- A Bengaluru techie earning Rs 1.8 lakh monthly faced a medical emergency exposing his lack of liquid funds
- His father’s ICU admission required a Rs 2.5 lakh upfront hospital deposit he could not immediately pay
- His savings were only Rs 32,000, credit card maxed out, and mutual funds were not quickly redeemable
A Bengaluru techie earning Rs 1.8 lakh a month thought he had his finances under control. He lived in a gated community and invested RS 80,000 every month in systematic investment plans (SIPs). But a sudden medical emergency involving his father forced him to confront a major gap in his financial planning. In a Reddit post, the techie recalled how his father suddenly collapsed and was admitted to an ICU. The hospital asked the family to pay a Rs 2.5 lakh deposit upfront.
At the time, his savings account had only around Rs 32,000. His primary credit card was already maxed out after a laptop purchase, while the money invested in mutual funds was not immediately accessible because of redemption timelines and delays involving the third-party administrator. He then had to call up relatives in the middle of the night to borrow cash via UPI.
"I was living like a fake rich techie making ₹1.8L/month until an ICU emergency exposed how broke I actually was," the Reddit post was titled.
See the post here:
I was living like a fake rich techie making ₹1.8L/month, until an ICU emergency exposed how broke I actually was.
by u/markettmind in IndiaFinance
The experience left him with a difficult realisation. Despite earning a substantial salary and investing aggressively, he did not have enough liquid money to deal with an emergency.
The post sparked a discussion among young professionals about the importance of maintaining an emergency fund alongside investments. Several users pointed out that emergency savings should ideally be built before putting a large portion of one's income into long-term investments. They recommended keeping roughly six months of essential expenses readily accessible, while also having adequate health insurance and term insurance.
Others questioned whether lifestyle spending had contributed to his financial vulnerability.
One user asked, "Bro, didn't you have any emergency fund? I used to invest in arbitrage funds, but then I found that by being invested in liquid funds, I can cash out within 10 minutes for emergencies."
Another commented, "Sorry you had to go through this. But an 80k monthly SIP with just 32k in savings is not a practical investment decision. Always keep at least 3 months of salary as savings." A third added, "Finance 101 emergency funds are at least worth six months' expense. If you don't want to take medical insurance, then this pool must be really high."
