The Biggest Money Mistakes High Earners Make | Neel Jadhav Podcast

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]Hi Neil, welcome to the Power of Money podcast. How are you feeling today?

[00:00:04]>> I'm good. Thank you for having me here.

[00:00:06]I feel great. Uh it's lovely to meet all of you here as well.

[00:00:10]>> Yeah, absolutely. I mean I first learned about you through LinkedIn because I started following you as a marketer of course like you know you're you're a senior marketing leader. So I started following you around like two three years ago and of course you know I truly enjoy reading your extremely insightful extremely real post uh you know which is I think a rare site on LinkedIn but I truly truly enjoy that.

[00:00:30]>> Thank you so much.

[00:00:30]>> Um so we'll dive right into it Neil. Um you know I'd love to understand how has your relationship with money evolved over the years like you know what was it like when you first started let's say earning money uh to today when you're of course like you know you've reached a different life stage.

[00:00:45]>> Okay. Um I would say that you know I've reached a stage where I've actively stopped worrying about money uh because you know when I first started working obviously there was uh uh there was a educational low there were you know a lot of things uh which which which were there >> and uh the moment the salary used to hit you there used to be a mental calculation now you know day one day two day three right as in what remains and what do you do with it? Yeah.

[00:01:13]>> And you do think about it but not actively or not worried about money anymore.

[00:01:18]>> But when you started earning like how did you manage money? Did you start investing from your first salary only?

[00:01:23]Could you tell us a little bit about that?

[00:01:25]>> So um I joined Godidge uh right out of college and uh the best thing that they did for they were like I think there were 59 of us management trainee and we had an induction program and on the very first day in the evening they called people from ICS. uh people from the bank, people from the uh the DMAT uh you know ICS direct. So on day one itself all of us had a had a bank account had a DMAT account and we had a uh like a PPF account. M >> so it was you know started on day one itself right forced upon >> forced yeah in a very you know welcome way I would say >> right >> so so that's how it started but yeah I think I remember uh investing around think I started with 3,000 or something that's that's that's what I started with because I don't know I didn't even know if I was doing the right thing essentially >> right >> and then event gradually scaled it up and I would say that I cannot think of even a single month where I have not invested uh since since I >> that's a lot of consistency.

[00:02:31]>> Okay. To put things into perspective, could you help me understand uh you know what was your first salary like and what was your last drawn salary like like over the years? What did the salary progression and your career progression look like?

[00:02:44]>> I got recruited out of college placements. Uh so everyone uh who joined Godish got a got the same salary. I think it was seven or seven and a half on on paper and then you had a variable.

[00:02:58]So yeah and then I moved to Jet Airways.

[00:03:00]Uh Jet Airways was just like out of the blue. Uh I got a call seemed interesting and uh they said that you get free tickets. So I don't think I negotiated on the salary at all. I went to Jet Jet I got a decent increment uh I would say I think I got a 50 odd% increment when I went there. Uh the interesting part is that uh >> so you left Godidge at about >> at 2016 April four uh after four years.

[00:03:30]>> Okay.

[00:03:30]>> 4 years >> and the salary range at that time would be >> the increments at Godidge wen like too much. uh I think probably I would have got around 20 odd% every year uh on an average. Then when I moved to Jet uh Jet uh my uh I was there for after for the first two years I was there then my boss sort of you know moved out and then I was leading the team as a sort of an interim marketing head uh marketing lead >> uh that's when I again saw a good jump then I went uh then jet essentially shut down >> uh that was a time where you know which was I would not say a bad time were very uncertain. Uh it was a lot worse for a lot of other people >> but you sort of end up losing your uh PF your you don't get a lot of people didn't get paid for the you know the four five months right as in so so that sort of accumulates uh and uh then I went to VFS uh was there for with VFS for two years uh then I was with AASA till it launched and after aa is when I joined this startup uh which which is an Australian AI company and I would say that um difficult to give a exact number because you know uh uh my last job was with a startup and again I was in sales so there was a fixed component variable component and uh then you are esops >> got it >> I would still say around 12 13 times of where I started is where I landed okay >> my last run salary >> got it >> and now I'm on my own so I have no salary so >> of course we spoke about your career progression and your you know um round about your last drawn salary also um there aren't a lot of people in this country who draw salaries that high right I mean you would agree that you know you you would be more of an exception than the norm um so one thing that people feel with higher salaries is that oh it's so easy to like invest and build a bit bigger corpus and everything but I remember reading in fact on your LinkedIn that um your starting point matters >> correct >> you know I mean even if you're earning lesser but you come from a family where you don't have responsibility ities where you have a family home, family car, then your expenses are lower.

