Deepak Malhotra, 31, was not very familiar with different saving instruments, yet he knew the importance of saving money. He already had a goal – to buy his own house. Coming from a family of bankers who are old-school investors, Malhotra started with recurring deposits and then turning them into fixed deposits.

Over a period of six years, he managed to save around Rs20 lakh, primarily made possible by a significant increase in his income and partly by what he calls “smart management of expenses.”

“From being a Technical Associate at IBM to Senior Manager in Indigo Airlines, the career growth also translated to increased income. But I made it a point not to increase my expenses in the same proportion. I continued to travel to work by car pool instead of buying a car and when I needed a personal vehicle, I used my father’s old car,” Malhotra said. He added that working for Indigo Airlines, very little was spent on air tickets when he took vacations as only the tax element had to be paid.

Malhotra said that he had a fixed target of how much he needed to save for 10 months in a year, but in November and December, he would just relax without any cap on expenses,  yet managed to save a little.

“Doing all this, I had saved some Rs20 lakh in 2016 when I made the down payment for a flat in Noida. I took a loan of another Rs50 lakh,” he said.

However, after paying almost Rs12 lakh as EMI in two years, he realised that his principal amount had reduced by just Rs4 lakh. And since his income had now increased by almost five times compared to when he had started his career, he was saving much faster now.

“So, I paid off the loan completely this year with mine and my wife’s savings,” Malhotra further stated.

He has now bought an SUV. But he said that most of his spending and saving habits are still the same as they are now difficult to change.