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!)

Evolution of an MBA

Brought to you by Wharton Follies 2011

So here's a video to break my blog's text monotony! Of course, it has to be MBA-related. 

Comments:
Ooh, Case in Point - our textbook for case interviews.
Au Bon Pain for group meeting snacks? Check. Those group meetings could take hours.
MBAs love costume parties.
Professional attire? Yup, you learn to leave a suit and shoes in your locker.
Jaunts to exotic destinations are not for money-saving me.
Eating out of the bin? Ugh, no.


Seriously, the changes you absorb as you go through the MBA wringer - all that business jargon of ROI, tax returns, marketing promotions and Lean operations suddenly make sense; networking in professional attire while drinking cocktails becomes part of your routine; negotiating and debating with teammates are learned skills, etc - won't necessarily make a superstar out of you once you graduate, and it's important to remember that. (MBAs have this reputation of being know-it-alls, especially MBAs from particular elite schools.)

Don't even think of lying on your MBA application...

Or your MBA degree might just be taken away from you when you think you're this big and successful hotshot.

Don't be like this guy:
Stanford Takes Away an MBA Degree

Re that guy: changing grades on his law school transcript to make his parents happy? Really?! Give me a break. Begs the question of whether more stringent grading in American schools should be practiced so that students really put in the hard work of earning their grades, don't get misplaced confidence due to over-inflated A's and A-'s, and be used to the idea that not getting A's and A-'s is okay.

I tell you, it's too easy to get an A in the US educational system that grades don't really serve as a benchmark of academic performance anymore. A B in the MBA program is already something to be ashamed of. And that's, what, a 3 on a 4-point scale (which, on the Philippine university scale, is an 80 out of 100)? Whatever happened to C's, D's and F's?

Hah. Just wanted to say that first-year MBA students are intense when it comes to grades. Especially in the first semester of the program.