[00:05:52]Correct? On the other hand, you know, you could be earning more but you have let's say education loans to pay off or you have like you know responsibility to take care of your parents and everything then even the lot um you know seems lesser because you have to spend a lot more. Correct.

[00:06:05]>> Um what is your perspective on that and what has your journey been in that regard?

[00:06:11]So like like you said as in u you know that came from a s place of truth because that's our story. the the honest answer is like for example now right we are at a stage where we thinking that uh should we invest in a home >> but uh you know we go back to thinking that that'll add an enormous you know sort of uh financial stress in our life as well right so >> uh I feel that you know the kind of costs that uh the big cities have it's becoming real difficult for you know people to have those traditional dreams for them to come to. Right? That is one.

[00:06:52]Second is you know salaries like I said before are deceiving as well because uh you know what you see is not necessarily what you actually get right when there are so many taxes there are expenses there are rentals uh you know which which have a tendency of increasing multiffold right as not just like in a linear way. So your salary probably grows in a linear way but your expenses can just you know shoot up. So I'd also love to just uh you know understand your journey of investing. Um so you said that you started investing with your first paycheck itself which was sort of forced upon you because uh an account was just opened and then you know uh you started investing. Um when did it become more intentional? How has your investing journey also progressed over time? Could you talk about that?

[00:07:38]>> So before I got married I had a lot of time. So when like I said when when I first started investing uh I started investing in individual stocks. I look at investing from a marketing standpoint.

[00:07:52]>> Okay.

[00:07:53]>> Like you know what's a product market fit. So I'll give you an actual example.

[00:07:57]Uh I had a bad throat. I was given some you know antibiotics and some you know some anti-allergy medicines >> and I incidentally noticed that both the drugs were manu made by the same manufacturer.

[00:08:09]>> Okay. So I went back I checked it out whether they have a you know are they publicly listed they were and I ended up investing money in that right very little money again right but it grew >> okay >> like exponentially so that's been my way of sort of investing right you know people will always wear footwear or people will always you know there'll always be a need for ABC so that's that's my way of looking at things that's how I've been investing uh Now I invest very passively. Uh I do I simply don't find now the sort of that time and energy to >> individually look at things. So I just chase uh you know sort of invest in mutual funds.

[00:08:54]>> So today your asset allocation what does it look like? Like do you still hold stocks or everything is in mutual funds?

[00:08:59]>> No I do hold some stocks which I've had you know from the very beginning.

[00:09:03]>> What percentage would that be? And if you could tell us like percentage wise stocks, mutual funds, debt, cash.

[00:09:10]>> I know the 30% of it is just just all the debt instruments. 10% is liquid. In the 60 that I have probably a uh 7030 split now 70 mutual funds and 30 30 in stocks, right? Because I I because I realized that I was holding a lot of stocks which the mutual funds were also holding.

[00:09:31]>> So I sort of overlap.

[00:09:33]>> Yeah. right?

[00:09:33]>> Tried to consolidate there.

[00:09:35]>> Okay, makes sense. And what is your strategy with mutual fund investing? Um like what does your mutual fund portfolio look like? Uh spread across let's say large cap, small caps, how do you approach that?

[00:09:46]>> So that's that's where as in it's it's right now uh like a 60/40 split where uh you know large cap the stable part of uh supposedly stable part of you know portfolio is uh large cap and then 40 is sort of focused on growth, right? Or and as I grow older, because I'm 40, it's 40. As I grow older, I'll start keep reducing is is at least a theory I have in my mind.

[00:10:14]>> Okay.

[00:10:15]>> That because then I'll sort of try and reduce my risk as much as possible.

[00:10:20]>> So where did the importance of investing uh come to you? Like was it the way that you were brought up that saving was always a part of like you know growing up in your household also? very much. Uh so you know I don't know if you know there's a series called uh chicken uh soup for the soul.

[00:10:41]>> Yes. Yes.

[00:10:41]>> You the I mean I've read that book as a kid.

[00:10:44]>> You have right? So so have I. So >> um there was a kid who goes to an ice cream parlor and uh he ends up asking the sort of the server three four times that you know what is the cost of this ice cream or that eventually chooses something which costs 85 cents.

