Note: I was technically supposed to post this earlier this week, but noticed that no one was signed up for today (plus I was super busy earlier), so I'm posting a bit late, under a throwaway account! Fair warning: I'm VERY verbose, so this will be long!
Section One: Assets and Debt
As I mentioned above, I make $56k per year as an administrator in higher education. My husband (K) just got a raise to making $155k per year. He works as a lawyer, has been in the workforce for about 12 years. I won't get into too many details but he works for a small boutique firm, not Biglaw. He also sometimes gets a yearly bonus of around $10k-20k but it's not guaranteed or anything like that. K and I have totally combined finances, so the below numbers are for both of us. I have a humanities PhD but I decided to leave academia and find an alt-ac job. My current position has good work-life balance (I never work past 5 pm), but pays terribly and my university is very badly run. I'm hoping to leave higher education all together in the future and am currently enrolled in a certificate program to try to make a career transition to instructional design.
The big elephant in the room is that my husband, K, makes a lot more money than me. When we first met, he was paying off massive amounts of student loans and making much less, and I was debt free with a lot of savings, so we both spent about the same amount. Now he makes 3x what I make and we are both debt-free, so the difference is much more noticeable. We do argue about money sometimes (more in the past), but the reality is that I have a humanities PhD and will likely never out earn him, and he knew that when I married him, lol. Because of all the labor I do around the house and in our lives to support him as he works a much more intense job, I was very clear that I believed we should split our finances equally as soon as we got married. We don't have separate accounts and we generally check in with one another whenever we are planning to spend more than $100. This system works for us for now.
I also want to address the question about parental or family support. Although I technically paid all of my own bills since I got my Bachelor's degree, my parents supported me a lot by paying for my flights home to visit at Christmas or in the summer as Xmas presents/birthday presents. My parents also paid for my undergraduate degree (and K's parents paid for his undergraduate degree as well). They also gave us about $15k to pay for our wedding.
Finally, my parents recently gave me $20k as an "early inheritance." They told me they plan to do this every year (depending on the stock market). We put this money into a brokerage. I don't consider my parents rich, as they both worked hourly jobs in health care my entire life (as a nurse and respiratory therapist - both with only associate's degrees). We never owned a new car, when we went on vacation we stayed in hostels , and shopped almost exclusively at Goodwill. But they scrimped and saved and now they have over $1 million in a retirement account. So I want to acknowledge my financial privilege in that I came from this kind of background. K's parents are similar.
Retirement Balance: $186k (combination of 401k, 403b, 457, 2 Roth IRAs, and taxable brokerage account).
Equity: None, we rent.
Savings account balance: Approximately $45k.
Checking account balance: Right now, around 8k.
Credit card debt: Right now, around $3k. But we pay it off each month with our checking account balance.
Student loan debt: $0. We finally paid off my husband’s law school loans (around $130k), last year. I didn’t have any student loans from undergrad (parents paid) and my MA & PhD were fully funded.
Section Two: Income
Income Progression: I’ve been working in my current field for 3 years. I started off making about $53k and got tiny 2% “merit increases” twice. Then in July my payroll title was changed, which triggered a required raise of about $2k. (I am dramatically underpaid).
Before my current position, I was in academia. I worked as a visiting assistant professor for one year at my alma mater (made $50k for 9 months of work) and before that I was a graduate student for 7 years. I was paid $18k-21k in stipends each year and my tuition & benefits were covered. Luckily, I lived in a very low cost of living area and this was enough for me to live on without going into debt. I got my PhD in 2017. Before I was a graduate student, I taught English in Japan for three years and made around $36k per year. In high school and college, I had random jobs that provided grocery/spending money, but I was lucky enough to have parents that paid my tuition and my rent in college.
I’m currently trying to make a career change (as you will see in my diary) and enrolled in a certificate program which runs from Autumn 2020 to Spring 2021 in order to help with that.
Main Job Monthly Take Home: $7,634. This probably seems low relative to our joint income, but we max out our 401k (K) and 403b (me). I work for the state government, which means I’m also eligible for something called a Deferred Compensation Plan (457b). This is basically the same as a 401k but you can withdraw contributions and gains from the account at any age without penalty (of course, you still have to pay taxes). I also max this out, and the limit is the same as a 401k/403b - $19.5k. Also this number is before K’s raise is accounted for. It won’t increase until his end of February paycheck.
Other deductions - I have health insurance taken out (about $80 a month for me, K’s firm covers his premiums) and taxes. WA has no state taxes, so it’s only federal taxes. I used to have to pay $50 / month for a bus pass (K's was free), but I don’t pay any longer because I’m working from home during COVID.
Final note - the sum I mentioned in the headline includes a variable bonus my husband gets. My base pay is $56k and his is $155k (as of February 1). This year he also got a bonus of $20k, which is set up a bit strangely. About $4k of this was structured as a 3% matching contribution to his 401k and the rest was taxable income. In small law firms, it’s unusual to get any 401k match so this was nice.
Side Gig Monthly Take Home: None.
Any Other Monthly Income Here: We get some interest from our savings account… like $25 a month.
Section Three: Expenses
Rent: Rent comes to approximately $2,050 total for a one-bedroom apartment. Rent itself is $1886, then we have pet rent ($25 per month), bicycle parking ($15 a month) and water / sewage / gas, which is usually $120-150 (variable cost).
Renters insurance: $157.76, paid annually. $13 a month.
Retirement contribution: In addition to the 401k, 403b, and 457, which all come out before taxes, we max out our Roth IRAs. That means $500 each per month per person (for a yearly total of $6k each). As I noted up top, we match out our 401k and 403b (19,500 each) and our 457. My employee also offers a 7.5% match. K's employee offers a 3% match but it is included in his yearly bonus so it's not guaranteed (confusing).
Savings contribution: We put $500 per month into our emergency fund. We also put about $860 a month into our “sinking fund,” which covers large and small annual or sporadic purchases such as vacations, gifts, Amazon Prime renewal, car insurance and renters insurance, etc.
Investment contribution: $875 per month into a taxable brokerage at Vanguard.
In total, we save about 47% of our gross income. We can do this because we keep our housing cost low relative to our high income, we don’t have any debt remaining, we don’t have any kids or parents who need financial support, and we’re very privileged in a lot of ways. We are hoping to FIRE within 10 years.
Debt payments: None.
Donations: We budget $100 per month for donations, which includes one-time donations as well as some reoccurring donations. My husband does pro bono work as well. I would like to increase this by quite a bit, but I still have a hard time budgeting for donations because I spent 7 years living on approximately $20k a year. To go from that to making more than 10x that amount within 3-4 years is obviously something that I am very privileged for, but it is still hard for me emotionally to comprehend at times.
Electric: ~$50-100 (billed every other month)
Wifi/Cable/Landline: An extortionate $87.12 for slow internet that only works for Zoom calls about half the time. Do I really live in one of the tech cities of the future?
Cellphone: $170 (This includes both service and paying off two new iPhones. We could have paid them off up front, but it was actually cheaper by like $50 to go on a payment plan.)
Subscriptions: BritBox ($7.70), Spotify ($16.50), HBOMax ($16.50), We Hate Movies Patreon (my favorite podcast - $8.81). My parents pay for Netflix and my sister pays for Hulu, and we all share.
Gym membership: None. K and I both run and do yoga with YouTube videos. Before the pandemic, we went to yoga classes pretty frequently in person. I’d like to do some online synchronous yoga classes but find it hard to make time.
Pet expenses: Varies, but I budget $50 per month and also include an emergency fund for my cat’s vet bills in our sinking fund. She’s 11 years old and probably asthmatic, so I know her vet bills are going to increase over time.
Car payment / insurance: We own our car outright. Insurance billed yearly is $2,097, about $174 per month.
Regular therapy: $0
Paid hobbies: Nothing regular, sporadic language classes and art supplies.
Other expenses: Right now I’m doing a certificate to hopefully help with a career change. The total cost for tuition is about $5k and we already saved it up (included in our 'sinking fund') basically through spending less during the pandemic. I’ve paid two quarters so far, and the last quarter (due in March) will be a bit more - about $2.3k.
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Day 1
Morning: I wake up at 5:30 am. Ever since the pandemic, my sleep schedule has been shot. At first, I was so happy not to have to leave the house at 7:15 for my 45 minute bus commute and I slept in a lot. But the stress (and maybe getting old?) has made me an early riser, no matter how much I try to sleep in. I do value my early mornings with just me, my cat, and my coffee, though.
I start work at 8 am and begin by triaging my emails. I have a bunch of deadlines this week, so it’s busier than usual. My job tends to be very seasonal, and sometimes I have a ton of work and sometimes I have none and can work on other longer-term projects. I have a piece of toast for breakfast and place a Whole Foods delivery order for the following day at 10:30 am. We made a meal plan and put everything in the cart the day before ($117.36, including tip).
Afternoon: I have my lunch break from noon to 1 pm. It doesn’t really matter when I take my lunch break, since I’m salaried, but the others in my office are hourly so in the before times we used to always close our office during the same time. I have a piece of leftover delivery pizza and some spinach risotto that I made a few days earlier. I also have half a brownie – the last one from a batch I made a few days ago (K gets the other half). He also has leftovers for lunch.
I should say at this point that both K and I are lucky enough to have been working almost entirely from home since early March. An area near Seattle was one of the first places to get hit by COVID-19, and my state and both of our employers have been taking it very seriously ever since. Working from home hasn’t always been easy since we live in a 600-square foot apartment. Also, there is a three-story townhouse being built directly next door to us and I can hear the pounding in my dreams at this point.
Around 2 pm, I go for a 2-mile run. I feel like some money diarists tend to toss off things like “oh, I went for an easy 7 mile run,” at the drop of a hat, so I want to be clear – running for 2 miles isn’t easy for me; it’s exhausting, annoying, sweaty, and generally gross. Also I am very slow. But it has kept me sane during quarantine.
Meanwhile, my husband goes to our local pet store to get an enzymatic cleaner (our cat peed in one of our suitcases… I think it’s probably a lost cause, but it was basically brand new, so worth a try) and special weight-loss cat food. Our cat is an 11-year-old rescue from the Humane Society and she is a chonky girl. We had to sign a waiver when we adopted her, saying that we understood that she was very overweight, lol. Our vet recommended a special diet food, rather than just restricting her intake as we have been doing, so we will give it a try ($78). My husband also stops buy our local wine store and picks up two bottles. We’ve been doing a dry January, so this will be our first drink for a while ($27.53).
I have a phone interview scheduled for 4 pm – just a preliminary interview with an internal recruiter. It’s the first ‘corporate’ job interview I’ve ever had, since I’ve been in academia my entire life. I’m trying to make a pivot into instructional design / training and development. I’m just excited to get an interview. It seems to go pretty well, but who knows. They tell me they will probably get back to me by the end of this week.
Evening: My husband whips up a random meal of fridge remnants – pesto pasta with sausage and a fridge salad with feta and bell peppers. It’s pretty tasty with a little Sauvignon Blanc. During dinner, we play a card game we call gin rummy, although it bears no resemblance to the actual game. After dinner, I make a chocolate cake with orange buttercream frosting and we watch Cobra Kai.
Daily total: $222.89
Day 2
Morning: Up early again, a piece of toast for breakfast (very exciting). We’re out of eggs until our Whole Foods order arrives. I’m working on creating some tedious but necessary spreadsheets this morning.
Noon: Our Whole Foods order arrives around noon. Excitement! They’ve given us a half-rotten bag of romaine lettuce and substituted pecans for hazelnuts. I should probably just double mask and go to Trader Joe’s myself (our regular spot, only a 5-minute walk from my apartment). I’m just getting anxious about these new variants.
I have leftover meatloaf and spinach risotto again for lunch. Lots of meetings and more organizing spreadsheets in the afternoon. Around 3 pm, I go for my daily ritual - a 20-minute walk around my neighborhood. It’s still raining slightly but I need to get out. Halfway through the walk, I get an email from my apartment manager telling me the apartment will no longer accept debit card payments, direct deposit, or credit card payments for paying rent. In other words, only checks or money orders (?!). Ugh. Our lease is up in 4 months and we will not be renewing our lease. Our last apartment manager was a gambling addict who may have been stealing people’s identities, but by God, he kept things working. Ever since they fired him, this place has been going downhill.
Evening: I check my bank statements to update my budget spreadsheet and realize that I have been billed the wrong amount of rent. They actually charged me less than they should have. I don’t trust my apartment manager not to start charging me a late fee or something for this, so I call them up. They are baffled by how to fix this, which you would think would be the one thing you would want to get right, if you’re renting out apartments.
K cooks dinner – steak with a Roquefort sauce and glazed brussels sprouts. It’s from a French cookbook we recently bought and it is delicious. I work on classwork for my certificate program while he cooks. After dinner, I do the dishes and buy the 13th season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. I watch the first episode – lots of shocking twists and turns! I’m planning to watch the rest of the episodes together with my younger sister, M ($22.01).
Daily total: $22.01
Day 3
Morning: K has an 8 am dentist appointment, so he takes off early. He already paid for the work last month, so there’s no charge. I have a piece of toast for breakfast and get to work checking my emails. It’s 8:20 am and the construction crew building a townhouse next door is blasting mariachi music. I’m glad someone is having fun. At least the sun is coming out.
Someone at work has made a critical error, but it wasn’t me, thank God. I was the one who found out about it, but it’s still going to cause a big old headache for me. I’m ready to be done with this job. K and I go for a run so that I can exhaust myself enough to no longer be furious about said careless error.
Noon: I have leftover spinach risotto and meatloaf again – exciting. I’m busy at work but frankly, not a lot going on other than that. Still no word about fixing my rent payments. I’m not really willing to pursue this any further at this point.
Evening: I start making chili (Turkey Chili from the NY Times) and cornbread (from my new cookbook, Jubilee). K is doing some work on our investments when he announces that, somehow, a transfer was scheduled from our checking account to our savings account of $55k (?!) We obviously don’t have $55k in our checking account, so we start frantically trying to figure out what’s going on. Numerous phone calls later, we still don’t know if that was a hack, if my husband somehow mistakenly scheduled the transfer himself, or if the bank messed it up. Either way, it doesn’t seem like any harm was done since the bank with our checking account just declined the transaction. But it seems really strange and worrisome. We get to work changing the passwords on all of our accounts, just in case it was some kind of hack.
After dinner (and chocolate cake), I have a Zoom happy hour with a local friend. We occasionally see each other outside but it’s nice to have a longer chat from the comfort of our living rooms. We both love murder mysteries, so we signed up for a service where a company sends us letters with clues and we try to solve the mystery together. It’s a fun way to stay connected and look forward to something during the pandemic. The service costs about $15 per month, but I paid for it in lump sum for 3 months, so it’s not included in my budget above. I drink some wine and we vent about work (we work at the same place) before getting started on the puzzle.
Daily total: $0
Day 4
Morning: I sleep in a bit, which is nice. Get up around 7 am. My parents are both getting their 2nd vaccine today – they’re both in their 70s and I am so relieved. I send my mom a “congratulations on being vaccinated!” text and we chat for a bit. I have leftover cornbread with honey and butter for breakfast – soooo good.
Work is not particularly exciting today, but someone sends me a last-minute request for something that does not need to be so urgent. I feel annoyed. Still no word from the interviewers on Monday, and I’m beginning to suspect I wasn’t selected to move forward. Too bad. K pays for a Wordpress website for the year (it’s a work-related website, but sadly his work doesn’t reimburse him). It costs $92.48.
Noon: The mariachi music is particularly loud today. I stand out on my balcony in the sun for a while and watch the workers. It’s been interesting seeing a house go up next door in real time, especially since I’m at home all the time. The workers are balancing on the top of the third story wall without, as far as I can see, anything like a safety line. It seems unsafe, but I presume they know what they’re doing.
We booked a cabin for the upcoming weekend in the Hood Canal region of Washington to do some hiking and birdwatching. I want to be as safe as possible and not go to any grocery stores or risk spreading COVID in any way while I’m there, so I place another grocery order with Whole Foods just for some special treats for the weekend. The cabin has a small kitchen and a grill, so we’re planning to make a fancy steak salad on Saturday. I order chips and hummus, some fancy cheese and meats, Tate’s cookies (I’ve heard a lot of good things about these), a baguette, and the ingredients for the steak salad. I also order a few staples I forgot in our last order, like sweet potatoes, more coffee, and half and half. It comes to $87.41, including tip, but that does include like $30 worth of steak. For some reason, I can’t order a small amount of steak online, so I’m planning to freeze half of it for later. (I include this purchase in our vacation fund budget, rather than under our regular grocery budget).
Around 2 pm, K makes a quick trip to our local wine store to buy an Oregon pinot noir and some port to enjoy at the cabin ($59.45). This store has an outdoor walk-up counter where you can tell the owner what you’re looking for, and he brings you some options (the store is way too small to allow customers to enter during Covid). It’s fun to chat with another human being, even briefly.
Evening: After work, we spend a little time rebalancing our investing and retirement accounts. We decide to put more money into bonds and a little bit into REIT’s as a hedge against a potential crash or recession in the future. Then I start making dinner – Broken Eggs (Huevas Rotas) from the NY Times cooking site. You basically cook the potatoes in a skillet in water, spices, and olive oil, and then sauté them to crisp them up once the water evaporates. Then you add onion, lots of garlic, and finally some eggs. It is delicious. I eat it with leftover cornbread while watching RuPaul’s Drag Race season 13 with my sister – we watch the first two episodes. It’s full of twists and turns. A note about this – we have an elaborate procedure for watching shows together developed during quarantine whereby we start the show at the same with an earbud in one ear, while FaceTiming. I also have chocolate cake, of course.
Later, I get an email that I’ve signed up for HBO on Amazon Prime. I definitely have not. I text my mom, who shares my account, and she tells me she signed up by mistake. I cancel right away and luckily they won’t charge us for it.
Meanwhile, K is doing an online Japanese language class over Zoom. He’s been interested in learning ever since we went to Japan last January. I lived in Japan for 3 years so I was able to take us around to a lot of more obscure places and he really enjoyed the trip – it was a blast.
K starts a YouTube yoga class (from Do Yoga With Me – my favorite channel) and I join him for part of it before bed around 10 pm.
Daily total: $239.34
Day 5
Morning: I get up around 7 am and we go for a run first thing. I prefer running early in the morning because there are fewer people to avoid during COVID. We do a different route today – it’s longer (3 miles) but has fewer hills. It’s a slog, as always, but I feel good when I get back right around 8 am. I jump straight onto my computer to start checking work emails and my husband makes us avocado and egg toast for breakfast - it is absolutely delicious.
We talk about how our bathroom smells distinctly mildewy (yay for being a grown-up because I guess this is what we talk about now) and we buy two big buckets of DampRid on Amazon ($26.60). I’ve found this to be a necessity in Seattle. Mid-morning, I take a break from work and start packing for our trip to the cabin.
Noon: I have leftover potatoes and cornbread for lunch, and my husband has the leftover chili. We finish getting ready to leave and head out right after lunch, taking a half day. The only problem is that I have attend a meeting at 3:30 pm, so we head out hoping to get there in time. Our cabin is near Quilcene in the Hood Canal region of Washington, about a 2 hour drive or a 2 hour ferry ride + drive. We are initially planning to take the ferry both ways, but realize that we mistimed the ferry departure, so we drive the whole way instead. Luckily, there’s little traffic mid-day, and we arrive at our Airbnb around 3:00 pm.
The Airbnb is beautiful! It’s a small cabin handmade by the owner, whose house is next door. It’s very rural, with a beautiful view. It’s tiny, but has a little kitchen and a waterfall-style shower with river rocks on the floor. It’s a great place to get away for a short time. Luckily, it also has good reception and I’m able to sit in on my meeting with no problems. My husband also does a little work, and then at 5 pm we’re free!
In our planning, we decided to get takeout on Friday night, since the little kitchen isn’t designed for any serious cooking. We call ahead to a local restaurant to order burgers (one of only 2 restaurants in the whole town). It’s around 5:30 pm and the place is deserted. It’s a microbrewery, but they tell us they haven’t been making beer since COVID-19 hit. None of the workers are wearing masks when I walk in, but they put them on when they see I’m wearing one. I pick up our order - a few bottled beers and burgers and fries ($49.52 including tip).
Back at our Airbnb, we watch Big Trouble in Little China and enjoy our very messy, but delicious, burgers (it costs $4.39 to rent). The movie is very campy but fun. I love silly action movies, as you will see with my other viewing choices. We wrap up the night in a very exciting fashion, eating chocolate cake and watching old episodes of the original Star Trek.
Daily total: $80.51
Day 6
Morning & noon: When we wake up around 8 am, the weather is looking thankfully clear and even sunny! We were expecting rain, so we’re really glad. We decide to go hiking today, and we head out before even having breakfast, with snacks and lunches packed. Our first destination is a hike called Mt. Zion, but unfortunately, we run into enough snow 2 miles before the trailhead that we decide to turn back. We don’t have any traction for our Subaru and don’t want to risk getting stuck on a very narrow mountain road. Instead, we drive another hour or so to the Lena Lake trailhead, a very popular and less strenuous trail. It’s about 7.5 miles roundtrip with 1200 feet of elevation gain.
By this time, it’s around 11:30, but luckily there is still parking. It’s a great hike up, and we run into relatively few people. We always mask up whenever we pass anyone, as does about 50% of the people we meet. The others… not so much. Around a mile from the lake, we start to run into snow. It’s turned into a beautiful sunny day, and I’m loving seeing all this snow! It’s a bit slippery, but not too bad. We make it to the lake mid-day, and it’s super jammed – there’s only a small viewpoint accessible, so everyone is crowded in there. I feel a bit uneasy with all the unmasked people, but we manage to find a spot away from the crowd and sit down to eat our lunch of apples, chips, and energy bars. There are a ton of robber jays there (Canada Jays) which try to eat our chips. It is fun watching them, but I’m annoyed to see some kids feeding them – it’ll just make them that much more aggressive. Bad trail manners.
On our way back down, we get stuck behind a group of 5 unmasked adults, who refuse to cede the narrow trail to faster hikers. I’m a slow hiker myself, so, to be clear, I’m not angry at slower walkers being on the trail but have some self-awareness and let people pass! especially if you’re going to go hiking in a big group during a pandemic! We finally get back down and head back to our Airbnb.
Evening: Back home, we explore some of the trails our Airbnb host has set up around his extensive property, and then relax on the deck. The sun is breaking through the clouds and it feels wonderful to sit out in nature and feel the sun on my back. We open up a bottle of wine and have a few pre-dinner snacks (more chips and hummus). For this night, we brought ingredients to make a steak salad. Our Airbnb host has kindly set up a charcoal grill for us, so we grilled the steak and toast some bread on the side.
We eat dinner while watching the truly terrible Jean Claude Van Damme movie Bloodsport and finish up the very last of my chocolate cake. It’s amazing that anyone ever let Van Damme act… or should I say ‘act.’ I also have a Tate’s chocolate chip cookie or two, accompanied by a little port. My husband and I are truly very old people at heart, so we finish up the night watching a few episodes of Columbo.
Daily total: $0
Day 7
Morning: Unfortunately, K had insomnia last night, so he sleeps in pretty late. I drink coffee in bed and enjoy looking at the view out our big windows. Once he’s up, we get packed up and write a thank you note for our host. It was a great stay.
One of my big hobbies is birding and K enjoys wildlife photography, so we go out to look for some lifers! (The first time you see a new species of bird). Did I mention we are very old people in (relatively) young bodies? We first go to Dosewallips State Park and see some bald eagles, great blue herons, lots of various ducks, and a flock of Canada Geese, which, strangely, includes a domesticated gray goose. He’s much larger than the Canada Geese and seems to be watching over them. It’s kind of cute. Unfortunately, a lot of the birds are too far from shore to be seen clearly.
Our next stop is Point No Point (I love all the sad & disappointed names that early Westerner explorers gave places in the Washington/Oregon coast), a popular birding spot. We see a ton of birds here, and I can understand why it’s so well-known - Red-Breasted Mergansers, Western Grebes, Common Goldeneyes, Pacific Loons, and a few others I can’t identify yet. Most excitingly though, we see a whole pile of otters! They’re lounging around together on a rock just offshore and a ton of people are watching. We watch as they all slip off the rock and go hunting in the shore. It’s my first otter sighting in the wild, and it’s so cool! We also see some seals and possibly a sea lion. It’s a great spot for wildlife. We eat some snacks (hummus, chips, some sliced meat & cheese) before we head out.
I really want to come back to this area another time and explore further, but K has decided that we need to get back home in time for the Big Game. We take the 3:00 pm ferry back to Seattle ($16.40) and get home around 3:45 pm. I veg out at home while my husband watches football. He’s a Patriots fan but he still loves Tom Brady (??) so he’s happy to see Florida win. I don’t understand sports team loyalties at all, but whatever, I’m glad he’s happy. We order from a new Indian place called Spice Box and get vindaloo, roganjosh, and vegetables pakora – so tasty ($53.96). Happily, there’s enough left over for lunch the next day, since I have no plans for what we will eat yet!
I’m really dreading work the next day, as I know that it will be obnoxious. I want to get out of my job so badly, but it doesn’t look like I’m going on to the next interview stage for the job I interviewed no back on Monday. I’m feeling kind of down about it. I try to stay positive and promise that I’ll apply for at least 2-3 new jobs next week. I bake up some frozen cookie dough I had in the freezer and feel sorry for myself. We end the night by watching another episode of Columbo.
Daily total: 70.36
Food + Drink: $395.23
Fun / Entertainment: $26.40
Home + Health: $26.60
Clothes + Beauty: $0
Transport: $16.40
Other: $170.48
Grand Total: $635.11
I think this week was pretty normal for us. Obviously we spent a bit more than usual due to the weekend cabin trip, but nothing outrageous. Our largest consumer spending category is definitely food and drink – we live in a very busy area of Seattle with tons of restaurants and bars so believe it or not, we actually used to spend even more on eating out. We still try to support our local places by getting takeout or delivery during the pandemic and even occasionally getting a few drinks outside. I spent more than usual on groceries due to stocking up for the weekend away.

