Money mechanics, explained.
The arithmetic behind EMIs, rent vs. buy, and your FIRE date — for Indian salaries, in rupees. No sales pitch.
Apple Pay is live in India, on one bank’s credit cards
Apple Pay launched in India on 30 September 2026 for Axis Bank Visa and Mastercard credit cards only. No UPI, no RuPay. Who can use it and what’s missing.
Read the numbers →EPF Scheme 2026: The 25% You Can No Longer Withdraw
India replaced its 1952 provident fund scheme on 29 June 2026. A quarter of your PF is now locked until you retire, are retrenched, or spend a year unemployed.
Read the numbers →Gold ETFs vs Equity Funds: The Crossover That Lasted One Month
In January 2026 gold ETFs out-took equity funds for the first time. In the seven months since they took less than that one month. AMFI's data, month by month.
Read the numbers →How Indian Personal Finance Apps Actually Make Money
Eight Indian finance apps audited on the same criteria: what each is registered as, what it sells, and where the revenue actually lands. Sourced and dated.
Asset Allocation by Age in India: Four Official Answers That Disagree
At 35 the state tells you to hold 75%, 50%, 25% or under 15% in equity, depending only on which scheme the money sits in. And your real number is none of them.
Read the numbers →The 4% Rule: Where the Number Came From, and What It Was Tested On
Bengen's 1994 study ran US data over 30-year windows with a 50 to 75 per cent equity portfolio. What the rule actually says, what it never said, and what transfers.
Read the numbers →UPS vs NPS: What the Assured Pension Actually Assures
The Unified Pension Scheme pays half your final average basic pay, if you serve 25 years, match a benchmark corpus and take no lump sum. The formula, worked through.
Read the numbers →Consolidated Account Statement: What Your CAS Shows, and What It Leaves Out
There are two different documents called a CAS, and which one reaches you depends on whether you hold a demat account. What each covers, and what falls through.
Read the numbers →Specialized Investment Funds: What ₹10 Lakh Actually Buys
SEBI licensed seven SIF strategies. Fifteen months on, the debt ones hold nothing. What the ₹10 lakh minimum buys, and the redemption rule nobody mentions.
Read the numbers →Your personal inflation rate in India: why CPI is not your number
India rebased CPI to 2024 in February. Health printed 1.34% in July while insurers priced 11.5%. Work out your own rate from your own spending.
Read the numbers →Where your home loan EMI money actually goes
On a 20-year home loan, five years of EMIs clears just 11.9% of the principal. The arithmetic behind it, and the one instruction that changes it.
Read the numbers →Life cycle funds: what SEBI actually built, and what leaving costs
SEBI created life cycle funds in February 2026. One AMC has launched any. The glide path is real, the exit load is 3%, and most coverage has the bands wrong.
Read the numbers →Income Tax Act 2025: what actually changed for you
India replaced its 1961 income tax law on 1 April 2026. Rates, slabs and deductions did not change. Here is what did, and the part now in court.
Read the numbers →Is that flat overpriced? Its rent already told you
A flat's rent is the one number nobody can inflate. Divide it by the asking price and you get a fast, honest read on whether that price is defensible.
Read the numbers →Why most expense trackers in India are Android-only
Android exposed the SMS inbox and iOS never did. How one platform decision shaped India’s expense app market, and what it leaves iPhone users with.
Read the numbers →Is it safe to give an expense app SMS permission?
SMS permission grants every message, not just bank alerts — including OTPs. What Google Play now restricts, the real risk, and how to judge an app.
Read the numbers →How to track expenses on an iPhone in India
iOS blocks apps from reading SMS, so India’s usual tracking method does not exist here. What actually works on an iPhone, and what each option misses.
Read the numbers →Gmail expense tracking in India: how it actually works
Your bank emails every UPI debit, card spend and salary credit. How those alerts become a spending record, what parsing reads, and where it breaks.
Read the numbers →UPI stays free for you. From 15 October, shops pay 0.4% above ₹2,000.
What stays free by law, what the 0.4% merchant fee from 15 October actually costs, and every other 2025-26 UPI change sorted by legal status.
Read the numbers →Your SIP earns 11.7%. Your EMI charges 16%. Do the math.
Your SIP is up 11.7% this year. Your phone EMI charges 16%. The comparison almost nobody runs — and the 7% rule that settles it.
Read the numbers →We read 50 credit card statements. Here’s where ₹8,000 a month disappears.
The minimum-due trap, the no-cost EMI lie, and the other lines on your statement worth actually reading.
Read the numbers →The ₹500 subscription trap: where your salary quietly disappears
42% of people are paying for a subscription they’ve forgotten. The monthly cost of India’s UPI Autopay boom, added up.
Read the numbers →₹16,000 vs ₹10 crore: why salary alone won’t make you rich
India runs on two economies — one where you sell time, one where money makes money. The structural gap, and the one move that crosses it.
Read the numbers →93% of F&O traders in India lost money. The 7% weren’t smarter.
SEBI data: ₹1.8 lakh crore in losses. The winners weren’t smarter — they just had a plan for losing.
Read the numbers →Rent vs buy in India: the real cost of a ₹1 crore flat
Everyone assumes buying beats renting. Run the 20-year numbers on a ₹1 crore flat and see what renting and investing the difference actually does.
Read the numbers →EMI-to-income ratio: how much of your salary belongs to the bank
40% of smartphones, two in three premium phones, and roughly 80% of cars in India are bought on EMI. Here’s what that’s actually costing you.
Read the numbers →Read in a feed reader instead? Every post goes out on the RSS feed. No email address needed, no list to leave.