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Got Laid Off in the US. 5 Years Later, They Were Financially FREE

Belong - GIFT City investments app

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What would you do if you lost your job and your visa on the same day?

That's exactly what happened to Sriram and Sukanya — two NRIs living the American dream in Silicon Valley. Instead of panicking, they turned it into a five-year plan for retirement planning and financial independence in India, rebuilt their finances from scratch, and moved back home on their own terms.

In this video, they walk through the real numbers — their salaries, NRI investing mistakes, their portfolio allocation, US real estate investing strategy, and the retirement math they used to calculate their retirement corpus and know exactly when they could quit.

Today, they live in Chennai fulfilling their dreams. Sriram runs a nonprofit children's library. Sukanya does theatre and narrates Tamil audiobooks. Neither of them works a corporate job again.

Key Topics Covered: H-1B layoff | Retirement planning | early retirement India | NRI investing mistakes | Aggressive investing | US rental property investing | Section 8 property investing | 4% withdrawal rule | NRI corpus calculation | return to India checklist | NRE NRO account conversion | Chennai cost of living | GIFT City investing | children's library nonprofit | theatre career change | financial independence

Chapters:
00:00 - Their Story
2:13 - Their Career and Salary Growth
3:30 - Financial Hurdles While Moving to The USA
4:20 - What Can You Learn From Their Mistakes
6:35 - Saving Taxes in the USA
7:09 - Understanding 401(k) as an investment
8:05 - Health’s Savings Account in USA
8:46 - Getting Laid Off to Retirement
10:56 - 5 Year Plan to Retirement
12:20 - Using Real Estate as a Passive Income - Section 8 Houses
14:47 - Real Estate - Illiquid?
15:35 - Into their Portfolio
16:10 - Idea of Retirement
18:10 - 4% Rule - Calculating Corpus
19:52 - Why Chennai Over Bangalore - Cost of Living
21:30 - Opening a Non Profit Library & Doing Acting
23:43 - What Makes Them Rich?

About Belong
Belong is a fintech platform built for NRIs who want to invest in India with clarity and confidence. From USD Fixed Deposits to GIFT City Mutual Funds, Belong connects global income with Indian opportunities without the NRO, NRE or PIS maze. Our newest launch, GIFT Nifty Futures, now lets NRIs trade India's benchmark index directly in USD for 20+ hours, tax free.

Explore Belong:
Website: https://getbelong.com
App: https://app.getbelong.com/bKvL/YT
Instagram: Instagram: getbelong
LinkedIn: LinkedIn: getbelong
X: https://x.com/GetBelong
Join our WhatsApp community: https://community.getbelong.com/
Explore Gift Nifty Futures: https://getbelong.com/products/future...

20 Comments

@GetBelong Creator 2 months ago (edited) Pinned

For the traders here who like what we do or are just curious, GIFT Nifty Futures just went live on Belong!

What's in it for the NRIs and the OCIs?
20+ hours of trading, no STT, no income tax through GIFT City.

If you like trading Nifty, download the Belong app and give it a look
App: https://app.getbelong.com/LywZ/YT

@hyperion39 2 months ago

When a husband and wife are aligned on the key aspects of life, everything becomes far less stressful.

@shouldersofgiants4649 2 months ago

Loved the fact that they were comfortable discussing the numbers in such an honest way for everyone's benefit. My best wishes to them.

@dbiswas 2 months ago

I think the biggest factor of your success is that you and your partner is sharing the same mindset. And you are able to get that compounding effect of 2 similar mindset. Good luck to both of you.

@Thosh82 2 months ago

Very proud of you Sriram & Suganya! We miss you guys!

@skSK-jj7ox 2 months ago

Well done, both of you. I note no negative comm4about the motherland which is a breath of fresh air.

@nishantc9100 3 weeks ago

An ex colleague of mine asked me once which country do ai belong to. I said India. She asked if I have family there. I said yes. She is like why am I staying here in the US ??

Then she said that she grew up in Atlanta, GA and she was black. She said people call us African Americans. We don’t even know which country we came to US from. We don’t have a country that we can call home other than US.

You can retire in India You can never retire in US. You still have to keep paying bills and do chores.

It’s a choice people have to pay. When kids are tying you can go back to India. When they grow older. You stay put for them and then just settle down and make it your own country.

US is now Mini India. You get everything here and celebrate all kinds of festivals and functions.

@sahanam705 9 days ago

Good to see this, well narrated

@chinniahanand 1 month ago

Really happy to see this, Sriram and Sukanya. Wishing you continued success and happiness in all your endeavors.

@jumankaushik2185 2 months ago

Such a inspiring and informative video! ✨

@fatimaallen-terry9547 2 months ago

Lovely couple and 2 beautiful children. I think Library is a great idea for children. Ai is there but personally i think children need books etc . Great job

@fivestar4808 2 months ago

Wonderful video..Financial planning and their's focus on life gives inspiration! Best wishes Sriram bro & Sukanya sis🎉

@narayanm28 2 months ago

Great inspiring video Sriram and Sukanya - very grounded and way to live - all the best

@renukadevi7310 2 months ago

It doesn’t matter where you are. Focus inward towards yourself and ignore the cosmic noise !

@gauravguliani358 2 months ago

Such a sweet, honest, lovely couple. Glad I came across your video

@subratadev5117 2 months ago (edited)

Money is not the only criteria to make that decision whether you are ready for retirement, the most important question how will you keep busy yourself after retirement. Lots of people say that they would travel, reading, do many things that they were unable to do because of their busy work schedule, but most often I find that those people didn't really think well what activities would suit them for their post retirement life. Life is good in USA and easy to build career, asset and everything else if you have a steady high paid job all through your career in USA. For Indians, green card is another factor for survival, otherwise you live a stressful life always in fear of what will happen if you lose your job. For some people it works out well, for some people it doesn't. But careful planning and spending, and keeping always a plan B in your future planning, the unexpected situations can be managed without going through any significant trouble.

@sumanmondal34 1 month ago

They seem very genuine persons, happiness is the key! ❤

@SafathN 2 months ago

Great job !

@VrkPeru-nw2uv 2 months ago

Request to the wonderful couple…Look at different education models from around the world (Japan, Finland, Sweden, Singapore, South Korea etc) integrate with Indian gurukulam system that includes focus on civic and moral values and see if you can start a school with low fees? This will be a great service to society!