₹60+ LPA salary, crores in gold and land… so why do I still feel poor?

I’m a 28-year-old guy working in IT with around 6 YOE. I started my career at ₹13 LPA and now earn ₹60+ LPA.

On paper, it sounds like I should be doing very well financially.

But honestly, I still feel poor sometimes.

I come from a below-middle-class family in a village in Rajasthan. Growing up, my only strength was studying. I used to walk around 4 km every day to attend a small 4-room school. Later, I moved to another school and eventually got into IIT Roorkee for B.Tech.

After starting my career, most of my income went toward family responsibilities.

First, we bought a house.

Then came my sister's marriage. Since we are from a traditional village background, there were significant marriage expenses, including a car and dowry. My sister doesn't work, and I don't blame her for that. In our village, there aren't many career options for girls apart from government jobs.

Then came my own marriage.

In our community, gold is a big part of marriage traditions and also has some social/status value. My family bought around 600g of gold for my wife. At that time, gold was around ₹50,000 per 10g. Today, it is around ₹1.4 lakh+ per 10g, so obviously it has appreciated a lot.

But here's the strange part: I don't really consider that money mine.

I don't want to sell it, and realistically, it will probably stay in the family for generations.

My mother also had a dream of owning a particular traditional Rajasthani jewellery piece, so I spent around ₹6–7 lakh on that.

My father wanted to buy more agricultural land around our village. There isn't a huge income from it, but in villages, land is also about security, pride and family status. So I spent another significant part of my income on that.

We now have family agricultural land worth more than ₹1.5 crore and gold worth more than ₹1.2 crore.

Sounds great, right?

But I don't feel rich.

Because I can't really use those assets for my own life.

Over the last year, I've finally managed to build around ₹20 lakh in mutual funds/equity and around ₹15 lakh in PPF/retirement savings.

That's basically the liquid/financial wealth I feel I actually control.

And then there is another strange thing.

I earn ₹60+ LPA, but by the 4th or 5th of the month, sometimes my bank account has only around ₹15,000.

Salary comes in → car EMI → family expenses → investments → some donations → repeat.

My father also believes strongly in donating, so around ₹2 lakh a year goes toward schools, orphan kids, cow fodder, etc.

I don't regret helping my family.

But sometimes I feel like I spent my entire earning capacity building assets for the next generation before I got a chance to build financial freedom for myself.

The AI wave has made this feeling stronger.

I've been lucky to work from home for the last two years, even after switching companies. But the IT industry feels much more unstable now. Layoffs and AI have made me think about what happens if my income suddenly stops.

If I lose my job, I have land.

I have gold.

I have a house.

But I don't have the kind of liquidity that makes me feel safe.

My wife doesn't work, and she's a very loving and humble person. I don't blame her for that either.

Actually, I didn't want to marry someone with a government job. I knew that my career could eventually take me to Bangalore, NCR or somewhere outside Rajasthan, while she might need to stay closer to our village/family. Coming from my background, I also didn't have much exposure to relationships or meeting people outside my community. I was always good at studying, and that's pretty much where my confidence came from.

Recently, I've started trying to invest in myself instead.

I joined a gym, started travelling a little, learning new skills and swimming.

Because I'm slowly realizing that maybe life isn't only about building land and gold for the next generation.

I also need to build a life for myself.

I know I'm extremely fortunate to earn ₹60+ LPA. I'm not trying to complain about that.

But I still have this weird feeling:

I earn a lot of money, have crores worth of family assets, and yet somehow I feel financially poor.

Maybe I don't need more wealth.

Maybe I just need more liquidity, freedom and the ability to actually enjoy some of what I earn.

Would love to hear from people who come from a similar background.

How do you balance family responsibilities and expectations with building financial freedom and actually living your own life?