Dirty Dinar

Everywhere I look lately I have been seeing the billboards for AUM, the American University of the Middle East. It’s a newly established private university in association with Purdue University. They’re accepting applicants to begin in October 2008.

I googled the university and found nothing about it. It’s a fresh university which means it’s not accredited. Is it worth the risk starting an MBA course at a university with no credibility? The only thing going for it is that it’s associated with Purdue University. According to their website the Krannert School of Management was the No. 1 MBA program in 2004 and 2005.

I had previously considered enrolling in Kuwait Maastricht Business School but several people advised me against it. I took their advice because they had first-hand knowledge. They were attending the program and told me some of its flaws. Among their complaints were the fact that the instructors were difficult to understand and didn’t teach well, the low caliber of the students, and quality of the program. They all advised me that if I wanted to pursue an MBA to go abroad.

There are a few reasons why I can’t go abroad to pursue higher education, among them are:

1. I can’t afford to pay for tuition and living expenses abroad. I’d need a scholarship to help me out and my GPA isn’t good enough to qualify for a scholarship.
2. I prefer doing a part-time MBA because I don’t want to quit my job and have to go through the job search all over again in a year or two. I’m happy where I am and don’t want to risk the alternative. Also included is the opportunity cost. An MBA in Kuwait doesn’t count for much. If you’re lucky your workplace will increase your salary by KWD 50. I haven’t heard of anyone with an MBA who has benefited greatly from having one.

Why get an MBA then? When it comes to the future I always imagine the worst possible outcome. I don’t want to come to a point in time when I will get passed over a promotion or if I have to leave Kuwait and the only jobs I can get require an MBA. I would hate an opportunity to pass me by because I didn’t have the educational requirements. An MBA may not count for much in Kuwait now but it might open many more doors in the future.

I’ve called AUM for more information (2240169) and they haven’t gotten back to me yet so I’ll keep you updated. If anyone has any thoughts on the issue I’d love to hear them. I’d be interested to know if you have an MBA and if it’s done anything towards your career or career path.

I’ve been a bad girl. It’s only the beginning of the week and I spent over half of my weekly allowance on pure vanity. I spent KWD 57.500 today at the salon.

Last week, when I was at the salon getting my weekly blowdry, my hairdresser mentioned that they have a treatment for my long curly hair that will eliminate my bad hair days for the next six months. The treatment will take place over a period of four sessions. Each session is an hour long and will cost me 60 dinars. The final result will reduce the coarseness of my hair and eliminate frizz. It will also eliminate my need to get my weekly blowdry. It will save me time AND bad hair days!

I got there today I arrived fully prepared to spend the money. The process was a little boring. My hairdresser washed my hair clean, and then proceeded to distribute the product on my hair brushing it through. As I’ve mentioned, my hair is long and curly so it took a while to get it all covered. Then she had to use a hair straightener over my hair to lock the product in. When she finally straightened all my hair she took me back to get my hair washed and a masque put on my hair. This was the relaxing part. She spent ten minutes massaging my scalp and it was the loveliest feeling. After that she washed the masque out of my hair and blow-dried it.

When I got to the cashier I was ready to pay KWD 60 but they only charged me 50. I was charged KWD 10 less and I got a free blowdry! The cashier told me that I will continue getting a free blowdry for the next three sessions. My hairdresser recommended that I use a special shampoo to supplement my treatment and I bought it for KWD 7.500.  That’s what brought my total expenditure to KWD 57.500.

How much does taking care of my hair usually cost? My usual blowdry costs me KWD 6 and I always tip my hairdresser KWD 1. Over a period of six months I spend KWD 168 on blow drying my hair at a salon. The treatment I’m going to continue will cost me KWD 200. I don’t mind spending the extra money when it will dramatically reduce the time I go to the salon.

To all my girls out there, what have you spent in the name of beauty? I know that we sometimes get ridiculous when it comes to hair, make up and clothes.

I’ve always believed men had it better when it comes to saving money from haircuts to clothes. Guys, how much does it cost you to look that good? 

Today’s Kuwait Times featured the article below. I didn’t realize that the number of women in the private sector was so low. Is it possible that only 5% of Kuwaiti women work in the private sector? I’m proud to be one of them but that percentage seems really low! I can’t help but think this is inaccurate. I know plenty of women who own their own businesses and work in the private sector.

KUWAIT: Kuwait is in the forefront of Arab countries in view of women’s participation in labor force by 42 per cent in line with 2006 statistics, an Arab economist said here yesterday.

The percentage of Kuwaiti women’s involvement in labor force is continuously on the increase, having recorded roughly 37 percent and 42 percent in 2003 and 2006 respectively, Riyad bin Jalili, an economist at the Arab Planning Institute (API), told a symposium on women and development in the Arab world.