Title: I am 35 years old, I made $67,665 gross last year (between multiple jobs) and live in Buffalo and work in higher education and retail.
This is my 5th MD update. Previous MDs in June 2019, October 2019, February 2020, and July 2020.
Ref29 questions:
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?
Absolutely. Both of my parents have bachelors degrees, and it wasn’t even a conversation of “if” I was going to college, but “where”. I ended up going to a private 4-year college, with a 75% merit scholarship. I was able to pay for the first semester with savings bonds/general savings, but took out loans for the remaining semesters. I worked 2 on campus jobs (tour guide and TA), plus at a coffee shop - this was more for spending money/gas etc. Looking back, I wish that I had put more of that income aside for paying for school, but I was definitely headlong into the student loan trap of “it’s ok, this is good debt….blah blah.”
I thought that i had the exact idea of what I wanted to do for a career - and that basically required a masters degree - so I went straight to grad school after undergrad. Private - and took out the maximum student loans for both years. I cannot stress what a terrible financial idea this was. The last half of my MA was in DC, so I used the loans for rent/food, as I had a full time unpaid internship. Long story short, what I thought was my career goal wasn’t.
I am FINALLY nearly done paying off my loans. If I had to go back and give my past self advice, it would have been to not go to grad school directly after undergrad. I still might have gotten my masters, but I would have done it in a much more financially responsible way.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
We had conversations growing up - but it was much more of a conversation now that I’m an adult. I’ve noted in past MDs, but my parents have told us that they regret not being able to help us all more as teenagers/college/young adults, so they’ve been extremely supportive of my focus on debt repayment.
Did you worry about money growing up?
Not really. I remember being conscious about it - we didn’t have new cars (EVER - like it’s still a thing), and we used coupons/budgets/bulk freezer meals for shopping, but I think a portion of that was that there were 4 of us kids. We were all involved in a variety of extracurricular activities as well, but I don’t remember even being like, limited or restricted from doing anything.
Do you worry about money now?
Absolutely.
While I am noting that I’m making progress, it is still very overwhelming. It’s really hard for me not to beat myself up when I either buy “treats” or things that aren’t really treats, but are just home comforts. I finally bought myself 2 sets (!) of decent sheets this past month after having 1 set of crappy sheets for the last 2 years lol. I still have so much work to do, on debt repayment, fully funding my emergency fund, and (massive goal here) saving for a down payment on a house.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
I would say I was financially responsible for myself when I moved for grad school in the fall of 2008 (so when I was 22/23).
That being said, I definitely have had a financial safety net - my parents always assisted with grocery money if I needed it - when I was married, that definitely was not only a safety net, but also got me in a lot of bad habits.
Since my divorce, my parents have assisted with cell phone, car insurance, and letting me live with them for a few months when I moved back to the US. I know that if something happened, they would absolutely assist with a place to live if I needed it.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
As previous MDs have noted, my parents have assisted with assorted checks when my dad got a bonus, and they have always been extremely generous with holiday $.
Section One: Assets and Debt
Retirement Balance (and how you got there): $33,194.67 (up from $23,800 in February 2020)
This is a combo of Stash Retire ($1721.52), 401K from a previous job ($17,330.01), retirement accounts from my current job ($2807.58 in my optional IRA to which I contribute extra; $2947.46 in the basic retirement plan, to which my employer contributes 7%), and TSP from a previous job ($8,388.10).
Savings account balance: $1000
Checking account balance: $1381.07 (at the start of the money diary)
Credit card debt (and how you accumulated it): $7,558.08 (focus has been more on student loans, plus I am a bit guilty of using it at random points) (down from $19,556 in June 2019).
Student loan debt (for what degree): Current remaining balance is $972.57!!!!! This is down from $23,645.37 in June 2019) (combined loans for undergraduate and graduate degrees in International Relations. To give you an idea of how much I’ve paid off - I’ve paid $118,297.81 off up to this point).
*note: December was a PHENOMENAL debt payment month for me (just over $4k).
Section Two: Income
Main Job Monthly Take Home: $2847.53
*after using the IRS refund calculator, it became clear that I was expecting a much higher refund, so I stopped having extra withheld. Eventually I’ll get the hang of it.
Side Gig Monthly Take Home: $1442.72 (average monthly take home August-December 2020)
My retail job fully reopened, and I also applied for, and got a promotion, which meant both an hourly raise and more hours)
Any Other Monthly Income Here:

