'Your car, house and phone are chains': Ankur Warikoo's blunt advice for anyone trapped by EMIs

A steady paycheck doesn't always translate into financial freedom. For many working professionals, payday simply marks the beginning of another cycle of EMIs, loan repayments and monthly obligations, leaving little room for savings, travel or personal goals. If you've ever felt like you're working hard but your life is permanently on hold, entrepreneur and content creator Ankur Warikoo believes the solution starts with accepting reality and making difficult financial choices instead of waiting for circumstances to magically improve.

Ankur Warikoo recently took to X to respond to a question from one of his team members about staying motivated while being weighed down by financial commitments.

The team member described a situation many young professionals can relate to. Despite earning a decent income, almost every rupee goes towards EMIs, education loans, home loans or other financial obligations. As a result, there is barely anything left to invest, travel, pursue dreams or simply enjoy life.


The question was straightforward: how do you stay motivated when it feels like you're working every day but not really living? How do you stop feeling like your best years are slipping away while waiting for a future when things finally get better?

If the debt is your choice, make a different choice

Warikoo's response was direct. According to him, if the debt is the result of personal financial decisions, then those decisions can also be reversed. He urged people to consider letting go of the very assets creating the burden.


Referring to expensive purchases, he said a car, a house and even a phone can become "chains" when they trap someone in a cycle of debt. Instead of seeing themselves as victims of their circumstances, he encouraged people to recognise that they still have a choice and should exercise it.

When you don't have a choice, focus on paying it off

Warikoo also acknowledged that not all debt comes from discretionary spending. If the financial burden exists because of circumstances beyond a person's control, he advised taking a different approach. Rather than complaining, he suggested accepting the situation, working hard, increasing income wherever possible and focusing entirely on repaying the loans. In such cases, he argued, the priority should simply be earning consistently until the debt is cleared.

His own journey from Rs 30 lakh in debt

To explain why he feels strongly about the subject, Warikoo shared his own financial story. He revealed that after graduating from the Indian School of Business at the age of 26, he started his career with a Rs 14 lakh education loan. Alongside that, he also carried a Rs 16 lakh business debt that his father could not afford to repay.

That meant his net worth on the very first day of his professional life stood at minus Rs 30 lakh. According to Warikoo, it took him 10 years to repay those loans and bring his net worth back to zero. It was only at the age of 36 that he was finally able to begin building wealth for himself and start pursuing the life he had envisioned.
Now, at 46, he says he has achieved everything he once hoped for financially.

Stop complaining and start fixing the problem

Warikoo concluded his post with a simple message. Whether debt results from personal choices or unavoidable circumstances, he believes complaining only makes the journey more difficult. Instead, he urged people to accept their reality, take responsibility for what they can control and work consistently towards becoming debt-free.

For Warikoo, financial freedom isn't achieved by waiting for better days. It begins by confronting difficult decisions, staying disciplined and taking action to fix the problem one step at a time.