Many of us have the dream of just quitting our job and do stuff we are passionate about. You might be thinking what it needs to stop working and do things you want for the heck of it. I’m trying to find out how much it takes for a single person (with no dependents ) to lead a simple, yet comfortable life in India so that he has the freedom to pursue his activities of interest. Is that possible for a youngster? Let’s see.
Yes, there are differences in terms of cost of living based on location. But I’m writing this from the view of someone like me who likes to enjoy a mix of peace and the occasional fun of a city life and who has been staying in Bangalore for the last two years – I take Bangalore as a reference point.
There are some gross assumptions however. For instance, pursuing things we like does not imply ventures that require a significant sum of personal money to be invested. (Though leveraging is always an option if freedom is first ensured). Reading, writing, teaching, doing nothing etc. makes it to the list while traveling (especially abroad), starting up (bootstrapping) doesn’t.
Let us start with the fundamentals (Roti, Kapda aur Makaan) – Food, Clothing and Shelter. I’ll add health as well to it. And we need to pay for electricity, gas and water – utilities. As we are not going to own a car or a motorcycle, we need to pay for transport. So the basic list is –
- Food
- Clothing
- Shelter
- Utilities
- Transport
- Health
The biggest expenditure here would be that of rent. It’s a sweet deal if you live in your own house but nevertheless we’ll account for it.
Here is the monthly expenditure for a comfortable life in a city like Bangalore for a single person with no dependents. I’ve considered clothing and health at an annualized cost of INR 5000. I’m factoring the cost of Health Insurance premium for Rs 3,00,000 for a single person of age 27 under category health. I’m not factoring Life Insurance here assuming you have no dependents. For factoring in an unfortunate case of premature death, a onetime fu
neral cost of around INR 25000 can be accounted (which I haven’t here). As the probability of this occurring is low (as anyway you are pursuing harmless interests including doing nothing 
), I’m not accounting for this.
I’ve included power, water, gas and house maintenance expenditure under utilities. The rent of a decent 2 BHK or a very comfortable spacious 1 BHK will be definitely around INR 10000-12000 provided you scout for modest locations. The overall monthly figure you arrive at for bare basic necessities touch a staggering INR 21833.33. This does not even include unforeseen expenditures. Still, this figure is appalling as many freshers (engineers) out of college make much lesser money than this figure monthly. Yes they save by sharing accommodation, but for people who enjoy a bit of privacy and independence an individual house/apartment has to be factored in.
A young person who might want this much money for another 40 years, at a long term inflation rate of 7% and a return of corpus at an assumed 8% would be needing INR 31, 24, 344 in a bank account today. I used this calculator . Even if you live in Tier 2 cities, you might knock off around INR 4000 from the rent monthly, that’s all.
So, that means a simple life is not that simple anymore. Take that Mr. Epicurus – What is good is not easy to get today.