• Christmas $ from Mom & Dad - $1000
• Stimulus Checks - $1200 + $600 (Both of these went mainly to debt repayment)

Section Three: Expenses
Rent / Mortgage $980.00/month (+ $3.95 service charge when I pay online) (no change)
Retirement contribution: $115.58/month Roth IRA from work + $80.00/month into Stash Retire (no change)
Savings contribution: $0/month (Debt payments are the priority)
Investment contribution: None
Health/Dental/Vision Insurance: $76.38/month (Through work, it gets taken out biweekly)
FSA contribution: $27.78 biweekly (I set my annual contribution at $750 this year, up from $600)
Debt payments
Student Loan minimums: $55.54 is strictly the minimum for my FINAL (!!!) student loan, but as you all know by now, I have been attacking these with a vengeance and plan on this being gone no later than March.
Credit Card minimums: Avg. Monthly Payment $300. (as mentioned in the debt section, I have slipped slightly on allowing myself to use the credit card, but still have been able to lower my overall amount)
Wifi/Cable/Landline: $64.99/month
Cellphone: Still on the parental plan, but will be transitioning off. I’m shopping around and have started to budget.
Subscriptions: Apple storage - $2.99/month; Netflix- $8.99; (even though I’ve been able to be at home much much more, we still get a monthly barkbox for the toys; Spotify Premium - $9.99/month. Headspace - $14.99/month. Renaissance Periodization - $16.19/month
Laundry (if you pay per load): $40/month. I put aside $10 per paycheck.
Gym membership $75/month - I budget this much for my ROMWOD and Movement Vault monthly subscriptions. This also covers my monthly subscription for my WHOOP band. My retail side gig also provides $225/month to work out. This covers my monthly membership to my crossfit gym, as well as extra megaformer classes. $32.63/month for WHOOP; $13.95/month for ROMWOD; $9.99/month for Movement vault
Pet expenses: $150/month - includes pet insurance. This is what I put into my budget for insurance, food, grooming etc.) Barkbox 31.54/month; Pet insurance $79.24
Car payment / insurance / average gas:$100/month (as my dad plans on retiring within the next year, he will be signing over my car to me, meaning that I will be taking on my insurance. I fully acknowledge that this has been nice to not have to worry about, and that my parents have been absolutely amazing. The current annual insurance for my car looks like it will be around $450. Future money diaries will take this into account.
Renter insurance: $12.50/month
Average groceries / household supply spend; Looking at YNAB, my average spend has been just over $700/month. This seems insanely high for one person, but I do also follow a RP meal plan, meaning that I tend to eat A LOT to fuel my workouts. I also haven’t gone out basically at all ….
Regular therapy: N/A
Charitable Giving: $75/avg. August-Dec 2020 (Much of this was “rage” donating in the run up to the election)
Annual Expenses:
YNAB (You Need A Budget): $83.99/year
NB: Anytime I leave my house, I am masked, including gym visits. It’s honestly not terrible once you find a mask that works for you!
Day 1: Friday
5:45am: Alarm goes off and I get up to put the kettle on to start coffee. Today is a weigh in and weekly review for my meal/training plan, so I enter my numbers and see what my upcoming week will look like as far as my macros. I notice that my chest/shoulder are sore, and hurt when I take a deep breath, but assume that I just slept on my arm wrong. I take out the dog, feed him, and head out to my weightlifting class.
7:30am: Nope, not just sleeping on it wrong. I make it through the lifting portion, but when we start the metcon, I have to stop because it hurts too much to take a really deep breath, instead stretching and cheering everyone else on. Annoyed, but hopefully it’s nothing too crazy. I think it’s just a strain from my muscle up drills the day before. Once I get home, I make breakfast - a savory oatmeal with oats, cheese, chicken sausage, egg whites, and mushrooms, topped with a fried egg and za’atar seasoning from Trader Joe’s. YUM. I log into work and get settled in for a 2 hour (ugh) staff meeting.
11:00am: Finally done with that. Thank goodness for my camera getting to be off. I take a shower and get into “work” clothes - aka lululemon from top to bottom (align leggings, ebb to street crop tank, and a sit in lotus wrap). Back to work until it’s time for lunch, which I have just after noon (rice, sweet potatoes, bell peppers, and ground beef, topped with avocado). Work continues afterwards.
2:00pm: Time for work #2! It’s a fairly uneventful (and slow) afternoon/evening, which is ok after the craziness of the holiday season. And I only have to tell 2 people to put their masks on over their nose and they don’t give me an attitude - woohoo! Around 5 I eat my food on my 10 minute break - another taco-ish bowl, just without the avocado from earlier. I get out from work at 7:30pm.
8:00pm: Home, take the pooch out and feed him and make my casein hot chocolate (casein protein is a slower digesting type vs. whey and it’s my evening “meal” most of the time) plus a couple dark chocolate peanut butter cups. I facetime my Mom briefly and then we each put on our respective Star Wars shows - she and my Dad are watching the Mandolorian (they just got Disney+), and I’m deep into season 4 of the Clone Wars. Bedtime routine starts at 9:30 with a couple of melatonin gummies and I brush my teeth and wash my face (eye makeup remover, then Neutrogena foaming cleanser, and a nighttime moisturizer from Aldi). Snuggle up with the dog and a heating pad with a Headspace night sounds playing.
Daily Total: $0
Day 2: Saturday
5:50am: NO. It’s like 30 minutes before I want to wake up...NO.
6:10am: Uggggggh
6:20am: FINE. Dog outside, then fed. I make coffee and another savory oatmeal (AMAZING - same as yesterday, just no bell peppers). Catch up on podcasts and my YNAB budget. In happiest news, I can take a full big breath without that weird pain from yesterday! Yay!
10:00am: Home from my workout, which went amazingly - I love a good long chipper of a workout! I take the dog out for a little cold weather walk and then make my post-workout meal - Kodiak chocolate chip pancakes with blueberries! (use 1 egg and almond milk to make the pancakes and it fits my post-workout macros: 35P, 10F, 65C). I follow this with a cuddle session with the dog while watching Marple episodes and drinking coffee. I also add items to my lululemon shopping cart and exit out of it before I can spend money. While I get a great discount (especially on markdowns), I know I don’t really NEED anything, so I don’t get anything.
1:00pm: Off to the mall for work. I stop on the way to fill the gas tank ($25). It’s a busy day, but a good one - during my break I eat my taco bowl (rice, sweet potatoes, ground beef, peppers and avocado). I work until 7:30pm.
8:00pm: Home, dog out, casein hot chocolate - the usual. I’m nothing if not a creature of habit. I pull out a Trader Joe’s chocolate croissant to prove overnight in the oven. Bedtime is around 10pm.
Daily Total: $25
Day 3: Sunday
7:50am: Whoooops, I intended to wake up around 7:15, but I didn’t actually set the alarm. Luckily the dog wakes me up with a polite whine - I take him out, make coffee and a bowl of oatmeal (oats, almond milk, egg whites, topped with blueberries), and head to my workout around 9.
11:00am: 2 workout classes later, I’m home - post workout meal is the aforementioned chocolate croissant, and a little egg scramble of egg whites, mushrooms, chicken sausage and broccoli. The afternoon is spent with old Miss Marple episodes on Amazon Prime, combined with laundry and apartment cleaning.
3:00pm: I made a quick loaf of bread (2 hrs of rising, then shaping) and put it in the oven. Happily it turns out pretty damn tasty - I make Trader Joe’s Cippino (seafood soup) and have that with toasted fresh bread around 4/4:30pm. A Clone Wars marathon ensues - the Bills are playing in the AFC championship tonight, so the city is basically a giant ball of nerves. I don’t watch the games (and haven’t all season - mostly because I don’t have all the apps/cable), but I follow the score on my phone while watching many (MANY) episodes of Clone Wars. I facetime my mom and dad around 7 after they finish the Mandolorian and we can all squeal with excitement.
9:00pm: Melatonin gummies, contacts out, teeth brushed, face washed, bedtime.
Daily Total: $0
Day 4: Monday
5:45am: Awake, coffee, take the dog out, head to crossfit.
7:30am: Home, dog out again, then breakfast (homemade toast, everything but the bagel smoked salmon, scrambled egg+egg whites) and more coffee. I login to work at 8am, and get the morning podcasts going (Up First, the Daily, Post Reports, the Intelligence).
10:00am: I place a Target pickup order for the snacks for our break area at the mall (seltzer, peanut butter crackers, cookies, granola bars - all single serving packs). I will be reimbursed for this by the store. ($39.57 - I get a notice that an item isn’t available after I place the order...oh well)
11:00am: I’m traveling out of state for a couple of days - it’s a long awaited tattoo coverup (don’t get a tattoo for a significant other….I knew not to do this...and yet I still did), so I make my list of items to pack and things to remember to do (take out trash, do all my dishes, etc). I will be driving to my destination (Indiana), staying at a hotel by myself, going to the tattoo shop (masked), and back to the hotel. Not telling friends I’m there, not going out anywhere. And I’ve scheduled a test for 4 days after my return, per NYS rules. If I could make the drive nonstop, I would, but your girl isn’t giving herself a UTI lol. I’ll be masked and sanitized anytime I step out of my vehicle. Still super nervous, but getting this tattoo covered up is like….the final FINAL step. I also take a shower (finally, yes I’m gross and have been sitting in my workout clothes since I got home - god help me if I ever live with a human again lol).
2:00pm: Time for head out for work! On the way, I pick up my previously mentioned Target order, and also pick up meals for my trip from a local meal prep place - I get a bunch of great stuff (2 breakfasts, 2 dinners, 1 lunch plus energy bites for the car), plus it means that I can just hermit it up in the hotel room apart from the actual tattoo appointment. ($62.68). I get to the mall early before my shift starts - since I know I’ll have a tub in the hotel room, and I don’t have one in my apartment, I get a couple of bath bombs and lotion from Lush ($25.93) and a whole bunch of sheet masks from Sephora ($25.01). Then time for work - It’s a fairly quick shift, which is nice, not too terribly busy and we get a lot done. And people at the mall are generally not pills today - epic win!
8:15pm: Home from work - take the dog out and have a little evening meal of homemade soup from my co-worker (it’s a kale sausage soup her husband makes and it is AMAZING) and the rest of my homemade bread. I finish packing up and the poor pup definitely knows something is up. Bedtime around 10pm.
Daily Total: $153.19
Day 5: Tuesday
5:45am: Alarm, dog, coffee. Rather than dirtying dishes, I heat up one of the prepped breakfasts I brought (a breakfast sandwich with chicken, which is actually quite tasty - plus some blueberries). I get the car loaded up with my stuff and the dog - he’s staying with my parents while I’m gone - and head out by 7:15am. After I drop him off I top off my gas tank ($14.10), and also get a couple of bubly waters and a can of death wish coffee for the road ($6.25).
12:00pm: Lunch stop at panera - fuji apple chicken salad and a cup of chicken noodle soup - drive thru and eaten in the car ($10.94, but I have a gift card). Road Trip Podcasts: You’re Wrong About and Noble Blood.
3:00pm: Gas stop (there’s also a few bathroom stops, but since I didn’t spend anything, it’s not terribly relevant, right? :) ) ($27.01).
5:30pm: Arrival! Check in to the hotel - masked front desk employee, check. Bring my stuff up to my room, and jackpot - biiiiiiiiig tub. Looks like those bath bombs were a solid choice! Open up the work laptop to see if there is anything urgent - nothing crazy - and decide which meal I want for dinner. Bourbon Chicken with Broccoli and Sweet Potatoes it is. Plus a Sparkling Apple Cider vinegar beverage (ginger and lemon) from Trader Joes. Before I eat, I do a lower body focused stretching routine from ROMWOD since I spent so long in the car.
7:30pm: Bath Bomb, Face Mask, Feet Mask, and finished Night Stalker on Netflix. Since I’ll be quarantining until I get a negative COVID test after my trip, I order 10 meals through the same meal prep company that I got my travel meals from ($88.43 - includes both delivery fee and tip). They will be delivered on Sunday.
Daily Total: $146.73
Day 6: Wednesday
6:00am - I had intended to sleep longer, but my body is like - nope, you’re waking up at the same time no matter what. Coffee (keurig in the hotel room - ick) plus a prepped breakfast (a goat cheese egg white scramble with sweet potatoes - which is delicious). Morning podcasts and I open up the work laptop. Since I’m awake I guess.
7:30am: Hotel room workout - I do yesterday’s workout from my gym, with a few modifications, but it still feels great to move after sitting in the car for so long! Shower afterwards, then food (Mexican Taco Bowl!) and work.
10:30am: Squuuuueeee it’s time for my tattoo. I double mask up, drive through for a Starbucks order ($4.74 - paid for on my Starbucks app with previously loaded funds) and head to the shop! I already paid my deposit and took advantage of a gift card sale before Christmas so I don’t owe anything additional today. We do linework, shading, and partial color. It’s going to take 2 appointments to do the full thing, so we make my next appointment for May (augh, I cannot wait!). My coverup is over black text, so a cover up involves a LOT of layering of color. I’m impressed that I still have stamina after not getting a tattoo for nearly 3 years.This is going to be BEAUTIFUL.
2:30pm: After my tattoo appointment, I make a quick stop at CVS (still double masked!) to pick up aquaphor, orange dial soap, ibuprofen, and toothpaste (cause naturally that’s the one thing I forgot to pack - d’oh) ($22.00). I make a curbside pickup order for Panera - another soup and salad combo ($10.55 - again paid for with gift cards!). I head back to my hotel room, eat, put on more podcasts (Planet Money, Can He Do That, Code Switch) and log onto work. An uneventful afternoon follows.
6:00pm: Facetime call with my mom, then dinner and various true crime documentaries on Netflix and Pinterest browsing because as per usual, now I want allll the tattoos. I also put in an order for a grocery pickup on my way home (coffee, coffee creamer, fruit, etc) ($66.82). I try to make a testing appointment through NYS for my return COVID test on Monday, but the automated system keeps putting me in the first available, which is Friday….I’ll try to schedule again on Friday so that the timing works. Bedtime tattoo routine of wash, aquaphor and ibuprofen, as well as a sheet face mask. Sleep around 10:00pm.
Daily Total: $104.11
Day 7: Thursday
6:00am: Welp, up and at em! I finish packing all my stuff, check out of the hotel and warm up the car. I head out around 7:00am. Top off the gas tank ($12.80) and I also add $15 to my Starbucks card and drive thru a Starbucks (Spinach Feta Wrap + Cafe Misto with almond milk). Then it’s time for podcasts and lots of driving. My mom had suggested a podcast from Serial - S*%*Town. IT’S AMAZING and this drive has never gone so fast!
11:00am: (or sometime around this time) Stop for gas ($27.01) and another Starbucks stop ($15 reload) to get another misto, a bottle of water, and a fruit/cheese/hard boiled egg box.
3:00pm: I was going to try to make it all the way without stopping for anything else, but my stomach is about to eat itself. I stop at a Tim Hortons about 45 minutes away from my parents’ house and get timbits and a hot chocolate (which is gross) ($6.66 - eeep). I get to my parents’ house - my mom and dad stay upstairs and in the basement respectively while I use the bathroom and retrieve a very happy pup. Once I get everything out to the car, my mom and dad come outside (double masked, as am I) and we quickly wave and air hug from a distance. On the way home, I drive through the grocery pickup and get my groceries.
5:30pm: Finally home. The dog is very happy to be home too - my mom said when she would come into the bedroom where he was, he would look at her and be - “oh…..just you…”. Such a momma’s boy :) Dinner is actual food (the rest of the kale sausage soup). I also put together a batch of cranberry almond biscotti (based off the Ina Garten cherry pistachio biscotti) - the apartment smells delicious. Settling in for post-travel isolation lol.
9:30pm: Melatonin gummies, tattoo upkeep, and then bedtime with the dog!
Daily Total: $76.47
Weekly Total: $505.50
Food & Drink: $326.64
Fun & Entertainment: $0
Home & Health: $22.00
Clothes & Beauty: $50.94
Transport: $105.92
Reflections:
First, GODDAMN I AM SO EXCITED TO PAY OFF THIS STUDENT LOAN. Just paid another $200 on it this morning, so we’re under $800!! If you hear an excited scream from the Western New York area next month, don’t worry, it’s just me.
Second, this was a higher spend week than usual, but I’m really proud to have budgeted for all of it. I had basically prepaid for the tattoo (on the gift card) and there’s still leftover for my next appointment. I had also budgeted and saved for the increased amount of gas and food.
Third, hopefully this isn’t too boring. My life pre-pandemic wasn’t terribly interesting, and it certainly isn’t now lol. I’m hoping to continue my debt payoff progress by finishing paying off my credit card debt in 2021, and start saving my 3-6 month emergency fund before starting that house down payment savings! I’m even starting to allow myself to start actually looking at Zillow.
I have been isolating since I got back - just drove through and got my COVID test, so fingers crossed for a quick reply!
Lastly, the coverup tattoo is going to be beautiful. I can’t wait for it to be finished!
Thanks for reading this whole thing!