Most working women, who are university graduates, are concentrated in the public sector by around 95 percent, he said. In spite of the high percentage of Kuwaiti women’s participation in labor force, leading state posts are often inaccessible to them, having stood up at merely six percent in 2004, Jalili added.

Kuwaiti working women’s diversified presence in the labor market is still meager if compared to other Arab countries, he said, arguing that the upward trend of women’s education has a limited impact on their diversified involvement in the labor market. They account for 45 percent in administrative professions, 24 percent in teaching and just four percent in medicine and science.

However, divorced women were more active than married ones in terms of economic activities in 2006, he said. Joblessness among Kuwaiti females and males hit 5.2 percent and 2.7 percent respectively in 2006, he added. — KUNA

Published Date: January 23, 2008 in the Kuwait Times

February is going to test my budget because I have 5 birthdays that I will need to buy presents for. Three of the five are really close friends so I will have to put a little thought into what I get them and ways to cut down costs.

How much do you spend on a gift? I usually try to limit myself to KWD 50 because I learned in the past that it sometimes makes people uncomfortable when you buy them something expensive no matter how close they are. They sometimes feel they have to equal or exceed my present to them when my birthday comes around.

The best thing about gifts is that it’s the thought and meaning behind them that counts so I can find ways to cut down on my gift spending by being creative and coming up with unique presents. This can range from creating a scrap book to sending a birthday package full of memories you’ve shared.

How much do you usually spend on average on gifts?

I’m excited that people are beginning to leave comments on my blog! I found two fantastic aggregators. One is the Personal Finance Aggregator and the other is the Kuwait Blogs Aggregator. I have been trying to follow blogs in both aggregators and leaving comments whenever I can. Now people are beginning to share their advice with me and it’s a wonderful feeling!

Bader left me a comment on my Monitoring my Progress post saying,

Hope you reach your goals even sooner, I have a system I’ve been using for a while now, each salary I get, I divide it as follows, 40% of it goes to my savings, 30% is divided up into a daily allowance, and the other 30% is used for bills and anything I plan to buy like cloths, a cell phone i’ve wanted, etc. Now, lets say that my daily allowance is for example 20kd, its not everyday that someone would spend 20 kd, sometimes more and sometimes less, it realy depends on what day it is. If you spend less than your allowance on any given day, you add that to your next days allowance, so if you spent 10kd today, tomorrow you would have 30kd and so on,because on work days, you might not spend much but on your off days you may spend way over your daily allowance but you have the remaining allowance from days that you didnt finish your allowance. Sorry for writing so much, Im really bad at explaining things Also setting goals, like ur doing, is also necessary. Hope this helps. All in all, I wish you the very best.

I love reading on how people budget and try to pay off their debt or increase their savings. Thank you, Bader, for your input.

I decided to take Bader’s budget and apply it to my own total pay of KWD 1163. The current budget I have for myself is to limit myself by spending only 663 per month. I will try to deal with cash only by withdrawing 100 at the beginning of every week and leaving 163 in my account for emergencies or extra expenditures (birthdays, etc.). The remaining 500 from my salary will go towards my savings.

The table below demonstrates my money breakdown according to Bader’s 40-30-30 % rule and my own budget.

As you can see from the table, we nearly have the same percentages allocated to Savings, Daily Allowances and Miscellaneous expenses. The one that is drastically different is the miscellaneous category. Bader budgets 30% of his salary on bills and purchases. I choose to keep mine on emergency standby in case I have obligations during the week like birthdays or surprise expenses.

Now I’m curious about how others out there save their money. Do you deduct a specific amount or a percentage of your salary?

These days I have been reading Intlxpar’s blog, delving into the archives and perusing recent posts. She has a beautiful way with words and one post of hers, “Well of Good Will” discusses her personal philosophy when it comes to relationships. It resonated deep within me and caused me to reflect on my friendships, the long history of some and short span of others.

I originally wanted to share this post and a story of one of my friendships that has been on my mind lately but I believe that it is a story for another post and another time. Maybe when it is not so fresh I can write about it more objectively. For now, I’d like to share Intlxpatr’s words with you.

In a relationship, the longer you are in it, the more deposits you make into the well of good will. It is the little things you do in a relationship - how you hold the door when the other is carrying a package, how you bring a bowl of hot soup if they have a cold, how you pick up their meal when they are short of cash, how you listen when a friend has a problem, or remember to ask about their mother when she is having a bout of ill health. These tiny, consistent deposits into the well grow, they earn interest, they earn dividends, small as they are, they fill the well to the brim.

The well of good will never overflows, it just grows to hold the treasures of the relationship.

