E-Paper
28-year-old earning ₹1.2 lakh/month struggles with lifestyle inflation, says 'only ₹5-8K remains by end of month'
The man said that his income had increased significantly. However, the higher salary had not brought the financial comfort he expected.
Prefer HTon Google
A 28-year-old professional has sparked a discussion after saying that earning ₹1.2 lakh a month still feels no different from earning ₹25,000 a month.
In a Reddit post, the user shared that his income had increased significantly from ₹25,000 a month in 2021 to ₹1.2 lakh a month today. However, he said that the higher salary had not brought the financial comfort he expected. "I went from ₹25k/month in 2021 to ₹1.2L today, but somehow the financial stress has not really gone away," he wrote.
The Reddit user said that most of his salary goes towards rent, family support, SIPs and everyday expenses, leaving him with just ₹5,000-8,000 by the end of the month. He added that whatever remains at the end of the month is usually used up whenever an unexpected expense comes up.
Concluding the post, the 28-year-old questioned whether lifestyle inflation was becoming a problem and asked people who had faced a similar situation how they managed to control their spending without making life "unnecessarily miserable".
(Also Read: Noida techie moves to Bengaluru for work, loses job within a month: 'No idea what the best thing to do is')
What did social media say?
The post drew several responses from Reddit users, with many suggesting that tracking expenses could help identify where the additional income was going.
One user wrote, "On your wants buddy, for needs 25K PM is also enough, someday sit around and calculate how much you spend on your food mind you home cooked and necessary meals not outings and shit."
"One day me and my friend started calculating our unexpected expenses which included sutta breaks, random eating out(despite paying for cook simultaneously), drink and fuel for geti. It turned out around 3-4 lac per person in around 4-5 months. Yeah, start accounting man," wrote another.
"Lifestyle inflation usually creeps in quietly, track where the extra ₹95 is going for 2 - 3 months first easier to cut once you can actually see the leaks," suggested a third user.
"Everyone gets hit by lifestyle inflation. That control lies with you and don't consider SIP as an expense. Use any expense tracking app on your phone and record all expenses and investments in that - do this for 3 months and you'll get a fiar idea of where is the additonal money going," said another.
"One way of getting it right is, when your earning rises from 25k to 1.2L, live for atleast one more year as if your income is still 25k. What usually happens is people go crazy in upgrading their lifestyle immediately and spend on unnecessary things. When upgrading is possible, do it gradually. Financial maturity doesnt come overnight, that's why I said live as you were for at least one more year. Your emotions and spending instincts would be under control by then," wrote one user.
(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)
