One of my favourite stories from Morgan Housel’s ‘The Psychology of Money’ is about Ronald Read. He was a janitor in the US. He lived a frugal life. Nothing about him was flashy or suggested wealth.
But when he passed away in 2014, people were surprised to learn that he had amassed a fortune of nearly $8 million.
There was no high-paying corporate job, no inheritance, no business success. He simply invested consistently over decades and allowed the power of compounding to do the rest.
I often come back to this story because it challenges the biggest myth around wealth creation – that wealth belongs only to those who start with privilege.
For a long time, many Indians believed the same.
Wealth creation felt like it belonged to people who came from business families, inherited properties, or those who had access to privileges that were out of reach for the common man.
For the average salaried professional, financial success meant getting a stable job, buying a home, educating their children and saving enough for their retirement.
Not only did wealth creation feel aspirational; it also felt like a distant dream, if not one that was completely out of reach.
Today, I feel this is quietly changing. Over the last decade, I have seen something transitioning across Indian households. Ordinary people have started to believe that they can create wealth too.
It may sound like a small shift, but I believe that it is one of the biggest transformations India is witnessing today.
For a long time, investing itself felt intimidating. It required paperwork, access, information, and, for many, a level of financial confidence that wasn’t easy to come by.
Today, a young professional in Siliguri and an entrepreneur from Dhanbad have access to the same investment platforms, information, and financial products as someone living in Delhi or Mumbai. They can open an investment account, start an SIP, and monitor their investments, all on the go, that too in minutes.
Technology has dramatically reduced those barriers. What was once exclusive is increasingly becoming accessible to all.
The numbers support what many of us are already seeing.
India’s mutual fund industry has expanded rapidly over the past decade, driven largely by retail participation rather than institutional investments.
According to the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), monthly SIP contributions touched a record ₹32,087 crore in March 2026, and the country has nearly 10 crore active SIP accounts.
The data shows that SIP participation continues to scale new highs, underscoring a growing acceptance of disciplined investing as a long-term habit.
The average Indian investor today is increasingly likely to be a salaried employee, a first-time investor, or someone from a smaller city beginning their wealth-creation journey.
In fact, industry data also shows that retail investors account for more than 60% of mutual fund assets under management (AUM).
To me, the story is not just about size or numbers, it’s also behavioural and cultural.
I say this because I now hear conversations around SIPs and investing in places where they rarely happened earlier. Around dinner tables, among young professionals and even between parents and children. These conversations were far less common 20 years ago.
For previous generations, wealth creation largely meant savings. But for the younger generations, there has been a behavioural change. For them, wealth creation means discipline and consistent investing. The younger generation has realized that savings protect today’s money. Investing creates tomorrow’s wealth.
An important thing that I have noticed about wealth is that two people can earn similar incomes over their lifetimes and still end up with completely different financial outcomes.
I have met professionals with impressive salaries who have struggled to build long-term financial security. I have also met ordinary salaried individuals who have built meaningful wealth over time by investing consistently for years.
The difference is rarely about how much people earn. It is about what they repeatedly do with what they earn.
That’s why wealth creation will belong less to those who make perfect investment decisions and more to those who build disciplined financial habits.
History has often shown us that wealth is rarely created through one extraordinary decision. It is usually built through ordinary decisions repeated consistently over time.
Wealth creation has not become easier. Markets will continue to rise and fall. There will always be uncertainty. But for the first time, where you come from may matter a little less than the financial habits you choose to build.
Because wealth creation is no longer the domain of a select few. It’s steadily becoming a possibility as millions of Indians today are gradually moving from asking, ‘How do I save money?’ to asking ‘How do I make my money grow?’
