How much money do you earn? And how do you spend it?

throwaway5565 said:
Age 25. First full time job.

Gross 64k
Net 47k
Rent: 7500
Electricity: 500
Groceries: 3000
Petrol: 2000
Insurance products: 2000
Medical aid with dependent: 8500
Entertainment: 2000
RA: 3000
Stocks: 2000
Clothes: 1000
Cell and bank charges: 500
Misc: 2000
Car: 1000
Savings: +/-12-13000 (depends on the month)

Should be getting an increase soon.
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Age 27 now.

Gross is 97k
Net 67.5k
Rent/Water: 4250
Electricity: 750
Groceries: 5000
Petrol: 1000
Insurance: 2500
Medical aid: 4000
Entertainment: 3000
RA: 3000
TFSA: 3000
Cell/bank charges/internet: 1000
Housekeeper: 750
Car: 1000
Misc: 3000

Saving around 35k per month above RA/TFSA, some goes to travel, a lot to emergency fund. I will unfortunately be unemployed end of the year.
 
throwaway5565 said:
Age 27 now.

Gross is 97k
Net 67.5k
Rent/Water: 4250
Electricity: 750
Groceries: 5000
Petrol: 1000
Insurance: 2500
Medical aid: 4000
Entertainment: 3000
RA: 3000
TFSA: 3000
Cell/bank charges/internet: 1000
Housekeeper: 750
Car: 1000
Misc: 3000

Saving around 35k per month above RA/TFSA, some goes to travel, a lot to emergency fund. I will unfortunately be unemployed end of the year.
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Nice. Impressive dropping your rent. Contract roll?
 
throwaway5565 said:
Age 27 now.

Gross is 97k
Net 67.5k
Rent/Water: 4250
Electricity: 750
Groceries: 5000
Petrol: 1000
Insurance: 2500
Medical aid: 4000
Entertainment: 3000
RA: 3000
TFSA: 3000
Cell/bank charges/internet: 1000
Housekeeper: 750
Car: 1000
Misc: 3000

Saving around 35k per month above RA/TFSA, some goes to travel, a lot to emergency fund. I will unfortunately be unemployed end of the year.
Click to expand...

How is your car R1000 but insurance is R2500?

What do you do for work?
 
throwaway5565 said:
Age 27 now.

Gross is 97k
Net 67.5k
Rent/Water: 4250
Electricity: 750
Groceries: 5000
Petrol: 1000
Insurance: 2500
Medical aid: 4000
Entertainment: 3000
RA: 3000
TFSA: 3000
Cell/bank charges/internet: 1000
Housekeeper: 750
Car: 1000
Misc: 3000

Saving around 35k per month above RA/TFSA, some goes to travel, a lot to emergency fund. I will unfortunately be unemployed end of the year.
Click to expand...
I also used to have a budget like that in my 20s. Very low expenses with decent income. Paid off car, rented a room in a digs. Managed to save and invest quite a bit.

Then I got married. Suddenly that low rent becomes a mortgage, your levies/property tax, or even just electricity bill becomes more than you used to pay for rent, and 1 car becomes 2, and simple cheap meals become complicated affairs. :) Save while you can.
 
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notayoba said:
I also used to have a budget like that in my 20s. Very low expenses with decent income. Paid off car, rented a room in a digs. Managed to save and invest quite a bit.

Then I got married. Suddenly that low rent becomes a mortgage, your levies/property tax, or even just electricity bill becomes more than you used to pay for rent, and 1 car becomes 2, and simple cheap meals become complicated affairs. :) Save while you can.
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So the lesson is...dont' get married?
 
throwaway5565 said:
I’m a doctor.
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R4k/mo on medical aid, I take it you're not planning to rely on the state system you work for? :unsure:

throwaway5565 said:
I will unfortunately be unemployed end of the year.
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Bizarre that a qualified doctor can ever be unemployed. Are the older generation running an anti-competitive cartel or something?

Plus if you're able to keep rent as low as that while you find the next thing, then you should have a pretty long runway.
 
TofuMofu said:
So the lesson is...dont' get married?
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Ha. Not if you want to have a lot of money.

I was literally the 'mattress on the floor, 1 chair and a TV' single guy stereotype, with a paid off car. Making good money, at least 70% of my income was unencumbered. So a partied and traveled, and saved maybe 40-50% of my income.

Get married, and suddenly you need furniture, another car, a house, random objets d'art to fill said house, rates and taxes, water& electricity bills, life insurance, tons of expensive trips to every long lost cousin's wedding, and somehow you suddenly no longer have money. Even with 2 incomes.

Living like a 1980s middle class person is expensive.

Edit: And I don't have kids. I honestly don't understand how people with kids get their budgets to balance. It just does not compute.
 
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TofuMofu said:
Kids are just money drains.
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True, but for many people that's almost the point. People anticipate that they'll be happier in 30 years' time if they have kids and maybe grandkids, even though they'll be left with less money, vs. having more cash, but no family.

