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Many of us eat to live, but many more perhaps live to eat. But did you know that if you can manage to resist the temptation of non-vegetarian food, just the savings you can make in the kitchen can make you a crorepati?
You have to just invest the money you save regularly by staying away from non-vegetarian items.
Changing taste buds
According to a Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation survey in 2014, 70% of Indian population are non-vegetarian. It was 75% in 2004. Experts feel in 2024, the figure could be around 62-63%.
Simple back-of-the-envelope arithmetic can reveal the money you can save by switching to vegetarianism.
The arithmetic
A family of four usually needs Rs 200-250 a day on non-vegetarian items. The consumption pattern is — eggs for breakfast and either fish or meat for everyone in lunch and dinner.
Even if an individual settles for Rs 200 a day, it amounts to Rs 6,000 a month and Rs 72,000 a year.
If one settles for SIP mode in mutual funds, the returns will be considerable. Consider that one invests for 30 years. If the amount is saved from curtailing regular expenditure by changing food habit, it won’t really hurt since it is not a part of regular ‘savings’.
The funds
Broadly consider three categories of mutual funds — debt funds, balanced funds and equity funds — that are high risk. For a tenure of 25-30 years and even by a conservative estimate, these funds can deliver returns of 10%, 12% and 17-18%.
Over a 30-year period, a debt fund, which is conservative by nature, can produce returns of Rs 1.37 crore. Over 25 years, the return can be Rs 80 lakh.
For a balanced fund, the return will be Rs 1.14 crore after 25 years and 2.12 crore after 30 years.
However, if the fund is an equity growth fund, the return can be as high as Rs 2.88 crore over 25 years and Rs 6.75 crore over 30 years. An average annual growth of 17% has been considered.
Over 30 years, the nominal investment is Rs 21.6 lakh. Over 25 years, the amount is Rs 18 lakh.
Eating out
The estimate of expenditure is a conservative one since it does not take into account the cost of eating out. The price of non-vegetarian items are always higher then that of vegetarian preparations.
So set your goal. If you can overcome the lure, a big fund is waiting for you. That too without sweat.
It may take away a lot of your retirement worries and you can also count on a growing vegetarian lobby for moral support.
(Disclaimer: At Money9, we do not intend to influence your taste buds towards any particular form of dietary/culinary choice. This story only seeks to reflect the impact it would have on your wallet)