{"id":591917,"date":"2026-09-06T12:14:46","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T12:14:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/591917\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T12:14:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T12:14:46","slug":"my-financial-journey-mistakes-debt-lessons-and-a-fresh-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/591917\/","title":{"rendered":"My Financial Journey: Mistakes, Debt, Lessons, and a Fresh Start"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this edition of the\u00a0reader-story<\/a>, \u201cI believe many people in this group, especially those who are still learning about personal finance, may relate to my financial journey. This is not a story about extraordinary investment returns or a perfect financial plan. It is a story about financial mistakes, poor decisions, learning, recovery, and starting again.\u201d<\/p>\n

About this series:\u00a0I am grateful to readers for sharing intimate details about their financial lives, which benefits us all. Some of the previous editions are linked at the bottom of this article. You can also access the full\u00a0reader story archive.<\/a><\/p>\n

Opinions expressed in reader stories do not necessarily represent the views of freefincal or its editors. We must appreciate multiple solutions to the money management puzzle and empathise with diverse views. Articles are typically not checked for grammar unless it is necessary to convey the right meaning and preserve the tone and emotions of the writers.<\/p>\n

Over the years, I made several financial mistakes. I helped friends and family during difficult times, took credit-card loans, made poor investment choices, and even lost 100% of some investments.<\/p>\n

These mistakes cost me several lakhs of rupees. They taught me valuable lessons, but I learned those lessons at a very high price. Money can come and go, but lost time never returns.<\/p>\n

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Unfortunately, I understood this only in my mid-40s.<\/p>\n

Along the way, I also lost touch with some good friends who are still close to my heart because I could no longer trust them in the same way. That was another painful lesson: sometimes financial problems affect much more than just your bank balance.<\/p>\n

This report is my honest assessment of my financial journey\u2014my mistakes, my current financial position, my investment strategy, my liabilities, my strengths and weaknesses, and my progress toward financial independence.<\/p>\n

My Background<\/p>\n

I come from a lower-middle-class family, and I am the first person in my generation to earn a master\u2019s degree. During school, I was a last-bench student. I did not study well, rarely passed monthly tests, and was not confident in English.<\/p>\n

For a long time, I also lacked confidence when it came to money. I thought other people understood finance better than I did. I was often afraid to ask questions because I worried that people might laugh at me. That lack of confidence had a significant impact on my financial life.<\/p>\n

Looking back, I now realise something very important:<\/p>\n

Not knowing something is not the problem. Refusing to ask, learn, and improve is the real problem.<\/p>\n

2008 \u2014 My First Property<\/p>\n

I started working in 2007. Like many people with a typical middle-class mindset, one of my first major goals was to buy a home. In 2008, I purchased a landed property in my hometown, a Tier-3 town, for approximately \u20b917 lakhs through a home loan.<\/p>\n

At the time, buying property felt like the safest and most sensible financial decision.<\/p>\n

2011 \u2014 My First Major Investment Mistake<\/p>\n

An HDFC manager convinced me to buy a unit-linked insurance policy called HDFC Crest.<\/p>\n

The structure appeared attractive to me at the time:<\/p>\n

Premium payment term: 5 yearsMaturity: 10 yearsPromised\/illustrated minimum maturity amount: approximately \u20b912 lakhs<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t properly understand the product, its charges, risks, or whether it was suitable for my financial situation. I simply trusted the person selling it to me.\u00a0 That was my mistake.<\/p>\n

2013 \u2014 Closing the Home Loan the Wrong Way<\/p>\n

The interest rate on my housing loan increased significantly\u2014from approximately 7.65% when I borrowed to 13.75%. I became worried about the increasing interest burden. I pledged my wife\u2019s jewellery and used the money to close the housing loan. At the time, I felt relieved because the loan was gone. But looking back, this was not a financially healthy solution. I was solving one liability by creating another financial burden.<\/p>\n

