Dark side of investing: ₹20 cr future. Can't buy phone. Why?

Summary: A 27-year-old woman earns Rs 1.7 lakh a month and is already on track for an almost Rs 20 crore retirement. But there’s a problem: she can’t afford to buy herself a phone. She feels guilty spending on meals. She skips outings. She’s been thinking about replacing her broken phone for six months. In this piece, we show how even a small tweak in her investing strategy can give her breathing room, and explain why mindful investing, not just aggressive saving, is the real path to peace, joy and long-term wealth.

One Reddit user’s monthly income is Rs 1.7 lakh and invests aggressively. Yet she can’t afford to buy a phone. Is there a better way to balance wealth and wellbeing?

A 27-year-old woman recently posted on Reddit that despite earning Rs 1.7 lakh a month, she feels completely trapped.

She’s disciplined. She invests. She pays her EMIs. But when it comes to buying herself a basic necessity, a phone, she’s been stuck for six months.

“I feel like I’m cheating on my savings,” she writes. “I hate this living where I can’t even spend on myself after working the whole day.”

But why does she have to put herself through such stress? Surely, there’s a better way of doing things right.

Where is her money going?

From her post, here’s how her expenses break down:

This leaves her with maybe Rs 30,000 to pay her rent and manage food, family requests and everything else. It’s definitely tight. And emotionally, it feels even tighter.

What’s the good thing here?

Let’s give her credit: investing Rs 60,000/month at age 27 is phenomenal. That’s over one-third of her salary. And if she is living away from her parents in a rented apartment, it’s even more praiseworthy.

So, let’s assume she continues investing in mutual funds for the next 30 years, till she is 57, and earns an average of 12 per cent per annum (equity mutual funds have historically delivered this over long periods). Here’s what that SIP alone could grow into:

This means that her retirement is already taken care of.

Let’s say she wants to spend Rs 1 lakh a month in retirement. With 6 per cent inflation, she’d need Rs 5.74 lakh/month in today’s terms when she’s 57. But even with a conservative 8 per cent return during retirement, her corpus would easily last 30 years, and still leave behind a Rs 40 crore legacy. Clearly, there’s no problem on this front.

Now, that brings us to an important question…What she is doing isn’t to achieve financial freedom. This is financial suffocation.

Yes, investing early is powerful. But over-investing, at the cost of joy, relationships or even breathing space, can burn you out.

What’s the solution?

What if she simply reduces her SIP by Rs 5,000? Here’s what that changes:

• Her corpus at 57 would still be Rs 16.94 crore.
• She could use the Rs 5,000 saved for a new phone in six months.
• Or take a much-needed trip.
• Or just… live a little.

And here’s a smarter twist: once she stops repaying Rs 20,000 a month to her mother’s by the end of this year, she can keep a further Rs 10,000 for joy and invest the other Rs 10,000 for her low-key wedding. That could grow to Rs 5 lakh in just three years.

Even better? If she steps up her current Rs 55,000 monthly SIP by just 3 per cent each year, she could build a Rs 25 crore corpus. Enough to buy a Rs 10 crore home and still enjoy a comfortable retirement for the next 30 years. At the end of 30 years, she’d still have Rs 2.7 crore in her kitty.

Another option to breathe more freely is to reduce commute costs. But given her frugal lifestyle, she might have already tried exploring WFH, carpooling options.

Money is not the goal. It’s a tool.

To this Reddit user, and many others in the same boat, we say, “You’re doing great.”

You’ve already conquered the hardest part of personal finance: consistency. Month after month, you’re showing up, investing diligently and putting your future first. That’s more than most people manage in a lifetime. You deserve full credit for that.

But here’s something worth remembering: your future doesn’t need to come at the cost of your present. Skipping every outing, feeling guilty for ordering a meal or being unable to upgrade a phone — these aren’t badges of honour. They’re warning signs.

That’s why mindful investing matters. Even small course corrections, like scaling back SIPs by Rs 5,000 or giving yourself a modest leisure budget, won’t derail your long-term goals. In fact, they might be the reason you’re able to stick to those goals for the next 30 years.

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Also read: Will 77% Indian families retire poorer than they should?

This article was originally published on August 06, 2025.