A family man of 42 years old

Hello world, I have become 42 today. Still surviving - only one hospitalisation, one marriage, one kid, one car, no house, no published book, several non-profits, several jobs (and gap periods), several good people around and still studying.

With Majoni & jibon logori

The current life situation is alright, except the fact that wife and daughter are not staying with me. When it happened last year on this very day, I thought my A2O and PhD efforts will be accelerated in absence of them. In reality, no such acceleration; the grief, cost and consequences of not living together are huge. I have realised I am a fully 'family man'. How foolishly I thought of remaining unmarried at one point of time of my life! Thanks to Maa, Dada and the Covid. 

I spent crazy last 72 hours. The reason was tax return filing in ITR2 format including schedule FA and FSI- something I was doing for the first time, all by myself. It surely pumped up my self confidence in the financial jungle at the cost of some sleepless stressful hours. Finance and Health are the two sectors I am focussing a lot post 40. However, I have realised- the more I believe about knowing something, the more things pop up that I am unaware of. This learning will continue, but I need to put a structure into it. With the payment of nine lakh as annual tax, I have to be more methodical. In case of health, I am doing better than finance, I believe. The recent liver fibroscan result showing my fatty liver coming down from grade 2 to grade 1 has given me so much joy. 

Professional life is at peace currently. In fact, first time I have realised that one can work at such a stressless atmosphere. The only problem here is that I am 'only 42', and still have the 'josh' of taking up something complex which is more worthwhile that may led me to something extra-ordinary which I dreamt of at point of time in career. The recent application for IIE- Director is towards that direction. I have become extremely choosy in applying for opportunities these days. On a personal front, cutting down the Shillong-Guwahati stretch in my Tezpur journeys is another inspiration for looking out.  

Office people has been fabulous 

By next birthday, wife will complete her Pune Masters' and the insect for another child will start biting heavily. My age is a 'no factor' in planning for second child, as I have (still doing) created sufficient financial legroom for that. Both mine and her PhDs will continue, I will try publishing a paper though. If nothing comes up professionally, the status quo will continue. That Ashesh Kumar astrologer told from March 2027 onwards, I will get severely busy. That's one angle where I am keeping an eye. I hope Maa's health remain solid, other close family members keep doing good. These are big disruptions, if not anticipated, always difficult to accommodate. 

One of the great things of growing up is that many of your questions of জ্যামিতি বাকচ are getting answered. Listening to thinkers like Yuval Noah Harari gives me goosebumps at times. How he convincingly describes the same question that I have been carrying since childhood! I can imagine the impacts thinkers/philosophers like Socrates and Aristotle might have created in their times. How AI will change the world - is one of my great thinking areas of recent period. 

How the day gone- I started this post in the morning. At Office, LMC meeting took lot of time. Then the cake cutting, food, I ordered desserts etc. Bah Ben's prayer before the cake was like icing. I also gave a small speech, just to highlight the 'storytelling' bit. Then I started for Tezpur at 2 PM and reached by 7 PM. Another cake and delicious Basanti pulao and chicken kosha by dear wife. Life is good! 

Review of FY2025-26 with some important calculations

Every year, while writing this post, I think I will discover some hidden insights and will plan the next year in a significantly different way. It's not that I find nothing, but no 'hidden' or 'significant' comes out. This time is no different. But there were some 'forced' events and I had to take some financial decisions after pondering for several days/weeks. 

Big events of last FY:

1) Email from Income Tax for declaring foreign assets: So, I got email notice from CBDT in October-November to declare my foreign asset as they got information from 'sources'. These email came as part of Nudge2.0 where they were asking the tax-payers to reveal by self declaration, after getting information from information sharing initiative such as CRS (all counties) and FACTA(US). The panic started in corporate circles mainly. I attended one seminar organised by Microsoft Alumni group where I got to know that emails were triggered to company HRs as well. 

Now, what to do? I thought of declaring at least the UK Bank account. However, in ITR1 which I already submitted, foreign asset can't be declared. When I opened ITR-2, the already submitted calculation from ITR1, made me completely confused. I took a risk by delaying the declaration until next FY. Karuna Da, the only person with this issue, was in constant touch. Although he contacted some CA, nobody was absolutely sure what to do. There was also announcement of opening a separate window to declare where citizens have to pay a one time fee, while declaring. However, until now, no such window has been opened so far I know. In summary, lack of clarity and secrecy of the issue made me very stressed in last FY. I am not getting any good advice even now, particularly related to the Msft shares. Good that I closed the EU account in Amsterdam before coming home. Anyway, this is one of the new and urgent things to take care in next FY.

