“People in healthcare are too quick to complain about their salary. I am satisfied with what I get”

The wallet of…

Do you talk easily about money?

“Yes, I don’t bother about that. Everyone should know what I earn. I also like to know when people around me don’t have it wide. I’m not afraid to jump in then. I sometimes cook for the neighbor.”

Are you happy with your salary?

“Yeah, sure, I can’t complain! You often hear that healthcare workers want to earn more, but I don’t think people should complain so easily. If you look at what people with an MBO diploma in other fields earn, you will see that we are not so bad at all. Of course, a higher salary is always welcome, but you will not easily find me demonstrating on the Malieveld.

Besides that I work in healthcare three days a week, I also have a babysitting address. I babysit for a few hours twice a week. I get € 450 per month for that. It’s easy work, the kids are a bit older now so I don’t have to run after them all the time. Sometimes I feel quite burdened that I get paid so much for that.”

How do you divide the finances with your partner?

“We both transfer money every month to the joint account from which we pay the fixed costs. We recently increased that monthly amount by €200. Due to inflation, and in particular the rise in the prices of petrol and groceries, we were no longer able to do it.”

Have you been trying to cut spending ever since?

“I do pay attention to the offers when shopping, but I prefer to buy A-brands, because we like that best. If those brands are on sale, I’ll stock up. Furthermore, I am not into frugal living and hoarding. I think you should enjoy. If I see something nice, I buy it. You could get hit by a truck tomorrow and it would be a shame if you didn’t enjoy your life.”

Have you ever had money worries?

“Not really. I have been alone with my daughter for a while. At that time I worked hard, but I made sure that I did not earn too much, so that I continued to be entitled to benefits such as childcare allowance, health care allowance and housing allowance. So I deliberately chose not to work full-time, so that I could receive support from the government and have free time to spend with my child. I thought that was a nice deal. But I’ve never held up my hand for benefits.”

Which expenses you make for yourself are important to you?

“I like going to the beauty salon and the hairdresser. I also like having dinner with friends. I pay for things like that from my personal account. For example, my partner pays the €250 per month in alimony that he has to pay his ex-partner for the children he has with her from his private account. Own expenses remain separate.”

Do you currently have a savings goal?

“We really want an extension. We bought a house last year, and we had to invest a lot of our own money. We have bid €50,000 above the asking price. Still, we were very lucky, because it went very quickly. In January we started looking, February 29 we signed and April 1 we got the key. And that in that difficult housing market; it was only the second house we had viewed. I did write a letter to the sellers, to create that favorable factor. That probably helped.”

Did you make a savings plan at the time to save that € 50,000 together?

“My partner was bought out after his divorce. He has kept this money in his account all this time. We could now put that nicely in the house.”

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