Budgeting 101

Transcript

when you think about preparing for your move to the United States, you know, you're probably thinking about a lot, and you might feel overwhelmed.

But one major factor is to have a plan on managing your money. It's something that is you're gonna be continuously working on your budget plan, and that's what we're here to help. So you might be thinking about what's my rent gonna cost, how much your grocery is gonna cost, what does transportation look like, and how am I gonna be saving during all of this. So budgeting is definitely, a key part in feeling financially stable, and confident in moving to the United States. So you're not alone. As part of our full circle of support, you know, our team is here help you understand how the US expenses work, how to create a budget that fits your lifestyles and goals and allows you to save so that way you're feeling financially stable.

I'm going to welcome my colleague, Joel. He is part of our international employee supervising team, and he's gonna kinda walk us through a high level overview of how to budget in the United States. Hi, Joel. How are you doing today?

Great. Great. How are you, Courtney, and how is everybody? I'm good. Excited for today.

Yeah. I'm excited.

Excited for today.

Yep. As an international employees adviser, as Courtney mentioned, I'm part of one of of those teams who offer that full circle of support to all our health care professionals, throughout their stay with health care cell. My team in particular, works with the health care professionals once they are here in the United States. And we do regular check ins with, with all our health care professionals.

And, like Courtney mentioned, I would say by experience in our team, I would say ninety nine percent of the time in our check ins, this topic about budgeting has come up. And I think that's a sign for everybody how important this topic really is. And, me being, an immigrant myself, this is something that, I wish I had thought more about when I started my journey coming here to the US because, it would have really helped me, to really plan out this, new journey of mine. So, like I said, I'm really excited for today and, hope to share some, good insights to everyone.

Okay? So, a good budget to begin with starts with understanding two things, your income and your expenses. Now your income, I would say is, the best word I can think of is pretty consistent.

It's, you know, you know your hours work, and you probably can estimate really well what you're in what the money that's coming in every week or every month. However, in terms of your expenses, that can be variable, but at the same time, it's controllable.

And, controlling your expenses and really tracking your expenses, it what is what's gonna help you to know where your money is really going. Now to track those expenses, the big, buckets that you really have to think of is your wants and your needs. Right? You have to distinguish what, what those wants are and what those needs are.

That is very crucial. Like, as you see in the slide, some of the ones that we've listed here is like, you know, entertainment expenses, you know, dining out, going out, watching movies outside. Now in our lives, nowadays, subscriptions is one of those things that we spend on, like, very liberally sometimes. Right?

Getting Netflix subscriptions.

When you come here to the United States, you'll hear a lot about Amazon Prime. There's just a lot of, like, things that could occupy our expense reports, like our own personal expense reports, and we don't know that it's just gonna blow up, without even knowing it.

On the needs part, we all know that's housing, food, and health care. So we need to make sure that, we are aware about these two big buckets.

The bud a budget is not about restricting yourself. So it's not about, like, completely eradicating the want section. Right? It is about making intentional choices that align with your goals.

For example, if you track your spending for a month and you realize that when you dine out, you're spending, like, what, three hundred dollars for dining out, for the whole month. And then when you look at your grocery bill, you're spending two hundred dollars. Maybe that's the time for you to consider. Maybe I'm I'm going out and eating at restaurants too much.

Maybe I need to think about, you know, making my own meals at home or maybe eating at home more often than not. So just really I like I said, being intentional about these choices and knowing these two buckets and being aware of it and not letting eat, any of those these buckets get out of control. Now there's a lot of budgeting methods methods out there. Like, just if you if you Google Google budgeting methods, you you probably see, a lot of ideas.

Now we've, we're gonna share one simple method, right here. It's called the fifty thirty twenty budgeting method. Now it is not an end all be all budgeting method. Like I said, you'll find a lot of, other methods out there, but this, approach is pretty simple.

It's also pretty, flexible. It's, one of the easiest and, I would say, very effective method to, budget your money. So with this approach, you try to divide your income into three categories. So the biggest part is, of course, the needs part.

