Entrepreneur and author Ankur Warikoo recently shared a deeply personal account of his family’s financial hardships, offering a rare glimpse into the resilience and sacrifices that shaped his understanding of money, success and life.
In a post on X, Warikoo reflected on the year 2002, when his parents — both 50 at the time — invested their entire life savings of ₹2 lakh as a down payment on a modest home. Until then, the family had lived in Lajpat Nagar, south Delhi, but soaring property prices forced them to look beyond the city.
A risky home decision
Eventually, Faridabad became the only affordable option. Warikoo wrote that his father took a home loan of ₹8 lakh, committing to a monthly EMI of ₹7,000 on a salary of ₹25,000 — barely ten years before retirement.
“There was no YouTube then to tell him he was defying all finfluencer logic,” Warikoo remarked.
Within a year, his father lost his job. Determined not to return to employment, he started a small business in the highly competitive generic drugs industry. The venture struggled, losses mounted, and loan defaults became frequent — struggles the family largely kept private.
A son watching from afar
During this period, Warikoo was studying in the United States. He sent ₹15,000 home every month, unsure if it was enough or even reaching where it was needed. In 2004, he returned to India after dropping out — a decision that disappointed his parents, though he had managed to save ₹7 lakh during his time abroad.
One moment stayed etched in his memory: his father calling to ask for ₹10,000 to pay the home loan EMI. When Warikoo offered to pay it directly, his father broke down. “Nothing prepares you in life to see your father cry,” he wrote, describing a man drained by years of financial pressure.
Debt, mistakes and dignity
By the time Warikoo completed business school, his father’s business loans had grown to ₹16 lakh. Warikoo himself had an education loan of ₹15 lakh, leaving him ₹30 lakh in debt on his first day of work.
His father continued to take up odd jobs until 2009, partly to stay busy and partly out of guilt. Along the way, he made several financial missteps — investing in LIC policies, penny stocks, chit funds and misusing credit cards.
Yet, Warikoo said, his father succeeded where it mattered most: raising a family, ensuring good education, providing a home and passing on strong values.
“He is a failure in the eyes of every finfluencer,” Warikoo wrote, “but he is the baap of one.”
The post struck a chord online, reminding many that success is not always about perfect financial decisions, but about perseverance, sacrifice and the courage to keep going when everything seems stacked against you.