Future Proofing

Building financial freedom before you need it.
When I look back at my working life, I sometimes think about the financial decisions I could have made differently.
I wish I had bought those shares at that time.
I wish I had purchased that property when prices were much lower.
I wish I had started investing earlier.
I am sure many of you have had similar thoughts. Some financial regret, in one form or another, is something most of us experience.
It doesn't matter whether you are a young professional, a senior executive, or someone earning an eight-digit annual salary. Even people working in finance, who are supposed to understand money and investments better than most of us, can have these regrets.
If these thoughts haven't crossed your mind yet, they may come later in life—perhaps when you retire, have more time to reflect, and no longer enjoy the same regular income flow that you had during your working years.
The question is: Why do we wait so long to think about this?
Start Early: Make Your Money Work for You
Very few professionals think seriously about this during the early part of their careers.
Some of us save a portion of our earnings for future contingencies. That's a good starting point. But I believe saving alone is not the complete picture.
The bigger question is:
How can I put my money to work so that it starts generating a second income for me—and, over time, potentially grows beyond my salary income?
When we start earning more, we often start spending more.
With every salary increment, we plan something new. A better car. A bigger home. A more comfortable lifestyle. A new gadget. A holiday.
There is nothing wrong with enjoying the money we earn. After all, we work hard for it.
But somewhere along the way, we start treating every large expenditure as an investment.
And yes, I am talking about EMIs.
I have seen how EMI commitments can change a person's financial flexibility. Once a significant part of our monthly income is committed to a particular expenditure, we have less freedom to decide where the next rupee should go.
An investment opportunity may come our way. A business opportunity may arise. We may want to take a career break or explore something different.
But we may not be able to act because our income is already committed.
We may be earning more, but we may not necessarily be building more financial freedom.
Let's Understand This Through an Example: A Car
Let me take a simple example.
Suppose I buy a car worth ₹15 lakh.
• Upfront payment: ₹5 lakh
• Monthly EMI: ₹20,000
• Loan tenure: 60 months
Now, let's think about this purchase from a different angle.
I have committed ₹5 lakh upfront and another ₹20,000 every month for the next five years.
That money could otherwise have been available for investments or other opportunities that might arise during those five years.
If I invest ₹20,000 every month in a recurring deposit or another suitable investment, along with the ₹5 lakh upfront amount, I could build a meaningful corpus over five years.
At an illustrative 7% annual return, the combined amount could be approximately ₹25.8 lakh. At 10%, it could be approximately ₹27.8 lakh.
Meanwhile, the car would have depreciated substantially over the same period. And I would have spent additional money on maintenance, insurance, fuel, and other running costs.
Now, I am not saying that we should not buy a car.
A car can be a genuine need. It can make life more convenient, support our work, and provide comfort to our family.
My point is different.
We need to consciously decide:
Which part of my monthly income should go towards future proofing, and which part should go towards my desires, wants, or luxuries?
That distinction matters.
Because once we start committing our future income, we also start committing our future choices.
Now Scale This Up: A Home
Let's take the same thinking to the next level—a home.
With a car, we may commit ourselves for 60 months.
With a home loan, we may commit ourselves for 240 months.
That's 20 years.
A home loan can lock in a much larger portion of our income for a much longer period. Depending on our individual situation, the EMI may consume 15–25% or more of our monthly income.
A home is often an important need. For many of us, purchasing our own home is a significant personal and financial milestone.
But I think we should ask ourselves one question before making such a commitment:
Am I buying this home as part of my essential needs, or am I treating it as my primary investment?
If the home purchase is part of my essential needs budget, and I continue to maintain a separate investment budget, that is one situation.
But if the home purchase consumes the money I had otherwise planned to invest, it can reduce my ability to explore future opportunities.
The same applies to other large commitments—cars, lifestyle upgrades, expensive gadgets, and other purchases that increase our monthly outflows.
The issue is not the purchase itself.
The issue is whether I am using my future income to build financial freedom—or simply committing it to today's lifestyle.
The Simple Rule We Already Know
We have all studied money management at some point in our lives.
One simple framework suggests dividing our income between:
• Needs: 60%
• Wants: 20%
• Savings / Investments: 20%
This is not a rigid formula. Depending on our individual circumstances, it can be adjusted.
But the important point is that we already know the principle.
Despite knowing it, very few of us consistently follow it.
Why?
Because when we are working and receiving a salary every month, we feel that our income is secure.
We don't expect a contingency.
We don't expect our job to change.
We don't expect our regular income flow to stop.
We keep telling ourselves:
"I will start saving more next year."
"Once my salary increases, I will invest."
"After I buy the house, I will focus on investments."
And then, before we realise it, another five or ten years have passed.
The financial regret I mentioned at the beginning often comes from not following a simple principle we already knew.
Savings Are Not Just for Emergencies
Our parents, grandparents, and almost everyone around us have told us:
"You should save for contingencies."
They were right.
But over the years, I have started looking at savings differently.
Savings are not only for emergencies. They also create opportunities.
When I have money available, I have the flexibility to act when the right opportunity comes along.
It could be:
• An investment opportunity.
• A business opportunity.
• A property purchase.
• A career break to learn something new.