2014 \u2014 I Finally Started Asking Questions<\/p>\n

At that time, I knew very little about investments. I often heard colleagues discussing investments during breaks, but I felt shy and hesitant to ask questions. I had an inferiority complex about my financial knowledge. So I stayed silent.<\/p>\n

Looking back, that was a major mistake. Eventually, I decided to ask an elderly person whom I did not know for guidance. I told myself that even if he laughed at me, I would ignore it. My only objective was to understand what investing meant and how I could begin. That simple decision\u2014to ask questions\u2014became an important turning point.<\/p>\n

LIC Money Back Policy<\/p>\n

The person suggested that I buy an LIC Money Back policy. So I purchased one.<\/p>\n

The broad details were:<\/p>\n

Premium payment term: 20 yearsPolicy term: 25 yearsAnnual premium: approximately \u20b973,000 + TaxPremiums paid so far: 9 yearsLast premium date: 11 October 2033Maturity date: 11 October 2039<\/p>\n

After purchasing this product, I felt that I finally understood investing. I believed I had made the right decision. I was proud of myself. Today, I know that buying a financial product and understanding investing are two completely different things.<\/p>\n

2014 \u2014 Another HDFC Crest Policy<\/p>\n

The HDFC manager influenced me once again, and I took another HDFC Crest policy.<\/p>\n

This time, the annual premium was approximately \u20b91 lakh.<\/p>\n

Again:<\/p>\n

Premium payment term: 5 yearsMaturity: 10 yearsMinimum maturity amount: approximately \u20b912 lakhs<\/p>\n

I was making financial decisions based largely on trust rather than understanding.<\/p>\n

2015 \u2014 Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana Changed My Thinking<\/p>\n

A close friend introduced me to Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY).<\/p>\n

This became an eye-opener in my investment journey. For the first time, I started thinking seriously about long-term savings. At that time, I did not always have enough money available. Sometimes I borrowed small amounts\u2014\u20b910,000, \u20b912,000 and similar amounts\u2014to make my investments.<\/p>\n

Eventually, I started investing\u00a0 \u20b91.5 lakh per year.<\/p>\n

At that time, I felt proud that I was investing regularly. But I was missing something very important. I was investing while simultaneously accumulating expensive debt. I did not understand the contradiction.<\/p>\n

2016 \u2014 Discovering PPF While Increasing My Debt<\/p>\n

Because I had started investing in SSY through the post office, I visited the India Post website to see whether there were similar products.<\/p>\n

That was how I discovered PPF. I started investing in PPF from 2016 onward. Again, I began investing \u20b91.5 lakh per year. On the surface, everything looked good. I was investing in SSY. I was investing in PPF. I was building long-term savings.<\/p>\n

But underneath that, something was going badly wrong. My credit-card dues and personal loans were gradually increasing. I never properly tracked my income and expenses. I kept using credit cards and paid only the minimum amount due.<\/p>\n

I did not understand how quickly interest on outstanding credit-card balances and other loans could accumulate.<\/p>\n

This is probably one of the most important lessons from my entire journey:<\/p>\n

Investing while carrying expensive consumer debt doesn\u2019t necessarily create wealth.<\/p>\n

I did not understand that at the time.<\/p>\n

2017 \u2014 Debt Started Controlling My Life<\/p>\n

By this stage, my monthly EMIs, outstanding loans, and credit-card payments were becoming overwhelming.<\/p>\n

My financial decisions were no longer improving my life. They were beginning to control it. My quality of life gradually deteriorated. I had too many commitments and too little understanding of my actual financial position.<\/p>\n

2018 \u2014 My Financial Crisis<\/p>\n

By 2018, I had become extremely worried. I started asking myself: Why is almost my entire salary going toward loans and EMIs?<\/p>\n

Instead of stepping back and fixing the underlying problem, I made another major decision. I decided to buy a second property in my hometown for more than \u20b940 lakhs. Today, that decision is difficult for me to explain.<\/p>\n

I was already struggling with debt, yet I took on another major financial commitment. I managed to pay the housing EMI for approximately 3 months. After that, I could not continue. Bank officers eventually visited my home.<\/p>\n

