Welcome to Money Diaries where we are tackling the ever-present taboo that is money. We’re asking real people how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period — and we’re tracking every last dollar.
Today: an associate director who makes $205,000 per year and spends some of her money this week on a kitchen sink.
Editor’s Note: This is a follow-up diary. You can read the original submission here.
Occupation: Associate director
Industry: Tech consulting
Age: 38
Location: Chicago
Salary: $205,000 plus 20% bonus plus ~$20,000 from a part-time side gig.
Assets: Home equity: $70,000; savings account: $65,500; IRAs: $442,588; index fund: $50,258.43; 401(k): $4,798; crypto: $2,963; travel savings account: $2,500.
Debt: Mortgage: $469,000 for a two-bed, two-bath condo I bought last year.
Paycheck amount (biweekly): $4,129
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Mortgage, HOA, insurance & taxes: $4,733
Utilities: $150 for gas, electric and wi-fi, give or take (depending on the season). I currently live alone but my boyfriend, A., is moving in at the end of the month. I will not be charging him rent; instead, he is going to cover our gym membership and some of the day-to-day expenses like groceries. He also plans to buy a car that I will use part of the time; longer term, he is saving for a lake house for us.
Insurance (medical, dental, life): $157.09
401(k) contribution: $946.16
HBO Max: $17
Netflix: I share A.’s account.
Apple iCloud storage: $9.99
Gym membership: My condo building has a small gym I can use for free. As mentioned, A. is planning to sign us up for a joint membership at a local gym — he will be paying for both of us.
Charitable contributions: $100 for Equal Justice Initiative, Planned Parenthood and Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) standing donations, plus sporadic contributions to other organizations on a somewhat ad hoc basis.
Savings: $500 (to my and A.’s joint travel fund), plus whatever is left at the end of the month goes to my personal savings account.
Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Yes, absolutely. I grew up in an extremely rural, impoverished part of the country and my parents were adamant that a college education was my ticket out. Both of my parents are college graduates themselves and my dad was a faculty member at a major university so I guess it’s fair to say my family placed a high value on education all the way round. Luckily, I was a good student and enjoyed school so I never felt as if I was being pushed into something I didn’t want to do. I was able to cover the full cost of undergrad through an academic scholarship and my parents were gracious enough to cover the rest of my living expenses while I worked several part-time jobs throughout college to build my savings and have spending money for any extras I wanted. I chose to attend the same state university for undergrad and graduate school and I took out a small student …read more
Source:: Refinery29