Right?

Would we'll say that's around half of your money goes to, your needs, and your needs, include rent, of course, groceries, utilities, transportation, and insurance.

Rent, of course, that's for housing. Gross is for your your daily lifestyle. Utilities is for electricity, water, and, maybe this is something new for for some of you, but gas is also part of utilities versus because in some areas, you need gas to heat your home. So, and also transportation.

So may it be public transportation or may it be your, monthly contribution to your car loan. So that's for your needs. Thirty percent, we say, it goes to your wants, which, like I mentioned a while ago, this has to do with, you know, eating out in restaurants, going out for movies. Right?

Going out, on a three day holiday, on a long weekend. Those are all wants. And some of your hobbies as well. I'm pretty sure, like, all of you have your own your own personal hobbies.

I myself, you know, I do a lot of sports. So, you know, membership, fees in some of the clubs is one of my, entertainment expenses. So try to, limit that to around thirty percent. And then the last part is, has to do with twenty, with the financial goals.

So financial goals has to do about savings, emergency funds, and retirement contributions.

Savings is really important, of course.

We all want that, you know, that money that's set aside if, you know, knock on wood, something, unintended happens.

And then, there's also retirement, which is planning for the future. So really focus on these three buckets. Like I said, it's pretty simple. You know?

It it, covers in general the big, buckets in your daily life here in the US. It's also very flexible. So these are like, think of it as like, levers that you can adjust. Right?

Fifty can be forty five. Right? Or fifty five. Thirty can be twenty five or thirty five.

So there's a, like I said, there's a lot of flexibility with, with this method.

So, other than this one, in analyzing your your budgeting, the next thing we're discussing are actually about the categories of Joel, I just wanna interject really quick.

Yeah.

I think a good reminder too just going over this, I know, when speaking with our candidates, I know rent, and utilities might be paid differently in different areas of the of the world. So something really good to keep in mind when you're looking at this fifty, thirty, twenty budgeting method is your rent and your utilities. So under that fifty percent bucket, those are gonna be monthly expenses.

So in the US, you know, your rent and your utilities are gonna be paid monthly. Again, I know it might be paid differently where you're currently living. So that's also, a good factor to keep in mind, when you're starting to think about your budgeting method that you're gonna use once you're over in the United States.

Reminder too, make sure that you are submitting questions if you have any questions about any of the information that Joel's covering today.

Again, since we have Joel joining us, we wanna be able to utilize him and answer those questions if you do have them. So make sure you're dropping them in the chat, and we'll try to answer them, either throughout Joel's presentation, or we can always do a live q and a with Joel at the end. Alright. Back to you, Joel.

That's a great input, Courtney, because, one of the things that I didn't touch on, which you mentioned, is about the frequency of these expenses. Right? Sometimes the rent bill comes in monthly, and sometimes it comes at a different date than your utility bill. I think that emphasizes even more why we need to budget and why we need to plan.

Because if we don't have a budget and a plan, when this bill comes up and you don't you didn't plan for it, you'll get surprised, oh, no. I don't have money to pay for my electricity. Or, like Right. I don't have money to pay for my insurance.

So it is really imperative, you know, to have that plan, to have that regular plan. So then you know, like, okay. I have this budget for this this item, and then it comes, like, let's say, on the on the twentieth of the month. Right?

So at least you're not surprised by any and all, like, expenses that come through your table.

So Right.

Yeah. Great great input, Courtney.

Thanks, Joel.

Alright. So, one of the things that I wanted to discuss as well are the major budgeting categories.

K? So we talked about, bucketing your expenses in terms of needs and wants. Another way to look at your expenses is through these, four big buckets. K?

So I'm gonna go through it one by one. The first thing is about fixed expenses. These are, I would say, the essential cost that are very consist consistent. They basically stay the same.

Right? And, and like I said, these are really essential. So if you're gonna prioritize all your expenses that money needs to go to a certain bucket, then this is the bucket that that I would, recommend. So fixed expenses, has to do with rent or mortgage, insurance, childcare or education costs, if you have, childcare or if that's, if you have dependents coming with you and childcare is important as well.