Table of contents:

• General Information about Nexo
• Buybacks
• Licenses and regulations
• Interest / Earning with your Crypto assets
• Dividend
• Competitors
• Frequently asked questions
• Important information

General Information about Nexo

What is Nexo?

Nexo delivers the The World’s First Instant Crypto-backed Loans, thus resolving a crucial inefficiency for the crypto world. Up to this very moment, no alternatives existed for digital asset owners to enjoy their crypto wealth except selling them. The innovative model of Nexo brings to the crypto community the best of both worlds - retaining 100% ownership of their digital assets while having immediate access to cash.

What are Instant Crypto-backed Loans?

The Instant Crypto-backed Loans are an automatic, flexible and cost-efficient way of obtaining liquidity that is secured by the value of the client’s digital assets. The whole process is completed in just a few simple clicks. No hidden fees, no capital gains taxes, no credit checks. Transparency is guaranteed through the use of blockchain technology, smart contracts and algorithmic processes executed by the Nexo Oracle.

Notes for US (United States) Customers

• You will not be able to exchange NEXO within the upcoming exchange. This is NOT due to Nexo, but because of the SEC.
• You can receive dividends, but paid in BTC not Nexo (Unless you're an accredited investor, then you can be paid in Nexo).
• It's pretty complicated to purchase Nexo (right now) for US customers.
• You can not receive the additional 2% bonus if choosing to get paid interest in Nexo.

How can I buy NEXO?

Currently, until the Exchange comes out, you will have to use a third-party platform to purchase NEXO. You can use the following:

• Changelly (Via the Nexo app, click on the banner on the homepage, at the top) [Note, very high fees/interest rate, but easy to use]
• Huobi.com (Not available for US customers) Send USDT, BTC, ETH to your Huobi wallet, trade it for Nexo. If you complete KYC you get a $10 fee deduction on trades.
• Uniswap. You have to buy ETH first somewhere and then swap it to Nexo. Good solution for 4 figure exchanges and under, above that, there is too little liquidity.
• Buy BNB from Binance, use Binance DEX to convert BNB to Nexo.
• Bitmart.com exchange.
• Hotbit.io exchange (very low liquidity)
• ChangeNow.io - Swap to NEXO

How is Nexo connected to Credissimo?

Nexo is powered by Credissimo, a leading FinTech Group serving millions of people across Europe for over 10 years. Credissimo has always operated under the highest regulatory requirements and strictest supervision by multiple European Banking and Financial Services Regulators. Now the same Team and its Board of Advisors, empowered by the ever-growing community of Nexo supporters and the enormous demand for the Instant Crypto-backed Loans, are unlocking the value of the digital assets in a rapidly expanding token economy that will alter the very fabric of a $5 trillion dollar market.

Who are the Nexo Founders?

Nexo was founded by the Credissimo team who have been in business for over 10+ years and awarded as one of the top 100 Financial Tech companies in Europe.

What happens when NEXO doesn't have enough cash to loan out?

They can't loan out without raising money, of course. So either they have to loan themselves with better terms, raise money through other means, or steadily process the loans facing a supply drought and customer loss. I could imagine that it would be technically legal for a certain % of the collateral to be sold, just like banks are not required to keep 100% of their customers cash in liquid form, but I have quite frankly no clue how this applies to nexo and crypto assets.

What happens to the deposited BTC/ETH if NEXO fails? Who holds the private keys to them coins?

Since nexo is properly registered in the EU, and given the EU's tendency to protect customers rather than company's, Id honestly assume we would have a novelty court case over this issue, with the expected result that the collateral has to be given back out, if it is still available. But as it often happens in crypto, if the coins are sold illegally its hard to reverse that kind of damage, and its even more tough to access them if they were sent to another wallet. I do not really think that there is a reasonable possibility of this happening without nexo deliberately destroying their business/turning criminal, because of the nature of this business and the contracts, and I would assume that not turning criminal is a much, much more profitable strategy in the long run, because nexo is well positioned to assume dominance in this market for what we know so far.

What happens if people fail to pay back the money, but at the same time the deposited BTC/ETH loose value and are not able to cover the loan amount any more? (With people then realising their collateral is valued at less then the money they have to pay back, thus being incentivised towards defaulting rather than paying back to get their crypto.)

If the collateral does not cover the loan due to falling prices, the loan agreement as far as I know will be automatically terminated, with the collateral held in the nexo account. The customer must either default through the prices not covering the loan amount, or with failure of payback itself, its not really possible that both the customer fails to pay back the money AND the collateral declines in value below the worth of the loan unless the market crashes so spectacularly that the collateral cannot be automatically sold. However the outcome is technically the same, nexo itself does not lose money if the client defaults (unless prices crash faster than nexo is able to sell, or the volume is gone, et cetera., which I think at this point is relatively unreasonable to assume.), and I think the "take a loan -> buy more crypto -> take more loans" scenario is incredibly unreasonable given that you can easily margin-trade with much higher leverage and less trouble than what nexo could loan out to you, so I dont assume loans are being taken for actual crypto investments, I rather think people believe in the collateral assuming value and see it as a locked up investment with extra short term utility

How is NEXO profitable?

Lending is the most profitable crypto market segment. Businesses are now parking their idle cash with crypto lenders. This trickle will soon become a flood. Nexo is arguably the most profitable lender. NEXO made ~$20 mill profit last year, paying a $6mill dividend.

Is Nexo trustworthy?

Considering that the founders of Nexo are some of the same people behind Credissimo an established successful award winning FinTech Group founded in 2007 which is still around gives gives me reassurance that my coins are somewhat safe. At the end of the day we're all taking a risk here. I'd be very surprised if Nexo just runs off with all our money in the process tainting all the work they've put in from Credissimo to here. It is poor that they haven't done much to reassure us that our crypto/money is as secure as they say but they have a track record that seems to speak for itself. Not many other defi platforms can do the same and we are seeing that almost every second day with the hacks occurring in the ecosystem.
There are actual people behind this thing that we can hold accountable. People who have Forbes articles written about them. People who have been on the news. I'm not saying it's still not possible for a security breach but again their track record seems to speak for itself.

What happens to my assets if NEXO goes under?

In the unlikely event that Nexo goes under, yes, your money is gone. There is no insurance in the world that covers something like that I'm afraid. It's the same for Cel, CDC, or any wallet provider.. remember, not your keys not your crypto. There is always a risk.

How can NEXO afford such high interest rates?

Simple, they borrow your money for ~8% and they lend it out for ~11.9% (no loyalty, this used to be 24.9% but I guess they changed it because it made them look like loan-sharks).
The concept behind Nexo is to make Crypto as liquid as possible for clients. Instead of selling crypto you can temporarily supplement it for a small loan.
Their average loan is well above the 5.9% minimum and more people are using the service to borrow rather than lend.
They are profitable, but don't expect the stablecoin interest to remain at 8%-12% long term, it's to attract new customers! Just like Crypto.com did.
One thing to note, the business model is SOLID, but only in a stable or bullish market. If for some reason Crypto market tanks, then it'll be an issue.

What happens if the market crashes?

The Loan-to-Value (i.e. ~50% for BTC and ETH) is dynamically determined by the Nexo Oracle algorithms, depending on the current and historical volatility and market liquidity of the asset. If the assets decrease significantly in value and you do not contribute additional assets to your Nexo Wallet after receiving a warning from the Nexo Oracle, Nexo may initiate small liquidations to cover any insufficiency.

Buybacks

Nexo announced a Buyback, has it been done, how can I track it?

The buyback has started, it seems like they are doing the buyback bit by bit instead of the full amount all at once. They purchase these tokens from the open market, where there is liquidity (Huobi for instance). You can check how many tokens have been bought back so far here: https://etherscan.io/address/0x1C433CBF4777e1f0dCe0374d79aaa8ecDC76B497#tokentxns

License and Regulations

Is NEXO compliant with the SEC?

