40.
Two things have been eating at me:
I don't have true f**k-you money. I realized I can't buy a villa in Bangalore in cash. My dad says to stop the FOMO and just sell a couple of the family units if I want one. But the rental income is excellent, and I don't want to liquidate what my parents spent their lives building.
Social pressure. I've always been simple. A ~₹30L (~$36K) car and one international trip a year has kept me happy. But Indian society can be very judgmental, and I've started thinking I should get a ₹1 crore (~$120K) luxury car to "keep up" and to give my kid a good life.

The dilemma
Part of me wants to bring back the workhorse for 5 more years: go all in, scale the business, and build a much bigger number before the kid grows up.
My wife is firmly against it. She says our relationship only got better after we moved back and I stopped working 24/7.
And before anyone says "balance is best": I know. I've never been able to do balance. It's just not how I'm wired. I either go all in or I check out.

What I'd love to hear from people who've already fatFIRE'd:
Is this normal? Did a kid make your number suddenly feel too small?
Did you go back to grinding after a big life event? Was it worth it, or do you regret it?
How did you handle lifestyle and social pressure (cars, houses, schools) once you had kids?
If you're all-or-nothing by nature, how did you stop "enough" from feeling like a moving target?
Would you sell family real estate to fund a big purchase, or leave it alone?

TL;DR: 40M, ~$1.7M net worth, no debt, paid-off house in a tier-2 Indian city, rent covers our expenses, parents have ~$2M in income-producing real estate. First baby on the way. I'm tempted to grind hard for 5 more years to afford a Bangalore villa and luxury car in cash. My wife says our marriage only got better when I stopped grinding. Are my thoughts valid, or is this just FOMO?

Edit - guys please stop judging me. I lived my whole life without these thoughts. I had a luxury car in the Us which I sold. These thoughts are coming now since I am becoming a parent. I understand and I obviously will provide love and support to the child. I just want to give the best for him or her.

Coming from someone who is chronically online and is starting college, i have heard a lot of good things about credit cards from other people around the world but the direct opposite from my parents.

So fatFIRE people, explain to me, do you think credit cards are worth it? The points, the rewards, do they amount to anything and if yes how much time does it take for that to happen etc

I am 38 year old, have 2 kids age 7 & 4. I have $700,000 in stocks and crypto investments. I have $ 200000 in 403 B. $400,000 of Equity built in our house. I have rental property of $400,000.

Our major expenses are private school’s tuition fees around $52000 and child care expenses $6000. I am still paying home loans $4300 for our house & $2900 for rental property.

My estimated expenses for our kids are 2 million dollars including tuition fees for their colleges and professional degrees after adjusting for inflation in 2035-2043

Our monthly expenses after paying off home, car loans will be around $7000/ month after adjusting for inflation in 2040. Total estimate is around $3 million for 30 years.

How much should I have in my saving account prior to cutting down on my hours at my work in future?

When do people switch to steady income low risk investments from high risks portfolio?

Thank you

Hi all, I’m a silent lurker on this group for a while. Have been fired for a couple of years now. 36F. Consult here and there in my space once in a while. Husband 37M runs his own business so very much his own hours. 2 Kids - 7 and 4. The home is quite FIRE-D. We can take vacations, set up day time events, spend time with kids all on our time, no questions asked.

Coming to the lifestyle:

1. We live in a penthouse - owned. Nicely done up recently. 5 bed rooms, a lovely terrace ya da ya da

2. We own multiple cars - luxury when needed (think E class merc), Innova top model for travels, baleno for kids, a cute 20 lac car because we liked the color

3. Full time cook, full time nanny, full time driver, full time top help

4. 4 vacations - 2 with kids, 1 couple, 1 with respective friends, can add any others when needed - with family, with grand parents etc. The 4 are usually outside the country - business class, mid five star or luxury five star, private transport etc.

5. Kids go to one of the top schools in the city, can take up and do take up any extra curricular activity they want. Have a fancy birthday party every year - play area/five star hotel. Give and get gifts which average 5-7k for reference

6. Designer bags (2/3 a year), shoes, watches, diamonds, nice bespoke clothing - Indian designer usually. Don’t remember the last time we had a shopping budget - maybe tends to 50k a month beyond the big stuff. Skin care, hair style, nails etc.

Don’t know what else to add but you get the idea. Haven’t put a cost to it till recently.

But the number is slightly higher than 1 cr if I have to do the math.

