An investor's journey from real estate to SIPs

Hailing from Sompeta, a small town in Andhra Pradesh, Sagar Epari, an engineer, lives in Muscat, Oman, with his wife and a four-year-old son. However, his heart is grounded in his hometown, where most of his family members live. His mother is a homemaker, while his father and brother run a small grocery shop there. Born and brought up in a lower-middle-class family, he grew up seeing his parents managing money carefully. Nevertheless, his father never compromised on the education of both Sagar and his brother. He reminisces, "I had to relocate for my post-graduation, which was quite an expensive affair. However, my father happily supported my decision. It made me more responsible about spending money during my college days." Once he started his professional journey in 2007, Sagar tried to spend as little as possible so that he could support his family. Since he wanted to save a large part of his income, this compelled him to explore opportunities abroad, specifically in the Middle East. In 2010, he got a job in the Middle East with a reputed oil-and-gas firm. He started earning handsomely and by 2012 repaid the entire debt taken for the construction of his house in Sompeta. Thereafter, he started to give investing a serious thought. Sceptical of the stock market, he limited his first investments to fixed deposits, recurring deposits and unit-linked insurance. However, since his savings were on the higher side, he started looking for other investment options. His search brought him to the world of land and buildings. Since many of his friends profited from investing in real estate, he made a foray into real-estate investing as well. However, this move pro

This article was originally published on June 22, 2021.