Welcome to Money Talks! New approaches to money have exploded. Yet, money remains taboo. Less than half of you share personal finance information with your friends and family.
But that’s all changing. Now more and more of you are talking about money because it leads to better outcomes.
In an effort to provide personal finance insights through transparency (and have a bit of fun), I’ve created a series titled Money Talks that showcases how real people in Charlotte approach money.
It’s an anonymous way for you to share your money experiences and insights with our city. Answers are lightly edited for clarity and privacy (ex, exact age). Want to participate? Take the Money Talks survey.
Living situation:
We own. We were fortunate to get locked into an ARM (adjustable rate mortgage) at around 4% — but we’re feeling that balloon payment coming in a couple of years.
We have one daughter. She’s starting daycare. The unknowns of budgeting as a first time parent make things scary. Trying to figure out 529 plan contributions and paying for daycare while living the life we’re used to is stressful.
Job and salary:
I’m a technology consultant. I make between $250K – $300K depending on the year. I’m not in sales, but my compensation is tied to the business that I manage. I enjoy feeling as though I have skin in the game to perform better with my accounts.
Before this job, I worked at a big consulting firm. I took a pay cut so that I could follow my dream of working more with startups.
Side hustle:
It’s not live yet, but I have my own product company in motion that I’m hoping to get cash positive on in 2025. It’s a B2C SaaS product in a tight market, but with an untapped need. I’m excited. This has given me a lot of emotional energy recently and even if it fails, I’m excited for the chance to chase my own dreams.
Work-life balance:
I would say work-life balance is as good as anyone could expect with a young kiddo and a full time job. I am still finding the balance of being a parent. I work 35-50 hours per week.
Debt:
We owe roughly $600K on our mortgage and have two car payments.
Credit cards:
I’m a big fan of all Chase Credit Cards as a points maximizer. I stack multiple chase cards to optimize points back.
Budgeting:
Yes, diligently. We got into a really tight spot with cash right after our daughter was born. My wife was never super diligent with budgeting and I kept acting and planning as though I was a single guy with my 2016 mortgage (man do I miss that mortgage).
We use Empower now and track everything somewhat religiously. I love it. Once you get the hang of it, it’s a super powerful tool.
Once a month we go to a coffee shop and review our cash flow and overall expenses to see how we are tracking towards our goals.
Right now, the goal is to get our cash reserves back to around $80K for a comfortable cushion should something happen to one of our jobs, but then I intend to resume investing heavily.
Splurge:
We like to spend money on fancy dinners once every few weeks. I hate the term foodies, but we definitely enjoy a good meal. Travel is also up there, although that has fallen off considerably since our daughter was born.
Charlotte money hack:
If you have young kids, do not sleep on Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Storytime. It’s free. Great weekend activity.
Restaurant pick:
Can’t go wrong at The Crunkleton. I’m a big fan of the turkey pot pie, which if you haven’t tried, sounds pretty bland, but man would you be wrong. I also like trying out new bourbons whenever I’m there.
Oh, and I really enjoyed Albertine, the new Uptown restaurant from the Kindreds.
Investment strategy:
I try to simplify everything. I have never been a fan of single stocks but spent a lot of time over diversifying through a robo advisor.
More recently, I have started following the boglehead strategy for anything outside of my 401(k).
Here is our general plan:
- Reach 6 months of cash reserves for average monthly expenses
- Invest in 401(k)s (both wife’s and my own) with the goal of maximizing retirement savings
- Invest in a Traditional IRA to roll into backdoor Roth
- Personal investments when all other vehicles are maxed out
For everything that isn’t managed already, I simplify into three main index funds.
The real trick for saving for most people is to try to automate everything. I spent so much time of my early career obsessing over money and investments and everything on an almost daily basis. It was driving me crazy.
Once you reach a steady state, try to automate your savings and investments as best you can and your check-ins then just become working toward an inevitability. Will there be speed bumps? Sure, but on average the market is a pretty stable bet over time.
Savings goal:
I have a fund going to save up for an investment property at the beach in the Northeast. This would get us out of the sweltering North Carolina summers.
Net worth:
$800K. A lot of this was luck with equity earned in our old house. And roughly 50% of it is retirement accounts and investments.
If you are just getting started in your career, maximize your retirement contributions as soon as you can, even if it makes you feel a little uncomfortable. So many of my peers got locked into bad debt, early and lifestyle creep set in.
If you automate things coming out of your paychecks, it’ll be like you never had that cash in the first place!
Retirement:
I’m obsessed with the idea of an early retirement. I’m a bit of a workaholic, so it surprises a lot of people that get to know me that I actually hate work — but realistically I hate the idea that I HAVE to work living out someone else’s dream. This is why starting my own business has always rattled around in the back of my brain.
I’m not looking for all the money in the world, but I would love to have enough that if something really isn’t clicking for me, I can just say “fuck it” and walk away.
This is an ambiguous target for me but I have a rough idea that $5M would be the right target investment income to make that happen. Which I know is a ridiculous sum of money, but I like the idea that I could take a 4% draw of that annually and have it perpetuate forever.
Right now, I think I’m on track to make this goal by 55, but a lot depends on my income remaining as high as it is (which I know is a great gift that not everyone gets).
What’s “rich” in Charlotte and why?
Living in Myers Park. I grew up nearby and that was always the “old money” to aspire to.
Best money decision:
Probably buying a place right out of school in 2014. Nobody would have expected the growth in Charlotte or the market overall, but a little bit of luck really helped me out.
Financial goals:
- Reach financial independence for my wife and myself
- Set our kiddo and future children up for their own financial success by paying for school and hopefully a down payment on a home
- Grow my business to reach financial freedom. This is the real dream. Bet big on myself and come up large. I guess only time will tell if this works out.
On your mind:
If we have another kid, do we plan to stay in our current home or move? We can comfortably afford our mortgage now, and we love where we live, however our home is getting small really fast.
Also, the local schools are not the best and we don’t plan on sending any of our kids, current or future to private school, so it’s a tough question of “do we stay put and look to add space” or “do we move somewhere we can get more house”
Knowledge:
Some of this was passed down through money conscious family members, but a lot was learned through trial and error and a heavy dose of Youtube — although stay away from Finfluencers!
Money Talks is a weekly series showcasing how real people in Charlotte approach money. Participate.
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