The Indigo Threshold: Why Pushing Too Hard Backfires in Money

Just a few days ago, IndiGo made headlines for a series of flight cancellations and delays across the country. The alleged reason? A sudden shortage of pilots triggered by the revised Flight Duty Time Limit (FDTL) norms.

On the surface, this sounds like a typical logistical hiccup.

But dig deeper and it reveals a powerful lesson—not just for aviation companies, but for every investor trying to build a stable financial future.

IndiGo has the maximum night-flight operations in India.
More than Air India.
More than anyone.

And because it’s a low-cost carrier, it runs on a super-lean model:

Basically, for years they ran their airline like we run our toothpaste — squeeze till the very last drop.

Now, honestly, hats off.
This model worked brilliantly for them.
Until the rules changed.

When DGCA tightened the rest norms and restricted night operations, the whole system suddenly felt like a car whose wheels were rotating faster than the engine could handle.

The real problem wasn’t the new rule.
The real problem was there was no buffer.

Nothing extra.
Nothing spare.
Nothing that could absorb a shock.

And that’s when I thought —
This is exactly how so many people run their financial lives.

Many clients ask me this with full sincerity.

“What’s the maximum return I can get?”

There’s nothing wrong with the question — it’s human.
But the danger lies in planning your life around the maximum.

Because maximum return requires:

Just like IndiGo’s schedule required maximum utilisation, down to the last minute.

When everything goes right, it works.
But life doesn’t always go right.

I recently met a friend who proudly declared:

“I’ve calculated my retirement corpus to the last rupee. If I have exactly ₹X, I will be sorted.”

It sounds neat on paper.
But life doesn’t work on spreadsheets.

Just as DGCA updates aviation rules, life updates its rules too:

None of these are visible in advance.

And when they arrive, a plan built on maximum assumptions collapses instantly.

Financial planning must always acknowledge one truth:
Life will throw curveballs.

In every domain—aviation, corporate productivity, even our daily routines—optimization leads to better, more sustainable outcomes than maximization.

Good systems never run at 100%.
They keep buffers.
They keep margins.
They plan for the unexpected.

In personal finance, your buffers look like:

These aren’t inefficiencies.
These aren’t luxuries.
They are the foundation of stability.

Just like an airline with crew reserves can handle sudden disruptions gracefully, an investor with financial buffers can handle life’s turbulence without panic.

There’s a saying in the corporate world:

“If everything depends on nothing going wrong, everything will go wrong.”

Organisations that squeeze every last drop of productivity often falter when the environment shifts.
Those with built-in resiliency survive and thrive.

Your financial life is no different.

The goal is not to shoot for the maximum.
The goal is to make sure your plan works — consistently, reliably, and through all seasons of life.

IndiGo’s scheduling strategy wasn’t wrong — it was optimized for a particular environment. But when that environment changed, the absence of buffers exposed the frailty of the system.

In your personal finance journey, don’t make the same mistake.

Optimization beats maximization — always.

If you’re unsure whether your financial life has enough buffers — or you suspect you’re running everything at “maximum” — let’s talk.

A 15-minute clarity conversation can show you where your plan is strong, where it’s stretched, and how to build the kind of financial resilience that real life demands.

👉 Book a quick clarity call: https://wealthwisher.in/book-a-call