How Much Money Do I Need to Move to the US?

Hi everyone, it's Friday which means it's time for our weekly show Onwards and Upwards. Everything a global nurse needs to know to live and prosper in the United States. I'm your host Luciana Da Silva with Connetics USA - we are a direct hire company. And we match nurses from all over the world with permanent positions at health care facilities in the United States. We have an amazing show setup for you today. It is Financial Literacy Month in the month of April. So we're going to be talking about budgeting, how much do you need to budget to immigrate to the United States? Everything from pre arrival to your first 30 days, we're going to be talking about renting an apartment transportation, wonderful show. If you are watching, please put into the chat your name where you are watching from we love to see people from all over the world watching our show of James saying they're tagging friends. Jefferson is watching from the Philippines, also saying Good day everyone. Pascal is watching from Suriname and South Africa, TJ from Nigeria. Welcome, everyone. And also welcome to our guests. We have two guests, nurses joining us as well as two financial experts. I would love for everybody to introduce themselves. Of course, we have a couple of faces here that we all know and are familiar with. Let's start with Kay, please introduce yourself to our audience. Hi, good morning, everyone. My name is Kaye. I'm a traveling nurse in the US for 16 years now. Here in the US for 17 years. Or nurse LND PACU experience and I am currently in Maryland, I just finished my contract with Johns Hopkins.

Yeah, I love the idea of retiring young fire financial independence, retire early for nurses. That's my proponent. And I'm well known to the traveling community as travel nurse hacker, where I explain a lot or discuss things on how to work smart and not hard. So that's me, I talk, very knowledgeable person with lots of experience when it comes to living in the United States, you've lived so many different places. So we're really excited to hear from you. And of course, we had Nurse Juan another face that everyone is familiar with, please introduce yourself. Hi, everyone. My name is Nurse Juan. I'm a content creator. And also, I'm a nurse here in the States for roughly about three years now. I started as a regular staff, Nurse agency nurse, then now I moved to travel nursing. So I've been here for three years, and I learned some few tricks that will really help save a lot, especially for those like starting here on a budget. I can give some few tips. And I learned a lot and learned a lot from Kaye as well. So gay, we'll discuss more technical stuff, I'll discuss some of the more basic things. So yeah, that's it. We love hearing all sides of the story. And we also have our financial experts today, Vincent and Myla, please introduce yourselves to our audience and give them an idea of your background.

Hi, everyone. Good morning. Well, my name is Myla. And I'm based here in Austin, Texas. I've worked for scenarios for about almost 20 years. So I started my work experience back in the Philippines. And then I was recruited as a nurse in Ohio. So I work for Cleveland Clinic. And then I moved here in Austin. So but now I'm glad to share this opportunity with you all as a financial educator. And my goal is to empower nurses. So nurses are so dear to my heart because I'm a nurse as well. So for this morning, I would love to share with you my own experience and how it can help you. My name is Vincent Miller floor and quite the kind of support of the of the nurse when we migrated in the US back in that like, Hey, we're here for almost 17 years already in the States. Welcome to all of our guests and also here in the audience. People are saying hello Evangelion is watching from Manila in the Philippines. Monique is saying hello from Jamaica. Danielle also from Jamaica. We have Andrew from Kenya, Mohammed from Jordan in the Middle East. Evangelion is also tagging some friends. So welcome to everyone. Let's get started. We'll start with you Kaye tell us about your journey to the United States. Why did you decide to work as a nurse? Um, it's my story is very different than majority of everybody go for medicine. And I screwed up my application form in United in USD. So instead of putting biology I ended up I guess putting the wrong code for nursing fair to say you know what, I'll do it. So it was accidentally done, but I love it. I never left nursing. So that was my journey and coming to the United says again, it was an accidental, I didn't know that it was an interview that I went in. So they told me Hey, congratulations, welcome to this hospital in New York City. And I just said, Excuse me, just hired me.

Everything was accident took me only less than a year, and I'm here in the United States after that. 22 years old, I have no idea what I'm doing in New York City by myself. So I really learned the hopes and everything. Tried to learn as much as I can made a lot of mistakes at the beginning is nobody was guiding me as well. So that was my history. And every single day, I just had to go to, I have to learn something I have to learn. So I have to keep myself educated and well informed about my decisions in life. And here I am. I said, my goal was to retire at 55. I equipped myself early at a young age, first year, second year, third year of my career, fifth year, everything was pushed down. Majority my salary went to my retirement. And I can say before 40 I can, I can choose if I can work or not. Whoa. Good for you. That's awesome. When that happens to me, you're gonna find me on a beach somewhere, maybe. Awesome goals. Nurse Juan, you also have a really cool story. Tell us about your immigration in your journey.

Oh, yeah. For me, I've been a nurse in the Philippines. And ever since I took nursing, the aim is always to be a nurse in the United States. But unfortunately, retrogression happened. So it took me like 10 years before my American dream will become would have come true. Philippines was a bad place to work and a bad salary level also. So I tried to move to Singapore, Singapore was a good being placed. But the work was also like really bad. So I was trying to find a better place and fortunately, US Open. And it did provide me with both of them, like, financially and work wise, it's so it's super, super duper, okay, here versus from those two countries that I work with. I started a staffing agency. I had some, some struggles when it started, but kind of move towards with travel nursing, and travel nursing, changing, mostly everything. So now I am truly happy that I was born, right? I grew up nursing, growing up. So such a wonderful career to be able to help others and doing that journey. And in order to do that, and help the nursing shortage here in the United States. Vincent, you're also immigrants tell us about your journey to the United States. And then also, why did you decide to start a financial business here?

