Should I Save Money Before Serving In The Peace Corps

I tin can all the same hear the incessantly loud honking horns, the faint smell of spicy noodles, the rise steam carried by the humid wind eager to accomplish my olfactory organ.

I recall walking to my schoolhouse but around the corner, following a niggling pack of children with jet black hair donning backpacks in a rainbow of color and characters.

I think the shouting from older men selling fruit off their rotting carts.

I remember information technology all.

From 2014 – 2016, I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in China. I did what many people dream of doing, and went on adventures people only talked about.

I stepped human foot exterior the smallness of my hometown and everything I knew to fully integrate into a culture unknown to me.

For 27 months, I slept in a bed 8,000 miles away from my parents, siblings, and all-time friends. I struggled to speak a linguistic communication that always twisted my natural language in foreign ways to spit words that would assistance me make friends.

In truth, I loved every second of it. I'thou happy to say I had an excellent and unexpected two years of service.

Peace Corps Influence on My Financial Stress

Living in the civilization, somehow breaching the language barrier to brand friends, speaking a dissimilar language, and eating exotic foods, was all one magnificent function of my Peace Corps journeying. Only there was a second role that made my entire feel even more than incredible.

My lack of financial stress.

Before I left for the Peace Corps, I spent an entire year working four part-time jobs, paying off debts, saving coin, and ensuring I had everything I needed financially earlier I embarked on this incredible journey.

I made sure I had enough money to pay off the i student loan that couldn't be deferred and that I had something extra in case I wanted to splurge on a fancy trip or in example of an emergency.

I fifty-fifty sold all of my belongings, including my machine.

Save Less to Get More

Peace Corps encouraged the states to come with nothing, to alive like locals, to live but, to exist volunteers. I heeded that very telephone call and came with nothing more than 3 suitcases, a backpack, and the sum of a unmarried month's mortgage payment. I'yard not historically known to be skillful at saving, but this was the most financially secure I had ever been after years of financial stress.

I was worried I would struggle, non having wads of money saved up in training for disaster fifty-fifty though I am known to alive paycheck to paycheck.

But after months of living in China, I became financially comfortable. Peace Corps Volunteer service is a sweetness gig in that mode, especially in Chongqing, People's republic of china. Here were some of the incredible benefits they don't usually detail.

My apartment was paid for.
Utilities were paid for.
My telephone nib was stupid cheap.
I had no automobile to insure or manage.
They provided a monthly stipend that covered my one living expense – nutrient.
They also provided a designated travel allowance and linguistic communication learning allowance.
I even had enough money from my stipend to comprehend a twelvemonth's worth of gym membership.

I was living on almost two,500 RMB a calendar month, which, at the fourth dimension, came out to about $380 a month.

Only there was no doubt I was financially free.

Two Blissful Years Without Financial Stress

For two years, I went to bed not worrying about money, not worrying about how I would pay rent, non worrying nigh my utilities, not worry about my automobile.

The simply things I was worrying about were learning i of the world's most difficult languages, trying to be the fantastic foreign teacher with my students, and, funny enough, losing weight. All of which I thrived in.

Living in Prc as a Peace Corps Volunteer and without financial stress was glorious.

Peace Corps set information technology up that way. They made you and then comfortable that it was difficult to leave and render abode. What sane person would want to leave such a life where they never worried about their living expenses?

It was like being a teenager again, and only mom and dad worried nigh how we would live.

I was and then comfortable I forgot what I had to face up when I came domicile. I forgot I would again accept to take care of myself with no one'south help but my own.

Peace Corps did not set me for this. I never fifty-fifty knew it was something I should've prepared for.

When My Fiscal Stress Came Back

In July 2016, I came domicile stacked with a healthy readjustment allowance that was enough to cover perchance six months of hire.

Later that summertime, I intended to render to Mainland china (simply that'southward a different story). When that fell through, I was back home in the United states looking for a job.

Whatever money I had left from my readjustment assart seemed to disappear in a matter of months, even though I was living with my parents.

When I financed my first car, I thought the cost would be no large bargain. Then the apartment came. But that flat was empty, and so then came buying all the items needed to fill it. With no extra funds to purchase those things, I opened credit cards, buying things until my apartment was fully furnished. "I'll pay it downwards later," I told myself.

Before I knew it, I was $12,000 in debt, and the raging fiscal stress I had kept at bay for 2 years had returned.

I fell into a familiar cycle of constantly worrying about money, always worrying about how I would pay for things, and the job I worked never covered information technology. As a result, I was continually reliving my life in China, wishing I could have that sense of security back. It's been 5 years, and I still haven't been able to recreate the fiscal freedom I felt, just I'm working on it.

It all happened so quickly. Even today, I couldn't tell yous just exactly how I got myself there or what I fifty-fifty bought.

I had no teaching on fiscal health, but I was well-versed in financial stress, and it is still something costing me greatly today. Of form, the pandemic didn't aid either.

Peace Corps Didn't Ready Me For This

Peace Corps didn't set up me for readjustment into an American lifestyle or autobus me on financial wellness afterwards my service was over. No 1 sat side by side to me whispering pearls of wisdom nearly inserting myself back into a costly American culture.

Perhaps information technology wasn't their job.

But fortunately, I was able to become back to Red china in 2019.

From that experience, I learned a few things that might help the next hopeful Peace Corps Volunteer avoid financial stress and so they tin can thrive later on returning domicile.

If you have a car, continue information technology. Y'all can drive it when you become home from service. Go out it with a trusted family member.
Don't sell your things. Instead, identify them in a storage unit. Y'all can put your automobile in there likewise.
Save a little more. Put a fiddling extra coin in an account and reserve it expressly for when you come up home.
Don't finance. Unless you absolutely have to finance, try non to incur those large costs upfront. Take it all in strides.
Pace yourself. Coming home from Peace Corps is SO overwhelming and shocking for a lot of people. Avert shopping for things you don't need until y'all are financially capable.
Buy cheap for at present. If you accept to, get your necessary household items from Goodwill or Habitat for Humanity. Take only what y'all need until yous get dorsum on your feet.

Forbid Financial Stress With Nav.it

Having the proper pedagogy to manage my finances more effectively and prepare for any situation of financial stress could have significantly impacted my return from Peace Corps service.

Nav.it helps you manage your money, understand your finances, and redefine your ideas of wealth and financial wellness.

"You're hither to make a deviation in this earth. And we're hither to help you alive that life, well funded."

Equally Peace Corps Volunteers, we strive to make a difference. Nav.it helps other Peace Corps volunteers set up, organize, and manage their coin in healthy ways so they are prepared for life, before and subsequently their service.

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Kelly Branyik is a mindful author and published author. She has written for multiple publications including Fluent in 3 Months, PRO Motility Music News, Colorado Fun Guide, and oftentimes writes for Elephant Journal. Her kickoff book, "Information technology Depends: A Guide to Peace Corps" published in 2017. She is also the author of her first novel, "The Lost Pleiad". Kelly lives in central Colorado. She loves to read, write, travel, and be of do good to others. Learn more near her online at kellybranyik.com.

Source: https://blog.navitmoney.com/peace-corps-caused-me-more-financial-stress-than-i-realized/

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