[tarmacnaut]

Originally Posted by SoumenD

Wait what

Which part of Bangalore man? Might be absolute heart(MG road/Kormangla)? Even there I think 12cr sounds a stretch, its understandable in Mumbai though. Am currently scouting for a 3bhk around South Bangalore and with popular builders(Prestige, Brigade etc) I notice 1.5-1.6cr range for 3BHKs. And mid level car for 1cr? Where do we hold Octavias and all now? Low level?

Damn!!! I feel BPL now

I think he meant 3/4 bhk villas and not apartments. Yes, they do cost 5+ Cr in a good area.

Even apartments with possesion at 2-3 yrs from now, cost 3+ Cr in areas like hsr layout, indiranagar and midlevel builders charge 1.5 Cr for 3 bhk (ready to move) even in Electronic City, times are changing.

[SN88]

Damn you T-BHP. I honestly feel so much poorer now than when I started reading the thread!! All it took was 11 pages to understand that I am no where close to where I thought I was

Need to feel richer now, I am searching for a philosophy class

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Bhargav7

Slightly off-topic, but that logic is a bit flawed.

1. Every country has taxes. Most developed European countries have higher tax rates, and more importantly, higher tax incidence.

I agree. The only difference being, that in those European and other countries which have a high rate of tax, the taxpayer gets a decent ROI by way of good infra, medical help, unemployment benefit etc.
Whereas, in India, well, the less we say, the better.

Since many of the posts here are talking about how ‘philosophical’ this thread has become, I ll add to that.

I think some life-hacks worth mastering are;
a. learn the value of contentment.
b. stop comparing.
c. live in the ‘Now’

Long back -maybe 36 years or so ago, I attended some discourses by Swami Parthasarathi in Madras. Vedanta etc.
And the essence of what I was able to learn is;
Expectation leads to reduced joy
Comparison leads to reduced joy
Live fully with all the senses in the ‘ Now’ , in the ‘ Moment’

It’s great advice. But typical of the easily distracted human mind, very hard to follow.
But it is worth trying.

At least in this way, those of us who are struggling along and nowhere near as ‘rich’ as some of the numbers in this thread suggest, can try and console ourselves by taking refuge in philosophy. After working for someone or other for the last 30 years, I actually now begin to feel like a totally useless under-achiever, after reading all these frightening sounding numbers and analyses.

They say patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. Perhaps we can add that philosophy is the last refuge of the relatively less successful…

[GutsyGibbon]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

I agree. The only difference being, that in those European and other countries which have a high rate of tax, the taxpayer gets a decent ROI by way of good infra, medical help, unemployment benefit etc.

Lets not forget primary education. It serves no country well, to not prioritize top quality primary education. We can afford for profit higher education, but health and education are a human right, and a great investment for a country.

When I hear of schools and hospitals being owned in the names of wives of politicians - its clear. They got rich with our taxes, and are providing the essential service for a handsome profit, double dipping. Its just not fair for the taxpayer, to pay a toll to, drive a private car, to a private school, to stand in a queue for LKG admission, to pay lakhs for admission to a school indirectly funded by our tax money.

The double dippers are the real rich of our country.

[Saanil]

I have been thinking about this topic for sometime now and wanted to present my thoughts below.

In terms of numbers, my threshold for being rich is having 8 crores of money in bank fixed deposits and owning a 3 BHK house without any mortgage / debt. A 3 BHK house in a decent locality in Mumbai would cost between 5-8crore. In short, total net worth (including house) to be around 13-16 crore.

I regularly discuss financial matters and goals with my immediate family. I am listing below some of the key takeaways from these discussions:

Thoughts from my father: You can do all excel calculations you want but inflation will ensure that your target keeps on increasing. In short, stop thinking about retirement and start thinking about increasing your income. A person never becomes rich by saving money i.e. he becomes rich by earning more money.

My view on father’s view: A prudent and practical approach based on personal experience. My father has struggled in his life to reach his current lifestyle and knows the importance of wealth. I would summarise his view on money as “more the wealth, the better it is”


Thoughts from my mother: Household expenses are increasing day by day. You should aim to ensure that you earn enough money to live a comfortable lifestyle. Wealth up to a certain point is required but beyond that is just stressful. Family, relationships and health are absolutely crucial – there is no point of being rich if you are bed ridden. So focus on money but only up to a point. Money alone cannot give you happiness. If you are not happy with 2 crores of money, you will not be happy at 3 crores or 4 crores also.

My view on mother’s view: A nice blend of prudence and emotions – 100% agree with her thoughts.


Thoughts from my wife: A certain amount of money is required to be happy. Once have you crossed that threshold, focus more on what work makes you happy and try to pursue those things. In addition, a little bit of indulgence is required in life. Freedom to do certain things in life gives a strange feeling of satisfaction.

My view on wife’s view: Broadly agree with her thoughts. Her approach is less philosophical.


My view: It is important to have a financial target in mind so that you have a clear goal to focus on. However, equally important is to decide what you want to do after you have achieved that goal. Earlier I used to think that I would quit my job and just relax after I have achieved my corpus amount. But this is not a practical approach. Relaxing at home might seem fine for 2-3 days but gets boring afterwards.