Planning My Temporary Assignment

As I previously mentioned I am going on a temporary assignment to NY for the rest of this year. I know this going to affect my monthly expenses for the rest of the year, but how bad will it be?

I don't know the answer yet, but doing some basic research I can put together some numbers to give me a rough idea of what my additional expenses will be:

Anticipated Additional Expenses for Temporary Assignment

Additional Monthly Expenses	Best Case	Most Likely	Worst Case
NY Rent	$ 400.00	$ 700.00	$ 1,200.00
NY Utilities	$ -	$ 150.00	$ 250.00
Additional Dining Out	$ -	$ 75.00	$ 200.00
Travel Costs to Home	$ 222.00	$ 250.00	$ 444.00
Total Extra Monthly Expenses	$ 622.00	$ 1,175.00	$ 2,094.00

6 Months Total Extra Expenses	$3,732.00	$ 7,050.00	$12,564.00

Details of Each Line Item Expense
Rent
Best Case - Maybe I can find a cheap room to rent with utilities included for about ~$400.
Worst case - I will have to find a small apartment to rent (expected costs would be $950-$1200) however finding short term rentals have either higher rates, or incur penalties to break 12 month leases.

Utilities
Best Case - I find a room for rent that includes all utilities including high speed internet and cable tv.
Worst Case - I rent an apartment with no utilities included. That would mean I need to pay for electric, natural gas, water/sewer, cable tv, and high speed internet.

Dining Out
Best Case - I end up cooking most of my dinners and weekend meals. In this case I would not expect any more food costs than I have now.
Worst Case - It will just be me, and depending on living arrangements I may very well be cooking significantly less and eating out more.

Travel Costs
Best Case - This is really a wild card, but at minimum I expect to fly back to Raleigh for 1 weekend a month. Parking $5/day, Airfare $207 (best price found so far) = ~$222/trip
Worst Case - Again not sure, in theory I guess I could be flying home every weekend, but I don't expect to pay for traveling for more than 2 weekends/month. Myself flying down to Raleigh for a weekend and perhaps my girlfriend flying up to NY for a weekend for a visit.

Keep in mind these are the additional expenses above and beyond what my typical monthly expenses are today. I don't expect to cut any significant costs because I will be maintaining my home in NC during the assignment.

It isn't necessarily pretty, but at least I know what my additional costs could be. Here's to hoping I find a cheap place to live, that would certainly have the most signficant impact on my additional monthly expenses.

Related in Temporary Assignment:

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Comments (7)

DATE: 10:05 AM
I am surprised that you have to put up the money for this short-term work assignment. Shouldn't your company pay for you to be there?If not, you must be getting something out of it... is this experience that will get you the education or training necessary to get a raise or promotion? In that case you have to count these costs as an investment (in a way).

Posted by Anonymous | September 10, 2006 3:17 PM

DATE: 3:11 PM
wow, IBM totally sucks for not paying for you. They should be not only paying all your expenses but also give you a stipend. And its not like your taking the assignment in a cool city, its Poughkeepsie which is a long drive/train ride from anywhere cool. Seriously reconsider this assignment, it goes against all the rational decisions you've made in the past regarding your personal finances.

Posted by Zack Beck | September 10, 2006 3:17 PM

DATE: 4:55 PM
There is one silver lining that might make you feel a little bit better about some of your temporary expenses: tax breaks.Because it's a short term assignment (and by gov't standards would be required for continued employment) a large portion of your double expenses (utilities, housing, etc.) can be deducted for the 2006 fiscal year.Make sure to get a good accountant for this tax year as it will surely pay off.Also, as someone who just started blogging myself. I think the commitment and honesty of your site is to be commended.-Hp.s. Feel free to contact me if you would like to strategize about some ways to get your company to help you out. I'm a big-corporate guy myself and an insiders view from upper mgmt might help.

Posted by Hunter | September 10, 2006 3:17 PM

DATE: 6:47 PM
The costs of this temporary assignment are just part of the job. Its a development program in IBM and its voluntary. It does suck that I have to pay out of pocket, but oh well. I hope I will get payback later on in my career, but who knows.Plus as Hunter pointed there is the potential for the tax break. If it wasn't for the tax break I would have probably refused to go :-). I have been researching this tax area for awhile and am doing my best to make sure I qualify. Expect more discussion on this in the future.

Posted by 2million | September 10, 2006 3:17 PM

DATE: 11:49 AM
I hope you get a lot of training... I am going to stop work so I can get training.. Education is power!!

Posted by pyroracing85 | September 10, 2006 3:17 PM

DATE: 1:11 PM
Whoa, dude. I work for IBM and I fly back and forth between Phoenix and Raleigh every week. I get reimbursed 100% for everything: air, car, hotel, meals, even dry cleaning. If IBM is sending you to NY on a temporary assignment and NOT paying expenses, I'd decline the assignment.

Posted by Anonymous | September 10, 2006 3:17 PM

DATE: 10:57 PM
I work at IBM here in POK. For my co-op I found an apartment for about $640 a month (that was about 7 years ago). Full time my apartment (At Village Crest) was around $740-$850 (going up about $30 - $50 a year).I like Village Crest, and would also reccommend Hudson Harbor. It's more expensive but there's actually a path worn from there to the plant so you'd save on gas.Those are the "establishment" places (Foxwood and a few others I can't think of off the top of my head). I'd check the Poughkeepsie Journal website (www.pojonews.com) if you want to try to find more of an independant landlord which may end up cheaper)

Posted by Tatlow | September 10, 2006 3:17 PM