[00:11:00]>> Okay. And uh the server is obviously annoyed that why are you asking if you just wanted this right anyway leaves a you know but the server finds that he's left a dollar >> okay >> so the kid could have afforded something worth a dollar but wanted to leave a tip right so so that's the you know sort of the upbringing that you know it's not just you know don't spend everything that you have what are you doing right as in my parents retired for now 15 odd years uh you know teach kids in our village and they contribute pay fees for a lot of kids. So that that kind of thing was there. So what got sort of embied was not the fact that you know give back to the community but you know be conventional in your >> okay >> in your spending >> have a fund which you could need maybe for yourself someone else or someone else in the family >> you know stuff like that. So that was the I would say the the thought that was planted.

[00:12:00]>> Got it. Okay. So what tends to happen Neil is also like you know of course you've had times in your career when uh you know you've got like good salary bumps which means your income has increased. Um automatically a lifestyle inflation happens with such a thing. Um is that something that you intentionally kept under control um so that you could like you know keep saving, keep investing like you know more amounts.

[00:12:22]Was that intentional? Did that just happen naturally? How did how did you keep your lifestyle inflation in check >> once you get sort of married right as in your what your partner thinks also matters >> right >> I'm very lucky in this manner that my wife is also very grounded we both come from ordinary backgrounds and uh we've been lucky that we've you know those bumps have really not affected the way we live >> right >> and even now right as in before this started we were just discussing about my kids you know education right so Here there are schools you know where you can pay one rupee not one rupee like one and then there's a 10x school as well right as in from a cost point of view. So that's a call that's a discussion we're having that you know what kind of a school should he go to because you can stretch possibly right put him in the best of schools but then then he'll be surrounded by you know those people for whom you know he'll always be he'll always be conscious and we'll always be conscious right so so we don't want to fall into that trap I think grounding is important and one of the things is that I always keep thinking that you know if I go back to Belgam and we don't we're not even in Belgam like we are in a village in Belgam district uh I eventually have this in my mind that I have to go back to my village right so I also don't want to change so much that I won't fit in right there >> the idea is to go farm everybody has the dream but yeah but I come from a farming you know family so that's the idea that so that's why I don't want to change too much as well consciously >> like you still want to be able to relate to >> and recognize ize that part of yourself so that you can like you know go back and be that again.

[00:14:07]>> Yeah.

[00:14:07]>> So from what I understand Neil um your your father is an ex-banker. Uh you also mentioned that uh you know um of course once you get married your partner influences a lot about how you think about money and everything. I'd love to understand how these different people in your life have shaped your outlook towards money. Like what did you learn from different people in your life and how do they continue to shape your relationship with money? H so my dad taught me that you know discipline is important that that's been his uh like even now he wakes up around 5:30 works out like so that's the thing in the family as in I don't do that but at least I aspire to >> right >> that uh and he I think this financial discipline right I learned from him is what I would say uh used to work in a bank held the same job for like decades, didn't move across different jobs, uh only invested in debt instruments, but retired, built his own house and uh you know, every month he sends me, you know, uh some money uh every first of the month, right? I haven't like if I open my uh you know, GP, I can show you that he's and he used to send me say X amount after my son was born, he started sending me a little more. Marati they say that cow cow essentially is you know something for the kids.

[00:15:35]>> So so he sense that and uh you know it does he have a you know like a lavish bungalow or a fancy car? No. As in but he's very happy with what he has and very very independent self-dependent right. So that's that's what I learned from him that you know if you have some discipline while you're earning then you can have a very comfortable life later on.

[00:16:02]>> Got it.

[00:16:02]>> Right. With constraints.

[00:16:03]>> Okay.

[00:16:04]>> So learned a lot from him as well.

[00:16:06]>> Yeah. Uh my wife is my sort of you know uh bouncing board. Uh I would say the nearest financial hack that I know of is to get married because you need someone in your life who you're accountable to.