From time time time, circumstances will arise which require a withdrawal from the well of good will. We all have circumstances in which we become selfish, we strike, even at those who love us, because we are in pain. We all have times when we are tired and say something mean. We all have rough patches in our lives when we have nothing extra to add to the well of good will, and make sizeable withdrawals against the good will of those who love us.

How many people in your life do you make allowances for? Do you forgive some of your friends for shabby behavior towards you and yet begrudge others from doing the very same thing? There are some friends for whom I can never hold ill wishes, no matter what they do.

Like I said on Intlxpatr’s blog, in the grand scheme of things they are welcome to draw goodwill from the well for as long as they like, one thing that time can never take away is the history between us. 

I’ve added some progress bars to the left to track how I’m doing when it comes to my saving goals. Each bar will constitute the percentage of how much I’ve accumulated and how close I am to reaching my goals.

My first priority is to have a minimum of KWD 3,000 in an Emergency Fund. Yesterday, my friend deposited the 1,000 she owed me into my account and I used the extra funds to pay off my credit card expenses. I put aside 668 towards my Emergency Fund which comes out to be 22.3% of my target. If I stick to my budget I’ll be able to reach my goal by the end of May, a month earlier than I’d anticipated.

My second goal is to save up enough to start investing in the Kuwait Stock Exchange. In the meantime I will have to educate myself or attend seminars on how to invest because I don’t know the first thing about it.

I’m excited about the progress bars because I think they’ll have me stay focused on achieving my saving goals! It’s a stroke of luck that got me to reach 22% so soon!

The 3-day weekend was bad for my purse. I spent a total of KWD 74.480 from both my cash and bank account. I actually spent more but was reimbursed 50 in cash from my friends.

Losing my Way

I lost track of my expenses, which was a major slip-up. The only receipts I have in my purse are 7.640 for groceries and 9.500 for a cake. I need a better system of monitoring what I’m spending my funds on so I will have to hold on to my receipts, something I’m not used to for ordinary expenses. Usually, I keep my receipts after shopping trips for clothes in case I need to return anything.

Cash in Hand

Because I was reimbursed 50 in cash by my friends, my cash for this week starts out at 68.500 again, just like last week’s Purse Watch. I have to make an effort to stretch it out as much as I possibly can.

Account Balance

There’s 92.980 left in my account that I’m allowed to spend for the rest of the month. I have to be more diligent about every fils I spend from this point on in order to avoid dipping into my savings.

Kuwait Times published an article yesterday by Muna Al-Fuzai, a staff columnist, titled “Kuwaiti Women Accept Discrimination“. My first opinion was that the piece was poorly edited, poorly written and contained sweeping generalizations. However, I have seen some examples of what she’s mentioned so I broke down her article in block quotes and shared my thoughts below each one.

Kuwait women accept discrimination. This is not a public rule, but as long as only a few people are fighting discrimination against Kuwaiti women, then this is what I believe to be the case in Kuwait today. It is a sad and cruel reality, but this is still accepted by many ladies even by most of those who call themselves activists! Why can’t they say no and why can’t they fight back?

Unfortunately, only a few women fight discrimination because a large number believe that they should be confined to a certain role in society.

We have to stop thinking that allowing women to drive cars and go to work and maybe put on what she likes is all what women need and is enough to reflect women’s development in Kuwait. These are tiny details that don’t mean anything in regards to making decisions or planning the future of her country. She is expected to follow the male code where the man assumingly knows better and maybe thinks with a better brain!

Women in all Gulf countries are allowed to work. Yes, in some of these countries women are limited to where they can work but Kuwait has always been the leader of the region in having motivated and driven women with high positions in leading companies and organizations. Kuwaiti women have always been a well respected member of the work force.

In public life, women’s existence is still insufficient to make her word heard or noticed or even obeyed! She receives hits from different groups because she is a woman and no matter what degrees or experiences she has does not equal them. Men do not want to show successful examples of women in public because her success will only harm them and limit and threaten their power over other women in the society!

We have a successful number of Kuwaiti women in nearly all career fields. We have influential women in the media. The author of this piece, Muna Al-Fuzai, certainly has had her word heard and noticed by writing in a prominent Kuwaiti newspaper.

Maha Al-Ghunaim has recieved international and local recognition because of her work at Global Investment House. Her success is an inspiration to other women and example that Kuwaiti women do hold high-ranking positions and provide value to the work force.

An example of this are the laws that area against women, such as laws that hinder her from advancing in her career. A lady with a PhD can teach students law in the university, but she can’t obtain the post of a judge because conservative parties use pathetic excuses why she cannot have this job such as women cannot make right decisions since she is too emotional. These excuses are all unfair speculations and false allegations against professional and experienced women. Female judges run the court on a set law and not based on their minds and feelings!

Yes, there is discrimination but we have to work together to overcome them.