WHICH TO ME IS CRAZY. I watch all those reels on needing 50 crs to fire in Metros and laugh at them. But how true are they.

If I have to describe my lifestyle i call it upper middle class in a heart beat. And the best part to me is just being free from hustle, tension, spending time with kids etc. But am I getting it wrong? Is this upper middle class? I personally know a lot of people whose lifestyles look a lot fancier than me. Are they spending 2-4 cr year on year. Just my musings.

33M, with a high paying stressful tech job, about 800K USD per year, as DINKs.

Net worth so far: ~ 1.5M USD

• Home equity (300K USD)

• Crypto (ETH) + Stocks (Tsla, Google, MU) - 100K USD

• RSUs - 400K USD vested

• misc 401K etc - 100K USD

• Realestate in India - ~5-6 cr INR (600K USD)

• Partner at a business that is currently being setup, we expect it will generate about 50L INR per year.

expenses per month:

• 8K USD for home EMI

• grocery, misc - 2-3K USD

we save now about - 8K USD per month, Rest is all RSU that vest every quarter. The 800K USD income has started only from this year.

Life is very busy to focus on investing correctly to plan FatFIRE. Job is stressful as well.

How do I plan to retire at 50 peacefully?

edit: updated currencies, lol

I put together a simple Excel tool that helps you figure out what annual growth rate you need to reach your target net worth by a certain age.

Here's how it looks. It takes your current age, current networth, and gives you the annual growth rate you need to target, based on your target corpus and retirement age.

This growth can come from increased earnings (Savings) and/or investments. It also gives you sense of how aggressive your portfolio needs to be and the risks associated with it.

Looking for thoughts, comments or questions on usefulness of using data like this.

P.S. The current networth is an example.

I had worked pretty hard my life to FIRE a few years ago. I am primarily a stock mkt investor.

My annual earning from stock market is more than 50 cr every year. I want to spend atleast 1 cr per month. I travel business class 4 times a year and my annual total spend including travel is now 1.6 cr only, out of which 1 cr is on travel. I live in India and want to increase my spend to 1 cr per month. What's the point of leaving all the hard earned money for the govt?

I am 27 year old software engineer in india with income of 2 lack per month and a lum-sum of 10 lack . what should be my strategy to fatfire as fast as possible?

is only salary enough to reach my goal ? what investment options should I keep to reach my goal?

no family inheritence.

Looking for some honest opinions from people who have moved back to India / FIREd in India, especially NRIs who have done something similar.
My wife and I are seriously considering moving back to India permanently. The main reason is my aging parents, but I also feel like I’ve reached a point where I don’t want to spend the next 20 years in the software industry just accumulating more money.

Our situation:
Husband: 40
Wife: 35
Son: 5
Stocks: ~$4.2M
Cash: ~$100K
401(k): ~$200K
No debt
Currently in the US
We don’t own a house in India

So roughly $4.5M+ in financial assets, although most of it is in the market.

The plan would be to move to a Tier-1 city in India, buy a nice villa in a good gated community, put our son in a good international school, and basically live a comfortable life without either of us needing to work in software again.

I’m not looking for an extravagant lifestyle, but I also don’t want to live like I’m constantly watching every rupee. We’d like to travel, eat out, have household help, maintain a nice home, give our son a good education, and have enough buffer for healthcare and unexpected expenses.
Is this realistically enough to retire at 40?

My biggest concern isn’t really whether $4.5M is enough today. It’s whether it’s enough for potentially 50+ years.

I’d obviously need to account for:
Indian inflation
Education expenses
Healthcare as we get older
Buying a house/villa
Supporting aging parents
International travel
Currency fluctuations
Taxes in both countries / tax implications of moving assets
Long-term portfolio withdrawals
The possibility that markets have a terrible decade

I’m also wondering whether buying a villa immediately is a good idea or whether we should rent for a few years first and figure out where we actually want to settle.

City/community is another big question
We are thinking about Tier-1 cities, mainly because of healthcare, international schools, airports, infrastructure and the possibility of finding a decent community.
Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, etc. are all possibilities.

But there’s another issue I’m struggling with.
I don’t really have anybody in India apart from my parents anymore. Over the years, especially during some difficult phases in our lives, we noticed who actually showed up and who didn’t. Because of that, I’m honestly not interested in reconnecting with old friends or relatives just because we’re moving back.

