A university faculty member in Britain has promised to give away nearly $1.7-million over his working life by continuing to live like a student, the Australian daily The Courier-Mail reports.

Toby Ord, a 30-year-old Australian in his first year of work as an ethics researcher at Oxford University after completing his doctorate there, said he will annually donate 10 percent of his salary, plus any wages above approximately $33,000. His current salary is $50,000, and he expects to earn about $2.5-million during his career.

“My student years were not extravagant but were immensely enjoyable,” he says. “I realized that if I were to continue to live modestly like I have as a student, I should be able to give away about 1-million pounds.” Mr. Ord has started an organization called Giving What We Can to encourage others to pledge a 10th of their earnings to antipoverty charities.