In this edition of the reader story, we meet Arun, who has most generously volunteered to share his investment journey with the DIY community. I say this because more people with his net worth are usually reticent and unwilling to open up. While sending the draft, he graciously said, ” I have nothing major to share other than do SIPs”! I beg to differ.
About this series: I am grateful to readers for sharing intimate details about their financial lives for the benefit of readers. Some of the previous editions are linked at the bottom of this article. You can also access the full reader story archive.
Opinions published in reader stories need not represent the views of freefincal or its editors. We must appreciate multiple solutions to the money management puzzle and empathise with diverse views. Articles are typically not checked for grammar unless necessary to convey the right meaning to preserve the tone and emotions of the writers.
If you would like to contribute to the DIY community in this manner, send your audits to freefincal AT Gmail dot com. They can be published anonymously if you so desire.
Please note: We welcome such articles from young earners who have just started investing. See, for example, this piece by a 29-year-old: How I track financial goals without worrying about returns. We have also started a new “mutual fund success stories” series. This is the first edition: How mutual funds helped me reach financial independence. Now over to Arun.
Recently I have touched the ten crore mark in my NSDL Statement (This is not my net worth). In the Asan Ideas for Wealth (aka ASAN or AIFW) FB group, we see questions like who stays invested for such a long time, has anyone ever made money in mutual funds etc. We also see aspirational questions with a target of 1 Cr, 10 Cr, and even 36 Cr recently. Since we don’t hear many success stories of multi-crore portfolios, let me share my experience with this journey.
- I reached this milestone at age 46, with 25 years of working experience. Started working in mid-1998. It has taken quite a while to reach the 10Cr mark in Equity + MF alone (without including RE, gold and other assets).
- I was born into a poor family. Neither of the parents studied beyond 8th grade. Growing up, life was a struggle with my father’s meagre income. There was a roof over the head and basic food on the table. Other than that, everything else was a luxury.
- Did Engineering from Tier 3 college and landed an IT Job through campus placement. That was my(our) ticket out of poverty and better life. Given the family’s condition, paying for tuition and hostel fees was a struggle. I completed the course with a small debt my father borrowed from his friend.
- From day one of employment, taking care of my family fell on my shoulders, and I continue to support my parents for day-to-day expenses until today (along with my siblings). Highlighting this to point out that the entire income was not available for investment, especially in the initial years.
- My spouse is a housewife, and we have two kids. In addition to supporting extended family, everything is built from a single income. There is no external support like winning a lottery, dowry, inheritance, or other such things.
- I am in my third job now. First was a mid-tier Indian company. Second was one of the WITCH company and currently into the third. None of the employers were exceptional paymasters. At the max, I held an entry-level Sr. Manager position in a services company. So, this is not built with high-paying VP / SVP / Startup kind of pay.
- I did travel onsite for short and long terms. That surely helped with saving and investing well. Also, in the last 2 years, pay has jumped significantly, which also helped. However, first 22 years is just normal IT career path (No FAANG like pay, no Startups, RSU or anything like that)
- Though I had to save from day 1 (there was no other choice), initial investments were all into FDs, Post Office schemes. Started first SIP mid of 2005. I have not stopped SIP even for a month since then. So that is about 18 years of continuous SIP. Funds have changed though.
- I relied on selection of funds based on VR rating or plumbline or morning star. Around Nov, Dec I use to plan for the SIPs for following year and submit forms in Cams or AMC office for next 1 year. I repeated this process until doing online has become normal in the recent times. This yearly option helped to step up based on cashflow (instead of automated step up)
- I had no great fund picking skills, no strategy to analyze, was poor in selling underperformer quickly. Only thing I did well was to buy and hold. I spend time before buying but once bought will stick at least for few years before stopping due to under performance. However, I was quite…
Read More: My Journey to a Ten Crore Portfolio