And in loan payments, most, often most often than that is for your for your car payments. Now I mentioned something about insurance.

I haven't mentioned this yet, but, one of the things for me personally that was, you know, eye opening was the insurance costs. I think, when you come into the United States, you will, realize very quickly that insurance is sort of very essential part of our lives. Like health care insurance, you go to a doctor, they would need your insurance. You get a car, you can't drive a car without, a a car insurance.

So insurance is everywhere. So in the in in in that, sense, it becomes really essential to plan for that. So there are health care insurance costs. There will be car insurance costs.

When you rent, there will be renters insurance costs. So make sure to research that, on your own. There's a lot of information about that, you know, just when you over the Internet and, just make sure that you plan those out because those are, I like I said, very consistent expenses, but essential ones that you have to plan for. The second ones are also necessities, but they're much more variable.

So these are utilities, groceries, and also transportation. Now utilities, we've already talked about. It's electricity, water, and gas. K?

Don't forget about gas, especially if you're going to a cold weather country state. So utilities, that can vary depending on where you are in the country. Right? If you're, further down south where it gets really hot in the summer, then you'll spend a lot on air conditioning.

If you're, like, on the northern part of the country, you would need a lot of heating, which then would require a lot of gas expenses. So, just be aware of that when you try to estimate your utilities expenses.

Groceries, of course, will, differ from place to place.

You know, depends on availability.

It depends on where you are in, in the in this in the states. And then transportation will depend, of course, on your choices in terms of transportation.

Some of the health care professionals that I've been with, they basically do three things. They have their own car. They either do hundred percent using their car. They can do hundred percent doing public transportation, or they can do mixed.

So depending on your choices, your your transportation cost will also vary. And you have to include as well, you know, parking costs if that's you know, if if you're in a city or if you're in a location that, that expense is, pretty much very, is very significant. And there's also, gas, of course, for transportation. So those two are the big ones.

And then later, on on the third bucket is about discretionary spending. So we're talking about once again, right, at the very beginning. So discretionary spending from the word itself. It's upon your discretion if you wanna spend on these, on these, items.

So dining out, you know, subscriptions, shopping for clothes, things like that. So things that I would say, not, very essential, but, it could be essential depending on your, life situation. So I did get a few, questions in terms of, like, the cost of living by by person or by family.

Now, unfortunately, I can't really answer that, you know, specifically by person or by family because there's a lot of variabilities by by location.

Right? So depending on where you are, which part of the country you are in, it will determine your rental. It will determine, like I said, your utilities.

If you have dependents, if you have kids, it will, depending on where you are, depends it it will determine how much you will spend for child care. Depend it will determine how much you spend on education. So, there are also choices with regards to children in terms of, like, do you want them to do extracurricular activities within the school or outside the school? There's just a lot of, variables. I guess the best answer I could give to all of you in terms of, like, the specifics is when you have, ideas on where you wanna go to in the US, you have your assignee with you. It could be your IDA, I, IPA, or even your IES. Talk to them about it.

Again, we talk about that full circle of support. You can talk to your assignee about that specific location, and you can discuss specifically about that location, that that facility, or that, you know, even that specific city or state on how all these items that are I'm talking about would look like in terms of, like, your how your expenses would look like. So, that's really, I think, the best, course of action for all, for any of you that aren't here in the United States. You know? There's a lot of options, but, you can narrow it down and your assignee can help you out with it.

Alright. The last thing and very important as well is, of course, your savings and emergency fund. So emergency fund, like I said, you know, when I started, here in the US, budgeting wasn't one of the things that I'm used to doing, and I'm really guilty of this. Didn't have any emergency funds in my budgeting profile.

And that, you know, unfortunately, it came to bite me in certain cases, you know, when, you know, something untoward happened that I didn't expect. I didn't have money set aside to you know, it could be like a health care issue. Right? It could be, a work issue, right, that you need money on.

