Industry: N/A
Age: 29
Location: Illinois
Salary: N/A. I went from a $2,000 monthly stipend to living off my savings alone. My husband’s salary is $52,000, plus $5,000 to $10,000 a year from a small side business.
Assets: Check: $210; personal savings: $8,200; joint savings: $18,210; retirement: $20,800 ($17,400 in a 403(b) and $3,400 in a state-defined retirement plan)
Debt: $840 (the bill for an ambulance ride and ER visit I had last year, I was paying $230 a month.)
Salary amount (2x/month): $150 (from coaching sessions)
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly expenses
Monthly housing costs: $800 for my half of the townhouse plus utilities and wifi, split equally with my husband.
Monthly loan payments: $0
All other monthly expenses:
Pet Supplies: $96.20
Gym membership: $87.50
Spotify Student & Hulu Bundle: $5.99
Extra iCloud storage: $2.99
The Microsoft office: $7.56
Insurance: $402.79 every six months
Annual Expenses
Phone plan: $300 (Mint Mobile)
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?
My parents are retired teachers, so education has always been a top priority. I went to a state school for my degree and won a few merit scholarships. My parents covered three years of tuition and living expenses, and I got a small loan to cover the remaining semester.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parents/guardians educate you about finances?
Our family didn’t talk about money. My parents felt it was tacky and that kids shouldn’t worry about money. They opened a savings account for each of us when we were in kindergarten, and that’s where I chose to deposit most of my vacation and part-time money. To this day, I don’t think my parents are very frugal. My dad gets a full pension, but I’m pretty sure CDs (certificates of deposit) are their only investment tool.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
I started shelling corn when I was 12 years old. It was the only way I could get a living at that age, but I did it mostly to hang out with my friends because we were so rural that we would never have seen each other in the summer otherwise. In high school I waited tables at a pizza place and cleaned kennels at a veterinary clinic.
Were you worried about money growing up?
Not really, my parents kept us safe from it. My mom stayed at home and my dad was a teacher for the first 30 years of his career, so he was supporting a family of six on that salary. I remember thinking it was somewhat incongruous that almost all of our “vacations” were weekend visits to my grandparents’ house upstate and that we couldn’t afford sports league trips, yet there was always money for name-brand groceries and new . clothes for each school year (years later, my dad would confide that they had about $30,000 in credit card debt right now). I had friends with single parents who lived in trailer parks and ate all their vegetables out of cans, and friends who had their own rooms and a pool in the back yard. I just figured we were the middle ground, and I don’t remember dwelling too much on it (other than desperately wanting my own room).
Are you worried about money now?
I used to worry about retirement, but now I worry more about the next five to eight years. I would like to buy a house and expand our family, but housing and daycare are prohibitively expensive (not to mention the possibility of having a child with complex medical or behavioral needs). I think I can accept how our future will be (renting forever, only being pet parents, etc.), but I wish I could look into a crystal ball now and know for sure. I hate not knowing.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and have a financial safety net?
I graduated college at 21 and took care of all my own expenses (rent, groceries, health insurance, etc.) except for my car insurance and phone bill. I didn’t get my dad’s car insurance or phone plan until I was 25.
Do you have or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If so, please explain.
No.
