If your salary is less than Ksh 100, 000, you should not dare spend above Ksh 20,000 on rent, unless you have a side hustle that supplements your income.
You will be surprised to hear this: In Nairobi, it has been established that those in the income range of Ksh 80,000 to Ksh 100,000 spend between Ksh 15,000 to Ksh30,000 on rent. What normally happens is, these people have inflated ego, which tell them that mixing with the common man is an abomination. The ego directs them to expensive apartments, where they can cough Ksh20, 000 per month on rent as long as they are seen waking up from those houses. These are the people who live in South B,South C,Hurlingham and Kileleshwa where a one bedroom house goes for at least Ksh 20,000.If you tell this person that spending such amount on rent amounts to poverty, he will readily dismiss you,,,but here is the math.
Assuming your salary is Ksh 100,000 .After tax, your net income comes to Ksh 74,000.This is the amount that you will have in your account.
It’s very normal that someone with a bloated ego can’t use public means,he is therefore a car owner. From Ksh74,000,you subtract Ksh20,000 that goes for fuel and car wash.This individual remains with Ksh 54,000.Then subtract Ksh 20,000 which will go for lunch at work,and expenses at home. The man will remain with Ksh 34,000.From Ksh34,000 subtract 10,000 that goes for miscellaneous expenses.Finally,the amount this so called middle class will remain with is Ksh 24,000…this is after I assumed he is not servicing any loan.
The Ksh 24,000 will be consumed by the landlord.
One thing you should know when your life depends on your job is that the job might be taken by someone else. The money you earn while you are at your prime age should be spent wisely. If you are lucky to earn at least Ksh 100, 000,you should avoid owning a car, reduce your rent to less than Ksh15,000 and ensure flamboyancy is not part of your daily routine. With a salary of Ksh100, 000, you can save Ksh40,000 every month. This money, if invested wisely can help you achieve financial security in the long run. Imagine, in Joska, right now land is Ksh 300,000 to Ksh 600,000(You can confirm here).If you reduce your monthly rent to Ksh12,000 and use the money recovered from your landlord to buy land,you won’t regret that decision in years to come.
What is killing our middle class population is ego. They don’t want to be seen using public means. They don’t want to be seen walking from Umoja Estate. They don’t want to be seen mixing with the poor. What they fail to understand is that your future depends on the decisions you make when you have money, power and opportunities. It will come a time when the opportunities will disappear.