So just make sure to set aside emergency fund savings. Normally, it's advisable to have, like, three to six months' worth of emergency funds, set aside.

So if, for example, you, usually spend, for example, like, two thousand dollars a month for for expenses.

If you can set aside, three months' worth, so two times three, that's six thousand worth of money that you don't touch and you will only touch during emergency situations, that's ideal.

So, again, it would depend on your life situation. Right? If you have a bigger family, maybe you would need a bigger emergency fund. If you have a family member that, maybe has, you know, I I had this family member who had a, I had this whole healthcare professional who had a family member who had a medical issue. So that being the case, she really made sure that she had savings set aside for this family member.

So it really depends on your personal situation. So, I know I didn't speak of, like, very specific dollar terms in the in these buckets, but I hope it's helpful just in terms of, like, knowing these categories, knowing these items. Because I think that's the first step. Right?

Like, if you come in here in the US and you don't even think about insurance, you'll be caught by surprise of how much you have to spend for insurance. Right? You come in here and you don't think about child care and you have a, you know, a a toddler, for example, then you'll be caught by surprise. So I hope at the minimum, it at least, puts it in your radar and, gives you time to research as well.

And like I said, go to your assignee, and your assignee, will really help you, dig deeper in these specific expense categories.

Okay. So, one a couple of more things that I wanna talk about in terms of your financial planning as you prepare to come here to the US. And this part, I would say, is one, again, one of those, I hate to use the word neglected, but I would say things that, most of the health care professionals, sometimes forget to think about as they prepare for their move here to the US. Now when you come here to the US, there is a time, there's a gap between the time that you arrive in the US and the time that you actually start.

Unfortunately, in my, you know, many years experience in the here in health care cell, the fastest I've seen someone to start working from the time they arrive is, I would say, two weeks. But I have seen people have to wait three months before they are they're able to start work, and that's for a number of reasons, that they can start. A lot of it has to do with credentialing and certification. You know?

Your as a health care professional, your your profession is highly regulated here in the US, so there's a lot of, like, certification requirements that needed for you to start. So in that, time frame that you can't work, right, you have to plan for that because there's not no money coming in. So in this segment, we want to let you know how much you want to save up before you even come here to the US. K?

So these are just guideline amounts, but I'll divide it into two segments, two buckets. One are individuals without independence. You're so you're coming here on your own, here in the US. We would, suggest around twenty five hundred or two thousand five hundred to around three thousand dollars worth of savings, cash in hand that you have saved up, for a period of a month of wait.

So if if, if you are, gonna wait a month before you start, then you probably need, this much, amount of money. Now, of course, if you get an indication from your assignee, right, that, oh, you're probably gonna wait two months or three months, then adjust accordingly. Right? So maybe you you gotta bump that amount even more.

Right? So, again, you're the one that's working with you, your assignee, it could be your IPA or IDA is very key in this, in this matter.

You know, always communicate with them, especially when you're about to come here to the US in terms of, like, how much you have to wait before you start, how long are you get how long is it gonna take for you to get licensed or get certified in your particular state so you know the time frame. Okay? And then the other bucket is if you have if you have dependents with you. So So if you have dependents with you, of course, that number goes up.

Right? In our experience, you would need around four thousand to six thousand, dollars, for a month, way. So, again, same thing. If, you have any indication from your assignee or from your research about your state or your state licensure that would take longer, then adjust it accordingly.

One thing I have to mention, though, is if you're bringing money, you know, and it money can be in any form. It can be, cash, it could be checks or whatever. You, we advise to have it under ten thousand because anything under ten thousand, you know, you might, run into, is just in the border. You know, there are, there are laws that that talks about, you know, bringing money more than ten thousand dollars. So just make sure you're aware of that. But, like I said, it's very important to prepare for that gap between the time you arrive here in the US and the time you work. So, and the last thing that I wanted to discuss is about, the one of the one of the last things I wanna discuss is the cost of living by region.

There are differences, like I mentioned already, in terms of the cost of living per per depending on the location that you're going. So these are two locations that we have made as an example, today.

