'Savings nahi, lekin retire early': Marcellus' Saurabh Mukherjea flags major crisis the rich are creating for themselves

Marcellus’ Saurabh Mukherjea has raised a red flag over what he calls a growing financial crisis among affluent Indians. Despite earning well above the national average, a significant number of well-to-do individuals are struggling to save, lack emergency funds, and are chasing lofty ambitions without the financial backing to support them. This mismatch between dreams and discipline, Mukherjea warns, is creating a dangerous disconnect — one that’s fuelling anxiety and financial instability among the country’s elite.

"Your middle class, main working years of their life — 50% of Indians in that age bracket, 50% of affluent Indians in that age bracket of 30 to 45, aren't even saving 20% of their income, right? So the savings piece is a disaster," said Mukerjea.

"Even more stunningly, we found that 14% of survey respondents — and I stress again, folks, the survey respondents are affluent Indians — 14% of our survey respondents had zero emergency fund. Zero emergency fund. Toh kuch ooltah-seedha zindagi mein ho gaya, they have no fallback savings. And these are affluent Indians — koi fallback savings hain nahi," added Mukherjea. "So pehla big sort of thrust of the findings was that affluent Indians aren't saving enough — enough money, right?"


Big ambitions of Indians
"The second set of findings was that people's dreams and ambitions and goals are multiple, right? And these are big dreams — sapne bahut bade hain logon ki. Savings bhale chhote ho, logon ke sapne bahut bade hain," said Marcellus’ Saurabh Mukherjea. "So 40% of Indians want to save for a house — can't begrudge them that. But even more interestingly, 40% of Indians want to do a startup. They want to set up their own firm, right? So affluent Indians hain — 40% ko ghar kharidna hai, 40% ko apni company shuru karni hai."

"Another 40% want to retire early, right? This is a bizarre fetish which has arisen in India recently. Last 5 saal mein logon ko dimaag mein pata nahi kya daal diya gaya hai, ki aapko retire early karna chahiye. Savings hain nahi, lekin retire early karne ki ek ichha, ek umeed hai, right?" added Marcellus’ Mukherjea.

"So that brings me to the point — then what kind of savings or what kind of investments are these people getting into? Because kahi toh paisa jaa raha hai, right? There's some ways in which these guys are spending their money or, you know, even investing — may not be the best aspect of investing or the best asset allocation that you would call it. But where is it going? Is it going into equities? Is it going into real estate? I know a lot of people who do invest in real estate — specifically beyond their primary residences.," addedMukherjea.