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In a world obsessed with bigger salaries, larger portfolios, and endless comparison, the finish line of “enough” keeps moving further away. Many people spend years believing the next raise, the next crore, or the next milestone will finally unlock happiness. But what if comfort arrives much earlier? A recent post on X has sparked reflection by arguing that, beyond a certain level of financial security, the real difference in life is not money at all, but how you spend your time.
Gurjot Ahluwalia, a Senior Manager at an IT firm as per his LinkedIn bio, took to X and shared a blunt perspective on wealth, lifestyle, and the pursuit of happiness. According to Ahluwalia, once a person has built a corpus of around Rs 8 to Rs 10 crore, owns a home, and has a comfortable car, the practical gap in day-to-day quality of life between them and a billionaire may be far smaller than most people imagine.
Money is the true currency of life?
His point, however, was not about exact numbers or personal net worth. It was about diminishing returns. After basic security, comfort, and independence are achieved, additional money may increase status or optionality, but it does not always transform everyday living in proportion to the effort spent chasing it. Ahluwalia’s central argument was that time, not money, is the true currency of life.
Every person, regardless of wealth, operates under the same ultimate limit: time on earth. A billionaire cannot buy extra decades at will, nor escape the human need for rest, relationships, and health. In that sense, someone with fewer financial resources but more free time, better health, and stronger personal bonds may be richer in ways that balance sheets cannot capture.
Dal Roti formula
He reinforced this idea with a simple image: dal roti remains dal roti whether it is eaten by a billionaire or by an ordinary salaried professional. The statement resonated because it strips wealth back to fundamentals. Food satisfies hunger. Sleep restores energy. Love and companionship create meaning. Many essentials do not become infinitely better just because they are surrounded by greater luxury.
Ahluwalia suggested that the real goal should be financial independence rather than endless accumulation. In his framework, the purpose of money is to create freedom: freedom from constant anxiety, freedom to make choices, and freedom to spend time where it matters most.
Simple priorities
Once that base is achieved, he argued, attention should shift toward the parts of life people often postpone while pursuing more. He listed simple priorities: eat well, exercise, sleep properly, meet parents, and spend time with friends. These are ordinary actions, but they often become casualties of relentless ambition. Long working hours, chronic stress, and constant comparison can crowd out the very experiences that make success feel worthwhile.
His warning about greed
His post also carried a warning about greed. The desire for more can be endless because comparison itself has no ceiling. There will always be someone earning more, investing better, travelling farther, or owning something bigger. If satisfaction depends entirely on outrunning others, it remains permanently delayed. That is why his message struck a chord online. It challenged the assumption that happiness lives only at the next milestone. Sometimes, the more difficult task is not earning more, but recognising when enough has arrived.
Gurjot Ahluwalia, a Senior Manager at an IT firm as per his LinkedIn bio, took to X and shared a blunt perspective on wealth, lifestyle, and the pursuit of happiness. According to Ahluwalia, once a person has built a corpus of around Rs 8 to Rs 10 crore, owns a home, and has a comfortable car, the practical gap in day-to-day quality of life between them and a billionaire may be far smaller than most people imagine.
Money is the true currency of life?
His point, however, was not about exact numbers or personal net worth. It was about diminishing returns. After basic security, comfort, and independence are achieved, additional money may increase status or optionality, but it does not always transform everyday living in proportion to the effort spent chasing it. Ahluwalia’s central argument was that time, not money, is the true currency of life.Every person, regardless of wealth, operates under the same ultimate limit: time on earth. A billionaire cannot buy extra decades at will, nor escape the human need for rest, relationships, and health. In that sense, someone with fewer financial resources but more free time, better health, and stronger personal bonds may be richer in ways that balance sheets cannot capture.
Dal Roti formula
He reinforced this idea with a simple image: dal roti remains dal roti whether it is eaten by a billionaire or by an ordinary salaried professional. The statement resonated because it strips wealth back to fundamentals. Food satisfies hunger. Sleep restores energy. Love and companionship create meaning. Many essentials do not become infinitely better just because they are surrounded by greater luxury.Ahluwalia suggested that the real goal should be financial independence rather than endless accumulation. In his framework, the purpose of money is to create freedom: freedom from constant anxiety, freedom to make choices, and freedom to spend time where it matters most.