Well, you know, during that time, it was the only way to have a better future is like, as what is being told by my mom is to be a nurse. So I got into nursing and you know, I, and then she said, Oh, okay, now that you're graduated, so you have to get out of the Philippines, they out of my home country. So basically, it's really, we're looking at the United States as the land of opportunity. That's why I ended up being a nurse. Okay, so it was a good transition for me. I mean, I work as I said, I work for Cleveland Clinic and then transition here in Aspen. But, um, I've seen a lot of nurses working so hard. And I myself, you know, we nurses, for most of us, we know how to make money. That's why we see a lot of nurses working two, three jobs pay, but it takes up point 10 years ago that, okay, no matter how much you earn, it's really that important. It's how much you keep a so I see people at the age of 50 to get into nursing, six to eight years old, still working. So I said there's something wrong with it. And that's why when it was shared to me this financial knowledge, I look the leap of faith to try to see this and moving forward. I mean it

I saw that need of that financial knowledge and now I'm helping a lot of people especially nurses, health care providers, everyone, anyone to build a strong and solid financial foundation. And that's my mission that I look into a smile on measure. They supported this decision from being a nurse to having that mission to help others not only nurses but everybody in the community to have the strong financial foundation in the US. And as I said as immigrants, we have our heart for the immigrants especially those who are just coming so we educate them how to establish themselves in the in the country. Okay, when you found out we were going to New York Park City. How did you go about researching a budget for how much money you would need whenever you came? Oh my goodness. I'm 21 years old back then. So for me YOLO You Only Live Once I have no idea about budget. I would like the oh my god, I mean, Manhattan. Like, we all know this one of the most expensive place but I didn't. It was a culture shock for me when I get there. I was eating McDonald's in the Philippines would cost me like, that time was 4040 pesos, which is like less than $1. When I got to the US, I didn't have I only brought $200 with me, because I had a problem with my with my recruiter and my job.

So I did not realize that a McDonald's would cost me like from $40 in the Philippines for Burger fries and drink 40 pesos sorry, it will now cost like 700 vessels. So I was using my sister's credit card, or emergency and she called me one day as he said, What did you eat in McDonald's? Like I have no idea. I'm so sorry. I'm so starving. And I didn't realize how hard it is. And I was like, to the point I only have $20 left in New York City. And it was really a struggle. I don't know how to do it. I started looking for people to adopt me. You really people to adopt you cook you some foods that are interesting when people first come the United States, they actually want to try the McDonald's. Here's right that there. I want to ask Vincent and Myla, tell us about what should a nurse keep in mind when they're researching to come to the United States? And that budget question.

I mean, based on experience really is like, we were excited. So the research impact, I think we left that off. So but I think for now, I think it's lucky that nurses have this, this information ahead of time. So I think one thing is one, one first tip that I can say is like, don't convert, because if you convert from your home country going here, you might not buy anything, because you're gonna return all the items in the grocery store, just with my lack of exposure. So those are experiences. So as I've been said, we really didn't plan for it. We didn't make any research and all that gave, but you know, moving forward, for all of you, who is about to come here to the United States, I mean, make a research of the anticipated expenses, okay? Like, if you're, you know, the apartment will not be shouldered than you had anticipated, how much will it cost? Like, you know, groceries? I mean, you can you can search that you can Google that one. So as just to give you an idea, what are you looking at the projected expenses for the month. And also I would want for you to, you know, to make, since you know, the expenses, then your anticipated income day, but you have to consider that access with the income. So that's one of our biggest mistakes. When we came here, I was offered like 20 to $23 per hour. We didn't know about taxes, no one educated us about that. So we were thinking we're gonna get the whole money, the whole amount for that month, okay, but it's like 25 to 30% of your income goes to taxes. So you have to budget, the income, the cash flow coming in, versus the anticipated expenses.

And when it comes to living in the United States, it really has to do with where you are living. Yes, that's true. Yep. The cost of living is so different. Less costs, we actually have a chart here that gives a cost comparison of what it's like to live in different cities. You could see that Pennsylvania is very different from New York, which is very different from Austin, Texas, which is very different from Louisville, Kentucky. So there are these sorts of things to keep in mind as well. And in those states, the tax rates are different than since the correct? Yes. Yes. And that, just make sure that you know that you're like, like we came from Ohio, right, Ohio is we get tax where we work, then we get tax where we reside. So we also have the state tax. So when we move to Texas, Texas has no state taxes, no city taxes or something. So you need to also know that parameters and one of the good things also is if you know somebody living in the area, talk to them and ask them some tips.

