Earning a lot does not always mean saving a lot. Thu Ha, 31, lives in Ho Chi Minh City with Peter, a British teacher who is now her husband. Together they earned more than 100 million dong a month, about 3,800 dollars. Yet when they planned their wedding, they discovered they had no savings. Rent alone cost over 20 million dong a month, and they ate out several times a week. To afford the wedding, they canceled all travel plans and cut back on spending.
Their story is not unusual. In a 2022 survey by JICA, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, 61.4 percent of Vietnamese said they did not plan or manage their income and expenses. About 53 percent said their families struggled to save. A psychology professor in Vietnam says the problem is not only income or spending habits. He says couples often have no shared goals and no clear plan to reach them. Partners may also see money differently: one wants security, while the other wants to enjoy life.