The status of my foreign asset as on 29 April2026:

a) US Microsoft stocks in Fidelity: i) Total value of shares: 39,71,177/- ; ii)  Total cash: 2,24,859/-

Total: 41,96,036/-

b) UK Llyod Bank account: (Tried 4 times since morning, there is error showing after login) 

2) Increase in huge taxes: In the last FY, I got two raises in salary - one after appraisal and another after hardship allowance is approved. However, there is no 'real' increase in the in-hand component. 

I did a quick study of the change of my salary in the last FY and how tax components have impacted. From the below table, my last year average tax per month was INR 59,355/- using old tax regime and after applying all flexi components, including LTA. In the last two months of the FY, my in hand decreased to below 2 lakh. I even contacted Arun (NeGD, payroll) thinking something is wrong. However, he told ( I also calculated) things are fine only. Maybe their amount of deduction had some issues. The below table may give some clarity and I want to put on record here. In fact, this table has been pending for so long and I am happy to do this while writing this FY review blogpost. 

	Monthly (as per letter)	Annually (as per letter)	Average in hand monthly salary	Average per month Tax
Offer Letter (April 2025 to June 2025)	308333	3699996	2,38,882	43,660
After appraisal(July2025 to Oct2025)	331201	3974412	2,54,477 (excluding arrears)	47,042.5
After Hardship (Nov2025 to Mar2026)	No letter issued	Addition of 20K per month	2,27,940	87,362.6

3) Decision on Old versus New tax regime:

I faced tough time collecting flexi benefit proofs for submission to NeGD. Higher taxes were bothering me anyways. I was determined to provide maximum proofs, but reality was different. Making up the documents (that too with such high figures) was making me feel extremely guilty.  Declaring rent of 43K after paying 10K deemed criminal to me. The total house-loan interest also reduced to 1.1 Lakh. Also the issue of declaration of foreign asset by filling up ITR2 from next year was on my mind.

When I had to decide on declaring tax region at the start of FY2026-27, I tried calculation to the best of my ability. The TankhaPay app also helped me. I decided to go ahead with New tax regime in spite of losing ~INR 36,735/- annually. I would have to give more tax under the new regime, but there will be mental peace. Also I believe, while filing return, I might get some return as the new tax regime provides incentive on NPS and charity donation - something that you can't declare to your employer. Nevertheless, this was a big decision and I would closely track this in the new FY. The below table depicts the comparison based on my current salary.

	New tax regime	Old tax regime
Taxabale income	38,67,828	29,75,088
Total Savings	75,000	9,67,740
Net tax to be paid	769962	733227

4) Issues in my expense tracker: Since every year I make some or other correction in the expense sheet, a year-on-year comparison has become very difficult. The following issues don't have consistency- calculation of lend/return money, fixed deposits' creation/maturity and its interests, dividend, travel expense reimbursement from office, cash expenses, profit after selling MF(full amount) vs stocks(only profit amount) etc.

I am not sure of exact solution, but will keep trying removing this issues in the next FY.

Numbers at a glance:

1) Total equity investment (including NPS): INR 6.55 Lakh (~4 lakh less than the last FY)

2) Total tax paid: INR 7.55 Lakh (my highest expenditure head for this FY) 

3) Total stock Dividend (not MF): INR 64,465/-

4) Total income: INR 35.18 Lakh (that hit the bank account and cash in hand- available for dispose)

5) Total expenditures: INR 29.89 lakh (includes investments too, but not lending amounts, FDs)

Details of INFLOW with observation:

1) Again, more than 90% of my income comes from salary, which is not at all a good sign. In fact, it would be more since the PF contributions are also linked with salary. Unless this percentage reduced to 50-60%, I can't openly think about quitting this income stream.

2) My net pay in last FY (as per TPay) is INR 38,02,828/-, while I got in-hand INR 31,81,696/- (after deducting tax, PF, health insurance etc). The huge tax is a concern, or maybe I am thinking just as a typical middle class!

 3) My income from 'Market' crossed 1 Lakh. However, it includes both dividend, SGB interest and stock/share selling. I may segregate this head next year onwards. 

