Occupation: Video Editor
Industry: Film marketing
Age: 29
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Salary: $105,000
Joint Income/Financial Setup: n/a
Assets:
Checking account: $7,236.02
HYSA Savings: $32,130.66
401k: $65,698.31
Roth IRA: $13,570.41
Debt: $19,144.63 (in total)
Auto loan: $18,343.73 (5.91% APR)
Student loans: $800.90 (1% interest)
Paycheck Amount (every two weeks): $2,435.16
Pronouns: She/her

Monthly Expenses

Housing Costs: $905 (I rent a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment with my partner and a roommate).
Loan Payments: $495 ($445 goes toward my car; $50 goes toward student loans).
Monthly savings: $1,540
401k: $640
Roth IRA: $450
HYSA: $250
FSA: $200
Car insurance: $243
Apartment utilities: $120 (my portion, split with my household)
Storage unit: $78 (my half, split with my partner)
Therapy: $60 (about to increase to $520 because of insurance changes… RIP)
Gym: $30
Adobe: $30 (they think I’m a student; normally it would be $60!)
Annual subscriptions: $30 (Google storage, Vimeo, Dropbox)
Meds: $30
AMC A-List: $28
Renters insurance: $22
Paramount+ subscription: $14 (I cannot for the life of me figure out how to cancel this!)
Phone: My parents kindly pay for this
Apple Music: My parents kindly pay for this, too!

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?
There definitely was — less so from my parents, who both hold degrees, but from the prep school I attended, where 100% of graduates went on to college. I always knew I wanted to go to film school, but wouldn’t have been able to do that without scholarships. I ended up going to a private university in LA with a great film program. $30k/year was covered by a merit-based scholarship, I took out $8,250/year in private (1% interest) and public (4.29% interest) loans; and my parents covered the other $15k/year of tuition/room and board. I covered daily expenses and some of my housing costs by working two on-campus jobs ($13/hr), plus unpaid internships in the industry (which actually cost me money since I was Uber-pooling to commute across LA).

Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent(s) educate you about finances?
My parents made it clear how much our activities cost, but I was never expected to cover my own extracurriculars. We never budgeted together, but they would watch what we spent with our debit cards and would have conversations as needed. I was always a saver, so I didn’t talk about it with them very much. My brother, on the other hand… Ironically, he now works in finance, so most of my financial literacy comes from him.

What was your first job and why did you get it?
I babysat for between $10-20/hr. I also worked at my church’s nursery twice a week for around $10/hr. I was probably making about $200/month and I usually just pocketed the cash or put the direct deposits into my savings account.

Did you worry about money growing up?
Pre-2008, I didn’t think about money much. This is partly because my parents moved from the expensive Bay Area to a relatively cheap (and rural) part of Oregon to raise my brother and me, so we were able to have a wealthier lifestyle than we would have had in California. Around 2004, we inherited a bunch of money and that’s what funded my private education for middle/high school. My parents also bought a rental house, a cabin, a jet boat, and remodeled our house. Very upper middle class/borderline wealthy stuff for the area we lived in. Then, 2008 happened. This was probably the first time I internalized anything about my parents’ finances. My dad took a 30% pay cut and my mom was unsure if she’d keep her job, and while they didn’t really talk about this in front of me, I knew enough to be worried. They’d tied up so much of their money in those big purchases and didn’t have much cash on hand (something that probably informs why I currently have way too much money floating around in my HYSA). We had a much more middle-class experience after that, aside from my brother and me going to the fancy prep school.

Do you worry about money now?
Yes and no. I’ve never been housing insecure or unable to afford groceries, but I’ve been known to have a meltdown over an unexpected bill (a car break-in or medical bills). I’ve managed to negotiate promotions each year so my salary has gone up $45k in the past five years, which has more than covered my other rising expenses. If I get too existential with it (having a wedding, affording a house, affording to have kids, retiring in my 60s), I start to get really stressed.

At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
I became financially responsible for myself slowly throughout college. When I moved off campus, for instance, I covered my rent, while the dorms were previously covered by my parents. After college, a family friend in Ireland offered for me to move in with her, so I was lucky to have no rent for a year and a half over there (and ride out COVID in another country!) When I got back to the US, I paid for all of my expenses (aside from my phone, which was — and still is — on a family plan). I’ve always had roommates, and I now live with my partner as well as a roommate to keep rent cheap. If I were to lose my income and housing, I would likely move in with my grandma or with my partner’s family and pay minimal rent. No one would give me money to pay rent.

Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
As of two months ago, yes. I now receive $18,000 per year from my grandma. I have mixed feelings about it, especially because I feel it gives me a very tangible unfair advantage (although, to be honest, my whole life has been cushioned by very tangible unfair advantages). So far, I’m just keeping the money stashed in my HYSA, but I’ve been meaning to use it to pay off my car loan.