• A period between jobs.
• An opportunity to support my family.
• Or simply the freedom to make a decision without worrying about the next month's EMI.
Let's use a simple illustration.
If I save 20% of my income consistently, I am building a financial cushion every year.
Over five years, I may accumulate savings equivalent to approximately one year of income, depending on my returns and salary growth.
That is a significant level of flexibility.
It means I may have the ability to take a break from work, manage an unexpected situation, or invest when an opportunity arises.
Over ten years, the cushion can become even more meaningful.
Over thirty years, disciplined saving and investing can create substantial financial independence.
The exact outcome will depend on income, savings rate, investment returns, inflation, and spending habits.
But the principle remains the same:
The earlier I start, the more time my money has to work for me.
And when my money starts generating additional income, that income can be reinvested to create further growth.
This is where the power of compounding comes in.
Future Proofing Is About Creating Choices
I have started believing that financial success is not just about having a high salary.
A high salary alone does not guarantee financial freedom.
What matters is how much of that income I retain, how much I invest, and how effectively I put my money to work.
A person earning ₹50 lakh a year but committing most of it to EMIs and lifestyle expenses may have less financial flexibility than someone earning ₹20 lakh a year who consistently saves and invests.
The objective is not to avoid every expense.
I want to enjoy the present. I want to take care of my family. I want to fulfil my needs and desires.
But I also want to make sure that my future self has choices.
Choices about where to work.
Choices about when to retire.
Choices about whether to pursue a business opportunity.
Choices about how to support my family.
Choices about how to spend my time.
And perhaps most importantly, the choice not to continue working only because I have no other option.
Future proofing means creating those choices before I need them.
Learn from People Who Have Already Walked the Path
There are many excellent books on money management.
Some of the well-known ones include:
• The Richest Man in Babylon — published in 1926.
• Rich Dad Poor Dad — published in 1997.
• The Psychology of Money — published in 2020.
Despite being written in different periods, many of the ideas in these books are common:
How do I allocate my income between needs, wants, and savings?
How do I build the habit of saving?
How do I put my money to work so that it generates more money for me?
How do I allow compounding to work over a long period?
I would recommend reading or listening to one of these books—or something similar.
I don't need to become a financial expert.
But I do need to understand enough about money to make informed decisions about my own future.
A Lesson from “The Forever Students”
One book I would specifically recommend to professionals is The Forever Students by Ajai Puri, who served as COO of Bharti Airtel Ltd.
For anyone at any stage of their professional journey, this book offers meaningful lessons about learning, growth, and life.
One chapter that particularly stands out to me is “My Money Lesson Learnt Late.”
The lesson is about how we treat our income.
We often see income as a means to live our current life. We use it to pay bills, maintain our lifestyle, fulfil our responsibilities, and enjoy the present.
But we sometimes fail to see income as a tool that can be managed to build our future.
A key thought from the chapter is:
“You treated your income as a ‘means to live right’, but you failed to see it is a tool to be managed. You underestimated the power of structured financial planning and the quiet, exponential magic of the compounding wealth multiplier effect. You didn’t ever give it a few minutes in your busy schedule. Because you were busy building institutions for others, you neglected to build a fortress for yourself.”
That line stayed with me.
It is particularly relevant to professionals.
We spend years building businesses, organisations, teams, and institutions for others.
We work hard to create value for our companies.
We focus on growth, performance, targets, and results.
But in the middle of all this, we may forget to build our own financial fortress.
And building that fortress does not require a complicated strategy.
It requires discipline.
It requires consistency.
And it requires starting early.
Two Simple Ways to Start
I believe there are a couple of simple methods that can help us allocate the right share of our income towards savings and investments.
1. Pay Yourself First
One of the books mentioned earlier highlights the principle of “Pay Yourself First.”
The idea is simple:
Before spending on your needs or wants, set aside a portion of your income for savings and investments.
Instead of saving whatever is left at the end of the month, save first and spend the rest.
This helps create a habit of disciplined investing.
2. Treat 80% as Your Actual Income
Another simple methodology is to start thinking of only 80% of my salary as my actual income.
The remaining 20% becomes my family and growth corpus.
For example, if my monthly income is ₹1 lakh:
• ₹80,000 is available for my regular needs and wants.
• ₹20,000 is set aside for savings and investments.
Over time, this can become a habit.
As my salary increases, I can continue maintaining the discipline of setting aside a portion of my income before increasing my lifestyle expenses.
The goal is not to make life difficult.
The goal is to ensure that every salary increment does not automatically become a new EMI.
The Final Thought
I spend a significant part of my life working.
I invest my time, energy, and skills to earn money.
But earning money is only one part of the journey.
The other part is learning how to manage that money so that it continues to work for me.
I want to enjoy the present.
I want to take care of my family.
I want to fulfil my needs and desires.
But I also want to think about my future self.
The person who may one day look back and ask:
"Did I do enough to create financial freedom for myself?"
Future proofing is not about predicting the future.
It is about preparing for it.
It is about creating financial flexibility.
It is about making sure that my future income is not already committed to my past decisions.
And it is about building a fortress for myself—before I need it.
Start early. Save consistently. Invest thoughtfully. Build your financial freedom.