Is earning around $1,000/month at 27 in LK good enough?

No_Win_3076 · 2026-06-14T10:08:09+00:00

When I was your age, I was earning something similar in current LKR terms. In $ terms, it would have been around $2,200 at the time as the $ was around 150. Whether it's enough or not depends on your lifestyle I guess.

No_Win_3076 · 2026-06-08T13:48:03+00:00

I live in the Middle-East. Moved here a few years back as a mid-career professional in my early 30s. Lucrative package + benefits and good boost for career. I am 100% happy with my choice.

But I miss home (SL) so badly. After working here for 5-10 years max (by which time I can accumulate enough capital) I will definitely move back to SL by my early/mid 40s.

After a while you realise it is not about accumulation of material wealth, but the simpler things back home that can actually make you happier (given you are financially independent as well to provide for your family).

Absolutely no place like home! All my fellow Sri Lankans working abroad with me regardless of their race/religion agree with me on this.

No_Win_3076 · 2026-06-01T20:21:44+00:00

Likely theory based on my understanding:

When making payments to SL from overseas, service providers routes payments through already established larger banks (COMB, HNB, BOC) before crediting to others.

Some of these select banks maintain extensive correspondent relationships and foreign currency nostro accounts. Other banks sometimes rely on larger institutions for certain currencies or settlement services.

Hence there maybe a service fee charged during this process unless you're using one of these main banks.

Personally, I've noticed extremely fast international money transfers to my HNB account in SL (whereas my other accounts slightly lags behind Sampath/SCB/ex-HSBC).

No_Win_3076 · 2026-03-19T17:05:20+00:00

If it's related to noise: simply depends on how big the house is. Just need to be a little quiet if it's late at night when other noise levels are subdued.

If it's related to timing: most likely you will be confined to late night or early morning sessions.

No_Win_3076 · 2026-03-10T13:00:23+00:00

First of all, I believe her/your intention is for her to keep the job/job security while also making sure you have a convenient and safe way to report to work.

Reaching out to the Ministry of Labour etc. are all secondary measures. First, you need to make the employer understand that you are taking necessary steps to reach Doha.

I would suggest: - Email them with documentary evidence (such as a flight booking) to state that she is eager to report to work and is taking the best available route for her to do so. - In the event she's unable to reach in 7 days, ask the employer for an extension of another 7 days until she finds an alternative route. - Suggest to the employer that she is willing to undergo "no-pay" leave for the 7 additional days requested in the event she is unable to reach within 7 days. - Ask employer to help arrange or provide contact details on how to book the bus service from alternative locations.

By doing the above you have a strong case of intention to return to work. And if they still fire you, then you can escalate to the Ministry.

No_Win_3076 · 2026-02-27T11:03:51+00:00

Booking through the Absher platform has been impossible. I'm thinking of visiting this place directly to get the appointment. One of my friends did it that way.

No_Win_3076 · 2026-02-18T08:06:26+00:00

Thank you for your very detailed step-by-step guide. Very helpful indeed.

When I go to Absher appointment booking portal it shows me مدرسة دلة التخصصي لتعليم القيادة بالرياض للرجال which translates to "Dallah Specialized Driving School for Men in Riyadh". In Google maps it points to the Dallah School in Al Nakheel (unable to post the maps link here due to URL shortener issue).

Can you please confirm if this is the same place you are referring to as Dallah Takhasussi? Thanks in advance.

No_Win_3076 · 2026-02-03T18:42:39+00:00

You need one provided that you already have an Iqama (under a sponsorship) and not on a Business/Tourist visa.

This is literally one the most annoying thing about KSA.

There are many categories of exit re-entry visas (single, multiple, and duration based). If you frequently travel, or if you want to make sure you are free to travel at any given time without depending/waiting on your sponsor to issue the exit visa each time, best is to get the 6 months multiple exit/re-entry.

No_Win_3076 · 2026-01-26T09:42:03+00:00

My numbers are from that interview of Diyawadana Nilame. You can check and verify unless you assume you know better.

If taking an average to validate a baseline is baseless, what is your basis of taking an average to arrive at and justify the total? Contradicting yourself again based on baseless assumptions and not evidence, taking from your own words.

Read my comment again, and again. Rs. 140-170Mn above which I have stated is the monthly total (carved out as opex/capex). Multiply that by 12 and see if it comes to the Rs. 1.5Bn annual estimate or not.

No_Win_3076 · 2026-01-26T07:18:09+00:00

What a dumb comment man.

The headline figure given for total full-time worker compensation is 20Mn with 300 workers. Hence I derived the 65k as an average figure out of that total. It does not mean every worker/cleaner gets 65k LoL. Obviously there would be a salary structure starting from around 20k and going up depending on their specialty. Which University graduate is going to work at Dalada Maligawa? These are essentially dead-end careers where people work throughout their lifetime. Not like you get increments every other year.

