How much you save as a Mariner

 Rajeeve Kaushik, [17-03-2023 08:43]
How much you save as a Mariner

No the topic is not about what you may be thinking.
I have a habit of collecting data to generally get an idea about various aspects of the society. In the peak of demonetisation I had done a survey on how much cash do Indian families require from minimum to maximum.
Later another survey of energy requirements of Indian families.
Recently I was preparing a self assessment of energy and communication expenses tik prepare for another survey. During that it struck me to to prepare the hidden expenses of mariners which they never pay for.
From my very childhood I never appreciated two things about a salaried employment.

 First was getting up at on early hour and commuting long distances for one's job.

Second was an early realisation in life that what ever one earns he or she spends the large amount of it in simply performing age keeping that job,  this can be equally applicable to a school teacher or highly paid executive.

Luckily, like you I landed in a profession where I did not have to commute daily nor was there much expense involved in performing that job.
Around 4 years ago my daughter got married and both of them landed in what is perceived as premier services in the country. While helping them settle in their jobs and set up their households I realised that their salary was nowhere close to even being sufficient for bare survival.
This further provided some input to my thought process which has triggered writing this article to help you appreciate at actually how much you are earning in real terms by working in the merchant Navy.
An article is never considered good if it is written in a tabulated way but I have no choice but to write in a mixed format.
1. Training for the job: the cost incurred for your training is at par with any private training institution, in fact now even a government funded IIT requires almost half of the cost of college education as compared in merchant Navy. So that levels the ground here .
2. Joining first time: most of the jobs required you to travel on your own where as in merchant Navy you are given a flight ticket along with Hotel accommodation at both ends and the agent taking care of your taxi expenses.
3. When a person on shore joins his job in a new city he pays for the rental accommodation the brokerage for that rental accommodation setting up the house for minimum at least including furniture even if not any kitchen expenses. Cost involved is minimum 25000 monthly + 1,50000 for other paraphernalia requirements.
4. When you are working in a city you would require a television at a cost of at least ₹25000. Monthly cable network at rupees 700.
5. Wi-Fi requirement for internet and OTT is about ₹1500.
6. Even if you do not maintain a kitchen while working on shore, and want to order by swiggy or Zomato you will have to keep minimum requirements for breakfast which will start at cost for the fridge at ₹ 30000-50,000. Otherwise where will you keep the beer.
7a. Daily breakfast at minimum rupees 150.
7b. Lunch in dinner from outside at a daily cost of about ₹600 minimum. However the meals that you get on board a certainly worth much more and cost the company at least 9 to $10 a day.
8. Daily travelling aur commuting to work may involve your own vehicle or a public transport or a cab and none will cost you less than rupees 250 a day. Let's not count the cost of a 2 or 4 wheeler.
9. The clothes required for your office require minimum upkeep but certainly ₹50,000 a year or ₹ 4200 a month.
10. Let's even out the cost of mobile phone which you would have to pay from your pocket in either of the cases.
11. Electricity for power and microwave would be at least ₹2000 a month.
12. If you manage to maintain your NRI status simply enhance your monthly salary by 35% instead of deducting anything else.

So a salary of $2500 a month actually becomes 3375 and pro rata for senior ranks.Considering above we realise how much we're saving without doing anything, so all the more reason for us to stat saving and then investing the saved amount.
Now please do not respond by mentioning the difficulties encountered while working at sea because that is not the topic of discussion. The topic of discussion is that in real terms your salary is more by the minimum amount that I have mentioned above. So you certainly have a case of investing regularly and more than your shore counter part.
Please do let me know how much you're saving.

© Rajeeve Kaushik