Also, it also gives you a join the community of. But nurses in that area or something like that. And we have nurses joining the chat and asking all kinds of questions. Martha is saying hello and watching from Zambia, Africa he to saying Hi dears, I'm MLS from Iran, could you please help me how to start to apply for the visa screen? Well, first you need to apply to Connetics, USA website Conneticsusa.com/apply our recruiter we've reached out to you, and then we can hook you up with a job here in a healthcare facility. So Conneticsusa.com/apply. Nurse Juan great to have you back, I saw that you were having technical difficulties, but we are live in mind. Nurse Juan, how did you go about budgeting for your journey to the United States? Honestly, like, Hey, I came here without like, really, totally realizing what I'm going into. I didn't know about insurance for the health insurance is that free, I didn't know how bad it was for the car insurance here. If you don't have all those proper licensing, I didn't know that tax was gonna eat up like a big part of your, of your salary. So but before that, I did some research. So I just tried to be ready as much as for good for three months, because I had a couple of people who were, who came ahead here, and they gave us a rough estimate of how much we should be having for each month budget. And the worst case scenario was always the thing that your social security number will arrive late. And the latest from one of our colleagues, here's like three months. So we did try to figure it out.

The main thing, the biggest part of the budget is the housing. Good, we're in Kentucky in this eastern part of Kentucky, the housing is super cheap. So it wasn't that big of a chunk. I think other things is just get an idea from people who are the are staying in the place that you will be moving in to try to communicate with them. And that's the best tip I can give to you guys. Why wonderful advice. And we're going to be getting more into renting an apartment and how much that costs, as well as transportation later on in the show. So make sure you stay tuned. That's an umbrella. What I want to ask you next is when it comes to saving money for their journey, what do you recommend for people for families to do to save money? What are some tips? Okay, I mean, I think one of the great tips that we can say basically our experience here is, is spend less, earn more. So that's the main thing. So and also, I mean, we teach about the leads versus one. So most of the time, I mean, you get when you when you come to the US on their first few days, or first month second one, you can excite that, oh, I have, I can buy this because the opportunities are really kinda like limitless like you can, you can, you can enjoy the themes that you have enjoyed, where you came from.

And I think the as shown in the screen, like the budgeting of operation is a big deal. You need to be disciplined now, and you need to plan ahead on not only for today, Kaye Becky mentioned like about that, you leave your the Yolo YOLO state. So whatever you need to also at least, like what she did, you need to prepare for your future period retirement, you're planning ahead. And of course, always check on the taxes portion of it, how much taxes they're going to take out from your pay, and how much inflation currently is by like, post pandemic pre pandemic, the prices are different right now. Compared to before, so just be mindful of your expenses. And of course, as nurse was said, the main the main budget that you need to focus on is the housing. And again, the next one is transportation and all those things. So well. I want to also point out you know, before coming here in the US, I would suggest really no to be able to bring in you know, a sufficient amount of money that you have saved and I mean start saving already while you're there, wherever whichever country you're coming from a and try to bring you know that something borrowed if as much as you can, because you don't want to, it's hard to start life here. And then you have a good chunk of money back home, right? So if you can do not try to borrow, it may be tough, but it's doable, okay.

And when you're back when you're here in the United States already, I mean, in terms of saving, one thing, I mean money in money out a, whatever you're earning, you make it sure, you're able to allocate something for your expenses, but you gotta pay yourself first. And that's where you're able to start saving, okay, so allocate something for those expenses, but at the same time, saving for yourself, because if something happens, it's not the typical country that we have when once we're here that you can borrow right away, right? So a lot of people have their own financial responsibility, responsibilities here in the US, okay. The main thing is just avoid that the what we call the deficit spending. So that's a lot of people that are having comments about taxes in the United States, something to keep in mind that taxes in other countries, for example, in Europe, are much more of a piece of your income, that you're actually paying for taxes. And that's the same for many, many countries. So people may think, oh, my gosh, taxes in California, it's crazy. But if you really put this into perspective with the rest of the world, you might end up ahead, especially because the salaries are really great here, too. Just a quick note on that. Last question for everybody want to answer really quick? Can you already kind of talked about this? Here's the question for everybody. How much money did you bring to the United States? And in what form? Did you bring the money? Kaye, answer.

$200. And, and have an end, keep in mind, I will work for fluid that time. So it's not a very smart thing to do. Nurse Juan, what about you? How much did you bring? And was it cash alone checks? For me, I brought like, I think $9,000 I brought cash. But I also brought an ATM that's from Singapore. And we did use that eventually. For the first I think for the first two months, the 9000 was like, just went away. That's how bad that's during that time. So but everything was working. So yeah. How much do you think a nurse should bring in their pockets with them to the United States also cash or a debit card? Should they also exchange their money? $2 beforehand?

When how much did they bring first is about $500. Okay, and I think I remember I brought it cash. Okay. But you know, ideally, realistically speaking, I mean, that one, that one said 9000. I mean, that's pretty realistic, you know, 910 1000, because if you won't have something happens, you want to cover first two months, at least, the best for three months. So you're looking at about three to 5000 expenses, depending on how much expenses you have. So bringing, if you can have some cash, but you know, you can hide in our country, you can put it anywhere right in, in here. The my, the Filipinos here, know what I'm talking about, you can put it in your socks, you can put it in your bag somewhere that you can hide your cash. But you also can set up like a bank account. So some, you know, you Philippines has like US bank accounts that you can kind of link it here like $1 account or something. And because what happened for me and my low we, we are like two months apart. She came here, because I still have some more. So what happens is, you can bring actually the cash, but make sure that it's below 10,000 Because we have the anti money laundering that also like in place so you don't want to have that be trouble. And I also bring my death by credit card from the Philippines when we came here. So it's kind of like an emergency situation that you have that backup plan. Because as I mentioned, when you come here, you don't you're not sure right away that you're going to get the all the things that is settled for you or separately.

