In March 2025, I logged into Groww at 11 PM, stared at my mid-cap SIP sitting 19% below what I’d put in over eight months, and paused it. Not stopped I told myself “paused,” like that word made it a smaller decision. I remember the exact thought: “I’ll restart once things settle down.” Things didn’t … Read more
I still remember the exact Sunday I tried to “get serious” about money. Six browser tabs open one bank’s savings account page, a YouTube video on SIPs, a Quora thread about credit cards, a tax-saving listicle, an insurance comparison site, and a half-filled Google Sheet I abandoned by lunchtime. Three hours in, I hadn’t opened … Read more
I ran the math on my own accounts last month, mostly out of boredom on a Sunday. My primary savings account, the one my salary lands in, was paying me about ₹2,600 for the year on the balance I typically carry. A separate high yield savings account I’d opened purely to park my emergency fund, … Read more
In February 2023, I had eleven days left to invest ₹1.5 lakh for my Section 80C deduction, and I did what I suspect most first-time ELSS buyers do: I opened Groww, sorted the ELSS category by 3-year returns, and picked whichever fund sat at the top. It showed a 3-year CAGR just above 38%. I … Read more
In March 2024, I put ₹15,000 into a Nifty 50 ETF through my Zerodha account, expecting it to behave more or less like the index mutual fund I already had. It didn’t, not exactly. The order filled at ₹1 above the price I’d seen ten seconds earlier, the units showed up in my demat holdings … Read more
My cousin called me at 11 PM, two days after his daughter was born. Not to share good news he’d already done that over the family WhatsApp group with forty photos. He called because the hospital’s final bill had just landed, and between the delivery charges, the NICU observation for one night, and the “miscellaneous” … Read more
In 2022, when I moved to Bangalore for a new job with a monthly take-home of ₹65,000, I tried to follow the 50/30/20 rule to the letter. My rent alone ₹22,000 for a 1BHK in a decent locality plus an ₹8,000 EMI on an old education loan already ate ₹30,000 of my supposed ₹32,500 “needs” … Read more
What Made Me Realize My “Passive” Airbnb Income Wasn’t Actually Passive? In 2021, I did two things in the same month. I put ₹3 lakh into a handful of dividend-paying stocks on the NSE, and I listed a spare bedroom in my flat on Airbnb. I filed both under the same mental folder: passive income … Read more
What Happened When My Job Change Left My Family With Zero Health Cover for 45 Days? In April 2023, I switched jobs. My old employer’s group health policy ended the day I resigned, and the new employer’s group cover only kicked in after a joining formalities process that stretched to 45 days. I didn’t think … Read more
What Made Me Actually Check My Mutual Fund’s Expense Ratio After 5 Years? In June 2024, I logged into my CAS, the Consolidated Account Statement that CAMS or KFin Technologies generates, covering every mutual fund folio you hold, mostly to check my SIP totals for the year. I noticed a column I’d scrolled past for … Read more