admin Industry: Medicine
Age: 36
Location: Houston, TX
My Salary: $289,000
My Husband’s Salary: $350,000
My Husband’s Annual Bonus: $450,000
Net Worth: $8,018,203 (real estate: $1,127,000 for the four-bedroom house my husband, M., and I bought for $1.61 million and split slightly asymmetrically; my checking account: $12,841; M.’s checking account: $28,671; combined savings: ~$280,000; my 403(b): $102,891; M.’s retirement savings: $830,000; M.’s investments, mostly non-liquid equity: $6,200,000; car: $17,800; minus my debt listed below)
Debt: $581,000 (mortgage: $483,000; my student loan: $98,000)
My Paycheck Amount (2x/month): $8,721.48
My Husband’s Paycheck Amount (biweekly): $9,350 (His bonus is paid annually.)
Pronouns: She/her
Monthly Expenses
Mortgage: $5,541 (M. and I share our home with our two — soon to be three — children and a large rescue dog. I pay $4,000 of the monthly mortgage because M. pays for daycare and several other expenses listed below.)
Med School Loans: $2,000–$3,000 (The minimum payment is $1,600, but I’m trying to pay off my student loans aggressively.)
Daycare: $3,268 (M. pays)
Internet & Cable: $120 (M. pays)
Phones: $64 (This is for mine. M. works in finance and runs his bill up past $300, but his work covers it.)
Car Insurance: $70 (M. pays)
Electricity: $184 (This varies a lot. M. pays)
Water & Waste: $46 (M. pays)
Health Insurance: $0 (I’m covered by my employer without fees, but the kids are covered under M.’s plan, which is also completely covered without fees.)
Dental Insurance: $0 (The kids and I are covered under M.’s plan, which doesn’t have fees.)
My Charitable Contributions: $650 (This goes to Planned Parenthood, NPR, the NAACP, and Lilith Fund. We usually give another $20,000–$25,000 in November to a single local charity after M.’s bonus comes in. I know he donates to the ACLU and WWF and some other charities but I don’t really track his contributions. He does our taxes.)
House Cleaner: $500 (M. pays)
Doggie Daycare: $120
Support For My Parents: $5,000 (M. pays.)
Support For M.’s Dad: $2,500 (M. pays.)
My 403(b) Retirement Contribution: $1,700 (with 7% employer match)
Annual Expenses
House Insurance: $12,800 (The price went way up this year.)
Property Taxes: $28,000
Amazon Prime: $99
Houston Zoo: $149
Houston Arboretum & Nature Centre: $129
Houston Museum of Natural Sciences: $99
Soccer: $750
Swim: $1,450
Dance: $950 (The above lessons are for our oldest kid. The younger one will join next year.)
Annual Bonuses For Babysitter, House Cleaner & Daycare Teachers: 10% of their wages (M. pays)
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. Both my parents were the first people in their families to go to college, so the importance of education was heavily ingrained in me and my three siblings. I’m the only one of us to go, though. My father gave me $350 a month while I was in college, and I paid for the rest using loans and working two jobs (in a museum and as a nurse’s assistant). After college, I was on my own completely and paid for medical school through loans and scholarships. When I graduated from medical school, I was $248,000 in debt, and my six-year residency training only paid $42,000 a year. It was brutal.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
No. Each of my parents made a solid middle-class salary, but their spending habits were erratic. Both racked up considerable credit card debt on frivolous things, like new cars and clothes. They divorced when I was quite young, and I believe had serious psychological problems that contributed to their behaviors. So, as a kid, we would have a new car, but my mother would restrict food and heating, saying we didn’t have enough to cover the bills. It was a very chaotic home and it inspired my two primary financial goals: 1) never go into credit card debt and 2) save as much as humanly possible as to create stability.
What was your first job and why did you get it?
When I was 17, my mother threw me out of her house and, apart from my father’s $350 a month, I was on my own for everything else. To help get me through high school, I got a job initially as a McDonald’s server, then as a barista.
Did you worry about money growing up?
Yes. See above.
Do you worry about money now?
In the long term, I worry about supporting my parents and my in-laws because none of them have saved for retirement. But I feel incredibly lucky and grateful that M. and I have stable and well-paying jobs, and we are able to meet our family’s needs and wants and have enough to save for emergencies and retirement.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
I became financially independent at age 21. When I graduated from college, my father stopped sending me the monthly $350, and I was completely solo. It was 2008, and, despite graduating with two STEM degrees, all the private-sector job offers I had were rescinded in the crash. I continued to work as a nursing assistant and took a second job at a grocery store. Now, I know that M. would support me if I lost my job, and our joint savings would last for a few years if we both lost our jobs, so I feel secure.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
No.