Yes: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1732097/000173209718000004/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml

Could SEC investigate NEXO the same way they did with Ripple (XRP)?

Nexo is registered and compliant with the SEC when they did their ICO (Initial Coin Offering), there is nothing to worry about.

What is NEXO's insurance?

Nexo use BitGo (https://www.bitgo.com/) as their cold storage provider. This includes a $100m policy that covers third-party hacks, theft, loss of keys, etc.
The safety of clients funds is the main priority for Nexo. Cold storage Wallets are provided by BitGo, the leader in digital asset financial services. BitGo Custody carries $100,000,000.00 in insurance protections through a syndicate of underwriters through the Lloyd's, the world’s specialist insurance and reinsurance market. And this premium service comes in at no additional cost (details can be found here and here).
The $100 million policy covers digital assets where the private keys are held 100% by BitGo in the event of:

• Third-party hacks, copying, or theft of private keys
• Insider theft or dishonest acts by BitGo employees or executives
• Loss of keys

Nexo has chosen BitGo as its custodian because BitGo provides 100% cold storage technology in bank-grade Class III vaults and the BitGo platform is SOC 2 Type 2 certified. Advanced authentication mechanisms are employed to ensure the authenticity of data, and assets are distributed geographically and organisationally.
It is the account holders’ responsibility to safeguard their accounts by means including but not limited to using a strong password, enabling two-factor authentication and controlling all login credentials to Nexo. Clients remain owners of the crypto assets placed into Nexo accounts.

Why is their insurance only for $100m if they have $4B+ in assets under management (AUM)?

They don't keep the all of their assets in the one wallet.
Their custodian, BitGo, keeps funds in many smaller wallets - the likelihood of all those wallets being hacked at the same time is something approaching zero.

Is there details on Nexo's bank license?

Not yet, Nexo is not a bank yet, but it's possibly coming soon, as they just switched banks to IBS Lithuania UAB. (Not announced but since Lithuania gave Revolut a bank license it's very possible!)

What does an ISO/IEC 27001 certificate mean?

Nexo’s information security management system (ISMS) has been successfully audited by CISQ, a member of IQNet and the world’s largest provider of management system certification, and by RINA, who have decades of experience in certifications, ensuing in an ISO/IEC 27001 compliance certificate. This guarantees that Nexo's security infrastructure is of the highest standard and carries minimal risk to clients and investors thanks to rigorous security policies, impeccable risk assessment, data protection, and state-of-the-art cybersecurity.
Nexo’s ISO/IEC 27001 certificate was issued to it's Estonian entity, the subject of this certification is Nexo’s information security management system, rather than a specific registered entity. As such, it is irrelevant which Nexo entity the certificate was granted to.
Please also note that information provided on www.nexo.io is valid for all Nexo services and operations, as the aggregate of companies within the Nexo group. These include entities registered across the globe, all of which are fully compliant with local regulations.

Licenses and links

License: https://www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org/EntityDetails.aspx/COMPANY/1898755
License: https://mtr.mkm.ee/juriidiline_isik/236278/valjavoteEdit?tulemus=Tegevusluba
SEC: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgadata/1732097/000173209718000004/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml
Estonia's Business Register: https://www.teatmik.ee/en/personlegal/14520507-Nexo-Services-O%C3%9C
Estonia Approval (Allows operations to all non-estonians): https://www.fi.ee/sites/default/files/2019-03/20190304%20Hoiatusteade%20Nexo.pdf

Interest / Earning with your Crypto assets

I transferred my assets yesterday and have not gotten any interest yet???

You get your first interest payout the day AFTER you deposit. This is normal, to avoid people cheating the system.

I am not getting my 10% interest!

It may not be clearly explained within the app, but in order to get the full potential for rates, you need to max your loyalty level as well as get paid in Nexo. Depending on how much NEXO is part of your portfolio, your loyalty level changes, so to achieve Platinum, you must have at least 10% of your crypto portolfio in NEXO. The bonuses for each level are as follows:

• Base = 5%* on Crypto, 8% on Fiat/Stablecoins
  
• Silver (1-5%) = 5.25% on Crypto, 8.25% on Fiat/Stablecoins
  
• Gold (5-10%) = 5.5% on Crypto, 9% on Fiat/Stablecoins
  
• Platinum (>10%) = 6% on Crypto, 10% on Fiat/Stablecoins
  

Crypto = BTC, Etherium, etc.
Stablecoins = USDC, Tether, etc. Fiat = Euro, GBP.
They get converted to their equivalent stable coin after depositing!
All % are PER YEAR NOT DAILY OR MONTHLY.
Remember, you get paid extra if you decide to receive interest in NEXO and not in-kind (same asset, so BTC to BTC for instance). This bonus is not available for US customers.

Example of interest earned:

Assuming you have 1 BTC in your Savings Wallet on NEXO, you would accumulate 5% per year if you do not hold any Nexo as well. 6% if you hold 10% worth of a BTC as Nexo in your account.
And additionally 2% more if you choose to receive the interest in Nexo and not BTC, so then it would be 7 or 8%, but this is not available for US customers.

I am not getting my 7% every day?!!!

Just like pretty much everything in this world, interest is shown PER YEAR. This means, you get 7% per year, not per day. ANY company, regardless if it's crypto or not, that tells you you can even make 1% back per day, is a ponzi / scam (unsustainable business).

How do I calculate what I should get % per day?

Simplified, and not 100% accurate, but very close, you should take the spot price of the asset at the moment of daily payout, multiply it by your loyalty / bonus level, and divide it by 365.
A more advanced, accurate calculation would be as follows (thanks to masashi_t):
Example: BTC interest is 6% in-kind and 8% in NEXO.
If you choose to earn in-kind, take into account of compounding interest, it would give you [(1+0.06)1/365-1]*100 = 0.0159% per day, or 6% APY
If you want to earn in NEXO instead, you will get (0.08/365)*100 = 0.022% per day, or 8% APR.
BTC and NEXO are both appreciating assets, you are free to pick which one you think will give you a better return in the future.

Small note regarding compounding interest:

The daily interest rate you receive for the like-kind reward already takes into account the fact it compounds to end with the stated annual interest rate. The interest rate you see for like-kind reward only is achieved if you keep it for 365 days. If you keep it for a lesser time, you actually get a lower interest rate.
I am not sure why this isn't mentioned in the app, as far as I know.

I am not getting back interest on my NEXO assets?

You do not get interest on NEXO token assets you hold in NEXO. Instead, you get dividends. Nexo give out 30% of their profits back to their customers that hold nexo tokens. Read this article for more information.

Do my assets on Nexo get locked-up / stake period?

NO! Unlike, CDC Crypto.com, you do not need to lock in your assets with Nexo, you can withdraw them at any time.

Do I get interest on my collateral?

Any assets in your Credit wallet do not get any interest, so you can not borrow 0.5BTC with 1BTC as collateral and make interest on the 1BTC at the same time. The only asset that "technically" makes % while being in the Credit wallet is Nexo tokens, where you get dividends regardless of which wallet the tokens are in.

Dividend

What is a dividend?

To "reward" loyal customers who support the project and Nexo token itself, Nexo have decided to do (yearly*) dividends, this means they give 30% of the benefits (profits) the company earned since the last dividend back to the nexo holders. Based on how many tokens you have and knowing there is currently a fixed supply of 560 millions tokens you can calculate what % you should get. Furthermore, they have an extra "bonus" for those who have held onto the tokens for a long time. This bonus is small, but it helps differentiate those who are holders and those who purchase nexo tokens before a dividend to cash in. Read the question below about frequency.

How regular are dividends, when is the next one?

So far, dividends have been yearly, in August. There have been mentions from Nexo that they'd like to do it more regularly. As any business/stock that do dividends, the price of the token/stock decreases drastically after dividend payout. Do not be alarmed.

Do US customers get dividends?

Yes, but paid out in BTC. EDIT: Apparently, you can receive it in NEXO as well, but you must be an accredited investor. Read this

Do I need to verify/kyc to receive dividend for my NEXO tokens?

Yes, advanced verification is necessary.

Where do I need to hold NEXO Tokens, in order to receive dividends?

NEXO Tokens must be held/staked in your Nexo account (doesn't matter if it's in the Credit or Savings Wallet) at the ex-dividend date. The ex-dividend date will be communicated in advance.

Competitors

CELSIUS vs NEXO

Summarized: Celsius do a much better job at engaging with their customers, and their token CEL has performed better than NEXO, however, NEXO appears much more professional (imo of course), by taking things slowly but surely. Everything works perfectly, everything is tested, no downtimes, no trash-talking by the employees. CEL at this point seems like a cult, Nexo seems like a business.

Why is CEL so high compared to NEXO?

Visibility, marketing? Various reasons. IMO looking at their trading volume, its VERY low. If even a small-sized whale decided to sell their bags, it would crash. Basically, it's artificially inflated due to low liquidity.
Also keep in mind, Coinmarketcap and Coingecko show incorrect Market Cap data for Celsius. You can see the real value by visiting the Celsius website. It will crash soon, and hard. Again, my opinion.

Frequently asked questions:

Are there any airdrops/giveaways/freebies?

No. There are currently no giveaways. If you get contacted via Facebook, Twitter, Telegram or anywhere else, it's a scam. The only "giveaway" that is currently running is the fact that you can win 100k Nexo tokens for voting for which coin should be added next to the platform (You can do this via the app, on the home screen, scroll the top banners to the right until you find the one about voting.)

When will the Card (Crypto Credit Card) be released?

There are no official announcements yet, but all we know that is it currently in a private beta. A select few European (non UK) customers have been given cards to test the upcoming platform.

When will the Exchange be released (Buying and selling crypto within the Nexo app/webapp)?

Just like the card, there is no official news yet. All we know that there are a select few IOS users who have been given early access to test the functionality of this exchange. Currently, users are reporting a 1.5%~ spread on the exchange, which is quite high.

How long does Verification/KYC take?

Generally, it takes about 2 business days, although lately with the increase of users signing up it can take a big longer. If you don't hear back after a week I'd suggest contacting their support.

Support is not answering my emails?

One tip is to go on their website, open the live chat and type in "speak with human" "talk to agent" "human" to get transferred to a real person.

Are deposits and withdrawals free?

Yes, withdrawals are completely free, although deposits depend on which exchange you use to send your assets to Nexo with.

Difference between CREDIT and SAVINGS wallets

You must take into account that you have TWO wallets per asset within the Nexo platform. One for SAVINGS, which will give you interest on any assets you hold in it, and one for CREDIT which is basically your collateral, which you use for taking out crypto-backed loans.

Will Brexit affect UK customers?

There is no official information so far.

Does NEXO have a bonus/referral system?

No, you can not get $ or bonus for referring other users right now. The only thing you can do is share a link to the CARD page, to increase your position in the waiting list.

When are payouts made?

Usually around 12:00AM UTC, daily!

What coins are accepted as collateral?

BTC, ETH, XRP, LTC, XLM, BCH, EOS, LINK, TRX, stablecoins, PAXG, NEXO and BNB. More information

What is Collateral?

Collateral is crypto assets you would put up for a loan (if you don't repay they will sell it to cover the default). You do not earn interest on crypto that you use as collateral. If you are not borrowing from Nexo then your funds are held in a "savings wallet" where it can earn interest until it is either moved off the platform or used as collateral on a loan.
Nexo tokens do not earn interest the same way as other tokens, but do provide dividends from the profits of the company.

What are the loan-to-value (LTV) rates?

A Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratio is an indicator representing the size of a loan compared to the value of the assets securing the loan.
The Loan-to-Value percentages of each asset are dynamically determined by the Nexo blockchain oracle algorithms, depending on the current and historical volatility and market liquidity of the asset.
More info

How many confirmations does my transfer need?

• BTC deposit require a minimum of 6 confirmations
• All ERC20 deposits (ETH, PAXG, NEXO, USDT, TUSD, USDC, PAX, DAI) require 50 confirmations
• LINK deposits require 40 confirmations
• XRP (Ripple), XLM (Stellar), BNB, NEXO BEP2 and EOS - near-instant
• BCH deposit requires 16 confirmations
• LTC deposit requires 6 confirmations
• TRX (Tron) deposit requires 20 confirmations

How can I find a list of important announcements, information?

https://support.nexo.io/hc/en-us/sections/360002501674-News-and-Updates-2020
On the sidebar, you can go back to 2018.

When will NEXO be listed on Coinbase?

It's very unlikely, because they are considered competitors. Furthermore, Nexo token is very clearly a security, based of the dividend payments and now the buyback program, these big exchanges aren't licensed to deal in securities, hence they will not list Nexo.

Will the (possible) upcoming bill regarding regulating self-hosted assets affect US NEXO customers?

No, Nexo is not self hosted. BitGo is their custodian.

How often does NEXO add new coins?

Not regularly at all.

Can NEXO be mined?

There is a fixed circulating supply of Nexo, the remainder the Team have said are locked until TBA.
So there isn't a dilution, as there are no new Nexo created - the dividend paid in Nexo needs to be bought from existing circulating supply by the company in order to be paid to holders.

Important information

NEXO's Roadmap?

• Banking license: Nexo is trying to either acquire a company or get their own banking license (like Revolut and Monzo) so they have more flexibility in their operations. It would be a huge step for a crypto company to get this and shows their ambition
  
• Credit Card: This will be similar to CDC and they'll offer generous cash back incentives of 2% when you get your credit card.
  
• Referral Scheme: Currently Nexo has done this massive growth without incentivised referrals, and when they turn this tap the company can likely see a lot of users pouring in for their great savings rates and crypto credit lines. But take a moment to think.. who do you trust more, a company that acquirers users based on their services/product, or a company that gives out bonuses to those who promote/spam their product..
  
