Inflationary Qualms

After discussions with my friend, and colleague, Jason, I have decided my first post on this weblog shall be to touch upon inflation and how it has affected the 20-something supposed gen-Y.

Having graduated from college, with Bachelors in hand, and leaving my parents with a Herculean credit-card bill, I got on to the next flight out of Michigan in search of the dream of joining the Malaysian workforce.

A year down the road, I’m working for a firm many consider to be at the vanguard of financial risk management and business strategy, and given the chance to work with the best in the industry. But one can’t ignore the stark reality, and I want to be as frank as possible and say it with as much candor as I can – the pay is embarrassing.

Let’s put things into perspective, by using Lime Juice and Wages of Fresh Graduates as an indicator of inflationary costs: -

The average Malaysian fresh graduate five years ago earned about and estimated RM1700. Today, he earns about RM2300. A 36.08% increase in wages.

Five years ago, the price of two limes squeezed into a cup, with water and ice added to it, used to cost RM0.80, the price today? RM1.70. A 62.94% increase in price.

(photo credit : paultan.org)

Now, I’m only basing this on the price of lime juice, and have not factored in other costs required such as travel costs, and other miscellaneous day-to-day needs such as grooming, food, and social obligatory costs (which shall be discussed in my next article).

Now, we should all ask ourselves a few questions: -

• How have you been affected by inflation?
• What measures are our government taking to help us?
• How are you helping yourself fight inflation?

Disclaimer: Figures for wages have been estimated through discussions with previous fresh graduates with an undergraduate degree at the time of this comparison (5 years ago), and prices of lime juice are estimated based on the authors own experience (5 years ago), if you have the exact figures of average wage rates of fresh graduates and lime juice prices, feel free to let us know, and our index shall reflect accordingly. All numbers are shown for illustrative purposes only, and the authors of articles written herein on this weblog shall not be held liable for any use or misuse of any information published on this weblog.