4) The 'constant' passive income that I tried to generate, exceeded 1 Lakh. However, next year outlook is poor since Mridul has only two persons and Maa has stopped payment for last 4-5 months as no tenant was there. The other 'knowledge' income is also not upto the mark. Only MATI and IIM Shillong are providing some hopes.

5) Although I decided not to open FD in my accounts, I still did last year to achieve 1 lakh interest, as mentioned in last year review post. However, this was not apple-to-apple comparison. Last year two emergency FDs matured and I was close to 1 Lakh. This year, it stood at INR 58,412/-.

6) I started categorising the passenger fare as my Biz incomes since it tests my selling abilities -:)

	Salary (travel savings included)	Market (selling of equity, Dividend both for stock and MF, SGB)	Passive Income (Rent, Interest Mridul etc)	Bank Interest (Savings, FD)	Income (knowledge)	Others	Income (Biz)	Total
April	237936	1455	7000		1800	1032		₹ 249,223
May	239355	3100	11000	16444	5005			₹ 274,904
June	239355	5690	8000	9938				₹ 262,983
July	277475	6220	13000		3300	54		₹ 300,049
August	249691	9396	13000			2346		₹ 274,433
Sept	249682	12860	13000	1722	7500			₹ 284,764
Oct	271170	1463	13000		1800	315	700	₹ 288,448
Nov	546472	9294	8000			5130		₹ 568,896
Dec	237309	5066	6000	6261	12424		600	₹ 267,660
Jan	237309	29402	4000			2500	830	₹ 274,041
Feb	197971	24174	4000				290	₹ 226,435
Mar	197971	13448	4000	24047	4200	2000	100	₹ 246,766
Total	3181696	121568	104000	58412	36029	13377	2520	₹ 3,518,602
	90.43%	3.46%	2.96%	1.66%	1.02%	0.38%	0.07%

*Loan Repay by Moina is not counted as income above, Annual Interest of PPF is not counted as income as not available for disposal

 

Details of OUTFLOW with observation:

1) After shifting to new rented house at Wahhe, my regular rental expense has drastically reduced. This was not an easy decision while looking from 'society' perspective, but financially prudent decision. 

2) My personal expenses seem to be on the upper side. Main culprit is the IITG tuition fee increase. Also, there included purchase of a new mobile phone, which Nina took away.

3) Childcare expenses is still under 1% of total expenses. However, it will go up this time as Majoni will start schooling. I will start tracking her monthly expenses separately. Until now, even her creche expenses are under obligation money to Nina every month. 

4) I think I will remove First/Unique and use such expenses under existing head like personal/Recreation etc from next year onwards. 

5) My 'Want' bracket is consistently below 10%. However, due to First/Unique being there it crosses 10% during Tezpur home setup and Pune trip. These are not exactly 'Want', but need only, right?

	Regular	Food	Personal	Childcare	Transport	Tax-Debt	Social Obligation	Gift-Donate	Recreation	First-Unique	Equity	Other Invt	Total
April	28443	5770	6878	0	4714	44606	12425	17908	3442	0	66000	254757	444943
May	22577	10655	4286	2718	7079	43187	14407	399	10517	16000	37000	15430	184255
June	23680	7226	3099	300	5585	43187	11412	3188	1010	21417	22731	25430	168265
July	16440	5669	45697	815	7183	43187	14241	8036	1640	0	18500	17454	178862
August	11850	3610	3273	0	4565	48081	22684	959	835	32930	48500	15936	193223
Sept	10000	4129	9811	0	13008	48821	23784	3593	1853	0	34500	15936	165435
Oct	10250	3342	1748	2097	5912	48081	28658	3151	1920	50550	58500	15936	230145
Nov	10100	2548	5442	0	3557	54321	21048	0	941	17476	25500	55936	196869
Dec	10064	6005	56796	2240	10852	100954	23734	6978	2279	0	34000	15936	269838
Jan	10000	6823	212448	480	8616	75954	27376	8041	2111	2445	110671	15936	354294
Feb	10401	8687	1282	150	5607	115292	12183	3254	2324	12500	65000	15936	252616
Mar	10000	5230	17538	10500	7068	115292	20510	4318	1315	8677	134705	15936	351089
	173,805	69,694	368,298	19,300	83,746	780,963	232,462	59,825	30,187	161,995	655,607	480,559	2,989,834
Percentage	4.94%	1.98%	10.47%	0.55%	2.38%	22.20%	6.61%	1.70%	0.86%	4.60%	18.63%	13.66%	84.97%