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How I Use Fi - A Personal Account By Surbhi Moghe

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January 5, 2022

Summary

What’s Inside

Born in an Indian middle-class family where monthly budgets & savings were almost as important as exams & results, I couldn’t help but imbibe the frugal attitude. I have been working for close to 8 years now minus a gap of 1 year. Before you imagine me taking a year-long break to search for the true meaning of life, let me bring you back by telling you that the break was for an MBA. Because exams & results!

I was in a Bangalore based PG when I earned my first internship stipend of Rs. 15,000 back in Jan 2013. Born and brought up in a Tier-2 city, Bangalore seemed like a monster with the fly-overs serving as limbs and the tech parks serving as mitochondria of this monster. I recall being surprised when the A/c bus conductor quoted a ticket of Rs. 75 because till then public commute fares never crossed Rs. 20 and no distance was more than 15-20 mins. 

Doing the math

Despite my stipend being what it was, I knew I had to pay for rent, utilities, transport and occasional weekend binges AND save money. I would have serious budgets for every mandatory expense and indulgence merited a minuscule allocation. If some weekend saw a splurge then during the week, I would cut down on going out, ordering-in or taking a cab to work.  At the end of the 6-months internship period, I had saved a grand sum of Rs. 22,000. To me that was a HUGE deal and I felt like I could make the wildest of my dreams (read “take a trip to Goa with friends”) come true.


Adding it all up!

The savings practices that I began 8 years ago have helped in sticky situations. I would like to add a disclaimer here - I’m not a spendthrift, I don’t spend much money on clothes, shoes or electronics. The only avenues where I indulge are food, beer & travel. Yet, the savings attitude has inculcated within me a discipline to plan my trips in advance, optimise on recurring spends & identifying value for money options rather than splurge on appearances. 

Since I have been saving for many years now, there was always a persistent problem with “how to save”? Explored multiple options - savings account, recurring deposit, 1 year FDs or transferring money into mom’s account. Oftentimes, looking at the saved amount I would end up feeling boastful about the lump sum as there was no purpose specific segregation. Plus, some options were rigid to a fault.

When I started using Fi back in April, I saw the Jars feature, where-in I could park my money in different Jars. I created multiple Jars - “Holiday”, “Earrings”, “To be invested” & “Home”. Fi allows me to add money to these Jars at free will without the rigidity of a Recurring Deposit. Now every month when my salary arrives, although it’s only a tad bit higher than my internship stipend (;)), I swipe that neat little green button and deposit some love into these Jars.

Wrapping up now to make my way to the airport. Because my “Holiday” Jar is already overflowing! 

Disclaimer

Fi Money is not a bank; it offers banking services through licensed partners and investment services through epiFi Wealth Pvt. Ltd. and its partners. This post is for information only and is not professional financial advice.
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