Taking Cost of Living Into Account When Assessing an Overseas Nursing Contract
Posted on December 8, 2008
Filed Under Apartment Living | 9 Comments
One of the scariest things about moving your nursing career overseas is the feeling of uncertainty when it comes to accepting a contract. Many questions go through your head, is this enough money? How much will it cost to live? Will I have enough to send home?
When looking at an employment contract for a nursing job abroad it is very easy to focus on the salary you’ll be receiving and judge the medical recruiter’s offer on that basis alone. However, should you fall into this trap you could be robbing yourself of some very attractive opportunities…
If you want to send money home, or have enough money to travel with and take advantage living in another country, then it is not the salary offered that you should be looking at when deciding if a contract is worth signing or not. What you need to be considering is the amount of money you will have left over at the end of the month, or you disposable income.
Disposable income is the difference between the income you receive in your pay packet and what you have to spend to live. Many factors affect your disposable income, and you need to consider them all when you are assessing a nursing employment contract.
Firstly, and probably most importantly, the cost of housing in the area where you will be nursing will have serious impact on how much money you have left at the end of the month. To find out how much accommodation will cost you – use the power of the internet. You can Google something like ‘1 bedroom apartment Albany New York’. And take a look at what is on offer with the letting agents that come up. Alternatively you can try to find the name of a local newspaper and check the classified section for ‘Apartments for Rent’.
You may find that accepting a nursing job in an area which has a low cost of housing, or one where housing is included will result in you having a higher disposable income, even if the salary figure is lower than you are being offered in other places.
The second highest expense would probably be your food bill, and the cost of food can vary drastically, even within a country. The cost of food includes your groceries that you bring home and cook for yourself, and also the food and drink that you purchase while you are out. To find out how the cost of food will affect your budget you can again use the power of the internet. Many restaurants now have internet sites and you can even check out their menu and the cost of things like their set meal.
Of course there are some exceptions to this rule. If you are only going to shop at large chain stores and eat at restaurants like McDonalds then your cost of living will be largely unaffected by your food purchases because these companies generally set one price for across the country.
Now, between countries, that’s different. You can actually use McDonalds to help you compare the cost of living between two countries. Each year economists work out the Big Mac Index which compares the cost of living in a number of countries and shows the information as how much a Big Mac costs. So the USA has a Big Mac cost of a dollar and places like Sweden have a higher Big Mac cost, but countries where it is cheap to live, like Indonesia, have a Big Mac cost of less than a dollar. It is a very rough guide to the cost of living in different countries.
Lastly, when working out your disposable income remember to use your take home pay when you work it out rather than your salary pre-tax. Unless you are nursing in the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia you probably will not receive a tax free income.
Watch the video related to cost of living in an apartment
This apartment is in a beautiful old 1892 Victorian home in exclusive neighborhood on the West Side of Binghamton, NY . Approx 2500 square feet on two floors with 3 large bedrooms. The apartment includes a large living room with a great view, very small balcony, a gorgeous dining room with raised panel walls and 10′ ceilings, and a spacious kitchen with large counters, plenty of storage, dishwasher, stove and 2 ovens. There is also a beautiful entryway and stairs, the woodwork of which was …
Help answer the question about cost of living in an apartment
Is it hard to find an apartment in Phoenix, and the cost of living?Hello! I'm moving soon (I'm from Europe) and I will spend one year in Phoenix . I wanted to ask you is it very hard to find an apartment there. I'll probably stay in a hotel in the beggining so I wonder if I can find an apartment for a couple of days. I just don't want to pay 100$ a night for a hotel. I will probably look for something close to Scottsdale(my office will be there). And my second question is how much do you pay for utilities, electricity, Internet and so on . Thank you in advance!
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9 Responses to “Taking Cost of Living Into Account When Assessing an Overseas Nursing Contract”
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looooool. i mean yea totally and he’s also kinda like aww shit there goes my laptop ok ok play it cool u can’t stop the recording now we’v gone so far. *tries to wipe it out as much as he cans in the next 2 secs while looking on the camera and talking*
You forgot to mention transportation cost!!!
Damn subway for Tokyo is sure expensive!!!
Its written in the video description on the side. It always is.
sorry, still cannot find the name. CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME. THANKS.
does anybody know the name of this song? HELP PLEASE.
i think this is the first video on youtube that had the camera on someone’s face, and that someone was talking about something not exactly humorous that I actually watched from beginning to end… I want to go to Tokyo
At 2:25, did you knock over a glass? Your face for a second is like…’Crap…there goes that vodka…’
On the right side of the web page, directly underneath the picture of me where it says “TokyoCooney” is a text box. In small blue text it says “more info” click that and read the text description of the video. I believe in you! Yes you can! You can do it!
wow, internet will cost me P3000 (converted in peso) in Tokyo compared to P1200 that i pay in my country. Nevertheless, from what i heard the salary will compensate for the high standard of living there.