That's just wonderful piece of advice. So you're saying don't bring more than $10,000 cash to the United States with you What about after that? Is there a certain limits that people can transfer in and a year, what are the implications of that guy still the same. I mean, $10,000 is kinda like, you know, and depending on how, what the movement of your money, so there's some regulations that are in place. So we will transfer like, some people get around it. But the thing is, just make sure you have the legitimate sources, you can also always have that backup documentation where you get the money, if it's from your dad prep your parents or something, it's from inheritance, some things that you need to have the those documentation in place, because just to let everybody know that financial, you know, regulations are in place, especially when you're bringing the cash portion of it, because they got to ask you, when you go to the immigration, how much cash do you have? Are Saying, you can bring more than 10,000 with you. So if you bring more than 10,000, you're gonna have to pay taxes on that, is that correct? Or you can get penalized? Actually, because there's, there's a regulation in place that you don't really want to have that because the anti money laundering started, especially during the 911. Before so because of the anti terrorism bills and everything like that. Alfred is, is the 10k allowable per person traveling? Or is it for each family member? So if there's a family of four, can they bring 40k?

Well, I would say just check on, on with, with the immigration authorities, because I can say, kinda like ballpark 10,000, but make sure because every regulation changes every day. So but those questions can be asked, prior to coming here. So if you have been troubled, one thing that I suggest, probably, you know, if you bring a good chunk of money, I mean, the one that is legitimate to bring, and then but before coming here, the US, you find, how can you send money like coming from your home country to this country, like, we have money grab, that's one way to transfer money, hey, so you can you can, or Western Union. So that's another one. So you can if you try somebody back home, then send it like, you know, certain amounts of money coming here rather than risky, the whole chunk of your money or a big lump sum of your money being sent right away one time. Bringing money to the United States, everybody needs a place to put it right. So let's talk about opening a bank account. Kaye, tell us about your experience opening a bank account here. It's a very good experience that I have. When I got here in the US when I started my job, my job is a unionized hospital.

So sometimes they will tell you, Hey, you're part of this, let's say for my experience, this New York State Nurses Association, so Niña is affiliated with Bank of America. So we get like a welcome packet from her employer that saying, if you open this bank account in here, and then you will be also approved with credit card. So that's my first thing that I always encourage people to check before coming here in the United States. Look at your options, check in the hospital, if they have affiliated affiliations with credit unions, because you will be able to have a very good rate for mortgage later on, check that credit union that's affiliated with your hospital. If you don't have anything credit union affiliated with the hospital, you might want to try next is your state Nurses Association. So they have members are sometimes affiliated with those banks as well. And you can you can get credit card with higher credit limit as well. With as well as with banking, checking and savings account. If you don't have a state Nurse Association, go to the unions, you know, if you have if you've exhausted that three option, then I guess you have to just check your local bank.

All sorts of options, Nurse Juan, what is your first 30 days in the United States look like? And was opening a banking account part of it? Yes, definitely. But before that, can I just add in about the process, the budget to bring into the US from what I understand is $10,000 is per family. You can bring more than $10,000 When you arrive here, but you just have to declare it and I don't think there's a penalty fee from what I understand from some of those who just came in here. So you just have to declare in their support that you have to fill out. Okay, anyway, going back to the 30 days, or opening the bank, I think we opened within the first five days arrived here, our agency has a connection with some of the local banks here. And they were able to talk with the bank for some of the things that they can bend for the rules, like one of the requirements for getting a bank is definitely permanent address. So for us, when we arrived here, we didn't have any permanent address. So the bank was able to bend the rules for us, and just lease the hotel for our permanent address.

Then also, they also bend the roll rate, the social security number, they just use our USPS a passport. And since then have connections they're able to bend that rule as well. So opening the bank wasn't a big problem for us, though, we wish we could have like open a bank with a credit union, like Kaye said, better benefits and like cheaper interest. And I did get an interest for my car with a local bank. And it was almost double when versus the one who came here who opened with a credit union. So credit union has a better option for better deals for new immigrants like us. So Vincent, break down the process of opening a bank account. How does that work in the United States? Yeah, I think I mean, piggybacking on what, on the 10,000 thing earlier. So, yes, once it's correct, that you need to fill up a form when you bring 10,000 or more the penalty arise if you don't declare the 10,000. So that's an opening a bank. I mean, we're lucky when because when Mylan I came here, the agent, they held their hand and go to the bank to the local bank, have us drive on that back. And then more as a nurse, one said, I mean, most of them if you're an immigrant, like a nurse teachers or something, so they have but the leniency on the documentation part. So you just go to the bar, show your passport, at least show your offer letter from the employer, and just give the valid address of the, in the US whether you're living in an apartment or in a temporary housing. So they just have that. And then as they also said, credit union is better because we have our first car, which is still running right now. We got it from from the credit union, and we have a good deal in the interest rate. So yeah, and then just after that, when they can initially issue you like, the 10 pages of check, then you can use that check to in any transaction that you have. So it's kinda like easier to have it as long as you have your show the documentation, even if you don't have the social security number yet.

