Hot take on savings
I started my career as a humble analyst in a tech company, worked my way into finance and venture capital and eventually am heading to a top tier bschool in USA, where I will be paying what it costs to go to an ISB/IIM yearly.
We have the Warikoos, and countless others breaking down personal finance and urging people to save. I have mostly done the opposite - i.e., spend liberally but not be profligate. Here’s my view.
We are a poor country. If you find yourself in a place with the resources to spend more than the average person you’ve grown up around, please do! Spend on what makes you happy, pushes you, drives you, and allows you to step change your life. Security can be achieved with a good insurance plan and decent emergency funds. Beyond that, please spend on experiences that make you a better person, give you access to better people and enrich your life. Eventually time is the most finite commodity we’ll have. We have 1000s of podcasts on savings, mutual funds, ETFs etc. Does anyone talk about spending effectively to enrich your experience? No.
I am pointing to a larger theme of a scarcity mindset that indians have, because we have grown up in a low-middle income country. It’s where we come from, but that doesn’t mean we cannot experience abundance. Life is short, don’t listen to people making money off you watching their personal finance videos.
Great perspective. It’s only when we (India as a whole) start looking at money differently that India will grow, once people start consuming more, but mindfully not just for the sake of signalling or mindless spends. Financial planning is important but we need more people who don’t want to die as millionaires but live as millionaires.
Totally feel the last line. So happy for the people who’re posting 1CR networth on Grapevine, and I hope they’re also elevating their quality of life mindfully while doing so and not just chasing that number.
Which B-school are you attending? Does it have STEM Designation and can provide 3 year OPT?
Honestly I don’t know about STEM and OPT, and it does not matter in my case. I’m coming back to India as soon as I’m done with my degree. As far as the specific bschool is concerned, let’s just say, in the interest of anonymity, that’s it’s among the topmost Ivy-league/M7 schools.
Unsure what hypothesis you’re evaluating with this question, so would love to understand how it is relevant.
For normal students who go to the US, OPT means a lot to recuperate their investment (tuition + 2 years lost wages) . Without the STEM designation , OPT would be just 1 year, and you have only one chance to be in the H1 lottery. It's just strange to see that you might be spending nearly 1-1.5 Cr on MBA (since it's Harvard or Stanford GSB) and returning home immediately. Dunno how it's in VC world, but in tech, the MBAs are losing their relevance and admissions at top b-schools are quite low
Wow really good views here. This is what I have learnt from my experience as well :)
Great approach
Agreed. My sibling and I spent a lot on ourselves. I was more irresponsible than him to an extent. But we did live life to its fullest for sure.
I traveled across and outside India, met all sorts of people, ate great food and learnt all sorts of things.
My contentment with life even though I'm technically very poor baffles many people. I just stopped trying to compete at some point and started to live more.
