CA’s brutal truth: '₹10 crore won’t save you and your job’s already on borrowed time'

The middle-class dream of a “stable job” is collapsing—and your career might be next, warns Meenal Goel, chartered accountant and educator, in a bluntly worded post on LinkedIn.

“Your career is now a startup,” Goel declares. In today’s job market, even tech workers with a decade of experience are being cut—not for underperformance, but because “the company restructured.”

She warns that no one is safe. “Even your boss is just two org-charts away from a #OpenToWork post.” What used to be a 40-year career might now be 10 short stints—if you're lucky.

Goel also flags what she calls “skill inflation.” Hard work is no longer enough. “The world doesn’t reward hard workers. It rewards relevant ones,” she wrote. “Five years ago, knowing Excel made you valuable. Today, if you can’t work with AI tools, you're already lagging.”

Her assessment is blunt: “Your career is depreciating faster than your iPhone.”

On financial independence, she pushes back against the popular FIRE movement. “Retire early is overrated,” Goel wrote. Instead, she urges professionals to seek “work freedom”—the power to walk away from toxic projects or bad bosses. The key, she says, isn’t amassing ₹10 crores. “You need 18–24 months of expenses saved to build real confidence. That’s your ‘f*** you fund.’”

Goel’s post lands as layoffs sweep across industries and mid-career professionals confront a fast-shifting job market. Her warning is clear: “We are a generation that will live longer, switch careers more, and burn out faster. Don’t play by your parents’ rules.”