“I am originally from Kanpur, UP and I belong to a middle-class family. My father is an advocate and mother a teacher. But social and financial independence go way way back in my family. My grandmother was originally from Uttarakhand and got married when she was 13 years old. She had to leave school as a result of that. But that didn’t stop her from pursuing her education. After my aunt was born, my grandmother re-started her schooling. She would keep my aunt on her lap and study. This set an example for all her children and grandchildren.”

“My mother too has always been independent. She started working at the age of 21. She managed all our finances at home, and that’s how I got into the environment of seeing women manage money. I would accompany my mother to the bank, watch her fill out the forms, make the required investments. She often told me - ‘if you are a woman in this world, you have to be financially independent’. I opened my first bank account when I was in class 2. I had received a scholarship of INR 500 and I remember that it went straight into my Punjab National Bank account. I felt so proud to have my own account, the interest it got me on my savings, my own passbook - all of this was so exciting.”

“My relationship with my money shifted gears when I started living on my own. That is when I became aware of the expenses of running a house. I had to plan and budget well in advance for something as simple as buying a plane ticket to visit home. That’s when I realised that I had to be smart about my money. It took some time getting used to absorbing financial information. But once I got used to it, it became a habit. It has been 10 years since I started reading the financial newspaper, and I haven’t skipped a single day.”

"Even investing was something I taught myself. I remember once I went to the bank to save some money, and someone told me about Mutual Funds in passing. But I was interested in understanding this and so put in my money there and in 2.5 years, it had doubled! I couldn't believe myself. But I guess that's why one must make informed decisions." "My confidence in making these decisions go back to my upbringing. My father was an independent advocate and there were certain times that my mother had to be the breadwinner of the family. Now, of course, my dad works with a firm and things have changed. But this is such an important observation. A family that is equal with no gender roles. I think to a large extent, this shaped my marriage too. When my husband decided to start his own business, I was there to support him. We both have our savings, but there's no pressure that one person has to be the sole breadwinner of the family."

"But as lovely as this sounds, this is still a minority in today's society. I work in analytics and though the change is surely there, it is small. But what makes me happy is that at least there is progress, even if it is minute."

“I had come across Basis through the co-founders Hena and Dipika as we all were a part of the Lean-In Bangalore chapter. I wanted to understand the app and downloaded it. This is when I realised the importance of having a retirement corpus. The retirement calculator was super helpful in enabling me to arrive at an estimated retirement amount. Now I have started making investments to meet that goal.”

“I believe financial independence is all about one’s interest. If you want to be independent, you will find a way. It is all about bringing those conversations into your life and being honest with yourself, and that’s all it takes to get there!” Shruti is one of the early adopters of Basis. She has been with Basis over a year now and remains one of our most loyal and dear customers!