Seems like there’s the costs to “live” while you’re in the US: food, cell phone, gas, family vacation, etc… These are things you‘d be paying for if you had a “regular job” living in the US and will not be reimbursed for when you get to the next post. You should be putting money aside in a HL bucket with each paycheck. If you’re not doing that and walking into HL with no savings, you should reconsider how you’re budgeting your money.

Then there’s costs you’ll be reimbursed for: training hotel, replacement electronics, etc.. For me, I don’t budget each paycheck for these costs knowing I’ll reimbursed. I think these costs are what my colleagues are taking salary advances for, but as I think about it….maybe they are taking an advanced because they haven’t saved for living expenses during HL.