You can see here first is Des Moines, Iowa, and the other one is Kearny, Nebraska.

The the reason why we put these two as an ex example for the day is they're very different areas. K? Des Moines, Iowa is, quite urban. You know? There's more, I would say, public transportation options. Still not many, but a lot more than Kearny, Nebraska.

K? We have facilities that we're partnered with in these locations, so these can be your options. But as you can see, you know, I I won't go each and every one of these, items anymore, but you can see there's a stark difference, right, in terms of the expenses, the average expenses for these two areas. It can range from, like, a fifty dollar, difference to a couple of hundred dollar difference, right, for each for each item. So like I said, when I was discussing about, you know, the big buckets of expenses, make sure to discuss this with your, you know, IDAs and your IPAs because they're gonna they they will be able to tell you, like, these specific amounts. If you for I mean, if if you were planning already to go to Des Moines, then this is, you know, this is, great information for you all.

And from here, like I said, you can plan out, like, okay. How how far do I need to live from my facility? Like, the how what's the what's the cost of the car that I need to to to purchase? Right?

Because that would determine my monthly car payments. Right? What's my budget for for housing? Right?

Do I live in a house that's close to the facility or far from the facility? Because that would determine my transportation cost. Right? Do do I get a big car or small car?

Because a big car might cost more insurance. Right? So these are some of the guidelines that you you will think of. But like I said, the location matters.

Like, if you go to Kearny, Nebraska, it could be cheaper. Right?

But you also have to think about, you know, the facility that you're going. Right?

Schools in in your location. Those are just a lot of considerations, but just know that there's very big differences depending on which location you are you are, wanting to go to.

Alright.

So I wanna end with some practical ways to, you know, to save money and to cut costs. I know there's a lot of, like, information there that you saw, like, in terms of just the buckets of expenses that you're gonna spend on when you come here to the US. But here are some practical ways subscriptions.

And if you have subscriptions that you're not using, you know, feel free to cancel them. Right? We're in a world wherein, you know, the media that we we consume, can come from different sources, and each of those sources sometimes require subscriptions.

Right? We pay a a couple of bucks to to, to Disney, for example. We can pay a couple of bucks to Netflix, and then, we don't realize it. Those things add up. So make sure you you know all of your, subscription subscriptions that you pay for and cancel those that you're not using. K?

The second thing, and it's quite, I would say, very popular here in the United States. One thing that I was not also, used to when I came here is rewards program. So make sure, you know, when you're shopping, even when you're grocery shopping, a lot of the grocery stores here or a lot of the shops here in the US have their own reward program. So if you're loyal to certain stores, you'll get rewards for that.

You'll get cash back for that. So take advantage of those. So, these are, things, like I said, that, you know, we we take for granted because it didn't exist, for example, for me when, in back in my home country. So make sure to take advantage of these reward programs.

Always compare, like, utility providers.

The good thing with, here in the US, you have options in terms of utilities. So in your in depending on which area you're in, you can compare, you know, the cost, whether it's for for gas, electricity, for water, whatever it is, for trash collection. You can make, you can compare them. It's as if you're comparing, like, airline prices.

It's it's it's it's that way of shopping. So that's a good part of it. So, choose what's most, appropriate for you, what you need, and also what saves you money. Alright?

The two other things the the fourth thing is actually a a big savings item for me. Try to, prep your meals at home. One of the biggest expenses that I have personally is eating out and going out in the dining and restaurant. So if you could, you know, spend time, you know, cook at home, bring your lunch with you when you go to work, that's a big cost savings.

And also similar if you have dependents, if you have kids. You know?

Although some schools would have free lunches depending on where which location you're you're going to, but the meal prepping really helps a lot. And then last thing, automate your savings.

Sometimes we get caught up, you know, paying this bill, this this bill, and we forgot about, oh my goodness. I I used up all my money, and I didn't save anything. Like, if you can really, set the discipline of, okay. I'm gonna set aside, like, what, five percent or let's say as small as a hundred dollars.

