Salary to Sips: A Lazy Person's Guide to Wealth Building

Arjun, twenty-five years old, love to build wealth without giving up his chill. Resonates?

He stumbled upon the golden phrase: “SIPs make you rich while you binge-watch”.

His friend Neil told him, “Start a SIP, bro. Even ₹500 is enough.”

Arjun earns ₹35,000 a month. After rent, food, and a few other expenses, he’s left with ₹5,000.

“But I don’t understand mutual funds,” Arjun whined.

“You don’t need to. It’s called Systematic Investment Plan for a reason—it’s automatic. You pick a fund, set the date, and your money quietly goes to work every month.”

“Oh! like the Netflix subscription” Arjun asked.

He downloaded a simple investing app, chose a balanced mutual fund and set up a SIP for ₹1000. Boom. Done in 10 minutes.

Neil Congratulated Arjun and gave him few tips:

“Good that you have started small now but do remember to increase with income. Step-up SIP. Know that there are various options available in the market, choose direct plan – growth option for lower cost & compounding, stick for at least 5 years (longer the better), review once a year, rebalance if needed, avoid over-diversify. 3-4 funds are enough.”

“Oh! So, there are various types of SIP?”a baffled Arjun enquired.

Neil told Arjun about:

The One-Fund Lazy SIP (Truly Minimalist), the 100% Balanced Advantage Fund with one SIP that Automatically adjusts between equity & debt.

The Basic Two-Fund Portfolio: 60% Nifty 50 Index Fund, 40% Short-Term Debt Fund or Liquid Fund which is simple, with low maintenance and balanced between growth and safety.

The Aggressive Growth Portfolio (High Risk, Long Term) with higher growth potential is more volatile.

Arjun got a little confused and asked, “Should I remember all this?”

Neil added about The Balanced Lazy SIP Portfolio that is good for first-timers, less volatile and needs very little monitoring.

Then he comforted Arjun saying:

“You need not know all this or worry about it, the Fund manager will take care of it. But what you need to be careful about is:

1. Do not stop your SIPs during market dips. This is exactly when SIPs work best—buy more units at lower prices.

Stay consistent. Downturns = opportunity.

2. Invest With an end Goal or for a purpose, it will bring discipline.

Goals: retirement, travel, emergency fund, house, etc. Even rough timelines help.

3. Do not Check your Portfolio Daily or Weekly. SIPs are slow burners. Daily checking leads to panic.

Set a reminder to review only once every 6 or 12 months.

4. Do not over-Diversify. 3–4 funds are enough

Too many funds = duplication = confusion.

5. Do not mix Insurance & Investment (ULIPs/Endowments)

Poor returns + poor coverage = double loss.

6. Have patience. Compounding takes time to show magic.

Years 7–15 are where things explode.

7. Know your taxes. Selling without tax planning can reduce gains.

Understand LTCG, STCG, and indexation for debt funds.

Last but not the least, Automate SIPs so you don’t skip, track with a basic Excel sheet or app, stay curious but don’t overreact.

Each time Arjun got a raise, he increased his SIP by ₹500. “This is too easy,” he thought. His money was growing, and he barely had to move his feet.

He wasn’t tracking stocks, stressing over markets, or attending webinars. Just ₹1000… then ₹1500… then ₹2000… growing month after month.

After a few years, he looked at his account and saw lakhs. Not because he did something magical. Just because he stayed consistent. His money was earning returns, and those returns were earning more returns. Like a snowball rolling downhill.

While some of his friends were trying to time the market or buy stocks based on tips, Arjun’s wealth was quietly compounding in the background.

No stress. No drama. Just SIPs. And best of all? He never stopped being lazy. Over the years, his salary had increased, and he had changed his job too. As in every family, his concerned parents asked him, how he would manage in his old age, being a couch potato.

He said, his SIP for retirement fund would take care.

In addition to his office PF, he had made an auto debit by the 4th of every month, he was transferring 12,500 to his PPF account, and 5,000 per month to his NPS account within 4 years of his employment. He had started with just five hundred rupees a month.

His father asked him why 12,500 to PPF on 4th?

He said, “Bank credits interest based on the balance on the 5th“

His father was impressed with his son’s knowledge. Dad’s being dad’s advised him to be mindful of inflation and longevity. The most uncertain thing in life is life! Looking at the return on his SIP one day he asked Neil, “How did my money grow so much?”

Neil said, “Basic Mathematics Bro. Remember Interest! It works based on compounding.”

Arjun got curious and asked, “how much can my money grow by compounding?” Neil said, “Let me tell you about Aman and Ravi, two friends like us who both landed good jobs after graduation. At 23, Aman started saving ₹5,000 a month and invested it in a mutual fund giving him an average return of 12% per year. He did this for 10 years, then stopped contributing, but let the money stay invested.

Ravi, on the other hand, enjoyed his early salary and didn’t start investing until he was 33. From then on, he invested ₹5,000 every month, earning 12% per year— until he was 60. That's 28 years.

At 60, they compared their investment values.

• Aman had invested only ₹6 lakhs over 10 years.
• Ravi had invested ₹16.8 lakhs over 28 years.

But here's the twist:

• Aman’s total corpus = ₹2.92 Crores
• Ravi’s total corpus = ₹1.77 Crores

Even though Aman invested for a much shorter time and put in far less money, he ended up with more.

Aman gave his money time to grow. Time is the magic ingredient.

They had met the love of their life—Compound Interest.

Saving from a young age provides financial security, independence, and wealth- building opportunities. The earlier you start, the greater the benefits due to compound interest, financial discipline, and risk mitigation.”

Moral of the story: You don’t need to hustle 24/7 to build wealth. You just need to start, stay consistent, ride with the market and let your money do the rest.