‘I want to reach Rs 1 crore in 3-4 years’: Ankur Warikoo explains the money mistake that keeps people chasing quick wealth

Everyone wants to grow their wealth and be rich enough to not check price tags before buying an item. However, building wealth is not easy or straightforward as it sounds. Setting a financial target and expecting the money to double does not happen overnight. Ambitious goals can motivate one to save more, invest more and build wealth, but impatience can lead to risky decisions. Recently, Ankur Warikoo has weight in on this mindset after he received a mail from a woman who already has a substantial investment corpus. However, she wants to quickly become a crorepati, which prompted Warikoo to explain why it is crucial to understand wealth creation.

Investor with Rs 25 lakh corpus

Warikoo took to social media to share an email, he received from a woman who wanted to grow her wealth quickly over the next few years. “I want to reach 1 crore in the next 3 to 4 years,” the woman wrote, describing her financial goal. According to Warikoo, she earned well, had a stable job and had been investing for more than five years. She had already accumulated Rs 25 lakh, which he acknowledged was “genuinely impressive”.

However, he believed her target reflected a common mistake in personal finance: the desire to get rich quickly. Warikoo described the goal as “very common” and “very naive”, using the example to highlight why even people who have made a solid start with investing can become impatient about the pace of wealth creation.

Why understanding compounding is not enough, according to Ankur Warikoo

Warikoo pointed out that most investors are familiar with the concept of compounding. However, knowing how it works does not necessarily mean they understand what it feels like to experience its benefits over several years. “You understand compounding. You just haven't experienced it yet,” he explained.

He added that people in their 20s and 30s have one ingredient missing which compounding needs the most- time. He shared that young people have not waited for 15 to 20 years of compounding play out in their financial lives. This lack of experience can make compouding appear slow and create frustration among young investors who want to grow their money faster.

Ankur Warikoo explains why investors chase quick wealth

According to Warikoo, the problem is not necessarily that people fail to understand compounding. Instead, it is the difficulty of trusting a process whose results take years to become apparent. Warikoo warned that this impatience can leave investors vulnerable to risky shortcuts and scams that advertise the possibility of instant wealth. He stressed that the desire to accelerate financial progress can become counterproductive when it encourages people to abandon patience in favour of unrealistic promises.

‘The only quick route to wealth is a lottery ticket’

Warikoo offered a blunt assessment of the desire to become wealthy in a short period. “The only quick route to wealth is a lottery ticket,” he said, explaining that almost everything else takes time and depends on compounding. He cautioned that investors who have not experienced the long-term effects of compounding may begin doubting the process before it has had enough time to work.

That doubt, he suggested, can lead them towards schemes and risky opportunities that promise to deliver results much faster than conventional wealth-building methods.

Netizens react

A social media user wrote, "People underestimate how dangerous impatience is in investing. The goal isn’t just to grow money faster, it’s to avoid making one bad decision that sets you back years." Another commented, "Would be great if people found more ways to compound their peace of mind as well instead of just the material things." One said, "I’ve learned that sustainable growth, whether in business or wealth, rarely follows the timeline we want. Patience is part of the strategy."