Occupation: Clinical mental health therapist (self-employed in private practice)
Industry: Healthcare
Age: 28
Location: Austin, TX
Salary: $50,000
Joint Income/Financial Setup: Our joint income is $150,000. My husband P. and I operate on a fully joint financial setup. Every paycheck goes into our shared accounts, and all of our expenses and investments come out of those. We don’t separate things by percentage or halves. Instead, we see all of it as our money. We also own a small business together with variable revenue.
Assets: $101,000 between us in savings, P’s 401k, and joint investments. We share everything and pay off cards twice a month.
Debt: $110,000 ($84,000 for my student loans and $2000 for my car loan to be paid off in four months’ time. $24,000 in P’s student loans).
Paycheck Amount (2x a month): $7500 between both of us. Changes are variable based off our small business and client cancellations from my private practice.
Pronouns: She/her

Monthly Expenses

Housing Costs: $2034 (rent for an apartment).
Loan Payments: $500 for my car loan; $904 for student loans (combined).
Copilot: $13 (we use it to track our expenses)
Netflix: $0 (my mom pays it)
Car insurance: $118
Hulu: $0 (my sister pays it)
HBO: $10
Canva: $12.95
Apple Music: $23.80
LinkedIn: $32.36
WSJ: $10
Google storage: $12.14
Phones: $0 (our parents pay for them and we’re incredibly grateful, and will ride that train until we’re booted off!)

Other recurring monthly expenses
Monthly wax: $55
P’s haircut: $60
Dog food: $85
P’s bi-weekly therapy: $70
My therapy: $0 (expensed by my business)

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, as an African immigrant, it was expected of me to either become a doctor, lawyer, or engineer. The majority of my extended family are all college-educated and high achievers. I had my heart set on becoming a doctor, but after battling depression mid-college, I secretly decided to pivot to psychology. I ended up getting my Master’s degree in counseling and couldn’t be happier, and my family is now supportive. I paid for it all through student loans.

Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent(s) educate you about finances?
Growing up in Africa for a part of my childhood, I always thought we had more money than we actually did. However, it wasn’t until I was older that I realized we had a lower cost of living in Africa. My mom made enough money for us to be comfortable and her job got us a lot of nice perks. When we moved to America, we really didn’t have any money due to increased living expenses, and my mom only having access to entry-level jobs. My mom always talked to me about finances because I always wanted very expensive things that we just couldn’t afford, so most of our conversations were all about spending and living within your means. She also talked to me a lot about getting an advanced education, so I could have a good-paying job.

What was your first job and why did you get it?
My first job was a modeling job where I got paid $100 to walk the runway for a fashion designer. I always wanted to be a model. I loved it, but at that time, the body positivity movement had not hit yet and I was about 15lbs heavier than they wanted me to be. I wasn’t willing to make that change for more jobs. We had to move cities so I stopped modeling. After that I started babysitting in the summers. I also worked at a department store as a sales rep in high school.

Did you worry about money growing up?
I did worry about money when we immigrated to America. We only shopped in thrift stores and times were hard. My mom worked multiple jobs to keep us afloat, and we didn’t have a lot of money to do much outside of putting food on the table and keeping a roof over our heads. My mom was always honest with me about our situation and what we could afford. Sometimes she would tell me she felt bad for not being able to buy me the things I wanted.

Do you worry about money now?
Yes, I still worry about money, especially living in Austin. It’s such a fun city and very health-focused, which is great for my career, but it’s so expensive. I don’t know when we’ll be able to afford a house here and if it’s sustainable to really have a family here. Also, as a member of a collectivist culture, I know that soon, I’ll need to contribute money to take care of my mom and I am eager to do so, but with inflation, sometimes I worry how I will be able to juggle all of that. I’m so very grateful for my husband’s income. However, I’m impatient for my practice to fill up so I can earn more. I’m still slowly building my private practice and my goal is to double, if not triple, my current salary, but I know that it’ll take some time. I’m hoping by then, my money worries might ease up.

At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
At the age of 18, when I went to college. Sometimes I felt like a burden even though my mom never made me feel that way. I just felt bad that she had to spend money on me, so I think that’s why I took out more loans than I should have so I wouldn’t have needed to rely on her. Thanks to our emergency fund and investments, we do have a bit of a financial safety net but it does feel very small to me — but I know it’s enough to last us at least a couple months.

Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
Lol! Besides the few coins of interest from our HYSA, no inherited income. Our parents did pay for two-thirds of our wedding, which we were very grateful for.Â