A Rs 70,000 monthly SIP may sound like a number that belongs to someone who started investing early and had a carefully planned financial life. Pune-based Mayuresh Jadav’s journey tells a different story.
He started his career in 2013, but began investing seriously only in 2017, with a monthly SIP of just Rs 2,500. Today, at 35, he invests around Rs 70,000 a month in mutual funds and has built financial assets of around Rs 1.03 crore.
His journey was far from perfect. He bought a financial product without fully understanding it. He had loans to repay. He supported his parents and contributed towards his sister’s wedding. He also bought a property whose returns have been modest compared with his equity investments.
Yet, he kept increasing his investments as his income grew.
For me, that is where the real money lessons from his journey lie. It is not really about how to build a Rs 1 crore portfolio. It is about the habits and decisions that can help someone build wealth despite not having a perfect financial plan.
1. Your first SIP does not have to be a big one
Mayuresh’s first SIP was Rs 2,500 a month. Today, he invests around Rs 70,000 every month. That difference is important.
When people think about starting an SIP, they often worry that a small amount will not make much difference. But the purpose of the first SIP is not necessarily to create a huge corpus immediately. It is to create a habit. Mayuresh started with Rs 2,500 and gradually increased the amount as his income went up.
His SIP went from Rs 2,500 to Rs 5,000, then to around Rs 8,000–Rs 10,000, later Rs 25,000 and Rs 40,000, before reaching around Rs 70,000 today.
The lesson is simple: start with what you can afford, but don’t let your SIP remain stuck at the same amount for years.
2. Salary hikes can be more powerful than chasing the perfect investment
One of the biggest changes in Mayuresh’s financial life was not a particular mutual fund. It was his salary. He started with an annual package of around Rs 2.4 lakh in 2013. Today, his annual package is around Rs 40 lakh.
As his income increased, he had more money available to save and invest. This is an important point that can get lost in investment conversations.
Investors spend a lot of time comparing funds that delivered 12%, 13% or 14%. But for someone early in their career, increasing the amount invested can have a much bigger impact on the final corpus.
A Rs 2,500 SIP cannot suddenly become Rs 70,000 without a significant increase in income or savings capacity. So wealth creation is not only an investment problem. It is also an income-growth problem.
3. Don’t let every salary hike become a lifestyle upgrade
A higher salary creates two choices. You can increase your spending or you can increase the amount you save and invest.
Ideally, you do some of both. Mayuresh’s journey shows the importance of making sure lifestyle inflation does not consume the entire salary increase. As his income improved, his investment amount also increased.
This is one of the simplest ways to build wealth without feeling like you are making a huge sacrifice. Instead of deciding how much you will invest once and keeping it unchanged, you can make your investments grow alongside your income. Every salary hike is an opportunity to increase your future wealth.
4. Family responsibilities don’t have to mean putting investing on hold
Another thing that stood out to me was that Mayuresh was not investing with his entire income available to him. He had family responsibilities. He supported his parents and also contributed around Rs 7–8 lakh towards his sister’s wedding. At the same time, he had loans to repay and his own household expenses.
This is important because personal-finance advice can sometimes sound as if wealth creation happens in a vacuum. In reality, people have parents, siblings, spouses and other responsibilities. Waiting for a time when you have absolutely no financial obligations before starting to invest may mean waiting forever.
The better approach can be to invest alongside your responsibilities, even if the amount has to be smaller in the early years.
5. Never buy a financial product you don’t understand
Mayuresh’s biggest financial mistake was also one of the most relatable. He bought an LIC policy because someone he knew recommended it. He did not fully understand the product at the time. Eventually, he realised it was not suitable for him. After holding it for around eight to nine years, he exited and received only around 70% of what he had invested.
That experience left him with a simple lesson: a recommendation from someone you trust does not automatically make a financial product suitable for you.
