The months without a salary

Summary: After losing his job, Rohan has Rs 16.1 lakh across savings, EPF and equity, and enough runway to survive a year without selling more than half of it, if he draws it in the right order. This story walks through that sequence: EPF before equity, insurance before EMIs and the emergency fund he should have built before any of this started.

Summary: After losing his job, Rohan has Rs 16.1 lakh across savings, EPF and equity, and enough runway to survive a year without selling more than half of it, if he draws it in the right order. This story walks through that sequence: EPF before equity, insurance before EMIs and the emergency fund he should have built before any of this started. Rohan, 31, works in a product role at a services firm in Gurugram, earning Rs 1.1 lakh a month after tax. His wife is a homemaker. In September, his role was cut. Rohan walked out with one month’s salary as severance and no date for the next one. He has Rs 60,000 in savings, Rs 9 lakh in equity funds built through a Rs 15,000 monthly SIP over four years, and Rs 6.5 lakh in EPF. That is Rs 16.1 lakh in all. He owes Rs 6.5 lakh on a car loan, Rs 4 lakh on a personal loan and Rs 80,000 on a credit card. Drawn in the right order, this gets him through six months with the equity almost untouched, and through a full year without selling more than half. Cutting back buys six weeks, not a year The SIP stops on day one. That is not a view on the market; it is the absence of a salary. Rent is Rs 28,000. The car EMI is Rs 14,000 and the personal loan EMI is Rs 12,000. Household spending runs about Rs 30,000. Cutting that by a fifth, close to the floor for two adults in Gurugram, saves Rs 6,000. The Rs

This article was originally published on September 20, 2026.