Mimi sio graduate, mimi si professional. Am i in the wrong place huku talk?
no, you’re not in the wrong place…this is also for those who are self employed so that ujue atleast what the average pay grade is in Kenya ili usiemploy mtu ya masters na salo ya 50k
Urban Kenya do you mean huko Westlands and Upperhill?
Mimi I have a question, who are these guys who live in these apartments where rent is kidu 80-150k? In my estimations I was thinking they’re paid anything above 500k. Now I come here and read that there are very few guy who are paid above 500k nashangaa. Personally kama mshahara yangu haijafika 500k mbona niishi nyumba ya 120k? Kama ni 100k naishi nyumba ya max 15k. Nitajijenga ama ntajenga mwenye nyumba?
This is also for those Masters grads tuliona wakiapply for those Tuskys internships (20-25k if I’m not wrong). Fine, take that for now coz well, jobs are not easy to find in Kenya, BUT don’t be complacent and rest on your laurels coz you’re worth waaay more than that.
If you want to know what’s a comfortable salary you have to factor in the cost of Real estate. How many years will it take to save &build/ pay off a mortgage in Nairobi or its environs? Then work backwards…
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Majority of those who rent at those amounts are EXPATS and it’s paid for by the employer. The kind who are told by HR that they’ll be shot in Eastlands…
No sane and informed person in Kenya touches mortgages. There is a good reason why the total number of mortgages in the country is about 20,000.
What I had in mind is a combination of personal savings and borrowing on healthy, favourable terms from eg a SACCO or your loaded connections. For some of these pursuits, you’ll have to borrow at some point (wisely).
whether one lives comfortably or not is more of a persons behavior/habits not how much one earns… because majority of kenyans in employment earn say between 10k-100k and you will find many some who earn say more than that live in debt due to choices others earn less than even 50k but live comfortably. it all boils down to personal character traits
This is the issue I have with the kenyan job market. People are paid based on wamefika wapi shule rather than skill level. So u find very useless guys holding critical positions eti juu wako na karatasi.
Of course to a large extent it boils down to you and how you manage your salary, but to some extent you’ve got to admit that comfort is dictated by what hits your account in the first place. Is it enough to meet your basic needs? To meet the high cost of living in the city? To leave something aside for saving? To help you in your long term goals and aspirations.
Picture that graduate on 20k who has to constantly ask for advances coz they have run out of bus fare. They may be the most financially prudent 20 something in Nairobi but their take home is simply not comfortable, period.
Even if it’s not a mortgage but a mix of savings & co-op loans; a decent plot in Nairobi’s outskirts goes for at least 2.5 million. Let’s assume anything in the upmarket neighborhoods is out of reach for Average Joe. He would have to save 40k per month for 5 years to afford that plot, not an easy feat for most. Meanwhile the cost of property is not waiting for him to save, but is steadily increasing. 5 years later, he now has the plot. Putting up a house will cost at least 3-5 million, which is another maybe 7 years of saving + loans from a sacco. As time passes, obviously the family is also expanding and their needs are increasing. With this information, what salary can facilitate an average savings rate of 40k per month for a family of 3-4, without compromising quality of life?
Usually technical skills and level of theory go hand in hand unless someone went to a very bogus university/college. They say even a monkey can be trained to perform technical skills, but it cannot understand the “why.” No one is stopping you from getting those papers, just saying. 
Yeap, it’s how our system of education is designed.
A question was asked here a while back why is it that most of those class eight & form 4 leavers who do so well are never heard from again. School n real-life are very different things. BBC ran a story of a doctor who mostly works in war zones (Iraq, Syria n such) In the interview he said it takes a special kind of doc to be successful in such an environment n not just coz u graduated.
It’s not an easy feat for most but it’s doable. You also need a very supportive partner. Na sio kuona mshahara imepanda mnaadjust lifestyle drastically. What I had in mind is of course saving for a down payment from your very early working days as you scout for a suitable plot (sio kuanza with that 5 year timeline of yours) then you borrow favourably when your salo can now support the loan repayment. That way you lock in the plot and then now plan for the construction. My uncle did exactly this and yes, it took YEARS to finish the construction (patience), as he continued renting. But ultimately he got his house and said bye to landlords for good!
It depends on employer and terms of service, in the civil service a salary of about 50k with sufficient time to run a side hustle in the private sector if you are going to be a bank teller 70k will do while in some technical profession or jobs leading to management 150k upwards is the norm.
Nimesikia. Of course if your timeline is years/?decades then the above is possible. The issue is, the greater your take home pay the quicker you can achieve the dream of a family home and also have other investments that will generate multiple income streams. How many years are you willing to sweat it out with your employer just to get basics, such as a family home? If it means 15 + years then sir, you’re falling behind the curve. That’s how I would grade whether a job is well paying or not. Any job that will enable me to own a house plus generate monthly income streams that are equal to or more than my salary by the time I’m 45 yrs max, I would consider as well-paying. If it means working until 55 just to afford one single home, no thank you…perhaps self employment would be a better option.
The era of expecting to work for one employer for 15 years is disappearing. One should expect to switch jobs more often than before. It’s also a well known fact that switching jobs/ employers is usually the fastest way to grow your salo…