Our mothers were the original CFOs, but we never called them that.

Episode Highlights

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THE INTERVIEW

Welcome to the 11th episode of Creator IRL.

From the Behind the Scenes Podcast with Sapna Sinha

Our mothers were the original CFOs, but we never called them that.

There was a dabba in our house.

You know the one. Battered edges. Didn't close properly anymore. Our mothers acted like it didn't exist, and somehow always knew exactly how much was in it.

Nobody taught her to save. Nobody sat her down with a spreadsheet. Our fathers brought the salary home, and our mothers made it stretch in ways that should have been mathematically impossible. The school fees. The sudden hospital visit. Somehow, it was always handled.

We just didn't understand why, until now.

That dabba was an emergency fund. The way she never touched it for anything less than a real crisis was discipline. The way she kept refilling it, no matter how tight the month was, that was a SIP before SIP had a name.

She was doing everything right. With no one to teach her. In a world that never once asked for her financial opinion.

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And then, we decided we wanted the boardroom.

We fought our way in. We pushed through engineering colleges where we were 20 girls in a class of 120, then 40, then 80. We proved we could code, lead, sell, and build, and then we proved it again, because somehow, once was never enough. We earned the "Cerebral Opportunity." We secured the high-paying MNC roles and the leadership titles. We became the generation that finally "arrived."

And that is why this data stings so much.

Palak Jain, a SEBI-registered research analyst, and I sat down to talk about a reality that feels like a betrayal of all that fighting: 80% of high-earning women are now "ghosting" their own money. We fought for the right to earn the check, but we are handing the power of that check right back to our fathers, our husbands, or "the experts." We’ve traded the steel dabba for a banking app we’re too intimidated to even open.

"Women think long term. We know how to balance risk. We just were never given the permission to believe that about ourselves."

Palak also told me the most common DM she gets from women isn't where do I invest.

It's am I already too late?

You're not. Here's exactly what Palak said to do.

Before you touch the market, consider four things first.

1. Get your income to at least ₹50,000 a month.

If you're earning less, the market is not your next step. Investing in yourself, skills, courses, anything that increases your active income is. You need a surplus before you can grow one.

2. Get health insurance. Today.

One hospital bill in India can erase years of savings. This is not optional. This is the dabba equivalent of our generation the thing that protects everything else.

3. Build a 6-month emergency fund.

Six months of expenses. Sitting somewhere boring and accessible. Not in the market. Not in crypto. A simple liquid fund or savings account. Touch it only for actual emergencies not sales, not trips, not "once in a lifetime opportunities."

4. Kill high-interest debt first.

Credit card loans charge 36% interest. Nothing in the market will reliably beat that. Pay it off before a single rupee goes anywhere else.

Now you're ready. Three baskets.

Basket one: Educate yourself.

Palak is direct about this: people don't lose money from bad stocks. They lose money from not knowing what they're doing. One hour a week. Her page. This podcast. Anything that makes the language feel less foreign.

Basket two: Start a SIP.

Mutual fund SIP. Set it. Don't cancel it when markets fall, that's exactly when it's working for you. ₹500 a month is fine. The amount isn't the point yet. The habit is.

Basket three: Research individual stocks only after basket one.

Not because a Telegram group promised 10x. After you actually understand what you're buying.

The one formula worth writing down.

100 minus your age = percentage to put in equity.

 • You're 27 → 73% in mutual funds or stocks, 27% in FDs or safer options.

 • You're 45 → 55% equity, 45% safer.

Younger means more time for the market to recover from its bad days. Use it.

The mistake everyone makes. Including the smart ones.

Everyone chases multi-baggers. Nobody wants to talk about risk management until the loss happens.

Palak gave me a number that reframed everything.

A stock at ₹100 falls 50%. It's now ₹50. Everyone thinks it needs to recover 50% to come back. It actually needs to recover 100% because 50% of ₹50 is only ₹75, not ₹100.

The hole is always deeper than it looks. That's why cutting losses early matters more than finding the perfect stock.

Before you buy anything, decide on two numbers. The price at which you'll take your profits and leave. The price at which you'll accept the loss and get out. Write both down before emotions enter the picture because they will.

On the scam problem.

Palak receives DMs every day. Ma'am, I gave my savings to someone for account handling. He ran away.

The pattern is always the same. They didn't go to a SEBI-registered professional because that felt complicated. But they sent money to a Telegram admin in five minutes because he promised 20x. The shortcut cost them everything. Sometimes it's someone's emergency fund. Sometimes it's a credit card loan they took to invest. Those are the ones that hurt most to hear.

Two minutes on the SEBI website. Verify registration before you hand anyone your money. Every time.

The boring truth that actually works.

Palak told me she could grow faster if she posted how I made ₹50,000 in one day. She doesn't. She posts about boring SIPs, emotional mistakes, and how long it actually takes to become a consistently profitable trader.

She grows more slowly. She sleeps better.

Our mothers didn't promise 10x either. They just quietly showed up every month with whatever was left and put it in the dabba.

No drama. No shortcuts. Just discipline, practised in private, for years.

That steadiness is already in us.

We just need the knowledge she was never given.

We started with a dabba.

Now you have a demat account, a phone, and access to every tool she never did.

She did more with less than you can imagine.

Imagine what you can do with more.

The Conclusion

The discipline is already in our DNA. It’s been passed down through generations of women who made miracles out of monthly budgets. Now, we just need to add the data to that determination.

 You have her patience. You have the ability to think ten years ahead when everyone else is thinking ten minutes ahead.

You also have Zerodha and Groww now.

Use it.

This newsletter is for educational purposes only. Palak Jain (financewithpalak) is a SEBI-registered research analyst. Nothing here is a buy or sell recommendation. Please consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.

Want to hear the full conversation?

Listen to the Behind the Scenes podcast on Spotify or YouTube,

If you also have an awesome journey and wants to share with the world

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Until next time,

Sapna

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