Dattatray Dagale

5 Money Mistakes I Made Before Understanding the 50-30-20 Rule

Dear younger me, I'm writing this from my desk at Morningstar in Bandra, looking at my calendar that shows another Tuesday. In about four hours, I'll pack up, take the local train back to Kalyan, and spend 90 minutes thinking about money while watching Mumbai blur past the window. Most days, I think about how little I understood about my own salar…

What the RBI Really Does to Your Salary, Savings, and EMI

Dear younger me (and you, if you're still figuring out why your mom keeps asking about repo rates), Let me start with something I wish someone had told me when I first moved to Mumbai five years ago: the Reserve Bank of India isn't some distant institution that only matters during budget season on the news. It's literally making decisions every …

5 Credit Score Myths I Believed (Until They Cost Me)

Three years ago, I didn't check my credit score. Not once. Not because I was irresponsible—I paid my bills on time, I thought I was fine. But "fine" and "actually fine" are two very different things in India's financial system, and I learned that lesson the hard way when I applied for a home loan. The bank rejected me. Not becaus…

Do You Really Need 6 Months of Expenses Sitting in a Savings Account?

Last November, my car needed ₹47,000 worth of repairs. Not planned. Not budgeted. Just happened on a Tuesday morning when the transmission started making sounds that made me genuinely uncomfortable. I paid it from my savings account without breaking a sweat. No loan. No borrowed money. No awkward family conversation. Just moved the amount, got it fixed, and …

Three Years of Reading My Salary Slip Wrong — What I Actually Learned About Tax Saving

Here's something embarrassing: I've been working for nearly seven years, and until last year, I had no idea what half the lines on my salary slip meant . I'd get the notification on my phone — salary credited — do a quick mental math of "minus rent, minus food" and move on. The detailed breakdowns of HRA, DA, basic pay, deductions? I…

Two Years of Picking Stocks Before I Finally Got Why Mutual Funds Matter

Dear younger me, Remember that afternoon in 2022 when you sat in the 5:47 AM local train from Kalyan Junction, opened Zerodha on your phone, and bought shares of Reliance Industries because your colleague wouldn't stop talking about it? You felt like you'd cracked the code. You were going to beat the market. You were going to be different. Spoiler: …