Home Economics No. 8: 37-Year-Old Single Mom Living in Albany, NY, on $115,000 a Year
$1,982 for the mortgage, $30 for trash pick-up, and $450,000 in student loans
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I’m in Cape Cod this week with my family, and I have to admit that the Fourth of July is one of my favorite holidays. What’s not to love about golf cart parades, summer league baseball, and fireworks on the beach? Plus, there’s no real gift-giving element involved with the Fourth, which I appreciate, and we get to eat all my favorite foods—hot dogs and potato salad. It’s summer at its very best, right? (Even if many of us are feeling more than a little weird about the state of our nation.)
June flew by in an absolute blur, but we wrapped up the school year, and I passed my midterm without too much drama. My kid was disappointed to learn that summer in New York City only lasts about 10 weeks before school starts, but I’m determined that we make the most of it. What’s on your summer bucket list?
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I’m excited about today’s edition of Home Economics, so I’ll stop going on and on about summer and wines and summer wines and get to the point of this newsletter. I hope you enjoy!
And just a reminder, I’m always looking for new submissions.
Age: 37
Location: Suburbs of Albany, NY
Relationship status: Dating
Age of partner: 37
About me: I had my daughter when I was 18. Despite being a single teen mom, I managed to put myself through college and then law school. I’ve never had much family support, though my daughter’s paternal grandmother did some babysitting when I was going to college. My daughter’s father is completely out of the picture and owes me over $100,000 in child support that I don’t think we’ll ever see. My daughter is now a sophomore in college, and she’s mostly self-sufficient thanks to scholarships and a college fund provided by her grandmother. I work as an attorney and make a little money through a craft hobby that I’ve turned into a side hustle. I live with my boyfriend, but we keep our finances completely separate.
Income:
Your job title/salary: Associate attorney, $115,000
Partner’s job title/salary: Accountant (we don’t share finances, but we make comparable salaries)
Your monthly take-home pay (paycheck amount after taxes and other deductions): $6,100
Partner’s monthly take-home pay (paycheck amount after taxes and other deductions): N/A
Additional monthly income:
$1,200 in rental income from my boyfriend (he lives in the house I own)
$400 from craft hobby after expenses
$200 month interest income
Total monthly income: ~$7,900
Account balances:
Checking account balance: $1,500
Savings account balance: $1,000
High-yield savings account balance: $35,000 (5% APY)
Monthly contribution to savings account: Varies, about $3,000
Retirement account(s) balance: I have a defined benefit plan through work. The amount of the benefits I’ll receive in retirement depends on how long I work at this job, but it could be as much as 65% of the average of my three highest consecutive years of earnings. This should be about $100,000 per year, assuming I retire at 63.
Monthly contribution to retirement accounts: $550 (6% of my pre-tax salary goes to the pension plan)
Investment account balance: N/A
Emergency fund balance: N/A
Other accounts: I have a separate bank account for my craft hobby, and I usually keep around a $2,000 balance.
Total in checking, savings, and investment accounts: $39,500
Housing:
Size of your home: Five-bedroom, 2,500-square-foot house on a half acre. I wanted to live in a good school district, so I had this house built in 2019 (because of the pandemic, we didn’t move in until 2020).
Mortgage: $1,982
Current home value: $650,000
Current mortgage balance: $415,000
Year you bought your home: 2020
Price you paid for your home: $525,000
Mortgage interest rate: 3.5% for 10 year ARM—I’m three years into this.
Home taxes: $1,200 monthly (It’s a really good school district, so we pay a lot in taxes.)
Home insurance: $850/year
Electricity and natural gas: $185 (I split this with my boyfriend—so my half is ~$93)
Water: $75 (I split this with my boyfriend.)
Internet: $40 (I split this with my boyfriend.)
Housekeeper: N/A
Gardener: $80 from April to October
Trash pick-up: $30
Cell phone: $180 (covers me and my daughter)
Other: $300 per year for snow removal
Transportation:
Monthly car payment: N/A. I paid for my car in cash.
Car insurance: $83
Gas: $50
Car maintenance: $200/year
Parking: N/A
Monthly public transportation: N/A
Tolls: $15
Ride shares (Uber, taxi, etc.): N/A
Children:
Number of children and their ages: One, age 19. She just finished her freshman year of college. She pays for most of her own expenses and doesn’t live at home.
School tuition: My daughter pays her own tuition with a mix of scholarships and money from a college account that was funded by an inheritance from her paternal grandmother.
Other: I spend about $3,000 annually on gifts for her between holidays and random things (e.g. stuff for her apartment, clothing).
Debts:
Student loan total balance: $450,000. I am in the public service loan forgiveness (PSLF) program, and I expect this to be fully forgiven in less than a year. This has been a long, slow, stressful process, and it feels like the goal post is always moving. It will be a relief when the forgiveness finally comes through.
Monthly student loan payment: $404
Credit card balance (if you carry a balance month to month): Paid in full each month.
Food:
Groceries: $400
Dining out: $100
Socializing and Entertainment:
Subscriptions (streaming services, magazines, etc.): ~$55. Includes HBO, some magazine subscriptions, book of the month club, and Apple Music + Fitness.
Memberships (museums, etc.): N/A
Movies, concerts, other events: $600/year. I get a discount on movie tickets through work. We don’t go to concerts very often.
Miscellaneous:
Clothing: $300
Home supplies: $500
Exercise: I don’t spend much on this, and when I do, my health insurance reimburses me for it up to $600 per year.
