u/Ok_Success_8951

I’m 30F, currently earning around **₹2.2 lakh/month in-hand**, and I have a total corpus of roughly **₹70 lakh**.
For most of my 8-year career, I honestly invested quite mindlessly. I put money into mutual funds, FDs, IPOs, stocks, gold funds etc. without really understanding asset allocation or having a proper investment strategy. It worked reasonably well for some time, so I never really questioned it.
But over the last couple of years, I’ve become much more conscious of what I’m doing. Seeing parts of my portfolio sitting in the red has made me realise that I don’t actually have a proper investment plan.
So I’m looking for some perspective on **how I should structure my ₹70L corpus going forward**, rather than asking which particular stock/fund I should buy.

**Current situation**
I manage investments through both my demat account and my mother’s demat account. For the last couple of years, I have mostly been investing through my mother’s account, while my own account has around ₹20L currently sitting there/invested.
**Mutual funds:**
My account: invested around **₹10.85L**, current value around **₹13.90L**
Mother’s account: invested around **₹15.76L**, current value around **₹16.50L**
A lot of this is in **Parag Parikh** and some gold mutual funds. I kept adding to Parag Parikh because it had given me decent returns earlier, without really thinking about overall diversification or whether I was already putting too much into the same thing.
**Stocks:**
My own account: around **₹16K invested**, current value around **₹27K**.
Mother’s account: around **₹3.07L invested**, current value around **₹3.13L**.
I started experimenting with stocks/IPO investing about 8 months ago, but stopped after a couple of months because I realised I wasn’t knowledgeable enough to be doing it. A lot of this was basically random IPOs, small/mid caps and other things I picked without a proper strategy.
**FDs:**
I currently have around **₹21L in FDs**.
For a long time, I kept hearing that equity/mutual funds are the way to go and that keeping too much money in FDs is inefficient. But right now, FDs are the part of my portfolio that feels the most predictable, which has made me question whether I’ve been approaching investing incorrectly.
**Physical gold:**
I also have around **₹2–3L worth of physical gold**. I don’t really intend to sell this, so I consider it separately from the money I can actively invest.

I’m also aware that some of my past decisions weren’t great. I’m not looking for criticism. **I know I was investing without a proper plan.** That’s exactly why I’m asking now.
I want a **sensible, diversified, relatively low-maintenance portfolio that I can stick with for the next 10–15+ years**.

Would really appreciate perspectives from people who have been in a similar situation and, especially, how you would structure this ₹70L from scratch if you were in my position.

I’m writing this because the last two years have completely changed how I see relationships, marriage, money, and even myself. I honestly don’t know what I’m supposed to do anymore, so I’d really appreciate some outside perspective.
I was in a relationship with my college boyfriend for almost 10 years. Most of it was long-distance, but I loved him with everything I had. For me, he was my entire life. I genuinely couldn’t imagine a life without him.
We had problems though. We fought a lot. He was very successful, but with that came a lot of ego and anger issues. He could shout a lot, and I have my own anger issues too, so the relationship became very unhealthy at times.
After college, I eventually moved to Bangalore to live with him. We lived together for around 1.5 years. We had broken up and gotten back together countless times, so I never took a breakup seriously. This time, he told me he didn’t feel I was someone he wanted to change for and that he couldn’t see himself being happy with me.
He asked me to move out, and I did, thinking maybe we just needed space.
What I didn’t know was that he had already started talking to women through arranged marriage. Within a month or two of me moving out, he had essentially decided to marry someone else. He hid it from me while we were still in contact and eventually got married within a few months.
I was shattered.
My entire life had revolved around this person for almost a decade, and suddenly it was just… over. I went through a very dark period and honestly felt like I had lost all hope.
My family started looking for matches for me too. I met people through arranged marriage, but I was still so traumatised that I couldn’t emotionally connect with anyone.
Then I became close to a junior from work.
He liked me and pursued me while I was still meeting people through arranged marriage. He was kind, understood me, and slowly became someone I genuinely enjoyed spending time with. Most importantly, he supported me through the worst period of my life after my breakup.
But there was one huge problem in my head: money and status.
My ex was extremely successful financially, and for years I had internalised the idea that my future partner should be at least as successful, if not more successful, than him.
This junior earned significantly less than me. I kept thinking, How can I marry someone who earns this much less? What will my life look like? Am I settling?
So even though I liked him, I never gave myself a proper chance to accept the relationship. At the same time, whenever I met someone through arranged marriage, I found reasons why it wouldn’t work. And somehow another year passed.
My family pressure kept increasing, especially from my mother. A lot of conversations became about how much easier her life would be if I just settled down.
A few months ago, I finally told this guy that if we were seriously considering marriage, I needed him to work towards improving his career and income. Coincidentally, we both changed jobs around the same period. I now earn more than twice what he earns.
And then life threw something much bigger at me.
I found out that my mother has stage IV breast cancer. It’s aggressive and incurable. Her treatment has been incredibly difficult, and one of her biggest wishes now is to see me settled and married.
And suddenly, all the things I thought were so important started feeling confusing.
This guy has stayed beside me through my breakup, my lowest mental state, and now my mother’s illness. He has supported me emotionally when I genuinely had nobody. He is younger than me by around 4–5 years, and financially he is behind me right now, but he is working and has already started progressing in his career.
Meanwhile, I know I was getting very good arranged-marriage prospects. I’m financially independent, reasonably successful, and I don’t think I’m unattractive or difficult to talk to. I was getting matches from men earning significantly more than me — some earning ₹50L+, even ₹1Cr+.
And this is where I’m stuck.
I feel guilty that I’m not excited about marrying this guy. But then I wonder whether my idea of an “ideal husband” has been completely distorted by my ex.
My ex used to tell me that I would never find someone as successful as him.
After the breakup, I almost made it my mission to prove him wrong. I thought I’d eventually find someone richer, more successful, and “better” than him.
And now I’m considering marrying someone who earns much less than me — someone who, however, has actually been there for me when life was at its worst.
Part of me thinks, maybe money and career can change, but how someone treats you when you’re going through hell is much harder to find.
Another part of me is scared that I’m making a decision because of my mother’s illness, my age, family pressure, and the fact that this person was there when I was vulnerable.
I genuinely don’t know if I’m choosing him because I love him, because he’s right for me, because I’m afraid of losing another person, or because life has simply left me with very little emotional bandwidth.
So Reddit, what do you think?
Have I been looking at marriage through the wrong lens because of my ex? Is financial compatibility something I should be much more concerned about? Or am I undervaluing someone who has consistently shown up for me because he doesn’t match the financial “benchmark” I had created in my head?
I’m not asking anyone to decide for me. I just want some perspective from people who have been through something similar.
Sorry for the incredibly long post.

TL;DR: After a 10-year relationship ended badly, I became close to a younger colleague who has supported me through my hardest times. He earns much less than me, while I have access to financially much stronger arranged-marriage prospects. Now that my mother has stage IV cancer and wants to see me settled, I’m confused about whether I’m undervaluing a genuinely supportive partner because of money and the expectations my ex left me with.

I have joined accenture 3 weeks back. And have to enroll my parents for health insurance. The vidal one. I still have around 1-2 weeks left for the enrollment window open.

Now comes the worst part- my mother has been diagnosed with cancer and we have to start her treatment. Just one report pending to confirm it 100%. Can someone please confirm if i take this vidal insurance. Will they cover the treatment. Or would they claim it as pre existing ailment. Someone has a better idea please help.