• Exchanges and more Coins: The ability to exchange crypto within the eco system will go a long way to keeping users within the system. The plan is to let users buy and stake virtually any legitimate crypto asset.
  

And with this massive roadmap, the core principle they started with by sharing back with the community, they keep everyone's incentives aligned.

Where can I view statistics and information about Nexo?

https://nexologist.com/
https://nexostatistics.com/
https://www.hodlfire.com/go/hf-sheet/

How can I compare the earn rate of Nexo vs BlockFi/Cel/CDC/...?

https://blockscompare.com/

Important reads:

Liquidations: https://medium.com/nexo/why-liquidations-are-needed-and-how-they-protect-us-all-9d426ac70dc2
AMA from the Co-founder Antoni Trenchev: https://youtu.be/LBTrd8C5n1c
Nexo Help Center: https://support.nexo.io/hc/en-us/categories/360000766354-Nexo-Help-Center
Whitepaper: https://nexo.io/assets/downloads/Nexo-Whitepaper.pdf

Telegram Communities

Official Telegram
NEXOnians
NEXOnews
NEXOstatistics

Small thanks?

Took me quite a while to gather and write all of these if something is missing please let me know! Feel free to get me a beer if you'd like :)
(NEXO): 0xa6a87d29c362d63df60cf7667cacdfe411ee30e0

But it was some of the things I expected it to be.
This is my first post here, though I’ve been commenting on this sub for a while now, and I lurked long before that. I want to share my story because I think it will resonate with many people here, and maybe it will help some people. It probably will most closely resonate with people of a similar background: tech workers who are feeling jaded after working at a large tech company for a few years. However, I think it could be relatable for anyone considering leaving a comfortable but unfulfilling job, in search for something more meaningful. This post is not going to cover many specifics about financials or financial advice, but a FI mindset strongly influenced my decision-making. It’s a common topic of this sub to experience a longing for more fulfilling work, especially once you have FU money or are approaching coastFI, and having made the leap about 9 months ago I think I have some insight about how things can turn out if you choose to take a leap of faith.
I also fully acknowledge that many on this sub don’t experience a need for more fulfilling work; several of you find other means of fulfillment and just want to FIRE ASAP, period, and that is totally fine, but this post may be less relevant to you.

Background

I joined a FAANG as a software dev after graduating college. I was fortunate to graduate with less than 10k in debt, and I paid it off quickly. I performed well and was promoted after about two years. As my NW increased, it felt like blinders were slowly being removed from my eyes. Like many people on here, I had a lot of anxiety about financial security growing up - so much so that getting a high paying job was virtually all I thought about since I was in high school. As my NW hit 100k, I started to feel somewhat secure about money and my employability; I took a step back and started to realize that I was never going to feel fulfilled by the work I was doing (which involved working on an interesting but not very impactful smartphone feature). Without as much financial anxiety, I was able to give myself space to reflect and understand what my real goals were - something I had neglected for a long time.
I tried to make it work on my old team. I thought that if I found the right kind of role or peer group, I could tolerate not feeling like my work was that important. But I knew deep down that wouldn’t be the case.
I also looked for opportunities on other teams. I think this could have worked out. I found one opening that seemed like it would be a work style I liked better (TSE rather than SWE), and in an area that felt more impactful (healthcare).
But I ended up finding an opportunity elsewhere that was more risky but seemed potentially more rewarding for me.

Reflections and the next opportunity

In my reflections, I realized I really regretted not taking more humanities and social science classes in college. I barrelled through the CS curriculum with tunnel vision, intent only on getting a job at a FAANG or similar. I had always wanted to study psychology, but, coming from a family of engineers, voices in my head always told me that wasn’t a “real” field.
Additionally, I started to feel a growing need to do work that was impactful and helped people. I think anyone might feel this longing, but I think those from marginalized communities such as myself might be especially likely to feel this need to give back. As my confidence in my abilities and skills grew, it started to feel ridiculous that I wasn’t using them for social good.
I began searching for career paths that would scratch my itch to learn about more social science fields, and that would be impactful in ways I found fulfilling. I still wanted to work in something at least partially technical, since I wanted to make use of my skill set. I eventually found a not-for-profit research center nearby that focused on applying computational methods to complex social problems, varying from sex trafficking to religious extremism. I reached out to the organization, and ended up meeting some staff to discuss the field and what I might do to get involved. I was hoping for some PhD program recommendations, which they gave (for anyone wondering, they recommended I apply to CS or Engineering programs, and specialize in something like computational social science). But it also turned out that they had a grant that was getting dispersed in the next month, and someone with my background would be appropriate for one of the roles in that project.
At that time, I had about 110k in retirement accounts, 70k in taxable accounts, and around 10-15k cash. I was 24 years old. Arguably, I was lean-coastFI, meaning if I didnt save anything more, I could probably be leanFI by retirement age just on the savings that compounded. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but at my old job I was probably making close to 200k/yr including RSUs and bonus. I got an offer for the other job, and the pay was 88k - not a terrible salary but definitely a huge cut - still, I was expecting 65-70k, so I was a bit surprised. Healthcare benefits were similar. Retirement options and general perks were better at the FAANG but not terrible at the other org.
I thought about it a lot. I met the staff at the org multiple times to feel it out as best I could. I tried to keep myself in check, but I’ll admit that I was very hopeful and idealistic that taking this opportunity was going to give my work so much more meaning, and that the pay cut was going to be totally worth it.

9 months later: the grass is not as green as I thought it would be, but it is still greener

There are days when my work is everything I thought it would be; I get to step into a really interesting and impactful research project, and unblock or build upon it using my tech/CS background. Or, I get to learn about interesting research and apply a computational lens to it. When my days are like this, the adage “Find work you love and you will never work a day in your life” really feels true.
But, this is not every day. Sometimes I’ll go weeks or months without one of these days, and it sucks. Just like my old job, there are some projects that are isolating, chaotic, or too unstructured. On these days, it can feel like work is work, and FI is the only way to achieve balance.
Add in life changes due to the pandemic, and it’s been a really rough few months. (To be clear, the pandemic had not started when I accepted the job offer. I’m not sure how that would have affected my decision-making, but I’m sure it would have shaken things up a bit.)
While it has only been 9 months, and some of the most unprecedented months at that, these are the lessons I’ve learned about taking the leap for a more fulfilling job. These are as much lessons about myself as they are about the world I live in; I’m sure some of these simply do not apply to you, but I like to think that some of you will benefit from reading this. I repeat: I do not claim these to be universal truths.

Purpose and fulfillment are forward-thinking, long-term concepts, not something that is lived day to day

When I started this job, I’ll admit a part of me expected everyday to be dramatically more fulfilling than my old job. This is simply not the case. Yes, some days are exhilarating in a way that my old job never could be, but many days are not. That being said, when I think about what I could accomplish in 3, 5, or 10 years at this current position, I am significantly more content with the possibilities here than at my old job. When I think about the experience I am getting at this job, I know that it’s putting me on a track toward being the professional/field-expert I want to be - even if I were to end up changing jobs or the company dies.
I now believe that this is what purpose and fulfillment from a career means for me. It doesn’t mean changing someone’s life every single day - though I imagine it could be like that in other fields like medical professions or social work, for instance. But, even those fields, I imagine, are going to have down days where even the best efforts don’t seem to make a difference (… and that’s all I’ll project onto professions I have no experience in). You need to be fulfilled by the long term potential, because day-to-day wins/losses are not going to be sustainably fulfilling.

A fulfilling job is still a job

Some of my projects are less interesting than others. Sometimes I have to work on a project that I don’t think has a lot of potential for impact. Sometimes a project is isolating or poorly managed. Some days I feel like a codemonkey/grunt and not the creative professional I strive to be. During my first several months, these realities hit hard. I thought, “Why am I doing this when I know I’m capable of doing better things?”
What I’ve learned is that sometimes it’s best to take a step back, sort of put yourself on autopilot with your job, and put less symbolic meaning into it. Similar to how you set up auto-deposits into your market accounts, you have to look towards the future and ask yourself, “Is the direction I am headed toward one that I am proud of? Will it, to the best of my knowledge, give me experiences that I want to have had in the long term?” If the answer is yes, let that be the end of it: treat your job like a job and let your time on it accumulate. Have no expectations about your day to day experience. Just like the market, my workdays have dramatic up and down swings. I have to assume that if I am properly allocated (metaphorically), my professional “net worth” will trend upward, and not let myself feel despair during a “crash.” (I hope this metaphor makes sense…)
Another way of thinking about this: internal motivation is not always reliable. Some days I’m not super motivated to work on projects that I actually really like. On these days, I’m reminded that a fulfilling job is still a job, and to expect otherwise can lead to disappointment. I try not to lose sight of the fact that I am where, to the best of my knowledge, I want to be - even if it occasionally does not feel like it.

Being around people who share your values is extremely important, but it’s not all that matters

One of the things I love about my job is that everyone in the org is dedicated to the organization’s goals, and these goals are ones that strongly resonate with me. The same could not be said, IMO, about my old job. However, there are much fewer people with my professional background (software/CS) here than my old job, and sometimes that can be isolating. Especially when working on less desirable projects.
I knew from the get-go that there would be fewer devs I’d be interacting with, but that didn’t stop it from getting a bit painful at times. Thankfully, I have been able to advocate with some success that we get more engineers on a project. And, there is some reasonable expectation of growth in the next year, such that we should be able to hire a few more devs I will work closely with.
I guess the advice here is do not expect that being around people with shared values will always be an adequate substitute for the kind of collaboration that only comes from working with people with a similar professional background. You need both.

You may still need to seek out external professional development in order to meet your goals

One of my goals when I got my new job was to learn about new fields. In particular, social sciences. At first, I thought that given the dramatic career shift I made, I would meet this goal primarily through my work. And, some days I do. But, as is becoming a trend in this post, this is not always my daily experience. I have decided to pursue extension school classes in psychology to fill this goal so that I can reliably fulfill it. I plan to get a certification in the next year or two, and potentially continue to a master’s degree over the next five years. I took a class last spring, and while I did not take a class this fall, I have decided to dedicate some time everyday to reading a textbook or research paper in an area of my interest. This way, I am meeting my learning goal nearly every day, even on days when I am not learning on the job. I find it essential to set up a routine where I am reliably fulfilling this goal, otherwise I get very down.

You won’t feel fulfilled by your job if you are not happy with your home life

The pandemic is a good case study for this. The last several months have been very destabilizing to my home environment, and this made it really difficult to tolerate downswings at work. There has, at times, been a temptation to quit and try something else. But, in retrospect, this temptation came more from the uncertainty about the world and what my personal life would look like in it. My SO and I have made a lot of changes to adapt to a COVID-19 world, and I can say that finally having what feels like a stable and pandemic-safe home-life balance really alleviates my temptation to run. Sometimes I think I feel a temptation to leave work just so that I can feel like, for a second, I have control over my life during a time in which there are such extreme external circumstances that are outside of my control.

If you think you cannot apply your skillset/experience to a new field, you are probably wrong

When I started looking for other jobs, I thought I wouldn’t be able to do the kind of work I wanted without going back to school. But that was not the only option, and it probably is not for most people considering a career change. Do the legwork to find organizations that resonate with you, and reach out to see if/how you can apply your background.

Sometimes things work out in unexpected ways, so have faith

I felt stuck in a project that really didn’t resonate with me for a while. But I kept working on it, even though there were times where I dragged my feet. I didn’t want to make a stink when I was so new to the job. Over time, though, it became clear that this project could have other applications that actually much more strongly aligned with my interests. And, other parties started to become very interested in these new applications. I still have some reservations, but, overall, a situation that felt a bit bleak did get better.
I’ll remember this in the future, and try not to get too down about situations that feel bad in the moment.

Great managers exist and are so much better than good managers

At my old job, I had three managers. One was OK - his management style did not mesh well with me, but I think it was a style that worked for some. The other two were pretty good. It’s hard to think of complaints. But my current manager continuously surprises me with their level of understanding and compassion. I feel much more at ease discussing issues that I am facing because I know I will be listened to without judgement.

The verdict: Was it worth it?

The short answer is that 9 months is not enough time to definitively judge if it was worth it. But, I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in these 9 months (as we all have), and I can say that I am still very hopeful about the future, even if I did have some less hopeful moments. I’ve done some really cool things, and I feel good about the direction I’m headed. Additionally, my salary was raised to 93k (from 88k), and there are plans that, if go well, may increase my salary to 120k in 2021. So, it’s within the realm of possibility that I could still be making a reasonably competitive salary again one day…
And yet, the money feels more like a perk than the main draw to the job. I’ve made peace with some of the realities that I was maybe too idealistic about in the beginning, but my level of existential contentment is still much higher than it was. I’m at a point where I feel reasonably confident that this career switch was a good choice in my life. And, if I can feel that way even when we are knee-deep in a pandemic, I think it’s likely a reliable assessment.
Edit/TLDR: The positives seem to have outweighed the negatives for now, but there were still negatives and it is still a job. I'm happy I made the leap; the grass is greener but not in quite all the ways I had hoped.