Personal and self-care (haircuts, manicures, massages, etc.): Roughly $600/year to have my hair cut and colored.
Pet supplies: $50 (I have one cat.)
Pet insurance: N/A
Donations: N/A
Events (birthday parties, anniversary dinners, etc.): $1,000/year
Union dues: $1,000/year
Travel: My boyfriend and I love to travel, and we plan a few big international trips each year, as well as smaller weekend trips. I’d estimate I spend about $8,000 a year on travel. To give you an example:
Over the winter, my boyfriend and I spent a week in the Caribbean.
This summer, we’re taking a big European trip with some friends.
Next February, we’re planning to go to the UAE.
I’m planning a graduation trip with my daughter to Japan.
We regularly take weekend trips to Lake Placid, Montreal, etc.
Insurance:
Life Insurance: I don’t have a life insurance policy, but my job does offer a death benefit that would pay out my salary to my daughter for three years if I died.
Health: $500 for health insurance for me and my daughter. Dental and vision are provided free by my job.
FSA contribution: $100.
Total Monthly Expenses: $6,875
Tell us more:
What are your top financial priorities?
Making my home nice (decor, etc), saving for retirement, travel, and maybe a new home in the future. I love the house I built, but I built it with me and my daughter in mind, and now that she’s gone to college and my boyfriend lives there, we sometimes talk about moving to an area with lower taxes. I’m not sure it makes sense right now with housing prices and interest rates being what they are, but it’s something we talk about.How do you feel about your current financial situation?
Good. I am in a very solid place financially due to a very stable career. It feels good, since I struggled so much when I was younger.What are your money stressors?
I will feel a lot more comfortable once my student loans are forgiven. I signed up nearly 10 years ago for the federal public student loan forgiveness program, which gives you complete loan forgiveness for 10 years of public sector work. I stress this program will go away. I also worry about my daughter finding a good career and supporting herself after college.
My daughter receives a scholarship that’s based on our income, and we have to be super mindful that we don’t go over that number, or she’ll lose it—there’s no sliding scale. I do small things like contribute the full amount to my FSA so we make sure we stay within the income requirements. It’s not a huge stressor, but it’s something we think about.Do you expect to receive (or have you received) an inheritance from a family member?
When my parents pass away, I will receive around $1 million, but I’m not counting on that and expect them to live for at least another 10 years.
Do you receive any financial support from your family?
No.
Do you financially support any family members beyond yourself and your nuclear family?
No.How do you and your partner split your finances? How did you decide to go that route?
We keep our finances completely separate, which is why his info isn’t included here. We split housing expenses that are shared (e.g. electricity), and he pays me rent because I own the home.What is one financial goal(s) you still want to achieve?
There are some upgrades I’d like to make to my house, like putting in a pool. But at the moment, I’m not really not doing anything except putting away some extra money in savings.What do you regret spending your money on the most?
Nothing really comes to mind. I am not a big spender because I struggled with finances in my early 20s when I had a little baby, and I was trying to put myself through college. Now that she’s off to college, and I have more disposable income, I’m trying to allow myself to spend more.Tell us about one financial accomplishment you're proud of.
Buying my house. I really wanted my daughter to be in this school district, and I wanted her to have a nice house to live in because when she was young we lived in small apartments and she didn't really have as much as her peers. And I wanted to live in a home that I loved. I was able to sell my first home for a profit, which allowed me to build this home. I love to cook, and I have a beautiful gourmet kitchen. I also added a separate craft room.
What is one thing you spend money on that makes your life better?
Travel. We take a couple international vacations per year and some other domestic ones. I love traveling, and I am happy to spend a lot on it. I also have a job with a lower salary than I could make in the private sector partially because I get so much paid time off to travel (a little more than a month per year).
What is one thing you spend money on that drives you crazy?
My phone bill. My boyfriend and I would like to merge plans because it would be much cheaper, but they lock you into payment plans on devices that you can’t get out of, and they don’t allow you to easily merge as a result.Is there anything else you would like to add?
I used to spend a lot on my hobbies—crafting, about $5,000 a year—but a few years ago, I realized I could actually make money with the hobby. I gross about $7,500 a year from my hobby and receive a lot of additional free supplies. This really helped my finances, and it’s given me a lot more flexibility in my budget.
Please comment with kindness!
Random Extras
These are stressful times, and I won’t even pretend that I have the right words to talk about it. But I really appreciated this piece by
in her newsletter . She writes: “Please, let’s do whatever we have to in order to keep that monster, Trump, away from the White House. Get involved, even if it costs you some clout with the jaded cool kids, whom you might worry will cancel you for it. Honestly, our collective passivity has contributed to our landing here. Let’s learn from that and get to work.” Here’s a link to register to vote if you haven’t already.I’m a huge fan of
(see his Division of Labor), and his essay this week was incredible. Really, I can’t hype his newsletter enough.On a much, much, much lighter note, I joined my friend Barbara Ginty on her podcast, Future Rich, to talk about The Purse and money and my strong feelings on why maybe you shouldn’t buy the latte. Listen here.
Last but not least, every Wednesday, I host an #IamRemarkable chat on Substack, and it’s one of my favorite things. Come share a win! Life is hard right now, but it’s also important to find the bright spots that keep us motivated!
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Honestly obsessed with her charging her boyfriend for rent.
love seeing a union member featured! would love to hear more about the union difference in regards to pay and benefits