A Gurgaon resident has sparked conversation on LinkedIn after sharing a brutally honest post that breaks down the financial demands of maintaining a high-end lifestyle in one of the city’s most expensive neighbourhoods.
(Also read: Gurgaon man roasted for job post: ‘You’ll be underpaid and overstretched’)
The man, identified as Vaibhav J., opened his post with a stark confession: “I own a house in Gurgaon, India. Translation: I need ₹7.5 lakh/month just to breathe.”
What followed was a line-by-line breakdown of his monthly expenses:
“Here’s what you really signed up for:
₹2.08 lakh EMI for a ₹3 crore house
₹12,000 per month maintenance for the fountain
₹60,000 car EMI – because you can’t roll up in a Swift
₹65,000 per month for IB school for kids
₹30,000 per month for a ‘foreign trip proof-of-life’
₹30,000 monthly for domestic staff – cook, maid, driver
₹20,000 for club nights and dinners you don’t even enjoy
₹12,000 for grooming and dressing ‘DLF Phase 5 ready’
₹10,000-plus on random purchases
₹15,000 for birthday gifts and wedding envelopes – a ‘fake smiles tax’”
Adding up to a monthly spend of ₹5 lakh, he concluded with a sobering reality check: “Now factor in income tax at 30 percent. To spend ₹5 lakh a month, you need to earn ₹7.5 lakh (~ ₹90 lakh/year pre-tax). We had neither done savings nor bought insurance. And I haven’t even eaten yet. That’s not top one percent income — that’s top 0.1 percent burn rate.”
Check out the post here:
A post that struck a nerve
The post garnered several comments, offering a mix of agreement, humour, and constructive critique.
One user wrote, “For those with fixed income in that range, income tax isn’t just 30 percent. There’s a surcharge, so it’s about a third of your income. You’d need at least ₹1.2 crore CTC to support this lifestyle.”
Another observed, “Gurgaon real-estate is an unnecessary hype which people are somehow buying. But jo bhi hai, Gurgaon mein vibe hai — sirf yeh weather aur AQI chhod ke.”
(Also read: Man who ‘earns more than 95% of India’ can’t afford a home in Gurgaon: ‘No car or kids, doesn’t splurge’)
A third remarked with amusement, “Foreign trip proof of life… rofl. On a side note, DLF 5 is not for the faint-hearted.”
Others were more critical. “If you’re purchasing a flat worth ₹3 crore, you are financially stable. So there’s no point in this melodrama. Lol,” wrote one.
Someone recalled, “Over a decade ago, I was in DLF Phase 2 near JMD Arcade and later moved to Phase 5 near Amex. Things weren’t that expensive back then.”