A woman is welcomed to work only if a man consents to her type of work or benefits from it! I know many girls in college who were very talented and yet ended up as teachers in primary schools because their husbands or fathers don’t want to see them in a place with men!

I vehemently disagree with the first statement. As a working female, I did not have a male consent to my type of work or benefit from it. That is partly due to the fact that I come from a supportive family that wants to see me excel in life.

I do know women who were constrained to being teachers because of the wishes of their families. These women can break free from these shackles but will face consequences to defying the family. In a country where you’re expected to live in the family home if you’re single and move out only when you’re married, many do not go against their family because it will bring a great deal of misery and grief to their home. It is a personal choice whether they choose to comply with the rules of the family at the expense of their future.

There are many women who come from very religious backgrounds who hold PhDs and work in their fields in the company of men with the blessing of their families. Each family has a different outlook and mindset regarding these issues so a broad generalization is unfair to Kuwaiti women.

A religious Islamic ruling was made recently to approve the husband’s right to take his wife’s salary because the time she spent outside was his own and thus he is entitled to take her salary which she worked hard to earn! Now, men in this society prefer working women because he will be able to use her salary for himself! A law was even issued in Kuwait to prevent women from working after 8 pm. Laws give all rights for men to choose their partner, but if a woman does this, she will be humiliated and punished.

In Islam, the Quran states clearly that each spouse is entitled to what they earn. Islam also states that a husband has to provide for his wife. I don’t know where Muna got her Islamic ruling from but there have been many who claimed all sorts of things in the name of Islam. It doesn’t make them right. It’s unfair of her to accuse and blame Kuwaiti men of taking advantage of this. I did some research and found Forza Kuwait has direct quotes to support this.

That said, I do know there are many families in Kuwait, particularly those with a Bedouin background, who claim the salaries of their children. Those earners are alloted an allowance although it is rightfully their money. So who do you blame? Society for allowing this to happen or the family for continuing these practices?

The law that passed to prevent women from working beyond 8PM is one of the laws that was made in the name of protecting women and preventing vice. I do not agree with it, but what Muna should have mentioned is that the Ministry of Social Labour has exceptions for these rules for various work fields. Kuwaiti women still work 24 hour shifts at hospitals. Women still serve restaurants, work in retail stores, banks, and work in various other jobs beyond 8PM.

I will not even dignify her statement that, “Laws give all rights for men to choose their partner, but if a woman does this, she will be humiliated and punished,” with a response.

Sadly, many people think that if a woman receives a promotion or a raise, this is due to her wasta or contacts and not due to her abilities or how hard a worker she is! Even when a new government is formed here in Kuwait, it avoids appointing more than one woman at a time. I believe that one article is not enough to recite all the examples of discrimination against women and not only Kuwaiti women, but every woman who happens to be part of this society. Can women fight back? Yes, but this is not an easy step and the process is hard and it requires unity, sacrifice and lot’s of sincere effort.

Many Kuwaiti women, be they colleagues, friends or relatives, have been promoted and gotten raises. With each one there has been nothing but support and goodwill. We all know how hard each one of us works. Kuwaiti women may hold prominent positions but we still have to suffer the glass ceiling here and there.

As for her second comment about the government it is laughable. Women have only recently gained the right to vote. It is a wonder at all that we have any women at all in the government! We still do not have a female MP but give it time and it will happen.

Women have traditionally had a struggle balancing family life and a career but I do sincerely believe that as a Kuwaiti woman I do have it easier than others. Our government aids us in balancing life and work and our religion has always protected the rights of women.

Our current trend in Kuwaiti society is that Islamist MPs are trying to pass as many laws they can to segregate the society and curb some rights from women in the name of promoting morality. They have begun by segregating Kuwait University and private universities. I do not believe they will ultimately win this struggle because Kuwaiti women has always enjoyed their rights to work and manage their finances.

As a Kuwaiti woman, I do not believe I am being discriminated against and if I were I would not accept it.

The Good News

My friend who owes me KWD 1,000 called me and told me that she will deposit the money into my account on Monday.

I’m trying not to get excited over the fact that she is returning back the money so early (or even at all!). She borrowed the cash nearly four and a half months ago and I thought I was never going to see it again.

The Bad News

I have to book a hotel for my business trip next month today because I found a good deal that may not be available by Monday. I’ll have to charge KWD 332.511 on my credit card which means I’ll have a debt again.

I’m hoping my friend does manage to pay me back on Monday. If that happens I can pay off my credit card and have 667.489 remaining which will go towards my Emergency Fund. My company is giving me a per diem while I’m away but I think it only comes to be around 40% of the hotel expense. I will need to use it for transportation and meals so the per diem won’t be money that’s reimbursed back into my savings. It’s a one-time loss that I’ll have to work around.

I’m counting a lot on the good news to offset the bad news.