‘I bought 2 houses at 24, but my kids might never buy one’: Founder says people need to move beyond 9 to 5 for building wealth that can beat inflation

Indian entrepreneur Riya Upreti, founder of Fobet Media, has argued that relying solely on a conventional 9-to-5 career may no longer be enough to build wealth as living costs and property prices rise.

In a LinkedIn post, Upreti said the experience of buying two houses by the age of 24 made her question whether the same milestone would remain achievable for the next generation. She claimed that her children might struggle to afford even one home because real estate prices have increased much faster than salaries in many sectors.

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‘I bought 2 houses at 24, but my kids might never buy one’

“I bought 2 houses at 24, but my kids might never buy one,” Upreti wrote on LinkedIn.

She said the traditional approach of earning a salary, saving and eventually purchasing a home is becoming harder to sustain as property values rise faster than income growth.

“In India, home prices have been rising faster than inflation, while salaries haven't kept pace in many sectors,” wrote Upreti, whose Fobet Media is a personal branding agency.

“It made me realise how the economy keeps getting difficult,” she added.

Upreti urges people to build beyond their primary careers

Upreti argued that many successful professionals are increasingly developing businesses, equity, intellectual property, assets or personal brands alongside their main occupations.

According to her, salary growth by itself may not generate enough wealth in an inflationary economy, making it important for people to create additional sources of value and income.

She also stressed the need to move beyond one's comfort zone, saying she knows doctors, founders and content creators who have continued to push themselves rather than settling into a single career path.

“I’ve never settled on one business model & that’s the secret everyone asks for. That's exactly why almost every successful person I meet is building something outside their primary profession,” she claimed.

“Because bare-minimum efforts in your career will only give you bare-minimum results.”

‘Ownership’ is key to building wealth, she says

Upreti concluded that people need to build something beyond their primary profession, whether that means a business, personal brand or another form of ownership.

“And the only way to beat inflation is by owning equity, businesses, intellectual property, assets, or a solid personal brand,” she wrote.

Her comments prompted discussion on LinkedIn about home affordability, salary growth, asset ownership and how younger generations should approach wealth creation.

One user said the shift from relying only on salary increases to building assets and equity was becoming increasingly relevant as home prices and real estate returns move ahead of average wage growth.

Another said Upreti's point about never settling stood out, arguing that continually developing skills, ownership and multiple sources of value could be viewed as resilience rather than simply ambition.

A third commenter noted that inflation does more than increase prices because it also changes what people consider financially sufficient.

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Gen Z and the changing idea of financial success

One user said the issue was particularly relevant for Gen Z, arguing that younger people inherited the aspiration of home ownership while facing an economy in which that goal appears increasingly distant.

Another commenter described Upreti's observation about the housing market as a stark reality and asked what type of asset or intellectual property she would recommend to someone beginning to build beyond their primary profession.

A separate user highlighted Upreti's emphasis on "owning equity, businesses, intellectual property, assets, or a solid personal brand", arguing that working harder can increase income while ownership can alter the longer-term trajectory of wealth.

Others said a strong salary can support a lifestyle, but ownership creates longer-term leverage, while cautioning that building assets can be difficult without spreading one's efforts too thin.

One user also argued that financial strategies that worked for one generation cannot automatically be expected to work for the next when asset prices and income growth move at different rates.

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