FIRE: How Indians achieve financial independence
Ravi Handa is just 39 and already plain bored. His LinkedIn bio explains his status. “Sold my company, retired early, now bored. Reach out with interesting job opportunities. Will work for free/ESOPs". The founder of ‘Handa Ka Funda’, an edtech platform, reached out to various newspapers offering his crossword skills for free. Unfortunately for Handa, there are no takers, yet.
At one time, Karan Datta headed the business operations of Axis Mutual Fund. Now, Datta, 53, spends three hours in the gym daily, about two hours sprinting 100-metre dashes and another two hours studying. “The new status symbol is the waistline," says the former chief business officer.
Sandeep Agarwal, 47, who was earlier heading BNP Paribas’ fixed income sales (Gulf region) out of Dubai, now spends his time farming in a remote village in India, trading equity options, and just lazing around.
And that is also the case with Vijay Tangirala, 45 who decided to quit his corporate job. He’s one of the few dads in a gathering of moms at his daughter’s school meetings.
Handa, Datta, Agarwal and Tangirala are among the few people who have a lot of time on their hands, thanks to FIRE. The acronym stands for financial independence, retire early. Mint interviewed them to find out how they have taken advantage of FIRE.
Accumulation
Lockdown was a life-changing period for Handa. He realized that his job did not excite him anymore. By that time, he had accumulated nearly ₹7 crore. His business (Handa Ka Funda) was already very profitable and he had invested a huge chunk of his savings, nearly 70%, in equity mutual funds.
“My job paid me well but I didn’t want to work anymore. I wanted to spend more time with my newborn too," said Handa, who decided to retire at
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