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 bought a house in 2020 for $400K. Put 20% down. We feel very lucky to have locked in a 2.75% mortgage. We’re considering buying a new $1M house soon, but this changes our expenses significantly.
Our housing decision hinges on what we decide for schooling for our kids.
In a perfect world, we’d love to keep our current house and rent it out.
Job and salary:
We both hold senior-level roles in banking back office.
Combined, we earn $450K per year. $350K in base salaries and $100K in bonuses.
Salary journey:
We started our careers making $60K and $70K.
There have been some big jumps every couple years through promotions and job changes.
Work-life balance:
Not ideal for young children. We’re both in the office, with no WFH flexibility. We each work about 40 hours a week.
On your mind:
We have 2 kids under 5 years old. We’re deciding between public and private school. Is it worth the money? Should we just supplement public school with investments in their passions? We are VERY fortunate that this is our stress.
Debt:
Only our mortgage. $250K left. We could pay it off, but the rate is so low that we invest instead.
Credit card:
I played the credit card game for a couple of years early in my career, but now we just use cash-back cards. Amazon Prime card for Amazon. Amex Platinum for travel.
Budgeting:
We don’t. We probably should. That said, at the end of every year, I review all of our expenses just to understand where the money is going and how much we would realistically need to operate for 6 months with no salary.
Price check:
Our most annoying recurring expense is daycare. It costs us $1,550 per child per month. So that’s $37,200 per year.
We try to keep 6 months of expenses in a high-yield savings account and invest the rest. We should max out our 401(k)s but we don’t.
Net worth:
$1.2M. It consists of investments, 401ks, savings, and $300K in home equity.
We inherited about $175K, but other than that, we’ve built wealth through salary, savings, and investment appreciation.
Financial system:
We keep 6 months of expenses in a high-yield savings account and invest the rest. We should max out our 401(k)s but we don’t.
Retirement:
This is why we need an advisor. Ideally, we’d retire around 55, but we need to think through how to make that work. I think we need $3M to retire so we are getting there. I want to take classes and learn to build things.
Rich in Charlotte:
I think we are in a very fortunate position, but rich in Charlotte means people who have $2M houses and kids in private school.
Financial goal:
Hire an advisor and build a real financial plan. We are just winging it.
Money Talks is a weekly series showcasing how real people in Charlotte approach money. Participate
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