do waqt ki daal roti is a common refrain one comes across often whether a person is loaded or is a cartpuller the sentiments expressed are the same thats not much is it but then you find so many people who feel asphyxiated from time to time as their expenses overtake the income so whats the problem are they not able to earn their dal roti then most middleclass folk do not need to worry about the food on their plates nor is it the basic clothing that poses a problem roti kapda are hence not an issue makaan could be an issue with the runaway prices which have taken the property prices up up and away but people are not willing to compromise on the apartment size amenities and the neighbourhood this means they will have to dislodge every paisa they have put in as investments for upfront payments then they have to run to the homeloan agency for getting an appropriately large loan from then on the onerous emi is a reality for the next couple of decades which could put people out of breath from time to time they will start breathing after a couple of years once their income increases thank god the emi is constant the other major expense we find in our clients sheets are lifestyle expenses they are discretionary but hardly so for most of them take the case of a car today it is a reality that people almost consider it a necessity not just that they are fixated with a particular category of cars like say the upper c class or d class so if as financial planners we suggest an i20 in place of the honda city our client gives us a fairly good experience of the frozen hell but the problem is not the upfront expenses on the car purchase alone once there is a car there will be fuel expenses repairs and maintenance and insurance expenses in many cases there may be a driver too the ongoing monthly expenses in a car can be rs 1200020000 thats not an insignificant amount many people are just not willing to compromise on their lifestyle goals at all so the massive led tv the fabulous 480litres doubledoor refrigerator the component home theatre system the imported designer sofa set etc have a magnetic draw today of course that would mean more loans or sudden bigchunk expenses at various times for some expenses come in various other forms eating out and entertainment are other chunky heads that we increasingly see these days fine dining restaurants can set you back by a tidy sum entertainment is expensive too multiplexes have ensured that a family spends in four figures on watching movies there are other weekend options which would require you to drive a bit that can be even more expensive also people have started using airtravel more extensively so they spend much more on travel people justify