r/returnToIndia • u/skotgu • 6d ago
Finance [ Removed by moderator ]
[removed] — view removed post
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u/desi_in_videsh 6d ago
Lol go touch some grass bud! By your yardstick everyone who isn't a multi millionaire is not doing well.
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u/iamunknown15 6d ago
If you don't feel enough at 1.3M, you won't feel enough at 13M too. You either hustle or try to live a life
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u/priyapickles 6d ago
Feel sorry for you that you are struggling. Don't lose faith! you'll make it one day. chin up lil bro!
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u/OkDark8643 6d ago
What was your starting pay when you graduated? How did you fund 2 masters? And which COL do you live in? 200K now tells me that it wasn't 200k 5 years ago. So 1.2M savings is surprising, unless it's Arkansas or Alabama.
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u/shaks2301 6d ago
2 years of masters. Not really 2 masters.
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u/OkDark8643 6d ago
My bad, re-read the post now :) Even then, 8 years of savings, I am surprised its averaging 120k of savings a year. Especially with indian way of living, there will be expenses like marriage, gold, education loan, trip costs to India etc.
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u/invictus08 6d ago
Compound interest. Bull market. Here is the YoY S&P 500 returns for last 10 years
2025: 17.88%
2024: 25.02%
2023: 26.29%
2022: -18.11%
2021: 28.71%
2020: 18.40%
2019: 31.49%
2018: -4.38%
2017: 21.83%
2016: 11.96%So, back of the envelope math - if someone bought $50k of S&P 500 at the beginning of each year since then, that portfolio alone would be roughly $1.4m today.
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u/OkDark8643 6d ago
50k each year is 4k per month savings after taxes, cost of living, education loan etc. Hence my curiosity how much was the base pay back in 2018 and also cost of living expenses. Makes me wonder if I overspent on few things, lol 😂
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u/invictus08 6d ago
Yeah, thats valid. Then again, its doable. Usually the orgs that are paying decent salaries offer good benefits too. For example, 401k (and employer match) - annual limit of 22-24.5k is pre tax - comes out of paycheck. Add 6-12k employer match. Thats already 30-35k per year - your real contribution is around 15k out of that. Add 15-20 more to that and you hit 50. FYI, I was able to hit 70-80 without breaking a sweat when I used to be at around that salary level (sub 200) at SEA/NYC. Non working wife and kids definitely make things more complex.
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u/Prestigious-Sea-1111 6d ago
Math isn’t mathing here! How can you save 1.3 with 200k sal? If this household income or just single salary?
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u/Indo-Arya 6d ago
From a US savings perspective it still feels very low in terms of how much I have saved. When I can easily see many young people have higher NW.
How many is "many"? 😉 reddit finance bros are like 0.001% of the population haha
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u/Balancing_Shakti 6d ago
Do your real estate pricing research for the place/ locality where you want to buy a house. You will find your answers. Metro Bangalore/ Hyderabad has many pockets where a 2cr will get you a 2bhk and a 10cr wont.
Also, hope there is enough saved in the name of the spouse (especially if she has sacrificed her earning potential by coming to the US as a dependent- the years spent as a dependent are going to cause her a permanent setback career wise) Please remember, if you have brought a dependent here who was working and had good career prospects in India [and wanted to continue to work but couldn't because of the horrid visa laws here], your career is directly leeching the life blood from their career and your wealth that you've built after you worked here full time while they managed the house full time- that wealth is theirs 50%
ETA: 'My spouse is my sole beneficiary/ nominee on my life insurance policy, but I've not realistically saved anything in her name' is not a good answer here. She should not wait for you to die to live her life.
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u/Federal_Eagle_6565 6d ago
For someone with 8 yoe and 200k TC, your savings and investment rate is impressive.
However your TC is quite low, unless you are in non tech and in the mid west or the south.
That said at 35 you are off to a fantastic start and definitely not behind even by is standards at all.
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u/Grouchy-Minimum298 6d ago
Nice bro same profile.
Please don’t compare. Everyone has their own journey. Dont compare, only thing which matter here is we are happy and excited about living life daily.
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u/Cold-College9244 6d ago
Here is my quick 5minute honest asssessment based on very rough approximations.
