A Reddit user recently documented his journey of building a ₹1 crore net worth at the age of 25. What’s more? The Redditor claimed that he achieved this landmark within 2 to 3 years of his professional life through earnings from his own work, investment in the stock market and his knowledge of NLP, language models, transformers and more.
A Graduate in Computer Science, he says he pursued M Sc in Natural Language Processing (NLP). Tracing the path of his salary growth, he suggested that he started his career with a startup at ₹18 lakh annual salary, which grew to ₹22 lakh. After switching to the second company, his salary more than doubled, and grew to a whopping ₹45 lakh per annum. Currently, he is at his third company at a ₹50 lakh annual package.
Emphasising that he gets additional income from the consultation he provides to startups on the Large Language Model (LLM) approach and Minimum Viable Product (MVPs) features, he said that he has been regularly earning ₹50,000 or more per month for the past two years.
While the user claimed he invested most of his capital in index funds and stocks like Nvidia and Palantir early on, analysts believe his time horizon is too short for the magic of compounding to work, given the long-term nature of equity investing.
Among the few things that the Redditor said worked for him are:
- Luck: With no financial strain and valuable connections, he claimed he was able to fulfil his aspirations. He stated, “I was lucky to make the friends and network I made. Not to mention the luck in offers, being in the right place at the right time.”
- Markets: He asserted that his main investment allocation is in index funds, 10% in gold, and the rest split between the Indian and US stock markets. He claimed to have picked up Nvidia and Palantir early on due to his AI knowledge. Ideal portfolio suggestion — Crypto: 3% Gold: 12% US Market: 43% Indian Market: 42%
- Frugal habits: His austere spending habits helped him “save 90% or more” on his monthly income, which was ₹3.5 lakh to ₹4 lakh.
- Stock market won’t make you rich: According to the Redditor, short-term investments won’t make one rich; one must upskill in their respective field and focus on increasing the liquid money. He wrote, “Dividends from upskilling far exceed optimisations in your capital allocation.”
- Random rambling: He concluded the post with, “AI field in India…is gold rush… grab a shovel and get in the game.”
What does it take to build a ₹1 crore corpus?
While it is a dream for many to reach the coveted ₹1 crore corpus, analysts believe reaching such a target in a span of 2-3 years is pretty unrealistic for most people, as they would need to invest a pretty large amount.
Pankaj Mathpal, MD& CEO at Optima Money Managers, opined that when you invest such a big corpus, you’re not just growing money but are contributing a major chunk of it.
However, analysts do believe that for investors with the goal of long-term wealth creation, equity is the right asset class. However, they believe 2-3 years is a short span to consider for equity investing, as it is long-term in nature.
How to allocate capital for long-term wealth creation?
Moreover, factors like risk appetite, wallet size, diversification and age play key roles in determining portfolio construction.
If you’re in your early 20s or just starting your career with an investment horizon of 10–12 years, Optima Money Managers’ CEO recommends the following strategy: Allocate the majority of your portfolio to equities, avoid crypto due to its high risk, and gain exposure to precious metals through a multi-asset allocation fund.
He advises investing in a flexi-cap and a multi-cap fund, as they give exposure to all categories of companies.
“And then, add one Multi-Asset Allocation fund to bring in some diversification — including exposure to gold, REITs, silver, etc. Many investors don’t allocate to gold or silver unless there’s FOMO, but a multi-asset fund includes that by design,” he opined.
Kranthi Bathini of Wealthmills Securities also recommended allocating 70-80% to equities for investors with a similar dynamic, and the remaining in bank fixed deposits and gold.
Meanwhile, for investors looking to take exposure to the US markets, analysts advise opting for ETFs in index funds.
Disclaimer: This story is for educational purposes only. The views and recommendations expressed are those of individual analysts or broking firms, not Mint. We advise investors to consult with certified experts before making any investment decisions, as market conditions can change rapidly and circumstances may vary.
