Industry: Tech
Age: 28
Location: Boston, MA
Salary: $70,000
Net value: $164,552 (Roth IRA: $65,086, other investment accounts: $70,080, I bonds: $7,500, HYSA: $4,669, checking: $2,217, savings: $15,000. I rolled over $15,000 from the $9 bonus I signed up for last month. will move it back once I get the bonus. Technically my name is on the title and deed to the condo I live in, but my parents gave me the down payment and we have an agreement that they will get the money from the sale of it, something which will probably happen within the next two years. That’s why I’m not including the value of the condo in my net worth, but here’s the breakdown: unpaid principal: $310,214, estimated fair market value: $859,432.)
Debt: $0
Salary amount (2x/month): $2,207.28
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly expenses
Rent: $1,317.30 (My friend, H., and I live in a three-bedroom unit in a duplex that is split upstairs and downstairs. The total mortgage is $2,417.30, and H. is giving me 1,100 $ a month. The owner of the other unit lives abroad and rents the apartment and we each pay $3,500 a year into a trust account for the house, which includes water, home insurance and other expenses. While he is away, I manage the trust and do light home maintenance. H. and I earn about the same amount and split household expenses like groceries evenly.)
Health Insurance: $48.64 (All insurance plans are deducted from my net paycheck amount.)
Dental plan: $12.88
Vision Plan: $2.16
Internet: $12.50 (for my half)
Electricity: ~$33.63 (for my half)
Gas: ~$21.15 (for my half)
Phone: $0 (My parents pay for it and told me not to worry about it.)
Roth IRAs: $540 (I’ll max it out at the end of the year.)
General investments: $300
HYSA: $1,200 (H. and I are saving to buy a house within the next two years.)
Spotify & Hulu: $10.99
Apple iCloud: $0.99
ClassPass: $49
Amazon Prime: $0 (I share with my parents.)
Netflix: $0 (I’m only watching with my friend and he’s using his parents’ login.)
Peloton app: $0 (paid by my health insurance)
Apple Fitness: $0 (paid by my health insurance)
Annual Expenses
Blue Bike Member: $62.50 (with corporate discount)
Shared Trust Account Home: $3,500
Was there an expectation to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If so, how did you pay for it?
Yes, both of my parents have graduate degrees and expected me to go to university. I also attended high school with a lot of high achievers (myself included) where AP/adv classes were the norm, so there was a lot of expectation to go to university. I went to a state school where the tuition was a reasonable amount (~$5,000 per semester) and I lived in a relatively cheap house where I shared a room so my parents could pay in full. I also had scholarships that covered half the tuition for three years. I was working minimum wage in college to make ends meet, but I honestly felt like I had no money at all and was very dependent on my parents. After graduation, I also did a PhD program where I was paid a stipend of $32,000 per year.
Growing up, what kind of money conversations did you have? Did your parents/guardians educate you about finances?
I have a lot of guilt about money and spending because my parents would guilt my siblings and I into spending it. For example, if they took us shopping for clothes, we would come home and be called “the big spender”. Or if they bought us something and we didn’t like it, there would be drama about wasting money. There was a lot of moralizing about spending, so because I’m more of a people pleaser, I save money to try and get on their good side. Even now, if I’m asked the price of something I’ve bought, I tend to round down to avoid the heartache of spending so much.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
My first job was at a fast food restaurant and I took it to save money.
