{"id":538009,"date":"2026-04-18T16:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T16:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/538009\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T16:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T16:04:10","slug":"wealth-isnt-built-from-leftovers-ca-explains-why-%e2%82%b91-2-lakh-monthly-salary-may-still-leave-you-with-no-savings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/538009\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Wealth isn\u2019t built from leftovers\u2019: CA explains why \u20b91.2 lakh monthly salary may still leave you with no savings"},"content":{"rendered":"

A higher income is often viewed as a fast track to financial security<\/a>, but a recent LinkedIn post highlighted how that assumption does not necessarily hold true at all times. According to Meenal Goel, a chartered accountant by profession, many individuals earning over \u20b91 lakh a month struggle to build savings, highlighting a gap between income growth and actual wealth creation.<\/p>\n

She said that the problem is not how much people earn, but how quickly their expenses rise alongside their income. This phenomenon, often referred to as lifestyle inflation, can block your attempts to build savings <\/a>even at higher salaries.<\/p>\n

\u201cHigh income doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re building wealth. I\u2019ve seen people earning \u20b91.2L a month and still ending up with barely anything saved. The issue isn\u2019t income, it\u2019s how quickly lifestyle expands with it, \u201d Goel wrote in a LinkedIn post on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Where do people go wrong? Goel explains<\/p>\n

Explaining where most individuals may go wrong, Goel pointed to how quickly expenses may eat into income. \u201cRent \u20b935K, EMI \u20b930K, lifestyle spends \u20b920K+, utilities and basics \u20b915-20K. Suddenly, most of the income is already committed before the month even begins,\u201d she said. All these costs leave little room for savings, which is the main issue she has flagged in the post.<\/p>\n

She added that whatever remains is often treated as savings, and this approach may not allow wealth creation. \u201cAnd whatever is left becomes \u2018savings.\u2019 That\u2019s where it goes wrong because wealth isn\u2019t built from leftovers, it\u2019s built by design.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe moment fixed costs take over your income, flexibility disappears. And once that happens, even a good salary starts feeling tight. The real risk isn\u2019t spending more. It\u2019s locking yourself into a life that your income has to keep chasing,\u201d Goel said at the end of the detailed post.<\/p>\n

Goel’s post was written in response to another Reddit <\/a>post, where a 22-year-old woman was seeking help in budgeting. In that post, the poster claimed that she is earning around \u20b91.2 lakh a month, yet she ends up with just \u20b915,000 in savings. She asked people to help her plan a budget through which she can cut expenses and save at least \u20b930,000 each month from her paycheque. The Reddit post also detailed the individual’s monthly expenses, including rent, groceries, gym membership, among others.<\/p>\n

Netizens react to the post<\/p>\n

The post gained traction on the platform, with several people offering different opinions and insights on building meaningful savings. While some advised that people should focus on earning more, others noted down some ways of making investments to create a safety net.<\/p>\n

\u201cRather than focusing solely on cutting expenses, I recommend investing in skill development to boost your income sustainably,\u201d a person commented under Goel’s post. Meanwhile another person’s comment focused on investments. \u201cInstead of starting with fixed expenses, one should think of starting with fixed investments, and then go towards spending,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

Another person said, \u201cThis is so true. Lifestyle creep is silent but powerful. The moment expenses become fixed commitments, financial stress increases even with higher income. Designing cash flows matters more than chasing raises.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A higher income is often viewed as a fast track to financial security, but a recent LinkedIn post…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":538010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[185732,84,4176,68750,179110,130342,4174,4175,56,54,55,97042],"class_list":{"0":"post-538009","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-building-savings","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-finance","11":"tag-financial-security","12":"tag-high-income","13":"tag-lifestyle-inflation","14":"tag-personal-finance","15":"tag-personalfinance","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom","18":"tag-unitedkingdom","19":"tag-wealth-creation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}