Having lived in for more than 6 years with my personal financial management in India, I found doing financial management in US difficult. This happened for the main reason that: I was used to one denomination of currency. I found the transition to US difficult because of this habit.

In India, spending thousands of rupees every month is very common.  Monthly groceries cost was more than 1000 Rs per month at our house. Since I was used to this denomination, initially I found it difficult to get used to US currency. When I spent 50 dollars on Groceries I almost believed that I am spending very less on Groceries in US compared to India. It took me quite sometime before I could tell myself very strongly that I am wrong. Especially when you are using a credit card, you don't really care at the time of spending. But it comes paying the credit card only, you will realize how much you have spent.

It was also not right just converting dollars into rupees at time of purchase. I cannot convert 50 dollars into 2500 Rs. and think I am spending too much. If I start thinking like that for every thing then I will not do any shopping at all in US. 

Comparing Expense Ratio than currency

Finally I decided on the following method to understand cost of living and then I realized that cost of Living in US is high compared to India. 

In India:

Expense	Average Amount	% of Earning (20000 Rs.)
Rent/month	4000	20
Groceries/month	1500	7.5
Education/month	500	2.5
Doctors fee/visit + medicines	100	0.5

 In US:  

Expense	Average Amount ($)	% of Earning (4000$)
Rent/month	1450	36.25
Groceries/month	300	7.5
Education/month	500	12.5
Doctors fee/visit + medicine	20	0.5

 When you look at the above comparison:

• First it appeared like I am paying less rent, but definitely 16% higher than what I was paying in India.
• Groceries expense has remained more or less same.
• Education is certainly costlier though the amount is same. It is 10% higher.
• For a normal visit doctor fees seems to comparable. But I definitely know that a different cost towards health is certainly costlier and hence everyone needs health insurance.

 When I tried this kind of analysis I found what was different. My expenses in some categories have gone up which changes my potential to save. If I was able to save 25% of earning in India, here it may be less than 10%.

 This helped to understand how to adjust to spending in US and at the same time maintain the ratio of saving so that one can have financial security.

I thought of sharing this because I felt this is method that can used to adjust to new places in terms of living expenses than just comparing rates. E.g. in US, in other states rents are much less compared to California state, that does not just mean you will save more there. This method will also be useful in India, if you are moving from one city to another for job. You can also use this method if you are traveling to another country and you want to understand how much money you can spend. Correspondingly the salary offered there can also change which may make the ratio of spending same.

This process also helped me to understand another simple arithmetic. With rent rates going down, I may be able to get an apartment at 1200$ per month. If you just look at the difference of 250$ it may not appear significant (because I still keep thinking in Rupees), but when I think that my rent is coming down by 6% means the amount is significant and makes it easier to understand.

I also use the same process to decide whether I should buy something or not. I found this process also quite useful.

I don’t think everyone will have this problem, but definitely people who come to US occasionally from India can use this method. I felt this can also be a guide for anyone moving from one place to another place (within same country or across countries).

I am not a financial expert but this simple common sense approach helped get my finances under control.

Understanding exchange rate:

Because of currency conversion, the money we earn in US may look ‘too much’ back in India. But still you should understand it is just enough by US standard of living. It is very to misinterpret this. If I have 2000$ dollars with me, someone in India can say this is equal to 100000 Rupees and I can do lot of things. So 'you are earning lot of money in US'. That is not right. If you convert 2000$ dollars to Indian currency you can say it will be sufficient to pay rent in India for 25 months. But that amount would not last more than a month in US.

Yes, this exchange rate allows one to bring lot of rupees back to India, but staying in US with 250000 Rupees is not same as having 250000 rupees salary in India. Surviving in US is as tough as any other place. One needs to have good financial management plans rather than thinking going to another country will remove all financial problems.

I hope this makes ‘financial’ sense.