Rent Affordability Calculator: How Much Rent Can I Afford In Malaysia?
Most of the time, Malaysians used up their monthly budget on three things which are housing, transportation, and also food. So how do we, as fresh graduates, steer away from this problem once we get our own paycheck? This article is for the fresh graduates out there whose asking how much of your salary should be spent on rent.
To be honest, there is no strict rule on how much of your income should go to rent. It all depends on your neighborhood, your place of work, and how much you earn. However, experts have advised to not surpass 30% of your income when spending on a rental. To make it easier, here’s a rent affordability calculator which shows how much rent is within your financial means.
How to budget your expenses
A common budgeting strategy that a lot of people adept is the 50-30-20 rule. This strategy will allow you to maintain focus on managing your monthly spending. Also, it allows you to plan out your future financial affairs. Let’s look at what this strategy entails:
The 50 in 50-30-20 means that you should not exceed 50% of your income when spending on monthly basic necessities. Basic necessities include your grocery bills, your utility bills and of course, your rent. So, if your monthly rent is just shy of 30%, you have about 20% of your income to spend on other basic necessities. Whereas, if you spend more or less than 30% of your income on rent, then you have to calculate how the differences will affect your monthly budgeting.
Other than that, the 30 in 50-30-20 refers to how much your income should go to nonobligatory spending. This means that you should allocate less than 30% of your income to cover entertainment, dining, night-outs etc. Anything that you can live without is considered nonobligatory spending. Most people who don’t have a clear budgeting strategy would spend a lot more than 30% of their income in nonobligatory spending.
Last but not least, the 20 in 50-30-20 represents the percentage of your income that should go to your financial goals ‘bank’. Basically, just save 20% of your income for things that you want to do in the future. Savings for retirement, for your dream holiday, for your dream car, or even savings for a rainy day, they all can come from this part of the strategy.
However, what should you do if you accidentally jumped the gun and signed a contract that’s above your financial means? You have nothing to fret over because here on SPEEDHOME, we offer you a chance to terminate your contract early. You can learn all about it here.
So for our readers out there, which one would you choose? Would you cut you rent by forgoing your quality of life or would you opt for convenience? Or, you would rather try to cut off your spending in other aspects of the budgeting strategy? Tell us what you think by leaving a comment down below!
Rent Affordability Calculator
If the monthly rental fee is RMÂ and the period of your tenancy agreement is months
You will have to pay RM for your rental agreement stamping fee