Section 0: Background
Hi everyone! I’m trying to tailor this a bit more to reflect the UK Money Diary style where I give context on the week before and reflect on it after. I also added in some of the questions from the recent thread about what Refinery29 should ask diarists (see here).
I wrote this the week of Thanksgiving; my partner and I stayed in NYC instead of going home to either of our parents’ homes. We wear masks and stay socially distant when we leave the house. I’m thankful that we live close to a park and live on a block where we know and enjoy talking to our neighbors.
This was a relatively normal week for us during a pandemic, save for me spending a bit more than normal and it being Thanksgiving. We’ve both lived in the city since college and have so-so relationships with our families, so we didn’t leave for “home” when the pandemic hit.
I also just named my boyfriend instead of giving him an initial. He’s the only person I actually saw this week, but the initials always throw me off when I read these.
What do money and success mean to you? What are your end goals?
It helps me to see money as a tool. I never resonate with people who say “money doesn’t buy happiness” because to a certain degree, it does. Money enables me to live the life I want.
I’m pursuing FIRE (financial independence, retire early) and hope to be financially independent (able to live off my investments) by my early 30s. To do so, I save 60%+ of my income per month. I want this because working for 40 years isn’t sustainable for me—I have a very cushy tech job and still get anxiety and rage about waking up every morning to work, the rat race, and being paid inequitably to male peers. I’d like to give myself the option to leave this world as soon as possible.
As an alternative, I could see myself successful if I open a product consultancy, where I advise early-stage startups on product management, what to build for their MVP, and product-market fit. I’m really interested in tech ethics and the questionable practices in venture capital, so I’d love to be in a place where I could be picky about what clients I take and help truly mission-driven businesses thrive. I could see this also working as a small business incubator—why not apply what works in startups to small businesses?
I don’t yet have a firm picture of what I’d like my life to look like when I retire. I’m interested in spending a lot of time reading, traveling to new places for extended periods of time, and potentially writing a book. I get extremely interested in niche topics. Right now if I had to guess, I’d be writing a book about the ways multi-level marketing companies (MLMs) manipulate women.
Are you a spender or a saver?
Definitely a saver. My partner is more of a spender, and we’ve influenced each other well. Seeing him spend money on himself for video games helps me realize I can spend more money on myself for things I just want (see my big purchase for myself this week).
In turn, seeing me save a lot of money has motivated him to up his 401k contribution and overall savings. He’s also interested in FIRE, although I’d say my timeline is more aggressive.
If you could go back in time, what's the one piece of financial advice you would give to your past self?
Learn about investing, look up the terms you don’t know, and start doing it as soon as possible. Ask questions to people you know or on the internet.
On to the diary!
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Section One: Assets and Debt
Investment Balance
$131,175

• Retirement (includes 2 company 401ks and 1 rollover IRA): $55,730
• Brokerage: $27,233
• Roth IRA: $25,439
• Managed account: $17,923
• HSA: $4,850

Equity if you're a homeowner
N/A, I rent in a HCOL city. No plans to own anytime soon
Savings account balance
$10,270
Checking account balance
$3,433 in checking account for bills

• This fluctuates, but I try to invest anything over $2k. I’m pretty conservative with my checking account buffer, and don’t worry much about the interest I’m “losing,” especially because interest rates are so low right now

$2,518 in checking account for rent

• I keep a holdover account that’s connected to Venmo and Zelle to pay rent

Credit card debt
N/A. There’s $1,348 currently on my credit cards, but I pay them all off in full each month. My parents signed me up for a credit card as soon as I was old enough and taught me about how important it was to pay in full. In fact, I think this was so hammered into my brain that doing anything other than that each month was never an option. Because of this, I’ve always thought of credit cards as similar to debit cards—only spend money you have.
Student loan debt (for what degree)
I was fortunate to go to college on a full scholarship, including living expenses. I studied psychology and sociology, and I graduated without any student loan debt.
​
Section Two: Income
Main Job Monthly Take Home: $6,570/month
I maxed out my 401k early this year, so for 8 months I was contributing $2,500/month out of my paychecks. That ended in September, so it changed my monthly take-home from about $4,650 to $6,570/month.
Deductions:

• 401k: $0/month (was $2,500/month)
• Medical: $128/month
• Dental and vision: $11/month

Income Progression

• I started in customer support right out of college, making $40,000/year + overtime, which ended up being about $52,000/year (thanks OT!).
• About a year later, I moved into an entry-level product role at the same company and received a raise to $60,000/year.
• The next year, I moved to a new company for a half-step promotion where I was making $82,000/year + 15% yearly bonus. The bonus was dependable enough that it was assumed as part of our total compensation, so let’s call it $95,000/year.
• Early this year, I switched companies again (noticing a theme?) for a promotion and now make $122,000/year.

