No rich parents, no windfall - Just small steps that changed my finances

From living hand-to-mouth on Fixed Deposits to confidently investing in mutual funds and ETFs - this 37-year-old music teacher's money journey is proof that anyone can turn things around

Don't want to miss the best from Business Standard?

Money journeys often say more about people than numbers do. Take the story of a 37-year-old Indian classical music teacher, Eshan Gupta for example. For years, he relied only on Fixed Deposits — safe but slow — while living life one financial emergency at a time. Stock markets? Too scary. Mutual funds? Too complicated. At least, that’s what he thought. 

 

In this candid conversation, with Sunainaa Chadha of Business Standard, Eshan Gupta shares his money journey — the missteps, the mindset shifts, and the small victories that brought him financial peace of mind.

 

How it started

 

Honestly, I never gave investing much thought. I was a freelance Indian classical music teacher, living life one month at a time. Passion drove me, not money. Being single, with no wife, kids, or parents depending on me, made things simpler. Whatever little I managed to save went straight into a fixed deposit. That was my entire financial strategy!

 

But you know how life works — just when your FD grows a bit, a medical bill or family emergency pops up. Poof! Back to square one. Luckily, I never had to take loans, so I told myself I was “managing okay.”

 

And of course, growing up, I heard the classic warning: “Stock market is a gambler’s den.” My uncle lost everything in it, and that story was repeated so many times at home that I didn’t even dare to peek at stocks.

 

What made me change

 

A few things happened all at once.

 

First, I finally started earning a decent surplus every month. For the first time, money wasn’t running away from me..I finally started to make enough money that I had a decent amount left over for investing every month on a regular basis.  Second, I began reading financial news—initially just to stay updated about world events, but soon I noticed how much investing talk was there.  Third, and most importantly, I stumbled upon Monica Halan’s books Let’s Talk Money and Let’s Talk Mutual Funds.That was the real turning point in my investing journey. With the help of those books I was able to build a framework on how to start investing and put together a portfolio.

 

That was the lightbulb moment. It felt like someone had handed me a map of a world I had been blind to all along.

 

What I did differently

 

The first rule I learned? Secure your emergency fund. So I parked enough in FDs for that. Then I moved on to mutual funds. Out of the thousand-plus options, I picked a neat set of 6–7 that gave me exposure across the Nifty 500 — large, mid, small, and index funds.

 

I stuck to SIPs, but whenever markets crashed (like when Trump announced his tariffs), I’d scoop up a bit more. Felt like buying stuff on sale.

 

Being a minimalist, I didn’t want the headache of storing physical gold or silver, so I went for ETFs. Later, I added a small sprinkle (5–10%) of crypto — just Bitcoin and Ethereum, nothing fancy.

 

Two rules I now swear by:

 

Keep investments liquid (so no real estate for me).

 

Think long-term — I’m not here to make a “quick buck.”

 

Apps like Groww and CoinDCX made it ridiculously easy to keep track. 

What changed for me

 

The biggest shift? I actually feel financially stable for once. As a freelancer, income can be all over the place, but now I track every rupee — income, expense, savings. I’ve cut down on wasteful spending, saved more, and weirdly enough, I feel… smarter.

 

Also, diving into finance has made me understand the world better. Like they say, the stock market is basically where all the world’s information comes to play.

 

What I’d tell anyone starting out

 

Don’t make the mistake I did — don’t think FDs, PFs, and gold will secure your future. They won’t even beat inflation. If you want a comfortable retirement (without generational wealth), you have to step into equity — whether it’s mutual funds for beginners or stocks if you know your stuff.

 

Also, please, please learn about money yourself. No one will do it for you. And teach your kids early — you don’t want them to be as clueless as I was well into my 30s.

 

At the end of the day, investing isn’t about being rich. It’s about being consistent, patient, and a little smarter with your money.