On Li Ka-Shing's advice

 

I came across this article a long while back, and it set me reflecting.

Li Ka-Shing teaches you how to buy a car & house in 5 years

He gives you advice on how to divide your salary into proportions:

• 30% goes to living expenses
• 20% goes to "making friends"
• 15% goes to learning
• 10% goes to vacations
• 25% goes to investments

The last net salary from my library job was around $245, the equivalent of 22.5 hours of work. If I were to look at the two weeks that this period covered, I did spend:

• 30% on living expenses (i.e. food)
• 5% on miscellaneous expenses (i.e. passport photos for my OPT application)

The rest of the money went into my bank account for savings and future expenses.

I don't know where Li Ka-Shing gets his budget for other kinds of expenses. The article says to "try to buy minimal clothes and shoes," but I don't think that applies to international students from the tropics who suddenly find themselves caught in the US polar vortex.


Anyway, looking at my expenses for this schoolyear, I see that:

• 63% went to tuition and school fees
• 18% went to room and board (of which 1% was food expense)
• 8% went to health insurance (!!!)
• 6% went to personal expense (OPT application, movie tickets, etc)
• 4% went to travel expense (bookings for this summer)
• 1% went to textbooks

And that makes 100% of my expenses for SY 2013-14 so far.

I'm amazed at how much I spent on health insurance. If only I could reimburse any "unused, unclaimed" portion in some way.

From phdcomics.com (I'm not a PHD, but I can definitely relate!)