I am 24M. Am I too stingy? Need your advice

[ajewelinhiscrown]

So, here are basic details about me:
Age: 24
CTC: 6.5 L (3 YOE)
Field: Marketing (No MBA)
Net worth: 16.5 L

I have Work From Home and I'm already investing in stocks, mutual funds, debts funds since 3 years.
My father has built up decent wealth but 95% of it is in land/plots. Here are my questions and my issues:
1) Am I doing good enough financially?
2) I manage to save upto 90% of my income. I've never really bought anything for me. I have invested in some good clothes but that is all.
3) The only thing I splurge in is eating out and drinking. For everything else I feel guilty.
4) Can I let go of my purse strings? I'm always worried that my salary may not increase much and might get laid off some day.

Before you suggest travel, most of my travel is work related and I do manage to make it a personal trip as well. So far I've had 3 work trips this year, 1 solo trip and 1 family trip.

 

[jeremias]

@ajewelinhiscrown It's good to be financially conscious which you are, so congrats on that. Only thing I would say is that you're still young and so do not forget to invest in yourself too: higher education(you mentioned MBA), fitness, hobbies.

And remember to have some fun, buy things for yourself. Oftentimes, our middle-class upbringing makes us feel guilty for spending on ourselves and it takes time to get out of that mentality.

 

[leoneltable]

@ajewelinhiscrown If possible why dont you try exams like CAT? You have scope for career growth.

 

[ajewelinhiscrown]

@leoneltable I am considering CAT. But the high fee, and 2 years opportunity cost scare me.

 

[davidanderson1985]

@ajewelinhiscrown

I am considering CAT. But the high fee, and 2 years opportunity cost scare me.

What should scare you is the fact that a tiny fraction of the people who apply for CAT actually get through into a top notch MBA college.

Your reasons of high fee and opportunity cost are absolute nonsense. If you crack the CAT and get into a good MBA college, your salary will basically quadruple or even go up 10x, and all your notions of "opportunity cost" will sound extremely silly and nonsensical. And not just that, it will set you up on a fast track to senior level leadership where you will be earning in crores. And will have immense power in the organization.

I'm just saying - you're being super short sighted in your reasoning. You have a good thing going but you're acting like a big fish in a small pond. You're operating from a comfort zone. And honestly, even your post itself is nothing but an attempt to validate yourself and have people pat you in the back.

And let me be clear. You're already way ahead and your saving rate is phenomenal. But it also sounds like you're quite insecure and you should be pushing yourself OUT of your comfort zone instead of just rejoicing in it. At least at this stage of your career, where you've barely begun.

 

[zanna123]

@davidanderson1985 This is the right answer OP. Now is the time to upskill. I can’t emphasize this enough. I had similar ideas initially but ultimately based on family and seniors suggestions moved to the US to pursue a Master’s. The result has been game changing for me.

 

[ajewelinhiscrown]

@davidanderson1985 You're right in the first paragraph. I forgot to mention it in my response. The opportunity cost includes that scenario.
Also, while I agree with most of what you said, you're wrong about the part about seeking validation. The point of the post is that I'm currently disoriented and asking for a views and insights so I can have a good relationship with my money.

 

[davidanderson1985]

@ajewelinhiscrown

The point of the post is that I'm currently disoriented and asking for a views and insights so I can have a good relationship with my money.

Fair enough, but I still fail to see the point of the post. You're saving a bunch of money because you live in your parents' house and have very little financial overhead.

This has nothing to do with your "relationship with money". This is simply your ability to save more because you don't have to pay rent, pay for bills etc. If your circumstances change and you have to live in your own place, your expenses will increase. Again, that will have nothing to do with your "relationship with money".

I'm really confused why you posted. Are you looking for feedback that you're saving too much money and that you should spend more? There's no magic formula for any of this. People generally save whatever they can after all their expenses. Others will cut down expenses to increase savings. BUT your expenses are already ridiculously low - even you're aware of that. So what input or advice are you even expecting?? That's why I said you're probably doing a humble brag thing.

 

[brennenstuhl]

@leoneltable Either OP is not telling the whole story or lying. With 6.5 l ctc, his in hand can’t be more than 45k. With 90% savings, he is saving less than 4.5k. He can’t be eating out and drinking and buying good clothes which he mentioned in that amount. Unless he uses his parents’ money for every day expenses. On top of that he has also made couple of trips including one with family. Unless he has made trips to nearby village, those are enough to be more than 50k which is his total annual savings.

 

[ajewelinhiscrown]

@brennenstuhl 90% savings rate means I save 90% of my income. Not 5k

 

[haston]

@ajewelinhiscrown I think he means you have 5k a month to spend which is not enough for all these things.

 

[hugosan]

@brennenstuhl Your math is wrong. You can live happily with 5k in tier 2 city ( of course No life, which OP already mentioned).

 

[brennenstuhl]

@hugosan He has written he splurges while eating out and drinking. He also buys good clothes and has taken 2 trips already in this year. I haven’t even included his daily expenses which even if taken at 100 Rs will come as 3000. Let me know the math behind total annual spend of 60k including all the above.

 

[hugosan]

@brennenstuhl If you live with your parents you literally will have 0 expenditure. Maybe op is telling the truth. Since he is staying with his parents I am not sure how often he drinks and eats outside. I don't think people lie on the Anonymous forum? Or am I naive to think this way

 

[brennenstuhl]

@hugosan I mean if he is putting most of his expenses on his parents then yeah he can easily survive on that amount.

But then we can’t answer if he is stingy or not as we don’t know much his actual spend is.

 

[kt71]

@brennenstuhl If he saved that much on his salary, unless he's lying, he's definitely living with parents AND stingy, no two ways about it.

 

[transformedmind]

@hugosan I managed to save 70 per cent of my income while working at home during the pandemic - that too after some level of splurging. Haven't saved anything in comparison after returning to office.

If your parents have their own house and food etc is anyway made for the whole family, there's literally nothing to spend on. Even that won't be too costly in a tier 2 city.

In fact, even in a tier 1 city, I know a guy who saves almost all his income each month living at home. He also has a good wfh job. If you ask him, he'll say he invests in good durable stuff - which he does, once in two years or something. Has no regular daily expenses also -- not even a rupee. So it's very much possible.

 

[ajewelinhiscrown]

@transformedmind You get it.

 

[brennenstuhl]

@transformedmind Percentage in itself unless combined with the amount of salary is not important.

I spend pretty good amount of money but because of my salary it only makes up only 30% of my salary. If I had home in my work city, that spend would have dropped to 15%.

But in OP’s case salary is not that high and he is saving 90% which means he is using his parents’ money quite extensively.

 

[transformedmind]

@brennenstuhl Like I said, it won't cost much only even for the parents.There is no rent.

I was also earning 6 lpa back then.