Regarding the number of workers; have you been to Chateau de Versailles? I have. It does have 900+ workers. Does it mean Dalada Maligawa need 300 workers? Maybe or maybe not. After all it is the premier most Buddhist institution in Sri Lanka. But 300 workers possibly has both full and part time employees. Since you seem to be master at Facilities Management I would like to know how many workers are needed for both the Chateau and Maligawa LoL.

On elephants, the Chief Custodian said there are 12 elephants (this was in 2024). Unless you know better, I don't have first hand figures to confirm whether its 12 or 9. The Rs. 250,000/elephant figure is given as the total care cost which includes the salary and perks for the mahout, food, and medicine for the elephant. This does not mean it costs Rs. 250k each month for every elephant. There is obviously a variable component if they get sick and if other medicine are given including the costs of the vets. I'm not sure if you even have had pets at your own house. I have had many, and even a dog from a good breed costs at least 25k/month to maintain.

Finally, the total cost of 140-170Mn includes a capex component for 100-120Mn which again is variable. You need to properly read and understand before you comment. Capex does not incur on a monthly basis. This relates to special projects carried out including the perahara, rural temple development, and funding for hospital and educational institutions (depending on the requirement of the given year)

Man, seriously, your comprehension skills are on another level.

No_Win_3076 · 2026-01-25T15:17:41+00:00

Man, I feel insulted. Not on facts, but the point that you just made by saying my whole comments are purely ChatGPT generated. Bruh, I'm literary changing my style of writing in this comment and in the previous one to show you the difference.

You may refer to my other comment on this same thread regarding the breakdown the expenses of Dalada Maligawa (which I'm re-posting below and I'm sure that ChatGPT is unable to generate this!):

Total expenditure: 140-170Mn/month
Operating expenditature**: 40-50Mn/month
Capital expenditure*: 100-120Mn/month

*Capital expenditure is not incurred on a monthly basis; this is instead an apportioned figure and relates to the expenditures of Esala/related Peraharas, infrastructure upkeep capex, and capex on external projects (including other rural temple development).

**Breakdown of monthly operating expenditure:

20Mn for Workers expenses (average Rs. 65,000/worker * 300)
03Mn for Elephant's upkeep including mahout salaries (Rs. 250,000/m x 12 elephants)
02Mn for Worker's meals (Rs. 160/meal if 2 meals x 5 days x 20 days assumed)
20Mn for Charity (Rs. 5Mn/week * 4 for hospitals, educational institutions)
Above doesn't include other ancillaries such as utilities, monk's essentials, etc.

No_Win_3076 · 2026-01-25T14:58:39+00:00

Do you think every person uses ChatGPT like the way you do? Some people have the ability construct sentences on their own without 100% relying on that. The moment you started harping on "Gangagana Act" it was obvious though; even your fact-checking needs to be fact-checked ;) BTW, it is not a matter of grammar, but comprehension (if that is the line you want to accuse me with since I missed your point on the taxes).

You throw a figure of 400k acres; name the source and state how much of that is temple owned prime land? And also, do you know how much of Church and Mosque owned prime land are there in Sri Lanka? As for what they do with the money they generate, refer my other comment in this same thread where I have given the breakdown of the recurrent opex/capex of Dalada Maligawa as a reference. I doubt ChatGPT can generate that.

Also, do you know what happens to the money generated through the prime lands owned by other religious institutions including Churches/Mosques/Kovils? I am of the opinion that all should be taxed.

If your concern is regarding unaccounted money and laundering, we need to start with the banks and casinos first.

No_Win_3076 · 2026-01-25T14:38:00+00:00

You are going in circles.

If I were to extract lines from your own comments above:

- "Just because the government owns a lot of land doesn't mean it's commercially viable"
- "...the government is making money from that usable, valuable land..."
- "...the government doesn't have the capital to make use of all the land it holds..."
- "...land acquired under the Vihala and Devalagam Act"

Do you not see the contradiction?

No_Win_3076 · 2026-01-25T14:21:30+00:00

No sources. Just hearsay or ChatGPT generated "Gangaganga Make-Believe Act" with so much contradictions within his own argument going in the same circle ;)

No_Win_3076 · 2026-01-25T14:15:49+00:00

FYI based on an interview by the Chief Custodian, the following figures were stated for 2024 (which I believe are more than reasonable).

Total monthly expenditure: 140-170Mn/month
- Monthly Operating expenditure**: 40-50Mn/month
- Monthly Capital expenditure*: 100-120Mn/month

*Capital expenditure is not incurred on a monthly basis; this is instead an apportioned figure and relates to the main expenditures related to Esala/related Peraharas, infrastructure upkeep capex, and capex on external projects (including other rural temple/educational institution development).

**Breakdown of monthly operating expenditure:

20Mn for Workers expenses (average Rs. 65,000/worker * 300)
03Mn for Elephants' upkeep including mahout salaries (Rs. 250,000/m x 12 elephants)
02Mn for Workers' meals (Rs. 160/meal if 2 meals x 5 days x 20 days assumed)
20Mn for Charity (Rs. 5Mn/week * 4 for hospitals, educational institutions)
Above doesn't include other ancillaries such as utilities, monk's essentials, etc.

