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Groceries was getting painful when you have to buy diapers and formula milk for the baby. Not to mention the fees they charge for nurseries. Mobile phone bills arrive every month with a shocking bottom line - the shock recurs eventhough you see the same thing every month. Of course that was before Whatsapp was created. SMS do cost money.
UDGET is not an easy thing to do, let alone to follow it. I started my single life earning RM1,500 per month way back in 1997. I struggled my way up to cope with the financial stress from the high cost of living in the metropolitan area. Like many others, I got married. Our household income increased significantly but soon, the expenditure also ballooned (with the introduction of new family members - babies!). Life was tough but we managed to pull through. We were lucky that both, my wife and I, had 0% interest study loan that we were (still are) paying. Our education background is quite decent. I think. If not, we won't have reached a Manager level at our workplace.
Each of us has a car. After 13 years of working, we could only afford locally manufactured automobiles. Petrol, parking and tol take up quite a bit of our income but what can you do? You still need to reach your work place. Or else, how do you earn a living? It certainly did not help when one works in KL and the other in PJ. Car pooling could not have worked. Groceries were getting painful when you have to buy diapers and formula milk for the baby. Not to mention the fees they charge for nurseries. Mobile phone bills arrive every month with a shocking bottom line - the shock repeats even though you see the same thing every month. Of course that was before Whatsapp was created. SMS do cost money.
As the kids grow, some basic entertainment had to be installed. We had Astro, Internet and of course, a bi-weekly family outing to TGIF or Chilis with a movie that the first son chose becomes a ritual. That same son was also subjected to the torturing life of going to tuitions. How else can he pave his path to a future life with sufficient financial resources? That cost money - to us - the parents. At mid age, if we have not even started owning a property, we might as well sell our souls to the landlord - and so, we bought a 20ft x 70ft intermediate double-storey linked house. A heavy burden but at least with an asset - our very own asset-backed obligation.
Once we passed the age of 30, we soon realised that we can no longer waste time living a life where the expenditure is equal or higher than the income. Fortunately, our honest work paid us handsome promotions over the years. It was then possible to start on savings - a pathetic 9% of the total gross household income - but savings nonetheless. We procured life insurances, education insurances, unit trusts and many more. There were some equity investments but limited to the conversion of ESOS that the employers were generous enough to give us.
Today, after working for almost 20 years, we have a comfortable life - neither rich nor poor - just nice for an average modern Malay family of 4 that goes for vacation occasionally and moderate level of entertainment and luxury shopping. Looking back, I understood how we had survived. It was the strong education that we had started with and the honest and focused efforts we had invested in our careers. The combined commitment from both husband and wife certainly helped reduce the pain. Perhaps, in this modern and dynamic world, working class citizens cannot afford to live without double-income earners in a household.
I feel compelled to share my experience with Gen Y as most of them are commencing their "wonderful" world of working after having studied for 4 to 5 years in tertiary institutions. Well, what was mentioned earlier gave a rough feel of how life would be but a more systematic mechanism needs to be in place to guide you with benchmarks and parameters. I have therefore taken the liberty to formulate a Proforma Monthly Household Budget (below) assuming a mid-age family. This should give you a fair idea on how to manage your financials wisely. As you can see the bottom line says RM11 - just nice to buy a pack of cigarettes and a lighter a month - so I quit smoking :)
* kopihangtuah
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