We're getting a lot of questions in the chat about that $10,000 that we were talking about earlier. So let's just go through them really quick. Beatrice is asking if you're single, is it lower than 10k? Yeah, it's kind of like a standard data set. It's like party COVID coming here. So as I said, there's a government site that you can check like the custom border protection that that the government has the CBP has the all the information on Mary's debit cards, talking about debit cards, is there a limit? How much you can transfer into a debit account at once, so you're open your bank accounts, you didn't bring 10,000 in your sock? And so now you want to transfer money into this bank account? How does that work? Is there a minimum that you need to deposit in order to open the account? And is there a maximum? Myla?

You I would suggest checking like with the actual bank? So whichever, because it depends, most likely depends also on the bank that you are in. So that's one way and then another way. The thing about that one is the credit union or the back usually they just require $25 Just for credit union $25 membership, and then for the bank. You just probably have some banks are required to have $100 and they need to have the direct deposit feature so that you will get the charges or something. But you're asking about the like how much is the like you're allowed to transfer is that right? Okay, so like how much can they transfer. I mean, if it's coming outside of the US, even for a pure here, domestic US, there's not that much about but of course, they will monitor all the movements of your money. But if it's coming outside, then that's the game, the 10,000 limit.

You just answered hard lanes question, can we have our family member transfer some funds from the Philippines? To the bank account that we're about to open when we get here? I see everyone nodding yes, that you can transfer that money. What about transferring investments? I can add there. So the best way to go really about this. Each bank has different rules when it comes to transfer transferring funds from one bank to another. Let's say I can tell this from my experience, I have, you know, name it, TD Ameritrade Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, but Schwab, you know, tell me all those TD, you know, Robin Hood, I have a lot probably more than eight investment banks, I believe in the diversity, diversification of accounts. Because, you know, we've all heard about this Lehman bank broader going down. Recently, silicon bank Valley went down, we have a lot of things going on Robin Hood, Robin Hood, trading stocks. So if you're an investor, you really need to diversify where you put your investments. So I really recommend you guys looking into different protocols, if each banks and make sure that you know that your bank is if you can hold on to a bigger bank, that will be better.

You can have two banks if you want. I personally do my own checking. And my you know, I have two different Not, not two, but more than business checking, my personal checking, and if I am in the hospital checking, because I keep it all, because sometimes it's easier for me to see the business on the other side, this is my personal expenses. And these are my leisure expenses. Sometimes I do that. And there, each bank will have different rules of transferring. So you will have to coordinate with the bank, they will give you instruction. And you can call them ahead of time before you arrive here in the US, called the toll bank number that they have online. And they're very helpful, they will give you a guided step. And sometimes there's like an actual banker who will help you individually on your needs.

So once a nurse opens their bank accounts, a big part of that is building credit. In the United States, we have a credit system, which many people in the world may not be familiar with. Let's give a really brief overview as to what is credit, and why is it important? Vincent? Yeah, I mean, unlike any other countries, I mean, the credit here in the US, I mean, your future interest rates will depend on your credit score and credit history. So that's why when you're new most of the time, but I mean, they give you higher interest rate you like when you apply for a car loan, or some apartment, they give you higher rates or something, because you're you don't have the credit history yet. But the main thing that you need to focus on is the how you spend your money. One big thing is the credit utilization, let's say if you have a credit limit of 10,000. So you don't spend over that, or you don't spend at least 50% of that when you're here because when you're doing that regularly, then it will affect your credit score. As I'm saying, I'm also a realtor. So what happens is, if you want to buy a five years from now a new house, it will also affect your interest rate when you buy a new home or even if you want to rent an apartment or something it also based on your credit score.

Nurse Juan how did you go about building credit in the United States? And how long did it take until you got that first credit score? Okay, for me, I think it took me like I think four to five months thing I find it hit a credit score. One thing I can advise as one is try to check for apps like Credit Karma or forget better just to see if you have any, like credit score to monitor because sometimes like for my wife, she hasn't like opened a Credit Karma before. Until I think like eight months she still doesn't have any credit score. So I'm not until she opened up a credit score. Coordinate with those things. And she was able to see and monitor them. I was able to I think I was able to build my credit mainly because for getting a credit card and just paying my bills on time. And sometimes like I mentioned my previous videos, I did have some panels pays for doing simple things that I wasn't expecting, like asking for a bank about credit loan or the APR, I didn't know that it will affect your credit score. So those little things.

And it would be nice to know about, like, what will happen or what things affect your credit score, the best thing I can give an advice is pay everything on time, especially for the credit card and for your bills. And usually, it will just go up slowly, and try like what Kay said, try to open different kinds of credit cards from different banks and get a bigger bank as well. Oh, also, can I add in about the bank transfer earlier? For the bank that I like what Kay said, get the bigger bank, like a bigger like a known branch kind of bank. Because sometimes for those local banks, they have to go through to those big bank in order to transfer some bills. So sometimes you will be charged twice for like transferring some fees. And I experienced that personally.