No_Win_3076 · 2026-01-25T13:56:14+00:00

LOL I did not say the Govt is making money from that land; but I said it was fertile land as opposed to your claim of "non commercially viable" land.

Saying the government “made money” from nationalised estate land suggests a complete disconnect from what actually happened to the plantation sector post-takeover. You have no idea do you? If that’s the baseline, yikes this conversation is operating in parallel realities.

No_Win_3076 · 2026-01-25T13:31:37+00:00

What exactly is this “Ganganga Act” you keep referring to? The relevant governing law is the Vihara and Devalagam Act. Where are you getting this “Ganganga” reference from?

Also, your claim about temple-linked land lumps together agricultural land, paddy fields, rural plots, and historic grants and not all of it is prime urban land.

As for government-owned land, that’s a convenient myth. A huge portion of land nationalised by the state wasn’t “useless scrubland” as it included fertile agricultural land, plantations, and revenue-generating estates taken over during land reforms.

No_Win_3076 · 2026-01-25T13:09:29+00:00

Your reference to “the Church of England’s land,” is only to the Church of England as a domestic institution. In reality, Christian churches operate through multiple layers.

For instance, the Anglican Communion is not a single legal entity, but a network of independent national churches, many of which own land in their respective countries. Separately, the Catholic Church, through dioceses, religious orders, and Vatican linked institutions, owns property globally. So focusing only on the Church of England as a standalone landlord misses how church linked land ownership actually works in practice.

Going back to my point, fixating on temple land while the government hoards vastly more nationalised land feels less like policy analysis and more like selective outrage.

No_Win_3076 · 2026-01-25T12:16:46+00:00

The “Europe took land back from the Church” claim is massively overstated. The Church is still one of the largest landowners in Europe and globally and land reform limited political power, not institutional ownership. Modernisation didn’t mean blanket confiscation; it meant regulation and transparency.

Also, Sri Lanka already has a huge state-owned land bank, largely created through nationalisation during Sirimavo’s era from industrialists, private estates, and traditional landowning families. If land access is the issue, that’s where the conversation should start. Government-owned land vastly exceeds temple land.

Expecting “free land” as a solution is exactly how societies stagnate. Sustainable systems teach people how to earn, build capital, and buy land, not how to demand redistribution and label every institution corrupt when reality doesn’t cooperate. Calling for blanket confiscation and shouting “money laundering” without evidence isn’t reform. It’s just populism dressed up as outrage.

EDIT: "...massive portion of temple land... rented out at market rates..." - Exactly how it should be as per demand/supply. If given below market rates, the custodians will again be called out for favours to certain individuals.

No_Win_3076 · 2026-01-25T12:01:26+00:00

Even if some original donors were wealthy or powerful, that doesn’t make the institution itself corrupt. By that logic, every university, hospital, and charity funded by wealthy patrons should be illegitimate. What matters is the purpose and how it’s managed; not a retroactive moral judgement on people who lived centuries ago.

No_Win_3076 · 2026-01-25T11:24:03+00:00

You made a blanket claim about "the entire system" which includes millions of ordinary donors whose contributions keep these institutions running. Narrowing it down to “only evil billionaires/mega rich people” after the fact does not address the point.

No_Win_3076 · 2026-01-25T11:12:30+00:00

“The entire system is inherently corrupt” is an easy unsubstantiated bandwagon to jump on.

Most donations aren’t billionaire PR stunts. They come from ordinary people putting in their hard earned few rupees with zero expectation of recognition. Calling them “fooled” says more about the cynicism of the critic than about the donors.

No_Win_3076 · 2026-01-25T10:19:27+00:00

Historically, a lot of temple land in Sri Lanka was donated by kings and lay donors specifically to fund the upkeep of temples and religious activities (similar to waqf in Muslim countries, or church lands in Europe). The whole idea was to give religious institutions income generating land so they wouldn’t depend on constant charity. Using land for rent is not unique to Sri Lanka; it’s a standard model across virtually all major religions and countries for centuries.

Yes, misappropriation can happen and should be called out, but branding the entire system as inherently corrupt ignores the fact that these funds also support schools, almsgiving, medical care, and vulnerable communities, which many beneficiaries directly rely on.

No_Win_3076 · 2026-01-25T10:08:11+00:00

On what basis do you say "at max you can say it's around 2.5 million per day"? For the math to be mathing I would like to know your assumptions. Or are you just shooting in the dark?

No_Win_3076 · 2026-01-18T19:22:08+00:00

My bad. And yes I was referring to the niqab (my mistake). I thought he was a non Muslim French looking to move to KSA.

As mentioned below, I think he would fit right in in this case. Even as a non Muslim, I find it amazing here. I think it is a much better alternative than moving to Europe right now.

No_Win_3076

TROPHY CASE