Before buying any investment or insurance product, understand what you are paying, what you can get back, what the lock-in is and what happens if you exit early. The rule I would take from his experience is straightforward: If you cannot explain the product in simple words, don’t buy it yet.
6. EPF shows that wealth creation does not always have to be active
When we talk about building wealth, the focus is usually on mutual funds, stocks and other investments. But Mayuresh’s EPF has quietly become a significant part of his portfolio.
His EPF corpus is around Rs 32 lakh. He did not have to actively decide which stock to buy or when to enter the market every month to build this corpus. It accumulated through his salaried employment and regular contributions. This is a useful reminder that some of the most effective wealth-building tools work quietly in the background.
You may not notice a monthly EPF contribution. But over 10 or 15 years, those contributions can become a meaningful part of your net worth.
7. You don’t need a perfect portfolio to become wealthy
Mayuresh did not begin his investment journey with a perfectly constructed portfolio. His investments evolved as he learned. He invested in mutual funds, later added gold and US stocks, and also built an emergency fund.
Some investments performed better than others. His Pune property, for instance, has not generated spectacular returns compared with his equity investments. Yet the overall portfolio has continued to grow.
This is something I think investors often underestimate. There is a temptation to believe that successful investors must have selected the right asset, the right fund and the right strategy from the beginning. Real-life wealth journeys are usually messier. The goal is not to get every decision right. The goal is to learn, correct mistakes and keep improving without abandoning the overall plan.
8. A property does not always have to be your best-returning investment
Mayuresh’s Pune property is an interesting example. He bought the flat for around Rs 57 lakh. It is now worth around Rs 75 lakh. Compared with the performance of his equity investments, the appreciation has been modest.
But the property has another role. It generates around Rs 28,000 in rent every month, and that money goes to his parents in Nashik to help meet their expenses. So, looking only at the property’s capital appreciation does not tell the entire story.
The asset is also providing financial support to his family. This does not mean property is automatically a good investment. It simply shows that the purpose of an asset matters when judging whether a financial decision has worked. Sometimes an asset is bought not just for returns, but also for security, family needs or long-term use.
9. Being debt-free can give you more financial freedom
Mayuresh has already repaid his Pune home loan. That gives him more flexibility today. But interestingly, he is now facing another financial decision: whether to buy a home in Thane or continue renting. He currently pays around Rs 38,000 a month in rent. Buying another property could give him stability and eliminate the uncertainty of rising rents.
But it would also mean taking on another large home loan. He is hesitant about doing that immediately. For me, this highlights an important point: financial decisions do not become easier just because your net worth increases.
The questions simply change. Earlier, the question was how to build wealth. Now, the question is how to use that wealth without compromising future financial flexibility.
10. The biggest advantage is staying in the game
Perhaps the biggest lesson from Mayuresh’s journey is that he did not get everything right.
He started investing late. He bought a product he did not understand. He had family responsibilities. He took loans. Not every investment decision worked equally well.
But none of those mistakes stopped him from continuing. His salary grew. His SIP grew. His EPF accumulated. He kept investing.
That consistency eventually took his financial assets past Rs 1 crore. And that, for me, is the most useful lesson from his journey. You don’t need a perfect financial journey to build wealth. You need a sustainable one.
The Rs 70,000 SIP Mayuresh is making today did not appear overnight. It started at Rs 2,500. The amount grew because his income grew, his savings increased and he kept the habit going. That may be the most important takeaway for anyone starting out today. Don’t worry about whether your first SIP is big enough.
Start. Then, every time your income rises, ask yourself one simple question: How much of this increase can I make work for my future?
Disclaimer: This story is based on the personal financial journey and experiences shared by the individual featured. The investment returns, portfolio value and SIP amounts mentioned are specific to his circumstances and should not be taken as a guarantee or expectation of similar outcomes. Mutual fund investments are subject to market risks. Readers should assess their own financial goals, risk appetite and investment horizon, and seek advice from a qualified financial adviser before making investment decisions.
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