Recently, Vatsal Sanghvi asked something that lingered in my mind: how do you look at life once you are making a peak salary, say ₹75 lakh a year, in India?
I know Vatsal as I have even used his Audionotes for voice-to-text conversion. A bunch of his ventures have been acquired over the years, so he has seen success from both sides: as a builder and as an observer of professionals chasing their version of it. That is why his question felt real. It was not about the money itself, but what happens after you get there.
Because, in India’s corporate life, ₹50L or ₹75L has become that invisible benchmark, the number that people do chase in their thirties, thinking that once they reach it, they will finally breathe easier. That life will slow down, that they will feel settled.
But when you finally do reach there, something unexpected happens. The chaos doesn’t stop. The emails still pile up. You are still in the same meetings, rushing through the same traffic, juggling the same pressure, but just with slightly nicer things around you.
It makes you wonder if this idea of “making it” was ever real, or if we just keep moving the goalpost every time we get close.
What Really Changes When You Have “Enough”
When you start earning well, the first thing that changes is the background chaos in your head.
The immediate effect is that you stop worrying about bills at the end of the month. You stop doing mental math before ordering food or booking a cab.
That relief of knowing you will be fine is one of the best feelings in the world.
But once the relief settles in, you begin to notice new things.
You start caring less about what money can buy and more about what it cannot – time, calm, energy.
You realise you can afford better things, but you rarely have the time to enjoy them. You have money for vacations, but you are checking work emails on the flight. You can buy peace of mind, but not the space in your mind.
The people around you also start seeing you differently. The family calls you “well settled.” Friends joke that you are rich now. Some even ask for advice on careers or investments. You smile and play along, but deep down, you know that stability is not the same as peace. You have stopped worrying about survival, but you still think about purpose.
That is the change, I feel, that happens when you have “enough.” The chase does not end. It just moves from money to meaning.
The Trade-offs No One Talks About
After a point, earning well stops being exciting.
What takes its place is a kind of maintenance. You keep things running for the work, the house, the routine, without really stopping to think if you enjoy any of it.
You can afford comfort now, but comfort comes with its own pace. You wake up thinking about meetings. You end the day scrolling through messages that could have waited. You tell yourself you are in control, but the days keep blending.
Time starts to feel different too. It is not that you do not have it. It is just always spoken for. Even when you are free, your mind is already on the next thing. The idea of doing nothing starts to feel unfamiliar.
Health quietly takes a back seat. You eat well but at odd hours. You sleep late because your mind is still running. You promise yourself you will take it easy once things settle, but they never really do.
People around you start assuming you have figured it all out. They mean well. But you know you are still figuring it out every single day. You smile when someone says you are “sorted,” because that is easier than explaining that you are not.
These are the things no one really tells you about doing well. It looks like success from outside, but most days it just feels like responsibility.
What Feels Like Success Now
After a while, you stop measuring life by your CTC. The number matters, but not in the way it once did. What begins to matter more are the small things you could never make time for earlier: a slow morning, finishing a book, watching your kid sleep without rushing to open your laptop.
Success starts to look quieter. It is when you can say no without guilt. When you can leave a message unanswered for a few hours and not feel anxious. When you can step away from work and still feel like yourself.
You begin to see money differently too. It is no longer the goal, just a means to create space. You realise you do not need more of it to feel better — you just need to protect what it can give you: time, calm, and choice.
The older I get, the more I feel that doing well is not about how much you make. It is about how light your days feel. And that, I have learnt, takes more discipline than ambition.
Finding a Balance
I have tried to make peace with where I am. To not treat every raise as a race. To enjoy the stability without letting it turn into pressure. It has taken time, but I have started to see money for what it really is not a scorecard, just a safety net that lets me live life on my terms.
These days I try to spend it more consciously. I still work hard, but I also try to log off on time. I make room for things that do not show up on a balance sheet, walks, family dinners, weekends that feel like weekends. It is not perfect, but it feels more real.
Maybe that is what balance looks like. You still want to grow, but you are not running all the time. You are earning, but you are also living. You still have goals, but they no longer come at the cost of peace.
After a point, that feels like the only kind of success worth keeping.
Author Note
Note: This article relies on data from fund reports, index history, and public disclosures. We have used our own assumptions for analysis and illustrations.
The purpose of this article is to share insights, data points, and thought-provoking perspectives on investing. It is not investment advice. If you wish to act on any investment idea, you are strongly advised to consult a qualified advisor. This article is strictly for educational purposes. The views expressed are personal and do not reflect those of my current or past employers.
Parth Parikh has over a decade of experience in finance and research. He currently heads growth and content strategy at Finsire, where he works on investor education initiatives and products like Loan Against Mutual Funds (LAMF) and financial data solutions for banks and fintechs.