First salary has been here for barely a few days, et voila! More than half is gone.
Such is the way for salaries, I suppose ^^;
There are two ways this could have gone: You could have expected it and shrugged it off, budgeting for the rest of your month, or this could have been a total shocker and you find yourself floundering with almost no money to spend for the rest of the month.
And guess what, if your student-day allowances don't fulfil your needs, chances are your working day salaries won't either, despite the hefty increment.
So what gives?
PLANNING
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail, an old adage goes. I concur with this.
I am very much the planner type. To avoid future mishaps and try as much as I can to navigate the unforeseen, I plan ahead- very much ahead.
In fact, knowing more or less the salary I would be given, I have started planning- very amateur-ly- my salary since my second year of medical school. From then, I knew the luxurious lives people keep saying doctors have, is utterly non-existent in my earlier years of working. I expected that I wouldn't be able to get a decent gaming laptop until at least several years of working and not spending on anything. I knew I wouldn't be able to realistically change my cellphone to a newer model every year without having to lose weeks' worth of groceries, and thus that is not going to happen.
I knew all this since my pre-clinical years in medical school.
I have thoroughly planned my salary division since a few months prior to entering the workforce, and I know how much I can expect to have left to myself after all the essentials are paid for- essentials being rent, bills, loans and insurance, as well as some fixed savings. I already know how much I can afford, more or less, on monthly groceries and phone bills.
This means even before working, I know what I can and cannot afford and I did not get anything I feel I cannot pay for in the future.
This will be grossly different depending on the lifestyle and upbringing you already have. I know of some wealthy people whose parents still give them a hefty sum of money every month even after they start working. I know of people who have to pay for EVERYTHING of their parents' after they start working. The key here is to suit your own budget, and NOT expect to get anything for yourself the first few months. That way, even the smallest extras for yourself feel rewarding!
Which brings us to the next thing...
MINDSET
Reward yourself, but don't do so lavishly.
Unless you're wealthy and you can afford it.
If you think a RM 15 chicken chop is a just reward, it WILL be. But if you keep on fixating on a RM 250++ lavish hotel dinner course as a just reward, then your pay as a new government servant won't be rewarding at all.
Therein lies the problem in most of my generation: We are so self-entitled, we think we deserve better than most people, when in fact, we ARE most people. And it's so much worse in new doctors sometimes, because they keep thinking their salaries are so high that they should be able to spend more than the regular office clerks or other hospital staff.
What we should realize is the fact that 1) those clerks we see have been working WAY longer than us; 2) people have other sources of income than their full-time jobs nowadays; and 3) most of us have massive student loans to pay for. The combination of these three points alone is enough to make you feel like salary-pinching.
So you're going to be a doctor.
That doesn't mean you can afford that expensive smartphone contract for 2 years.
So what if you don't have the latest phone? In reality, in the hospital, NOBODY CARES WHAT PHONE YOU USE. You can use the NOKIA 3310 and people will be stupefied, but any smartphone capable of making calls, staying in touch through group WhatsApp and surfing the web for medical information is enough for any young doctor. And these things do not require a RM3500++ stylish iPhone.
That contract looks small in comparison to your gaji.
But believe you me, small things tend to pile up, and there are always other costs incurred that you've not even entertained before.
Ah, and always keep aside some of your salary for your emergency savings account!
Okay bye must enjoy the rest of my off day!
Such is the way for salaries, I suppose ^^;
There are two ways this could have gone: You could have expected it and shrugged it off, budgeting for the rest of your month, or this could have been a total shocker and you find yourself floundering with almost no money to spend for the rest of the month.
And guess what, if your student-day allowances don't fulfil your needs, chances are your working day salaries won't either, despite the hefty increment.
So what gives?
PLANNING
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail, an old adage goes. I concur with this.
I am very much the planner type. To avoid future mishaps and try as much as I can to navigate the unforeseen, I plan ahead- very much ahead.
In fact, knowing more or less the salary I would be given, I have started planning- very amateur-ly- my salary since my second year of medical school. From then, I knew the luxurious lives people keep saying doctors have, is utterly non-existent in my earlier years of working. I expected that I wouldn't be able to get a decent gaming laptop until at least several years of working and not spending on anything. I knew I wouldn't be able to realistically change my cellphone to a newer model every year without having to lose weeks' worth of groceries, and thus that is not going to happen.
I knew all this since my pre-clinical years in medical school.
I have thoroughly planned my salary division since a few months prior to entering the workforce, and I know how much I can expect to have left to myself after all the essentials are paid for- essentials being rent, bills, loans and insurance, as well as some fixed savings. I already know how much I can afford, more or less, on monthly groceries and phone bills.
This means even before working, I know what I can and cannot afford and I did not get anything I feel I cannot pay for in the future.
This will be grossly different depending on the lifestyle and upbringing you already have. I know of some wealthy people whose parents still give them a hefty sum of money every month even after they start working. I know of people who have to pay for EVERYTHING of their parents' after they start working. The key here is to suit your own budget, and NOT expect to get anything for yourself the first few months. That way, even the smallest extras for yourself feel rewarding!
Which brings us to the next thing...
MINDSET
Reward yourself, but don't do so lavishly.
Unless you're wealthy and you can afford it.
If you think a RM 15 chicken chop is a just reward, it WILL be. But if you keep on fixating on a RM 250++ lavish hotel dinner course as a just reward, then your pay as a new government servant won't be rewarding at all.
Therein lies the problem in most of my generation: We are so self-entitled, we think we deserve better than most people, when in fact, we ARE most people. And it's so much worse in new doctors sometimes, because they keep thinking their salaries are so high that they should be able to spend more than the regular office clerks or other hospital staff.
What we should realize is the fact that 1) those clerks we see have been working WAY longer than us; 2) people have other sources of income than their full-time jobs nowadays; and 3) most of us have massive student loans to pay for. The combination of these three points alone is enough to make you feel like salary-pinching.
So you're going to be a doctor.
That doesn't mean you can afford that expensive smartphone contract for 2 years.
So what if you don't have the latest phone? In reality, in the hospital, NOBODY CARES WHAT PHONE YOU USE. You can use the NOKIA 3310 and people will be stupefied, but any smartphone capable of making calls, staying in touch through group WhatsApp and surfing the web for medical information is enough for any young doctor. And these things do not require a RM3500++ stylish iPhone.
That contract looks small in comparison to your gaji.
But believe you me, small things tend to pile up, and there are always other costs incurred that you've not even entertained before.
So where does the money go?
Where your planning and mindset would lead them, silly!
Ah, and always keep aside some of your salary for your emergency savings account!
Okay bye must enjoy the rest of my off day!
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