Wishing you all a very happy Independence Day! I still remember this moment from two-years ago. I’m extremely happy to say that since then I haven’t had a rupee in debt and I am well ahead on the road to financial independence. If you haven’t already, now’s really a great time to start working on […]
The past three months have been an “SOS” call but of a very pleasing kind. When I add up the salary that I have earned over the past three months, it exceeds the annual salary that I used to make about 4+ years into my professional career. And at an average salary savings rate of […]
As I wrote in last month’s update, I have indeed started a “stupid mistakes” savings goal. The intent of these savings is to have some real cash saved up so that my cash flow doesn’t turn negative whenever I make one of those “I shouldn’t really have purchased this but I did” mistakes. I’m also […]
Ouch! A pretty bad September. Expenses crossing ERE Savings in the wrong direction. Exactly what an ERE Savings Chart shouldn’t look like. Maybe I ought to have a “stupid mistakes” savings goal as well? Do you have one?
Update on 24-Sep-2011: My apologies for the prolonged delay in announcing the winner of the book giveaway. Finally managed to draw lots and the winner is Ashutosh Tewari. Congratulations! There will be another book giveaway next month. Next up on the giveaway list is I Will Teach You To Be Rich. Here’s the August, 2011 […]
Here’s the July, 2011 update: Predictably, my ERE Savings Ratio is 43% (43.70% if you count two decimal points).
I’m a big fan of ERE. When I embarked on my journey towards financial freedom last year, I followed many of the principles outlined in ERE, just that I didn’t know there was an official term for doing what I was doing. My ERE strategy is quite simple. Each month: I contribute first and foremost […]
It’s irresistibly tempting. My head spins non-stop with how-can-I afford-this thoughts. Since the iPhone 4 launched [in India], I’ve had these financially-destructive thoughts: Dip — no, make that dive — into my emergency fund. In a weird way this does count as an emergency because my present phone, a Nokia E52, has had its share […]
I’ve assembled from scratch each and every one of the desktop computers that I have owned. I used to obsess over and then handpick each component that goes into building a desktop computer. To this day, I keep up-to-date on what’s happening with computer hardware technology. That obsession recently proved its worth, and in doing […]
I believe there is. The more I read-up on financial independence and financial freedom, the more I’m beginning to appreciate the subtle differences between these two terms — or rather, phases in one’s personal finance journey. Here’s what I have learned. Financial Independence = Zero-debt plus Adequate Emergency Funds plus Adequate Health Insurance Cover plus […]
You already know that after retiring my debt — early in the second half of last year — financial independence has been my priority. It’s already been over six months into my quest for financial independence and during this time I’ve been working on building my financial independence portfolio. Now, most of us wish to […]
A reader asks, What should one do if one has repaid all debts, owns a home, leads a simple life (no cars, clubs, or expensive holidays), is sitting on a pile of cash (most of it in fixed deposits) and has no continuous stream of income except for paycheck. Is this person very close to […]
Wishing all my readers a meaningful Independence Day. On this delightful day, I’d like to share a milestone: I am debt free. I closed the only loan I had — that on my Swift. Though my original plan was to close the loan only in December, I threw whatever I could — including my free […]
Continuing yesterday’s thoughts on financial independence, I made a list of the whys – why should you be financially independent? What does being financially independent really translate to in your daily life? Here’s what financial independence translates to me: Having no loans or debts means I don’t have to worry every second of the day […]
Of late, I’ve been thinking a fair bit about financial independence. The Simple Dollar summarizes it best in defining financial independence to include: Freedom from financial reliance on loved ones Freedom from financial reliance on creditors Freedom from financial reliance on employment That set me into preparing the checklist below which constitutes what I define […]