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 who makes $150,000 per year and spends some of her money this week on matching T-shirts.
Trigger warning: This diary contains reference to the death of a friend.
Occupation: Associate
Industry: Private equity
Age: 23
Location: New York
Salary: $150,000
Assets: Liquid assets: $45,000 (savings: $16,000; investments: $6,000; Roth IRA: $9,000; 401(k): $14,000); home equity: $550,000 (technically my “half” of the apartment purchased with my parents. My name is on the deed but I don’t think it’s fair to consider it really mine since I’m essentially buying out my parents’ equity over time).
Debt: $0
Paycheck amount (2x/month): $4,000
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: $2,900 (I pay my “rent” to my parents towards home equity and my roommate lives in the flex room for $2,200, which goes towards HOA/tax).
Loan payments: $0
Equinox: $250 (partially reimbursed by work).
Doctor: $15 (health clinic membership fee).
Netflix: $16
WSJ: $4
Amazon Prime: $16
MealPal: $90
Phone: $0 (company covered).
Health insurance: $0 (company covered).
Language lessons: $115
HP Print: $5
Sweetgreen Sweetpass: $10
FSA: $25
Transit pass: $50 (for subway; pre-tax benefit).
401(k): $750
Roth IRA: $300
Investing: $250
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. Both my parents grew up extremely poor and attended college with the help of government support in their home country. They immigrated to the US with very little and worked their way up to where they are now. They both worked in higher education and I was lucky enough to receive free tuition for college. They also began saving very aggressively when I was little in my 529 — some of which I was able to use to cover other college expenses. During college they did provide me a living allowance.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent(s)/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
My parents lived very frugally growing up, despite their financial circumstances improving significantly as I got older. We never had explicit conversations about finances but they tried to instill habits in me early on (never eating out, only shopping from the sale section etc.). However, this suppression of spending has likely triggered poor habits now that I’m older and have free will.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
I had odd jobs during high school including babysitting and teaching after-school programs for children. My parents didn’t give me an allowance growing up so I needed some spending money if I wanted to hang out with friends. Throughout college, I supplemented my spending allowance by working internships pretty much every semester.
Did you worry about money growing up?
Luckily I never had to worry about food being on the table or there being a roof over my head. My parents were extremely frugal about discretionary things (which may have led to some insecurities as a tween) but were …read more
Source:: Refinery29