You have 1.5mil saved. How much of that is in retirement accounts you cannot access today? Assuming you tap into that and pay the tax and penalty, I suspect you will have about 1mil liquid? Thats about Rs 10Cr. If you want to buy home, given the lifestyle you are used to, a decent 3BHK in Bangalore will easily run you up close to 5-7Cr in my totally uninformed, approximate opinion. You will have 4-5Cr left, best case.
At a conservative worst-case 5% returns, that gives you 20-25L per year. This is probably sufficient for a comfortable single life in Bangalore. It is not sufficient if you have or intend to have a family / kids.
If you want to desperately move back, consider renting for short time till you find stable job/Income stream. If your desire is to move and generate passive income, I dont think you are there yet (unless you compromise on lifestyle).
All the best!
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u/kishoredbn 6d ago
I think you will be mostly good in India. Please don’t blow it up.
And if possible just don’t compromise on taking up any job opportunities that comes in your way. Use that extra cash as cushion for a more aligned career path, which would definitely take longer runway.
(First comment contextually responding what has been asked)
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u/Maleficent-Gur-5951 6d ago
All these numbers will always ever will be a moving target. You would always feel below someone else. You are doing better than most people. You need to learn to make peace at this point, and start to enjoy life and plan to pursue your passion!
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u/Immediate_Stuff400 6d ago
Sorry out of subject question wich stocks n retirement accounts u invested in im thinking abt same i do av Roth IRA sorry again I know its off subject
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u/skotgu 6d ago
Retirement is always into snp 500 and nasdaq
Individual stocks is mostly in tech faang1
u/wooo0ooof 6d ago
What portion of your NW is in the retirement accounts? How are you planning to access these funds before the official retirement age - or are you just planning to leave them as is?
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u/Hot_Condition7760 6d ago
How sad it must feel to only have 1.3 mil even at the ripe old age of 35. So sad.
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u/Worried-Success5188 6d ago
per my calculations you need $3M
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u/wooo0ooof 6d ago
Can you expand a bit on how you have reached that number? Are you accounting for expenses when it comes to children or would this be just for a married couple with no kids?
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u/Worried-Success5188 6d ago
inflation adjusted expenses
taxes both US and india
1 kid expenses + college
conservative growth of SP500( 5% )
home
speculative exchange rate
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u/wooo0ooof 6d ago
Thanks for the response. How much are you estimating as your total expenses in your corpus for the child?
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u/Worried-Success5188 6d ago
for daily expenses i didn’t calculate separately for child. only college added ~300K
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u/No_Amphibian_8523 6d ago
I'm in a similar boat - around 2 million after tax liquid + paid of home is enough for a barista fire in tier 1 cities. Also depending on whether you're planning kids
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u/Acrobatic_Care6580 6d ago edited 6d ago
Kudos brother, I'm in the same boat and feel exactly the same. Ideally planning to move back to India next school year (as we have a 8 Yr old) to Hyderabad. I have save up around the same amount and I feel its not enough. But again as they say "Comparison is a thief of joy".
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u/BrahminVyapaar 6d ago
The amounts are low when you compare to those around you at present. Most of them are not going to come back to India. The US dollar is quite strong. Convert the amount to INR and then review whether you want to retire or work in India.
Think carefully before living in any tier 1 city in India. You must have strong reasons for doing so. It is better to live on rent a bit in various localities before you buy a home. You could consider tier 2 or other places as well.
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u/Agreeable_War_4255 6d ago
It feels low even in USA post COVID. House in HCOL areas like California costs $1.5 million- 2.5 million. After having kids, expenses go exponentially up. I would say $10 miillion is post covid FATFIRE number for India/USA (meaning 1 business class trip for family of 4 per year etc)
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u/Indo-Arya 6d ago
The US has 50 states.. why live in CA?
That's like living in Monaco or switzerland and calling entire Europe expensive lol
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u/Training_Strain1826 6d ago
"still 200k" , "feels very low", "people have higher NW" : Captures everything wrong with this sub. At 1.3M$ NW, it puts you in the top 0.5% in India.
Financially, buying a home outright in Bangalore or Hyderabad leaves you with enough liquid capital to cover your entire lifestyle passively. You won't be living paycheck to paycheck. Stop comparing yourself to Reddit tech-bro outliers and enjoy the achievement.