Only then did my parents learn about my financial struggles. Until that point, I had not properly discussed the situation with my parents or my wife. I wouldn\u2019t say I deliberately hid everything from them. The truth is, I didn\u2019t fully understand how serious my financial situation was.<\/p>\n

My financial literacy was simply too poor. My family strongly criticised me for my poor planning\u2014and they were right.<\/p>\n

I asked my aged parents for help. If they couldn\u2019t support me, I had mentally prepared to either sell the house or eventually let the bank take possession.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, my parents supported me by paying the monthly housing-loan EMI. That support was extremely important. It also made me realise how serious my financial mistakes had become.<\/p>\n

2019 \u2014 I Finally Started Learning<\/p>\n

By 2019, I had understood that I had made many financial mistakes. But a lot of time had already been lost. My focus shifted toward catching up and closing the gap in my financial knowledge. I started searching for reliable financial education.<\/p>\n

That was when I discovered Freefincal.com & Asan Ideas for Wealth (Facebook Community).<\/p>\n

Reading the articles there was both shocking and eye-opening.<\/p>\n

I realized how much time I had wasted simply because I had not understood basic personal finance earlier I started investing in mutual funds with \u20b95,000 per month I could not comfortably afford it at that time, but I wanted to test the waters. Mutual funds were completely new to me.<\/p>\n

More importantly, I had finally started learning.<\/p>\n

2020 \u2014 A Difficult Year<\/p>\n

My father passed away in 2020. At the same time, I was again struggling to pay the monthly housing loan. A few months later, something unexpected happened.<\/p>\n

I received a special bonus equivalent to approximately 6 months of salary for my contribution to a project.<\/p>\n

That bonus gave me an opportunity to finally close the remaining housing loan.<\/p>\n

To cover the balance amount required, I surrendered the 2 HDFC Crest policies I had purchased earlier.<\/p>\n

The redemption amounts shocked me. After investing approximately \u20b95 lakhs over the 10 years, I received:<\/p>\n

First policy: approximately \u20b91.80 lakhsSecond policy: approximately \u20b91.13 lakhs<\/p>\n

The experience was painful. It felt like years of saving had been wasted.<\/p>\n

I was angry with myself. But eventually, I accepted an important reality:<\/p>\n

The money was already gone. Continuing to regret it would not bring it back.<\/p>\n

The only thing I could control was what I did next. So I moved on.<\/p>\n

2021 \u2014 Housing Loan Closed<\/p>\n

In 2021, I finally closed the housing loan. It was a major milestone But I still had other debts and financial responsibilities. I had solved one major problem, but the journey was far from over.<\/p>\n

2023 \u2014 Purchased a Freefincal Goal-based portfolio management plan<\/a> and learned the concept. Purchased Robo robo-advisory template<\/a>, and the retirement calculation figure literally scared me, and my sleep got disturbed for many days.<\/p>\n

2023 \u2014 A Professional Financial Roadmap<\/p>\n

By 2023, I had gradually increased my mutual-fund investments.<\/p>\n

I knew I had made many mistakes in the past.<\/p>\n

One useful resource I found on Freefincal.com encouraged readers to seek guidance from SEBI-registered financial advisors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I decided to engage one.<\/p>\n

Following the advisor\u2019s roadmap, I temporarily stopped my SIPs and focused on closing my remaining debts because the interest rates were high.<\/p>\n

This was a major change in my thinking.<\/p>\n

Previously, I had believed:<\/p>\n

\u201cInvesting is always better than doing nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

I learned that sometimes the best financial investment is:<\/p>\n

Paying off expensive debt.<\/p>\n

I strictly followed the financial roadmap.<\/p>\n

I also reviewed my protection needs.<\/p>\n

I took term insurance coverage of approximately \u20b96 crore.<\/p>\n

For health insurance, I arranged:<\/p>\n

\u20b925 lakh base family health cover\u20b990 lakh super top-up<\/p>\n

This was another important lesson:<\/p>\n

Building wealth without protecting the family against financial catastrophe is incomplete financial planning.<\/p>\n