For opening for the cards, I think like for the credit union in advance well before, I think it's only like $5, for you to open that. And for the US bank here, I think it's like $75, that's the minimum that you have to like, put in cash there. So it is quite easy to open here. But as a new immigrant is best for you to do this physically, sometimes online, they're not that they're kind of a trick and we would suggest you do, like go physically to sorting back stuff like what. And when you go to the bank, physically, you also get to meet people there, get their business card, and then you can contact them in the future for questions. You may have bigger banks, one of our nurses are speaking about that. We're talking about Bank of America, perhaps Wells Fargo? I'm not sure if they have Chase. Chase Bank? Exactly. So we're just naming off some banks here.

Myla, what, really quickly? What are some tips for nurses to build credit?

Well, first of all, I mean, of course, to build credit, you got to apply for a credit card, right? Okay. But here's my tip. And this, I'm speaking it from our experiences. Because once you start applying for credit cards, then one after the other, you're being offered with that, A, that's that's one thing that you have to be aware of, you are going to receive it from the mail and all and then they will even entice you, once you have the credit card is to increase your credit

limit. Okay. So don't be don't feel with that extracted with that one. Because it can be a trap, okay. So when you try to use credit cards to build up your credit score, which we need, I mean, to build up, you know, to make loans, car loans, home loans, and all that. But you have to make sure that if you use your credit card this month, you got to pay it in full in cash next month. Okay? Don't ever, ever get into that situation that you just paid the minimum, right now, you know, the credit card interest is like ranging from anywhere from 18 to 24%. And if you're just paying the minimum, then that's a trap that you get, you cannot, you cannot build your credit score. Okay, so just live within your means, as you tried to get those credit cards, and limited. I mean, if you can afford like two, three, I mean, that's, that's good enough, for as long as you pay it in case you're piling in what and that's where you can increase your credit score over time, it'll be disciplined enough to as my lesson, pay it off.

If you if you apply for a loan or something, so just make sure that you pay that on time too. Because car loans, credit cards, those builds up your credit score, and also the time that you have those accounts open. So those things that you need to consider. So build up your credit score, but don't get into that, which a lot of us immigrants are getting into, you know, because of those exciting things happening. Oh, I have now a 10,000 credit limit. Oh gosh, that now your debt is 10,000. Right. So yes. And we have asking if it's a joint account, will it build up both of the credit scores? Yes, we've got a yes there. So that's wonderful. If you want to live and work in the United States and experience the opening of bank accounts and building credit and saving money, go to our website Connetics usa.com forward slash apply. Our recruiters are standing by and like I said we will match you with health care facilities that you can work green cards, Social Security numbers to make all of this easy for you. Let's do a deeper dive into the expenses that people need to plan for whenever they arrive in the United States. And Vincent and Myla also provided a really cool graph graphic that shows if we can bring those up a graphic that shows kind of how the different expenses are divided the main categories here, let's take a deeper dive into this meal if you want to speak to this graphic, okay, so if you can see the graph, though, so the biggest usually is like, you know, the housing. So every one of us starts with an apartment, and it just depends on where you're located.

Okay, it may read up. When I started in Ohio, that was like, just 600 700 appointment. But here in us, it's like, you know, 1300 1500, okay. So and then you have to allocate for transportation, probably, you can ride in a bus for a couple of days, a couple of weeks, but ultimately, especially if there's no public transportation, then you have to have those, you have to get the car. Okay. And, you know, groceries. So that's also another one utilities, you know, food, health insurance, you know, that insurance that I'm talking about the medical and the health care, okay? So you got to make sure that you also have health insurance, because if you get sick, then it's more costly. Okay. So life insurance, I mean, those living benefits, I would still, you know, recommend that one because as you all know, even if you have health insurance here in the United States, there's what you call coinsurance and deductibles, you still have to pay out of pocket, even if you have health insurance. Okay. And just to put in, the chat is asking, Where's the taxes on the graph, we didn't put the taxes on the graph, because most of the time, they asked these deducted from your salary, the taxes and then the you find the taxes at the end of the year. So just to segue on that. So this is basically what we're looking at is your net income, your take home pay, okay? And there's one portion here that I would want also to highlight as part of it may you may look at it as an expense, but also your CV and your pay yourself first investing, okay? So you got to pay yourself and save something like for emergency fund savings so that if something unexpected expense happens, you can get it from that kind of savings bucket.

Que you've lived so many different places, you have a really good grasp on the cost of living and the expenses that people can expect whenever they arrive. Even though you came with only 200 Your personal experience and lessons to share. I want to get into renting an apartment we just looked at that really cool graphic there. Renting an apartment was a really big chunk of that. How did that process look like for you? And in Manhattan? It's quite expensive. But what was the process like looking for the apartment and renting the apartment? Just to give everybody a background? A video I told you 17 years and I have moved for 13 times. So if anybody is willing to talk to me about really moving, I can be your bro pro go through. Yeah, what kid? Yeah, initially single then eventually go family growing, right? So I lived in Manhattan, you know, everybody knows one of the most expensive places to go. I was very lucky that the hospital gave us six months free housing, which never existed right now anymore. Just an FYI. First, it's not really a house, it's a dormitory for healthcare professionals. Okay, some of this places we're actually if you are going to a place where there's a lot of university and schools, you will find dormitories that are cheaper if you are on a budget.

