My Dubai Salary: ‘I earn Dh850,000 a year from numerous investments’

Indian tech entrepreneur Gaurav Chhaparwal bought a property in Dubai 18 months after moving to the emirate, and purchased a car only later.

Property accounts for most of his investment portfolio. He believes the Dubai real estate market is underpriced compared with other global cities and sees huge potential for growth in this asset class.

However, Mr Chhaparwal, 40, who has been living in the emirate for 11 years, continues to live in a rented property in The Gardens, Dubai, with his wife and mother.

He was born and raised in the city of Kota in Rajasthan state, north-west India.

Although he studied aerospace engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Mr Chhaparwal also has a business analytics certificate from the Indian Institute of Management Kolkata and has been working in data analytics for most of his career.

What was your first job and salary?

I worked for seven years in India before moving to Dubai. My first job was in 2006 in the research division of a US company called Fair Isaac, which makes software for data analytics, in Bengaluru. I earned about 800,000 Indian rupees ($9,543) per year.

I worked there for two years. I then moved to Delhi with MakeMyTrip.com, where I started their analytics division and worked there for one and a half years. I also worked with HT Media and Snapdeal.

I moved to Dubai in 2013 and joined as head of analytics at e-commerce platform Souq.com. I worked there for three years and then moved to Emirates airline as head of digital analytics for three and a half years before starting my company, Datahash, in 2019.

Tell us about your current role.

I have been the founder and chief executive of Datahash for five years. We are a marketing technology company and one of the largest partners of big marketing channels like Meta, Snapchat, TikTok and Google.

We help advertisers get better returns on their marketing spend on these channels through data integration.

Do you manage to save and have considerable savings?

I’ve been saving not just in Dubai, but even during my time in India. When I moved to Dubai, I started saving right from the start.

I bought my first property in Dubai 18 months after moving here, while I bought my first car only six months later.

When I landed my first job, the first thing my father told me was to allocate 25 per cent of my salary for savings.

In which asset classes do you invest?

I invest in multiple asset classes. The first is real estate. Among global metros, the Dubai property industry offers one of the lowest price per square foot, compared to, say, Singapore or Hong Kong. My investment thesis suggests that Dubai property prices will continue to rise. Property is, therefore, the biggest part of my investment portfolio.

After buying my first property, I continue to purchase more properties and rent them out. I earn a considerable amount from my property investments.

The second is a relatively unusual asset class. I have put in a sizeable amount as angel investments in start-ups. But this involves both high risk and high returns.

It’s important to understand the business fundamentals of start-ups. If you do not have those skills yourselves, find a group of friends with complementary skill sets so that you can evaluate better. I have a group of friends who share my interest in investing, so we started evaluating angel investments together. This offered a good opportunity to source more deals, assess investments collectively and gave us leverage in terms of the total investment amount.

The third asset class I invest in is stock markets, with specific stocks and index funds. I prefer the US stock market from a maturity perspective.

I also keep a certain amount of cash deposits as reserves because when you are investing in relatively illiquid categories like real estate or high-risk categories like angel investments, you want a certain amount of cash reserves for stability.

How much do you earn from these investments?

I earn Dh850,000 ($231,420) a year in net income from all my investments.

Do you have any debt?

Besides mortgages, I don't have any other significant debt. I believe credit cards and personal loans are very expensive.

I use credit cards only for their offers. If you are managing your finances well, you should avoid depending on a personal loan or credit card-cash withdrawal because those charge high interest rates.

A mortgage is far more affordable, especially considering that Dubai properties offer good returns, which pay off the interest and principal, and still provide a return. My car is paid off.

Have you ever inherited a sum of money?

When my dad passed away, my brother and I transferred all his assets to our mother. We are thankful for our education, upbringing and values. Neither of us considers inheritance as a part of our wealth.

Growing up, were you taught how to handle your finances?

My father was a businessman. When you grow up in a business family, there is a notion of financial prudence in terms of thinking of making profits. However, financial education wasn't taught to me in the early stages.

But my parents taught me the value of money in terms of what is worth spending on, when and how much. The differentiation between what is a necessity, what is good to have and what is a luxury was created. For instance, my dad would be willing to buy me a motorbike but not a video game.

What are your major monthly expenses?

Besides the mortgage payments, my biggest expense is Dh7,000 monthly house rent.

The other bills, such as utility, chiller, internet, car fuel and maintenance, cumulatively amount to between Dh6,000 and Dh7,000 per month. Occasional eating out and entertainment cost Dh2,000 per month.

How do you budget your monthly income?

I don't. From an earnings and overall assets perspective, I am financially independent. My expenses are fairly stable, so I stopped looking at them month on month.

I used to look at my finances when I moved to Dubai. I identified a certain level of savings, found a comfortable level of spend per month, maintained or increased it slightly with time or to account for inflation.

Whatever savings remain at the end of the month, we continue to invest.

Do you have an emergency fund?

Yes. If you have no income but all expenses are running for six months, you need to put aside cash reserves where you can withdraw it if needed. Put it in a deposit or calculate where you get a certain base return, but it is risk free. Ensure you have insurance in place.

On what do you spend your disposable income?

My wife and I travel a lot. On average, we spend about Dh50,000 to Dh60,000 each year on travel, which translates to about Dh5,000 per month.

Do you worry about money?

Worrying about money comes from a lack of knowledge. I don't worry about money because I maintain a financial model, which accounts for my assets, investments, returns, expenses. Even inflation and any uncertainties are accounted for.

This model gives me good clarity in terms of what my current situation is and what I can or cannot do, so fear is removed from the equation.

Most people I meet do not know how much money they need or have. Some people who earn well don't track their finances. That’s where the uncertainty comes from.

What are your financial goals?

My goal has always been financial freedom, which I have achieved. Now my next goal is for my company.

We have about 65 employees. I want to make sure that the company gets a good exit at some point and all employees make good value out of it. All of them should achieve the financial freedom that I have been able to earn for myself.

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