2026 \u2014 Finally Loan-Free In 2026, I finally became loan-free. The feeling is difficult to describe.<\/p>\n

After years of EMIs, credit cards, personal loans, housing loans and financial stress, seeing my liabilities come down to zero was deeply satisfying.<\/p>\n

For the first time, I felt that my salary belonged to me. Not to the banks. Not to credit-card companies. Not to old financial mistakes.<\/p>\n

My Emergency Fund<\/p>\n

Now, at 46, I have started building my emergency fund. I currently have approximately three months of expenses saved. My target is to build at least one year of emergency savings.<\/p>\n

I have decided that my emergency fund comes first. I will restart my regular SIP investments after reaching my emergency-fund target. This is not because I have stopped believing in investing. It is because I now understand the importance of having liquidity.<\/p>\n

My Current Asset Allocation<\/p>\n

My approximate current asset allocation is:<\/p>\n

Asset ClassAllocationPF54%Real Estate26%Fixed Savings \u2014 PPF & SSY7%Equities \u2014 Mutual Funds, Indian & US Stocks7%Gold3%Emergency Fund2%Total99%<\/p>\n

The figures are approximate and rounded, so the total may not equal exactly 100%.<\/p>\n

This allocation also highlights something important. My portfolio is currently heavily weighted toward PF (unavoidable) and real estate. My equity allocation is still relatively small.<\/p>\n

So the next stage of my financial journey will focus on gradually building a diversified equity portfolio while maintaining adequate liquidity and risk protection.<\/p>\n

Lessons I Want Others to Learn<\/p>\n

Start investing early<\/p>\n

Compounding needs time. I lost many years because I did not understand investing. You do not need to be rich to start. You need to start learning.<\/p>\n

Track everything<\/p>\n

Track:<\/p>\n

IncomeExpensesDebtEMIsCredit-card balancesInvestmentsInsuranceSavingsNet worth<\/p>\n

If you do not know where your money is going, you cannot manage it.<\/p>\n

Do not invest while ignoring expensive debt<\/p>\n

I made this mistake repeatedly.<\/p>\n

Saving \u20b91.5 lakh in a financial product while simultaneously carrying high-interest debt was not smart financial planning.<\/p>\n

First, understand the interest you are paying.<\/p>\n

Never buy a financial product you don\u2019t understand<\/p>\n

I purchased multiple insurance\/investment products because someone I trusted recommended them.<\/p>\n

I did not properly understand:<\/p>\n

ChargesReturnsRisksLiquidityAlternativesOpportunity cost<\/p>\n

Trust is not a substitute for understanding.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be afraid to restart<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most important lesson I learned is this:<\/p>\n

You can make serious financial mistakes and still rebuild your financial life.<\/p>\n

I cannot recover the money I lost. I cannot recover the years I wasted. But I can make sure that the next decade is different.<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re reading this and are currently in debt, have made bad investments, lost money, or feel you started investing too late, I hope my story encourages you.<\/p>\n

I was in that position I made many mistakes. I lost money. I accumulated debt I made financial decisions without understanding them. I wasted years.<\/p>\n

But I eventually started learning, and slowly corrected my mistakes. Today, I am loan-free and rebuilding my financial future. I cannot change my past. But I can change what I do from today onward.\u00a0 That is the purpose of this audit: not\u00a0to show how successful I am. Not to compare myself with anyone else.<\/p>\n

But to create a record of where I started, what I learned, and whether I actually improved.<\/p>\n

My biggest financial lesson is simple:<\/p>\n

Financial literacy is not about knowing which investment will make you rich.<\/p>\n

It is about understanding your money well enough to avoid decisions that can permanently damage your financial future.<\/p>\n

I learned that lesson late.<\/p>\n

I hope someone reading this learns it early.<\/p>\n

Read more stories: reader story archive.<\/a><\/p>\n

Do share this article with your friends using the buttons below.<\/p>\n

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