So that's one thing if you go to Metro metros, or places where nursing universities are out, before you jump in to the US, the first thing that you really have to go is go to rental apartment, rents don't matter for state, you have to go to the zip code, again, zip code because I can be here cheaper, but after like three blocks from now and it's a different zip code. So the rent is different. So again, when you look at the housing cost, don't look at the state don't look at the city look at the zip code. So you gotta go to Zillow rent.com apartment.com Look at the prices of the housing there. So that's how you will get a really good grasp of how much it will cost you. And also when you do budget you know you have to do get your gross salary, right gross monthly gross, and then minus the taxes just give about 20% taxes on it. And then minus housing. So again, gross paycheck gross salary per month, minus min taxes on it, just an average and then minus the housing so at least you got majority of the of the budgeting off already on your off your plate. So that's how you go about budgeting for to housing.

And one whenever you got your first whenever you rented your first apartment, what did the moving expenses look like? Did you need to pay some sort of security deposit two months? freinds? What did you need to buy give us an idea of that you're muted. Anyway, I can jump in just in case. I'm sorry. Like for me, thankfully, we had a good landlord, like, who caters for Filipino near area. And like what Kay said, you have to really search for a specific place that you want to stay like a zip code, because like here in our place, like in Prestonsburg, before, it was super, super cheap. But there's a few blacks like 10 minutes away, the price is almost like double. So you really have to do your research. It is more expensive to stay or live near the city. If you can find an apartment and like I would say the city, but the transportation time or allowance is still good, then I would suggest doing that. For me, I think for my first apartment, I only had to pay like $425 per month. And that is really cheap, like a one bedroom apartment with all not including the amenities.

And take note about the budget for like getting an apartment. If you have to compute take note about the amenities as well like for the water included, the electricity is included, the Wi Fi and all those things. So you have to pay like for me, I have to be one month advance in one month deposit. So it wasn't that bad. It's only like 800 or $900. For me. Plus, I have to pay like additional advanced cleaning fee. I think it'd be like $150 for that. So overall less than $1,000 for me. You have Anna in the chat saying when I moved from watching Westchester, New York to Orange County, New York, I paid $2,000 in moving companies, the new apartment asked for apartment insurance before we move den since it may Allah give us an idea about this apartment insurance security deposits. What does that usually look like from the technical side? Okay, so as a real estate professional, so we I just help adverse from the screen from the Philippines here. So what happens is, firstly, with the with the apply, you need to pay probably like ranging from $50 to $75 application fee. And then after that they kind of asked you, again, again, check your background and everything like that they can ask you to pay the security deposit is most likely if we will enter the first month's rent.

And then after that they can ask for your home or renters insurance, renter's insurance. So, but most of the time, if you're out in the country, they might you might not have that yet. So they may give you like a waiver on that, and then they get you. But when you're here, you need to at least address that first you did to get in the local area that you can have the renter's insurance for that one. And then after that they didn't have the moving in it. Sometimes there's a multiple application on that unit. So just bear in mind, and sometimes they decline you. So just make sure that you always have to follow up, you don't assume that you're already approved. So you need to have an alternative to so what happens is when they contact a local realtor like me, we give them alternatives like, yes, you apply for this one, but you're not accepted yet. So you need to look for others alternative options.

How much does a credit score matter when renting an apartment? Do you have to have one? Yes, you have. But here's the thing. Also, one of the requirements that we are seeing right now is your rent should be at least three times. I mean, one, three times your salary should be three times of the rent or four types of the rent that you have. So but the credit score assumption, and there's one and case at it sometimes if you don't have it yet, they defer that but the credit score. It really varies from lender to lender, depending on the property manager versus Most likely around 600 up, those are the things that they accept. This is such a wonderful conversation that we're having here. I'm looking at the clock, and we're already running out of time. On that, sorry, Luciana. Yeah, about the housing, if you don't have credit score, this is what I do for a lot of nurses coming in here.

So what I, when when they reach out to me, Hey, I need your help, can you check out if I can find housing in the US before arrival. So I always recommend them if you don't have housing provided by your employer is stated in a stay at a hotel if you can, you know, temporary housing, hotel or family or relative for the next two weeks, okay? Because the first thing that we can do is we can apply even arrival here we can apply, but we do I recommend this nurses to have all your financial statement ready before coming here, I want to have your employment recommendation, employment letter job offer contract, I want to get a certification from your employer that you are employed really for for them for three years, and you will have constant income for three years. So as soon as they get in here, we submit that together with me with the property management, some property management really just need like a statement coming from employer that ah, yeah, she's our employee. And she has a contract for us for three years. And it's showing this is showing her income. So some property management that I have talked to most mostly are the smaller ones, they have the tendency to allow those even without credit history. But they just need to make sure that they verify it with your employer. So get the employers number, get the contact number contact person from your employer, so the management facilities can call and verify.