Right? But you make it consistent and you have a discipline to do that, then that would help you in the long run. And you'll realize, oh my goodness. I have money that I've set aside, and I don't have to worry about any, anything any emergent events that happen in the future.

So, I hope this helps out, you know, as you plan for your your, arrival or, your you coming here to the US.

Like I said, you know, number one is really take control of your budget. You know? The last thing you wanna happen for you is, you know, you just write checks, you you spend money here and there, and it gets out of control. Okay? Make sure to take control of your budget. Be intentional about it. List it if you have to take if you, have to create a spreadsheet.

Okay? I'm, divulging a little bit about about what I do personally. But if you have to create your own spreadsheet or write it down in paper, that would be that would be great.

Second thing is, you know, like, a a big item is really preparing for the time that you will be not at work when you come here to the US. Make sure to plan for that. While you're not here in the US, make sure to plan for that. And then last thing I wanna end with, you know, everything that I've told you about, these are things that, you can discuss, like I said, with your current assignee.

Whether you where you were with an IPA or an IDA or with an IES, that person can help you out in all these items. They can, like I said, dig deeper into each of these buckets and tell you specific, and answer, like, specific questions that you have in terms of, like, you know, what how much do I spend for my childcare? How much do I spend for, transportation for this specific location? So make sure to communicate with them, and, we'll be we'll be you know, we'll gladly support you in, in all of these.

So, thank you for for this time. And, Courtney, I'll hand it over to you.

Thank you, Joel. You answered a lot of the questions that were coming into the chat with all the information that you covered, in this segment on budgeting.

We did get a question in from Gabriel about if there is a website where they can get used to stimulate the cost according to the state that they're going to. I thought that this was an interesting question, and, you know, a good tool that they might be able to use.

Do you wanna elaborate if, like, what, tools we, you know, provide to our nurses in order to help them kind of, plan for the cost according to the state that they're going to?

Yeah. There are, websites. There's actually several.

It the names are skipping my mind right now. Again, you know, I I I don't wanna sound like a broken record, but your assignee will know exactly what those websites are. But they they can be as specific as by state and by city.

So that's something that, you know, basically, I can you know, rest assured that that information is out there. You know? It's not information that, that's not readily available.

So make sure to just, like I said, you know, connect with your assignee and, mention the cities that you're looking at. And then, you know, again, mention your your life situation and based on, like, what we talked about already in terms of, like, the the big buckets. You know, mention that to your assignee. Okay?

This is what's important to me. I need childcare for my kids. I need, I I'm I'm not really a good driver. I wanna do public transportation.

So mention those, big items for you, like, important items to you, and you can work together using these these tools that, your assignee has to create a, I would say, a more personalized budget for your situation.

And with these websites too, you can typically put in your income, and it'll automate and show you the average cost of what rent would be in that city or state, with the average utility cost, transportation, groceries, gas. So it is definitely helpful when you're planning your move depending on what city you're ending up in. We also had a really good question from Mary, and it seemed like a popular one because it did receive a lot of reactions to it as well. And I think this is you know, I'm sure with my family members during the three years of contract.

Courtney, can you say that last part again? You cut off a little bit.

Yeah. Mary had asked, will I be given medical insurance together with my family members during the three years of my contract?

That that's a great question, Mary. Like I said, in the buckets of expenses, health insurance is one of those big buckets. Now we are all fortunate that, one of the long list of benefits that we have here in health care, Sal, is a very comprehensive health insurance plan. So, again, the specifics of that, you can discuss with your with your assignee, but, we have coverage in terms of, like, our our health insurance.

And, it's, it's something that, you know, that information you can get for your sign in, you can really estimate, like, how how you your dependents can be covered. And, yeah, it's it's wonderful. I have I have, I had health care professional professionals who, you know, have, have kids, you know, have health care professionals have even, like, given birth here in the United States. So a lot of those, you know, life, circumstances have been, you know, covered under our our benefits.

So we'll we'll take care of you in that regard.

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