In Bengaluru, often referred to as the Silicon Valley of India, the cost of living, including daily expenses such as food, transport, rent and miscellaneous costs can take up a large portion of monthly income, leaving limited savings for many working professionals, and at times none.
I posed as a working professional in Bengaluru earning ₹70,000 per month with ₹50,000 in expenses and asked ChatGPT if I should buy an iPhone that may last for five years or invest the remaining amount across different investment options.
My ChatGPT prompt:
“I am a 25-year-old working professional at a multinational company in Bengaluru. I earn ₹70,000 per month and spend ₹50,000 on rent, food, household help, transport, among other regular expenses. I currently save around ₹20,000 per month. Should I use that money to buy an on an EMI or should I invest that money across different investment options. What is the maximum amount I can save for five years if I diversify my funds across equities, mutual fund, gold and fixed-income schemes such as Public Provident Fund (PPF). How much average returns can I expect after five years?”
What did the AI suggest?
ChatGPT opening response was direct: “You’re basically choosing between a depreciating lifestyle purchase (iPhone on EMI) and a compounding asset-building habit ( ₹20,000/month investing). The financial difference over 5 years is not small—it compounds into lakhs.”
iPhone on EMI vs Investing ₹20,000/month
An iPhone EMI typically means:
- ₹1–1.5 lakh upfront equivalent cost (or monthly EMI for 12–24 months)
- 0% EMI is rarely truly free (processing fees, lost discount, opportunity cost)
- Value after 3–4 years will be near-zero resale compared to cost
What your ₹20,000/month can become in 5 years
However, If I choose to invest that same ₹20,000 per month for 5 years in different investment options, it would translate into an entirely different scenario, according to ChatGPT.
In that case, the total invested amount will be ₹20,000 × 60 months = ₹12,00,000
Now assuming realistic long-term returns:
— Equity mutual funds (large + mid + small blend): An investor can have around 10–12% average long-term expectation.
- At 10%: ~ ₹15.6 lakh
- At 12%: ~ ₹16.5–17 lakh
— Balanced diversified mix (your actual case: equity + gold + debt + PPF): A realistic allocation might look like:
- Equity MF: 60%
- /debt: 25%
- Gold: 15%
In this case, the expected blended return will be anywhere between 9 and 11% per annum. This means the corpus after 5 years will amount to ₹14.5 lakh to ₹16.5 lakh.
— Conservative-heavy portfolio (more debt/PPF): Let’s assume and average return between 7 and 8% per annum.
In this case, I will build a corpus amounting to ₹14–15 lakh.
The key insight
If you skip investing ₹20,000/month for just 5 years, then ₹14–17 lakh of future wealth will be lost. That means I will lose the following:
- 10–15 iPhones in “future value terms”
- Or a large chunk of a home down payment in many cities
- Or 1–2 years of financial independence buffer
So should you buy the iPhone on EMI?
From a financial point of view, EMI for iPhone locks me into consumption of a depreciating and also reduces flexibility, along with adding mental “fixed expense,” according to ChatGPT. It also competes directly with high-growth compounding capital
But realistically:
- If my personal phone is broken or affects work, then buying is justified
- Otherwise it’s just lifestyle upgrade, not an investment
Practical recommendation for your situation
Given you save ₹20,000/month already, better approach will be:
- Keep ₹18,000–19,000/month invested
- If you really want the iPhone, save separately for it for 2–3 months
- Avoid EMI unless absolutely necessary