Next: Money foundations
Net worth and the maths behind money
Why a rupee today beats a rupee next year, what a purchase really costs, and the one sum that says whether you are better off than you were last year.
22 min
beginner
Budgeting that survives real life
Where your money actually goes once UPI has hidden it, and a budgeting method that survives family contributions, metro rents and income that arrives unevenly.
2 lessons · about 13 minutes · written for reading age 13 · last checked 2026-08-01
Find out where it actually goes
Before deciding where your money should go, spend one month finding out where it already goes — the gap between the two is bigger than anyone expects.
6 min
A method that holds in Indian households
50/30/20 is a starting shape rather than a target, and it needs adapting for family contributions, metro rent and income that arrives unevenly.
7 min
Check yourself
3 questions at the end. Every wrong answer explains itself.
Tools for this
What changed recently
Dated commentary on this topic — a Budget change, a new rule, a scam pattern.
2026-08-11 · 7 min read
Earning in one city, living in another
Remote work can pay at one city's rate while you live on another's cost base. The rent gap is the easy part of the sum and the small part of the decision.
2026-08-07 · 6 min read
One account for two jobs
Running client payments and grocery bills through the same bank account hides your actual margin, turns filing into archaeology, and makes one question awkward.
2026-07-22 · 9 min read
What a wedding or a master's really costs
A large planned event has two numbers, not one: what it costs, and what it costs to pay for it that way. Borrowing and spending savings both have a price.
2026-07-13 · 8 min read
The real cost of a PG or a shared flat
A bundled rent hides four or five separate costs, a deposit you may not see again in full, and the price of moving twice a year. Here is how to unbundle it.
2026-07-08 · 7 min read
What your bank actually charges you
A savings account is a product a bank sells. Minimum balance, ATM withdrawals, the debit card, alerts and bounced cheques all carry a price you agreed to.
2026-07-03 · 7 min read
Snowball or avalanche: which debt goes first
Highest rate first is cheaper. Smallest balance first finishes something early. Here is the same money run both ways, and how small the gap actually is.
Sources
- Reserve Bank of India — regulations and public awareness — Reserve Bank of India · checked 2026-08-01