And you can do the same whenever you are, you know, opening utilities and so many other sorts of accounts that you need to start with upfront. Is that right? Correct. Yes. It's like your proof of I'm working here, addition to the green card that you'll also be working with when you arrive, I want to get to some last final pieces of advice from every one, Nurse Juan, let's start with you. What is the number one piece of advice for nurses coming to the United States when it comes to budgeting, money, all that good stuff. Okay, I got some few tips here. Give me a second. Down. Number one, make, make use of the freebies that you have here. One good thing for like simple things like for simple expenses, like buying some groceries, those kinds of things, you can do like a coupon or that's a term be a coupon or here, there's always a lot of previous you can save as much as like $30 for grocery just by using your coupons. Another thing is to use an auto pay for certain things, those can give you some discounts. Continuously, like for cell phones, like or I think for car loan, like for me, I was able to like have a little bit of discount because of that. And some are electricity. So you can use that as well. What else for food, make sure it SRE or food is best to try to not eat out, always try to cook for yourself is always cheaper that way, much, much cheaper. Just imagine the bills that you have to pay less that diff that you have to pay sometimes. So those add up, it might not seem a lot when you first try. But if you try to add up for the woman, it will really show like how much big of a difference it is versus like just cooking at home.

What else can I say? Yeah, I think and just do some more research, get information ahead. And those small things can be a long way. And listen, he has a lot of information that can give you some especially for technical things, and with service and as well. Yes, and also I'm just seeing a quick question here from Dorothy if the apartments fully furnished or if you need to buy your own appliances, such as a stove to cook at home. Like nurse Juan was saying, There's everything that you have some that are furnished, some that are not furnished some that come with a microwave, some that don't. Some that have a refrigerator, some that dump depends on where you live and what you need. So it's the land of everything. All the choices Myla what are some final pieces of advice you can offer immigrants coming to the United States in terms of budgeting? Well, I mean couple of things here. I mean, you gotta I would suggest write down your expenses versus your income cut down on you know, unnecessary expenses, use free apps. I mean eat unhappy hours, here are the US we have those. So you can minimize that, then you can also most especially, I mean, you gotta look at your financial foundation, okay?

So we're in you have that protection that that management that emergency funds, that investments, okay, so this is what we do in helping families, how you can build a solid financial foundation, be proactive, you know, you plan ahead, even you're from your home country, you're still in your home country, you try to make a list of those anticipated expenses, how much most likely the net income if you can get an overview on that one. And at the end of the day, discipline, mindset thing, and goal setting. So now that you're here, the US are coming here in the US, okay, so you have to have a set of goals, but you have to mindset yourself that you are here to achieve those goals. And the most important thing is putting into action and track your progress. So yes, and one last thing I'd like to add is, don't forget, you came here, some of your valuable members are left behind in the home country, with the budget on the money that you will be sending to them. So I know some people are very generous, they even have that same amount of their house if they send it back home. But make sure that put something for yourself first, before you send money back home, because that's you you're the breadwinner if you're if you're the breadwinner period, the main earner or something like that. Take care of yourself with your head. And yes, I mean, if financial crisis happens within that, we've seen this a lot, many, many times, okay. So you cannot it's hard to borrow money from your home country, because the conversion is a lot different. Okay? It may be 100,000 or 500,000. There, but it's just a very minimal amount here compared to the US Dollars day. So you got to start saving while you're trying to pay those obligations on a monthly basis.

Wonderful pieces of advice, Vincent Myla, please put your contact information in the chat. They'll be doing that right after the show. So if anybody has any further questions, or would like to hire them for their services, you can you can visit their website. Also, you can visit the Connetics website, if you would like to apply to become a nurse in the United States Conneticsusa.com/apply. Our website also has lots of research resources, about financial topics. So everything that we've mentioned here, how to rent an apartment, we also talked about how to buy a car, what is dental insurance, what is health insurance, how to rent an apartment. So all of that is also on our website. And we have lots of future shows that we're going to be speaking about it to thank you so much to all of our guests for joining us today. And I know that we will see all of you again in the future. So thank you very much. And now just to close the show, I just wanted to go over some of our future shows that I just mentioned that we have coming up, here's a calendar. Next week, we're going to be doing a client showcase looking into a healthcare facility called UofL. On April the 28th. We're going to be doing an immigration Q&A where you can ask our lawyers questions directly.

We're also doing a special immigration show about retrogression, this Monday. Also Connetics career day now we're gonna get into nurses month versus month as the month of May here in the United States. So it's going to be kind of like plush dating with us health care facilities, we're going to have so many different companies on our show that are going to be telling you all about themselves. Same show coming up after that, that'll be a lot of fun, you will have the opportunity to participate and win prizes live more immigration sessions on May the 19th. And on May the 26th. We're really going to be getting into direct hire recruitment companies versus staffing recruitment companies like Quan and came K came in on the Lefora Talk Show you can never forget we're going to be talking about the next generation NCLEX next week on the 18th. On April the first we actually had a big change in the NCLEX exam. Now there is the next gen NCLEX exam. So we really want to focus on that. May 9, work life balance which is important not only for nurses, but for people all over the world. Thank you so much again for joining us. And as we always say, onwards and upwards. See you next week. Thank you for having us. Bye. Thank you. Bye