Many people with high savings rates at a young age never get around to actually enjoying the money they've saved. They defer consumption till old age, and then discover when they're old they're not interested in consuming anymore. They're frail and less keen to travel. They can't hear well in restaurants. They don't get a thrill out of a new car. They haven't got the energy to renovate their houses.

This is a real loss in wellbeing over a lifetime, because they could have spent the money earlier and enjoyed it more. Kids are certainly one way to do that.
 
Tomtomtom said:
Bizarre that a qualified doctor can ever be unemployed. Are the older generation running an anti-competitive cartel or something?
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There just aren't enough jobs sadly, even for specialists in demand. Some doctors are even working for free these days so they can get the xp to leave or finish qualifications.
 
throwaway5565 said:
Age 27 now.

Gross is 97k
Net 67.5k
Rent/Water: 4250
Electricity: 750
Groceries: 5000
Petrol: 1000
Insurance: 2500
Medical aid: 4000
Entertainment: 3000
RA: 3000
TFSA: 3000
Cell/bank charges/internet: 1000
Housekeeper: 750
Car: 1000
Misc: 3000

Saving around 35k per month above RA/TFSA, some goes to travel, a lot to emergency fund. I will unfortunately be unemployed end of the year.
Click to expand...
You could be investing more into your RA, pay less tax.
 
Tomtomtom said:
Bizarre that a qualified doctor can ever be unemployed. Are the older generation running an anti-competitive cartel or something?

Plus if you're able to keep rent as low as that while you find the next thing, then you should have a pretty long runway.
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Fully agreed. Any unemployed professional person just needs to wake up and pull their butt off the chair.
- No lawyer should be unemployed. Start your own practise.
- No accountant should be unemployed. Start your own practise.
- In the same way, no doctor should be unemployed. Start your own practise.
 
Speedster said:
Fully agreed. Any unemployed professional person just needs to wake up and pull their butt off the chair.
- No lawyer should be unemployed. Start your own practise.
- No accountant should be unemployed. Start your own practise.
- In the same way, no doctor should be unemployed. Start your own practise.
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This completely ignores the market side of the equation though….

In any industry, opening your own practice comes with real overheads, that need to be funded whether you have the clientele to cover them or not.

All of the above industries also have serious and costly legal requirements to open your own practice. Trust accounts, auditing costs etc etc, liability insurance requirements and more.

No lawyer should be unemployed you say, yet most people can hardly afford to keep legal counsel on the payroll.

No accountant should be unemployed - in an economy where more businesses are closing down than opening up

No doctor should be unemployed you say - in a country where 90% of the population relies on the public healthcare system - which doesn’t have the funds to pay enough doctors or specialists. People wouldn’t be spending hours in line waiting to see a nurse/dr at a free clinic, if they could afford the R500.00 consultation fee at the local private GP - plus, what’s the point spending their last R500.00 to see the private GP, if they then can’t afford the medication prescribed anyway, and need to go back to the state clinic to be seen by a Dr there before they can get the medication anyway.
 
Zellephant said:
This completely ignores the market side of the equation though….

In any industry, opening your own practice comes with real overheads, that need to be funded whether you have the clientele to cover them or not.

All of the above industries also have serious and costly legal requirements to open your own practice. Trust accounts, auditing costs etc etc, liability insurance requirements and more.

No lawyer should be unemployed you say, yet most people can hardly afford to keep legal counsel on the payroll.

No accountant should be unemployed - in an economy where more businesses are closing down than opening up

No doctor should be unemployed you say - in a country where 90% of the population relies on the public healthcare system - which doesn’t have the funds to pay enough doctors or specialists. People wouldn’t be spending hours in line waiting to see a nurse/dr at a free clinic, if they could afford the R500.00 consultation fee at the local private GP - plus, what’s the point spending their last R500.00 to see the private GP, if they then can’t afford the medication prescribed anyway, and need to go back to the state clinic to be seen by a Dr there before they can get the medication anyway.
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There are certainly costs involved, fully agree there, and lawyers and accountants can definitely fail.

But for doctors, if you choose the right town I think it's hard to lose. In my little town you cannot get an appointment at any doctor or dentist within a week. Dentist more like months. They are all fully booked, well in advance. A GP can walk in here, rent a room, pay his insurance and he'll be cash flow positive by week 2.
 
notayoba said:
There are certainly costs involved, fully agree there, and lawyers and accountants can definitely fail.

But for doctors, if you choose the right town I think it's hard to lose. In my little town you cannot get an appointment at any doctor or dentist within a week. Dentist more like months. They are all fully booked, well in advance. A GP can walk in here, rent a room, pay his insurance and he'll be cash flow positive by week 2.
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have you actually run a succesful start up business before?
 
notayoba said:
There are certainly costs involved, fully agree there, and lawyers and accountants can definitely fail.

But for doctors, if you choose the right town I think it's hard to lose. In my little town you cannot get an appointment at any doctor or dentist within a week. Dentist more like months. They are all fully booked, well in advance. A GP can walk in here, rent a room, pay his insurance and he'll be cash flow positive by week 2.
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You do realise a Dr, like most other professionals, sells their time - and there is a limited amount of it they can sell, and there is a hard limit on how much they can charge for that time….
 
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