[00:16:21]M >> two people are always better at you know taking a decision than just one person right as in we do like my wife and I have these monthly sort of coffee things where we look at an Excel look at you know where we are >> uh how we doing you know so yeah sort of like >> so budgeting and all an active part of how you manage your money >> budgeting yeah so we have a number which we know is our you know expenses number 10 15%. Okay, >> the secret I would say is that you know there should be a percentage for both which is a no questions asked percentage right like a 5% 10% right which doesn't come into the accounting part you know your you and your spouse are allowed to spend that on whatever right it could be shoes purses perfumes camera I don't know as in whatever it is so that you know gives that uh because when when you're tracking the last money then becomes a very you know real pressure >> mala thing right as in you don't want to be >> you don't want >> you want to be accountable >> run away from you want to be accountable to your spouse but you don't want to be audited by your spouse so >> so also Neil Mr. AJ Banga on the Nikl Kamat podcast recently said that uh you know Indians are juggaru and Indians love jugarard and that is something that really contributes to them propelling forward in their career also is that something that has happened with you also has juggard helped you do better in your career >> it's true right as in I think being I would say jugardu which mean is is a way of you know saying that we are more open uh you know jds are just suggest suggestive I would say that's what you know because I've worked with people from outside right and you know JDs are very important there but here you know J JD is just sort of you know a thing that you get when you find >> not really what you end up doing right >> but somewhere I feel that you know where we depend too much on jugarard right we never end up getting the fundamentals right >> uh I am a very you know sort of process you know oriented person uh I feel that you know if you have a system it's you know then the chances of success are a lot more.

[00:18:37]>> Okay.

[00:18:37]>> So I feel that juggard is fine but it sort of gets in the way of you know consistently achieving you know your goals is what I would say. I totally understand why juggard has come into play because you don't really >> rely on systems. You're not sure if those would work. That's why we become what we become. But >> I think >> you have to channel both sides. Yeah, you need to be flexible but it's good to have a system as a north star is what I would say.

[00:19:07]>> So Neil, your uh your last stint was also with an AI company. That must have given you a lot of insight into what's happening with AI today. Where is the world headed? Do you think that bigger companies like Infosys, DCS will be able to adapt to the AI change? Because I mean so far there haven't been great signs and which is why like for example you know IT stocks are falling so much.

[00:19:27]They're literally 40 50% down uh this year. So from your view do you think they will be able to adapt?

[00:19:35]>> I I again my my personal view but I feel Indian companies have a lot more resilience than they are given credit for.

[00:19:46]>> Uh the talent is absolutely there. Uh the only thing is the how soon part the timing part. If I'm not mistaken, one of these giants was the first one or was planning to invest in I think OpenAI. Uh yeah. So I think the vision was there but somewhere it got lost. But yeah, I feel that we should be able to uh do this. And second part which is you know uh which we are forgetting is that there's a huge gap between the model the platform and the actual execution. M >> so there is still the space where you know you need people to implement AI right and to sort of customize it for your particular use case right right now product companies are actually being asked to you know buy their customers to come in and help them right but that is not sustainable right they should just focus on the product right so there's that scope as well for some people to come in and you know actually implement integrate those systems create those use cases build those use cases I think that that space is still pretty vacant.

[00:20:54]>> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, fingers crossed on that. I think >> I hope so.

[00:20:58]>> I mean, I also think that, you know, companies will be able to adapt. Um, but like you said, it's it's a matter of time.

[00:21:04]>> Yes.

[00:21:04]>> Um, and markets can suffer if it doesn't happen, you know, very soon. Um, uh, Sam, this has been a great conversation.

[00:21:12]uh but uh you know maybe lastly I'd just like to understand from you like any advice for people who are you know on their journey to like you know invest um you know you of course also come from like you know a smaller city who moved and uh you know is living in a city like Mumbai which is a high expense city and you spoke about your learnings regarding that that you know it is a high expense city so you have to keep it under control you can't expand you can't inflate your lifestyle in every way anything else that you'd like to like you know leave our audience with um any advice any philosophy that's really helped you stay grounded.

[00:21:45]>> I think um probably I would say that you know financial planning is as personal as anything gets right as in there's no rule which is applicable for me which will be applicable for you. There are general rules yes but >> so I think everyone should look at it very individually you know how much can they save you know how much risk are they willing to take right >> and but at the end of it I think what matters more is the discipline >> that you know adjust I would say that you know adjusting your lifestyle now is a lot you know better than you know trying to earn more money is what I feel because there's only so much you can control, right? Uh so but if you can control your expenses, you can control your lifestyle. Yes.

[00:22:37]>> Very boring suggestion but I think in my case at least I felt that you know the boring stuff works right. So that's >> no makes absolute sense and uh thank you so much for taking out the time and speaking with us. Thank you so much for being so generous in sharing like you know your learnings and your journey with our audience and I'm sure uh a lot of people will benefit from your journey and you know what has helped you do better with your finances and even life in general. I think you're someone who uh you know has found a way to uh be content in life. So I think that is also a message that you know I'm sure will resonate with our audience.

[00:23:13]>> Thank you so much.

[00:23:14]>> Uh thank you so much for your time Neil.

[00:23:16]Look forward to meeting you again.