I don’t have any other sources of income outside my main job. My partner makes a similar amount to me—about $117,000/year with bonus.
​
Section Three: Expenses
I live with my partner and we don’t have combined finances, but split many expenses 50/50. We use Splitwise to log transactions. He’s more laid-back about being paid back, but I’m much more “I don’t want to owe anyone anything, and I don’t want anyone to owe me anything” (I know, rigid, but I’m working on it!).
Splitwise is nice because it’d be ridiculous to Venmo request each other for a $4 coffee, but we can see how expenses are adding up. If someone has racked up a few hundred dollars of spending for both of us, the other person will cover our expenses for awhile. It works for us!
Rent
$2,200 for a 2 bed, 1 bath apartment in Brooklyn. We split rent 50/50.
Renters insurance
About $7/month for my portion. This covers all our possessions plus my boyfriend’s watches. He pays 75% of it because half of the monthly cost comes from the extra watch overage.
Savings contribution
I try to have about $10,000 sitting in my savings account at any given time, because it makes me feel safe in case of an emergency. I also like the freedom it enables, in case I wanted to leave my job and take a significant amount of time off. This is already at the $10k I want, so I don’t contribute to it monthly.
Investment contribution
It varies but on average I contribute $2,500/month to my brokerage account and Roth IRA (combined).
Donations
I try to donate about $200/month, but it’s pretty sporadic. This month I donated to the Yellowhammer Fund and Northwest Abortion Access Fund. One of my major goals for 2021 is to step up my donations and create an actual strategy around them, potentially involving a donor-advised fund.
Gas/electric
Our gas is $20-25/month and electric is $50/month. I pay gas and Will pays electric, both go in Splitwise. About $37/month total for me.
Wifi
Our wifi is $60/month, which goes into Splitwise—I pay $30/month.
Cellphone
I’m still on my parents’ phone plan—sheesh! This is convincing me that I should Venmo them for it each month.
Subscriptions
I pay for Hulu with ads, $5.99/month. My boyfriend pays for Netflix and we share a Spotify family plan with a couple of his friends, which I chip in $4/month for.
I also pay for the budgeting software YNAB (You Need a Budget) which is $84/year. I only pay it once a year in September.
Medical
I recently had to go to the emergency room for an overnight stay and follow up with some specialists. (I’m okay!) Because of that whole shindig I’m expecting to max out my deductible (and potentially my out-of-pocket-max) right at the end of the year. This will be about $4,000, but none of the claims have come through yet so I’m not sure of the exact total. I have a category in my budget for my deductible, and the rest will come out of my emergency fund.
Physical therapy
This month I’m starting pelvic floor physical therapy for dyspareunia (pain with intercourse).
I’d tried everything the internet suggested (“just relaaaaaax”) before getting the courage to find a new ob-gyn and ask her about it. She had some recommendations, but ultimately physical therapy was the “last resort” option that I’m now exploring.
My new physical therapist comes highly recommended but is out of network with insurance. Each session is $250, and I’ll go once every 2-3 weeks for the next few months as part of treatment. If you’ve worked through this problem (or are experiencing it now!) I’d love to hear your experience.
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Section Four: Additional Questions
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?
Absolutely. My dad was the first in his family to attend college and my parents made pretty calculated decisions about where they would live so I could go to the absolute best public school possible. Over 90% of students at my high school attend a 4-year college, and we start talking about it freshman year. To say college was encouraged in my environment is an understatement.
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
My dad has worked in finance since I was about 10. He’s always been really knowledgeable about both higher-level economic concepts and the minutiae of personal finance. My family is frugal, too: we clipped coupons and got clothes on super-sale at Kohl’s and Goodwill. I know there was a period of time when he became self-employed and money got very tight for a few years, but the bulk of those worries were largely kept from me.
Did you worry about money growing up?
Yes. While we were comfortable, we lived in such an affluent place that our family was in “the middle class” of the town and it made me worry more about money than I probably needed to. Think The Stepford Wives for context.
At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
In college, I became maybe 80% financially independent as I had a scholarship and worked part-time during school and over the summer, but I was still on their insurance.
I remember being frustrated in college because even though I knew I was extremely privileged, my friends in college had their parents pay their summer apartment rent and gave them an “allowance” of spending money, and I was “limited” by the options I could afford with the job I had. My dad told me at the time, “This is frustrating but it’s preparing you for actually having to live off the money you make in the near future.” (Great, great advice Dad.)
I’m technically still financially dependent on my parents for my cell phone bill, but otherwise I pay for everything: rent, insurance, utilities, food, therapy, and all wants in the form of clothing, workout classes, etc. I could ask my parents for money if I absolutely needed to, but would use it as a last resort.
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
I have an account (mentioned above) that a family friend who’s a hedge fund manager, well, manages. I believe the initial deposit was $1000 over 10 years ago, but that money wasn’t mine either, it’s all a gift. It’s not very liquid—it’d take me several months (and some very good reasoning) to get any of that money withdrawn, since it’s supposed to be for “the future” (which I guess I could argue is now?).
I might receive a small amount of money when my grandmother passes, but it’d probably be around $1-2k, if at all.
​
Day 1 Wednesday, November 25, 2020
8:30am Wake up and shower, take my vitamin C gummies, then make coffee. I wasn’t much of a daily coffee drinker until my offices had it for free, and now I’m definitely addicted. I don’t really care if the coffee is shitty or not, I just put some milk in it and it’s great. Right now I’m trying to drink half or three-quarter cups so I can attempt to pull back my addiction a bit. I log onto work at 9am.
11:30am Eat leftovers from last night for lunch—quesadilla + Spanish rice. There’s an incredible Mexican restaurant by us, and now I am ruined for the tacos, quesadillas and nachos from any other place.
12:30pm Will picks me up in the U-Haul. We’re driving about 20 min away to pick up a butcher block desk he bought off Craigslist, which ends up being from a small office that’s downsizing. The desk is $150 which he pays for. We love the office’s style (and the owner is super nice!) and walk around while he shows us what else he’s trying to get rid of.
We end up buying an extra-large ZZ plant and two side tables from him for an extra $120, way less than we would have paid for the quality elsewhere. My half will be $60, and I’ll split the U-Haul too, $44.51. $82.26
2:45pm That ended up taking a lot longer than we expected! We get back and unload the van, then I bring stuff inside while Will returns the van to the U-Haul location. I jump back onto work—so much for a slow afternoon before Thanksgiving. AWS is down, which powers a lot of our engineering work (and a lot of the internet!) so a lot of our teams are basically twiddling their thumbs. We chat about how to message the outage to customers.
5:45pm Will starts making dinner (braised chicken and veggies) and I sit down to read with a strawberry Chobani, but I end up just reading Reddit and searching for new podcasts to listen to.
7:45pm Dinner was great! Now…ice cream.
9:43pm I remember that my mom sent me ideas for her and my dad’s Christmas presents, so I order on Etsy and Amazon. My dad gets a mug with an Ernest Hemingway quote (“write drunk, edit sober”) ($21.54) and a book on writing ($16.63), and my mom gets this food warming tote contraption she wanted ($43.52). We’ve been paring down Christmases over the years—this year I asked for the Europe version of Ticket to Ride. $81.69
11:15pm I finish up the first episode of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City with some white cheddar Cheez-Its to snack on. After, I start on the dishes from dinner. I listen to the Product Market Misfits podcast while I do dishes—the episode with Kristen Anderson from Catch is great, highly recommend if you’re tired of just hearing stories about stereotypical Silicon Valley tech companies.
Day 1 Total: $166.69
Day 2 Thursday, November 26, 2020
10am Wake up super late since I stayed up scrolling on my phone too late last night. We make coffee and set out for a long walk around 11:15am.
12:05pm At the end of our walk, we swing by our local liquor store and buy 4 bottles of wine (red, white, rose, champagne). Will pays, total is $63.15 for everything. We haven’t had wine in the apartment for ages and I’m excited to have some stocked up. $31.57
12:30pm Get back from the walk, shower, then turn on football. I actually don’t really care about any NFL teams (I like college football a lot more), but it’s such calming background noise for me that I find myself looking for games when I have downtime. We also recently found out that Will’s friends’ dog only has a few months to live, so we order some jerky treats and a squeaky toy for him. $14.07
2:30pm We head out to the restaurant we’re going to for Thanksgiving lunch, a local place a short walk from our apartment. They’re doing a prix fixe menu of the classics—turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, and a phenomenal tarte Tatin with ice cream for dessert.
We eat outside under heat lamps. It’s super cozy. With our bottle of wine and tip the total is $208 (I try to tip over and above the norm because it’s a pandemic and Thanksgiving). My half will be $104.
5:53pm Get back from the restaurant. We have a ton of leftovers which is awesome (I think it’s excessive frugality, but I almost expect to stretch takeout or restaurant meals into two meals). Exchange some texts with my friends about their socially-distant Thanksgiving celebrations.
I turn on the Washington vs. Cowboys game right at the halftime show, which is Kane Brown with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. They’re all wearing masks (except for Kane) and it’s so odd to see them dancing in masks. I mean, I’m glad they’re wearing them, but it just seems like we could have gone without the halftime show this year.
9:21pm I order contacts from Contacts Direct. I got a new prescription but didn’t have a great experience with the eye doctor, so I’m hesitant about this order—only ordered one box of 90 lenses for each eye instead of a year’s worth of lenses. I’ve been getting headaches pretty frequently, so I’m hoping getting a new pair of glasses and alternating those (instead of wearing my contacts for 16 hours a day, every day) will help. $29.98 after insurance benefits
Day 2 Total: $179.62
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Day 3 Friday, November 27
8:56am Wake up super last minute, run to sign onto Slack and then start grinding coffee beans. I’m online and drinking a big mug of coffee by 9:10. (So much for half cups.)
10:45am Come up for air from work and grab the stuff to make a bagel. Everything bagels and plain cream cheese are my go-to combo.
12:03pm I grab a bag of clothes to drop off at the donation bin and a couple library books to return. The library is about a 25 minute walk so it’ll be a nice lunch break diversion.
12:56pm After the library I stop by the grocery store for some paper towels and sponges, since we’re almost out. Total is $22.62, my half is $11.31
1:09pm When I get home I jump back into work and put the USA vs. Netherlands game on my second monitor. By the 75th minute, the US is up by 2 goals so they start putting in some younger players—it’s fun to see Midge Purce and Sophia Smith play! I also throw some bagel bites in the oven for a quick snack and promise myself dinner will be healthier.
4:23pm I zone out of work and start playing Among Us. I end up playing for over two hours. We open a bottle of wine at some point and I get super tipsy.
6:50pm Turn on the tail end of the Notre Dame vs. UNC game. It turns into Jeopardy, which turns into Wheel of Fortune, which I’m not mad about. P isn’t as into the game shows and leaves to microwave a plate of leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner and play video games.
8:40pm Finally getting hungry after my bagel bites and Cheez-Its this afternoon and make a plate of Thanksgiving leftovers—turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans and cauliflower. Yum.
Will and I end up getting in a tiff about the mess in our apartment so we take a break, cool down and talk it through. I watch a couple episodes of Sister Wives and go to bed around 1:30am.
Day 3 Total: $11.31
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Day 4 Saturday, November 28, 2020
10:05am I stayed up late (again) so it’s nice to sleep in. I play Among Us for awhile and have a couple rounds where I’m the impostor and get some great kills and wins. I run out into the living room and celebrate with Will. We laugh because it’s silly how much we love the games we play. Around 10:45 I start making coffee.
11am We desperately need new sheets because our fitted sheet has a huge hole at Will’s feet (and it’s growing). I search a women’s personal finance group I’m in on Facebook for recommendations and we end up buying a queen sheet set from Belk. Total was $100.71 with their sale. $50.35
1pm I was planning on returning a package to the post office today, but forget it closes at 1pm on Saturdays so I decide to run to Target instead. I have a lampshade to return and want to look for a shower caddy as well. I also have an old iPad to return, which Will tells me I can do at Best Buy. He finds an old iPod and flip phone I can take too.
Take the MTA there ($2.75 for a single fare). When I get there, it’s a madhouse and I remember that I have sillily (is this a word?) decided to come on the weekend of Black Friday. I stand in the returns line for about 15 minutes and get $10.89 back, but ditch the idea of trying to look for a shower caddy. The checkout line looks like 100 people long. -$8.14 because of return
Next I go to Best Buy, but who am I kidding—the line to get in the store is even longer than the Target checkout line. I walk back to the subway and get on to go home. $2.75
2:30pm Since Best Buy was a no go, I search for electronic recycling around me on the way home just to see where I could drop off the devices I have. Apparently there’s an EcoATM not too far from my subway stop. It’s more for selling devices, but if they can’t give you money for something, they’ll recycle it, which is exactly what I wanted. I put each of the pieces in the scanner, and end up getting a whopping $2 total (for Will’s old iPod). Still cool because I was just expecting to recycle it all. I’ll give Will the $2.
2:44pm There’s a Dunkin nearby so I pop in to grab a couple donuts ($2.90). There’s a woman outside asking for money, so I give her $5 cash. $7.90
3:00pm Last stop—our favorite deli is nearby and Will mentioned he wanted to get bacon there recently. I get a 1/2 lb and salivate on the way home. This is one of those things I won’t put in Splitwise because it’s small and because it’s fun to get for P as a tiny little present. $3.50
3:45pm Once I’m home I’m super hungry from only eating carbs all morning so I have a snack of carrots, hummus and some pepperoni. I head back out to drop off a bag of clothes and shoes at a drop box a few blocks away. The neighbors are outside at the park near our house so I stop and chat with them for a few minutes. Their kids are the cutest.
6:47pm For dinner I make a ham and cheese sandwich (panini style with rosemary butter) and more carrots and hummus. I put on another episode of Sister Wives. These people are so fascinating to me—first off, I think the husband is completely full of himself. But I’m also so curious about the wives. There are a lot of talking head testimonials where the parents explain that they’re “oppressed” because they’re different and want to go public so the world can see polygamy as a valid family style (I’m only on season 2).
I know they’re probably playing up the “we love our other sister wives and have so much fun together even without Kody” aspect because people expect sister wives to be catty and hate each other, but I can’t help but wonder why they need to be in plural marriage to get the same friendship they seem to value so much. I also doubt they’d extend the same grace and tolerance they want to people who are “different” because they’re LGBTQ, or “different” because they’re in an open relationship or marriage.
9:15pm I mix together oatmeal chocolate chip cookie batter and put some cookies in the oven. While I’m waiting, I browse Zocdoc for well-reviewed providers—I want to make a podiatrist appointment for a lingering toe issue and an audiologist appointment for a routine hearing screening. I got the idea to make these appointments since I’ll hit my out-of-pocket max with the hospital visit, making them free or very discounted. I make two appointments for next week.
I also lust over a Farm Rio puffer jacket that feels overpriced but I just love. Maybe I’ll buy it tomorrow since they’re having a 30% off sale.
Day 4 Total: $64.50
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Day 5 Sunday, November 29
8:58am Wake up and switch between scrolling on Reddit and playing a few Among Us games. After a bit Will gets out of bed and makes coffee for us.
9:45am Will finishes the movie he started last night and we start on breakfast. We’re making the bacon I bought yesterday, breakfast potatoes with onions, and a fried egg for Will (I can’t stand the taste or smell).
11:00am Yum! Breakfast was great. I watch a couple episodes of Sister Wives and mull over buying that ridiculous but amazing puffer jacket from Farm Rio. I’ve still been thinking about it since last night and I might take the plunge.
1:25pm I get a jolt of motivation to work out and do a 20 minute Sydney Cummings video on Youtube. I heard about it from a recent Money Diary posted here! After it’s done I’m so, so tired. I stretch and unpause my episode of Sister Wives.
2:22pm I help Will move the butcher block slab for his desk out to our backyard. We live on the first floor of a single-family home that was converted into apartments, so we get the backyard too—it’s awesome to have outdoor space in the city. P works on sanding it and applying poly for the next couple hours.
5:07pm Will suggests pizza for dinner and I am always, always down for pizza. I order pickup from the spot down the street—one grandma, one cheese and 2 orders of garlic knots come to $38.60. We’ll have leftovers for tomorrow too. $19.30
5:50pm We pick up the pizza and dig in. While we’re eating we turn on the Chiefs vs. Buccaneers game; Will has a few players on his fantasy team in this game.
6:57pm I sign up to write letters to Georgia residents encouraging them to vote in the Senate runoff elections in January. This is through Vote Forward—I did 20 letters for the general election in November and want to participate again. I’ll print the letters at a local coffee shop since we don’t have a printer at home.
Will sends me this Reddit comment about campaign finance since we’ve been talking about it recently. I decide I’m convinced by the argument and set up a $5 monthly donation to Brand New Congress. $5
8:19pm After texting back and forth with my friend all day, I buy the puffer jacket—so excited. She encouraged me to get it and is pumped for me too. $228.64
I also notice my paycheck has started processing in my checking account (I get paid tomorrow), so I enter the amount in YNAB and budget it all. I earmark about $1500 to go into my brokerage account tomorrow. I won’t include it here as “spending” since it’s included in the overview section above.
Day 5 Total: $252.94
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Day 6 Monday, November 30
8:43am Wake up and turn on my Slack. Will started the coffee process and I finish it up by pouring the water into our Chemex and letting it steep (I know there’s a coffee-centric word for this...).
8:56am I check my Citi card and my YouTube TV trial rolled over—I was going to cancel it this morning, which I thought was the last day. I email support to see if they’ll refund me, because (I promise I’m not just saying this!) I did have a pretty bad experience. The Roku app was glitchy for us every time we watched something. Maybe they’ll feel nice today! $64.99
9:35am After responding to a few work messages, I run out the door to the post office to avoid a long package line. I did the Warby Parker 5-day home try on and have to return my box of glasses today. I found a pair I really like and am excited to get in the habit of wearing glasses again, instead of just my contacts.
Thankfully the line is only a few people long. The employees are also super nice every time I go, so I try to be really pleasant too. The lines are usually long and I’ve seen more than one adult have a fit at this post office. It’s rainy today and I couldn’t find our umbrella, so my flimsy rain jacket gets pretty soaked through on the walk back.
11:35am My podiatrist appointment is supposed to be tomorrow morning, and they call me to tell me since I haven’t hit my deductible, I’ll have to pay out of pocket for the visit. I explain that I’m 100% going to hit my deductible, the claims from the hospital just haven’t processed yet. I ask her to bill my insurance first for the visit, then I can pay whatever ends up not being covered (if anything). She agrees!
Maybe this is standard, but I’ve never had it happen before—even if I haven’t hit my deductible, I’ve always been to offices that bill insurance first, then I pay the remaining balance.
1:05pm Lots of meetings today. I break for lunch and heat up the braised chicken with veggies. It’s definitely on its last good day, so I’m glad I used it up. Still yummy!
2:20pm Woohoo! Get an email that my YouTube TV charge was refunded. -$64.99
Will ran to Home Depot today to buy some tools for his desk and also got a shower curtain liner since ours is ripping. I go to put it up in the bathroom but my arms are so sore—like I got my flu shot type of sore.
5:05pm Sign off work after trying to wrangle a supremely frustrating SQL query. I don’t get it but figure I can ask our analyst team for help tomorrow. Will will have a late night working, so pizza and Sister Wives is in my near future.
While watching, I update YNAB to reflect the end-of-month balances for my investment accounts. I get a huge dopamine hit by seeing my net worth number go up. I’m also anticipating it going down a bit next month because of my medical bills, so I relish the moment.
8:09pm It suddenly dawns on me that my arms are sore because I worked out yesterday. It’s so rare now that I literally forget when I do it. Ha!
9:15pm We watch the Eagles vs. Seahawks game and I absentmindedly play Among Us. I end up getting ...bullied by a person playing it? They get mad that I figured out they were the imposter and start saying all these schoolyard-type digs throughout the next couple rounds, but level 100 of cruel.
I’m embarrassed by how sad it makes me but think maybe it’s a good thing I don’t immediately know what to say to bully people back. Such a weird experience. I end up going to bed around 11:30.
Day 6 Total: $0
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Day 7 December 1, 2020
7:07am Wake up late for my alarm at 7. I’m up a lot earlier today because my podiatrist appointment is first thing. I get dressed in the dark, kiss P goodbye, grab my water bottle and run out the door to the subway by 7:30. $2.75
8:10am Get to my stop and swing by Starbucks before the appointment. I get a vanilla latte and the bacon cheddar and egg sandwich. Total is around $10 but I have a gift card loaded onto my Starbucks app.
My spending here went way down when I switched jobs to an office not close to a Starbucks, and then stopped going into an office at all.
8:30am My appointment goes great, if a little painful when she numbs my toe. I had to get an ingrown toenail removed. I danced ballet and pointe for years so I’m (unfortunately) used to them, but this one was terrible. The doctor and I bond over both being dancers with bad feet and they schedule me for a follow up two weeks out.
She actually says there’s been a rise in these procedures because people aren’t getting pedicures since the pandemic and aren’t cutting their toenails well! Wild.
I look silly on the subway in December wearing Birkenstocks and socks with a huge toe bandage. It looks like one of those cartoon characters who stubs their toe and it becomes 10x bigger than their other toes. $2.75
9:40am I get off at the stop before mine to stop at Rite Aid. I grab Neosporin, band-aids and epsom salt and check my notes for anything else she mentioned about caring for my toe. $12.97
10:00am When I get home, I hop into work and working with our engineers on a promotion for the New Year. I also catch up with Will since he stayed up late last night and I got up early for my appointment. He says he ended up staying up until 3:30am (!!) cleaning up his tools, working on his desk and putting up the shower curtain. I’m floored that he is functional right now after waking up at 8.
12:15pm Heat up the last of the pizza for lunch, along with hummus and carrots.
5:20pm Work is average-paced for the rest of the day. Not doing nothing, not totally over my head. Will puts in potatoes for baked potatoes to have later, which we’ll pair with a salad. We’re getting close to needing a grocery run again, so the meals are becoming more of a mishmash.
We listed a couple things on our local Buy Nothing group last week, so a woman comes by to pick up a wifi router we can’t use anymore. Would totally recommend looking up if there’s a group in your area—they’re usually on Facebook.
6:30pm After dinner I watch more Sister Wives and look up RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit one of my friends shared for Giving Tuesday. They buy unpaid medical debt from collections, so $1 ends up paying off $100 of someone’s medical debt. I give $50 to the Arkansas campaign, which will clear $5,000 of medical debt.
As Will said earlier today, “medical billing in America is a racket” so I really hope this helps clear a burden from an individual or family. Doing this reminds me to check my insurance portal, which is steadily going up as each separate claim comes in. Ahhhh, modern healthcare! $51.49
At the end of each day please tally up your daily expenses. Then at the end of your diary please tally up all expenses in the following categories:
Total: $719.33

• Grocery + Dining Out: $157.77
• Fun + Entertainment: $0
• Home + Health: $164.67
• Clothes + Beauty: $228.64
• Transportation: $11.00
• Gifts + Giving: $157.25

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Reflection This week felt like a big spending week for me. I checked YNAB and since January, I’ve spent about $1600 per month, not including rent—so about $400/week. That’s why this week’s $719 feels so high!
Writing this diary helped me understand how many things I have going for me. I’ve recently been in a huge funk—about my health, my performance at work and my relationships with family, friends and P. Going to the hospital, needing physical therapy to have sex and being in a pandemic will do that to you.
I was able to zoom out a bit and understand how stable and gratifying my life is. That being said, I’m so glad this community exists. I really love it and learning about all your spending and saving habits. Thanks for being here and sharing :)