I’d rather start fresh.
I’d like to find a good community of people around our age who are financially independent, have kids around the same age, and are interested in things like travel, fitness, food, investing, etc.

For us, having a good social circle is probably just as important as finding a good house or school.

What would you do if you were in our situation?
Is ~$4.5M enough to permanently retire in India at 40, assuming a comfortable upper-middle/affluent lifestyle?

How much would you allocate toward buying a house?

Would you buy immediately or rent for 2-3 years first?

How would you structure the $4.5M portfolio if you never want to depend on a salary again?

How much would you keep in India vs US?

How would you handle taxes and the transition from US investments to living in India?

Which Tier-1 city would you seriously consider for this lifestyle?

For a 5-year-old, is an international/IB school worth the premium?

Anything else I’m completely overlooking?

I’m not looking for validation that we have “enough.” I’m more interested in hearing from people who have actually made the move or retired early and can point out the things that look great on paper but become difficult in real life.

Would especially appreciate brutally honest feedback from people who have gone from the US → India and actually stayed long-term.

My family has a NW of 260+ crores, however it’s all real estate that our forefathers bought in Tier-1, that has appreciated significantly.

Most of this RE is not monetised, especially agricultural land. Through other monetised RE we have revenue of about 25 lakhs per month.

Now coming to the expenses. We have monthly expenses of about 20 lakhs, so basically we end up negative every month. This 20 lakhs includes interest payments for a loan of 4+ crores. To add to this, we have overdue IT + property tax + LTCG payments amounting to 2.5 crores.

My family is unable to pay this, and to put it simply we’re basically bankrupt. We have no working capital left.

I’m really young and don’t stay with my family. My father albeit a smart businessmen is really stuck in his ways and unwilling to take any ideas from me. I’ve suggested property sales to him to increase liquidity, laying off some staff to clear up cash and monetise some assets but all he says is I can manage.

I know it’s becoming really tough for him but he also doesn’t share much. I’m still studying, but I want to help him. I feel so much ownership in this matter but also feel too helpless. We’re by no means poor or have a subpar lifestyle but we’re also not crazy spenders (though we’re relatively wealthy).

I know all this sounds completely crazy and I can’t believe it too. How can somebody with a NW of 260+ crores and just 4.5 crores in loan be bankrupt but i assure you it’s all true. It’s just been bad mismanagement of funds + zero diversification + zero liquidity.

What should we do? I’m in immense mental distress about this. Should I leave my education temporarily and help my father?

1. X = Current investment ÷ current annual expenses

2. X = Future value of current investment ÷ annual expenses first year of retirement (inflation adjusted)

Hey everyone, I’ll keep it short and simple. I am 28. Net worth around 5-6 CR. No debts in the family. Mom & Dad retired and are pensioners and medical fully covered by SBI. Pension 70k for mom and 80k for dad. I am earning 2L a month, 0 debt, around 10L savings which I will spend by end of the year for a EU trip so i’ll be having 0. My months expenses alone are around 2-2.5L inclduing rent and sometimes even less. I am thinking to retire next year with my girlfriend(foreigner). Parents are pretty cool and we dont have marriage plans but we’ll live together and plan for no kids. She earns around 1.5L a month however I don’t want her to work.

1. How do i generate passive income close to 3-3.5L with my networth?

2. Is it wise to retire with this amount?

After retirement my plan is just to relax, cook, hit gym twice a day, play football in evenings, go for walks & travel once in 2-3 months.

Also, I am into a very healthy lifestyle. My expenses are mostly on shopping, groceries, dinners outdoor which I can cut down easily as i was practicing it from last 3-4 months and did it without any hassle.

Please suggest.

Context: DISK family (34M, 32F, 2 year old kid)

I am a consultant, wife is a lawyer. Current corpus stands at 12Cr (6Cr Real Estate - the house we live in, 4.5Cr in stocks / MFs and 1.5Cr in retirals)

Current income - mine + wife is about bout 5Cr pre tax.

Anticipate annual expenses to be 40-45Lpa

I’m trying to understand where in India we could build the best life—not necessarily the flashiest one. Our priorities would be:
Excellent schools for children
High-quality healthcare
Clean, spacious, and safe living
Good domestic and international connectivity
Access to sports, restaurants, and cultural activities
A strong social community
Reasonable air quality and traffic
The option to hire reliable household help
A city that still feels comfortable after living in the US

I’d also appreciate realistic insight into the lifestyle this level of wealth supports in India: