How a Project Manager With a Travel Dream Does Money

Jessie (not her real name) is a 27-year-old project manager in New York City.

So, Jessie, how much money are you making?

I make $78,000.

How does that compare to your expenses? Are you earning “enough?” Do you have money left over?

I definitely cover my expenses and I typically have enough to put away $1,500 a month in savings and have disposable income.

What are some of your major expenses? Rent? Debt payments?

Rent: $850. I have two roommates in Brooklyn in a semi-trendy area.

Debt: I have some cosmetic stuff I am paying off at $180 a month. I pay $500 in credit cards (no interest, mainly). Student loans are $500 a month.

Gym: $200 a month. Works out better for me than paying for boutique classes one by one to have a nice gym.

Debt and credit cards will be paid off by February 2017.

That’s awesome!

I agree.☺

Have you been doing the zero-interest transfer shuffle?

I have been doing the zero-interest transfer shuffle, but only for one card. The other one has interest but I am skipping a month-and-a-half of saving to pay it off.

What are you going to do with that money when your debt is paid? Where’s the $500/month going to go?

I have not decided yet; I am thinking maybe travel or more savings. I have this idea of traveling for a year when I turn 30. Taking a leave from work or working remotely.

How hard would it be to get a job in your field after taking a year-long leave from work?

Hmmm, not too hard I think. I am currently working to beef up my resume before that happens. Get some certifications and some more technical skills under my belt… or I could also take on short-term projects wherever I go.

They’re softer skills, so they don’t get too stale.

Come on, there’s always going to be some new Gantt chart software program or whatever.

Gantt charts are old school, LOL. I have not touched one in a while; I work in a IT environment that is agile.

HAHAHA I did project management around 2010 and we had Gantt charts.

Yeahhh more conservative or older or slower areas tend to use it but we don’t. I have used them but honestly I think a lot of those tools are just “nice to haves.”

Okay, okay, so I’m the one who couldn’t get hired if I took a year off and tried to get back into project management. But you sound like you’re pretty confident in your career skills.

I am pretty confident in selling myself at least, haha.

How did you get into the field?

So I actually went to school for finance and economics, and my last year I figured out I didn’t like the culture in finance, or the people. Too conservative and about appearances.

I was working in a call center and my alma mater had a job title for an analyst. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I interviewed since it sounded interesting.

I got the job and I had duties that were project management, so I pretty much worked on taking on more of those tasks and added them to my resume and sold myself on those skills and got the title I wanted. IT was never my aim, but I love it now.

That’s how I got into project management too. I was an Executive Assistant and took on more of the PM type tasks. I’m glad you love your career!

Yeah, I do. I never had a “dream job.” I just wanted to take care of myself and like what I did. I actually took an IT class in college and hated it.

Probably more to do with the class than IT, I’m guessing.

Yeah, it was CIS—and, funny enough, IT management. A lot of reading and dry materials. I just needed a credit for a business class outside my major at a higher level than 101.

So let’s get back to money. You said you wanted a job you liked and enough money to take care of yourself. What counts as “taking care of yourself?”

Taking care of myself means being able to afford the necessities comfortably, having enough to travel sometimes, having savings and being able to go out with friends. Back when I was thinking of a career, the friends didn’t factor in, but now I count them in there.

At a bare minimum I don’t want to depend on anyone else.

Do you budget for expenses like travel and going out? Or is it more like “I have money in my checking account, so I can afford this?”

I have a spreadsheet that I use. I allocate $500 of the $1,500 I save each month for travel. Other things, like going out, are taken from whatever is left in my checking account after I pay myself and pay others.

If I want to do something and I don’t have enough, then I shift some travel savings to that if I think it’s worth it.

It’s the only way it works for me. All the online tools didn’t help.

Oooh tell us more about how the online tools didn’t help!

So the online tools I used were Mint and LearnVest.

Initial setup wasn’t too bad, but it was a bit time-consuming. A lot of times my accounts would get out of date or not sync, and then if I wanted to change something I had to do a lot to change an expense or something.

I realized all I needed was a simple plan and a reminder, and every time payday comes around I do everything manually. I am planning to automate more of my expenses.

That makes a lot of sense. What about long-term savings goals? Retirement, homeownership, etc.

So long term savings: I have a 401(k) and some rollovers from old jobs that I have not rolled over yet. I keep forgetting.

Home ownership: I am still considering if I want to allocate my savings to that vs. working on my year off. I never wanted to own a home, so I didn’t plan well for it. But I am finally at a point where I am making enough to have excess.

If you’re also in NYC that’s, like, a question of whether you want to live in the city or move outside of the city, right?

I don’t know that I want to stay in NYC. It’s very expensive and also the lifestyle I like is more relaxed and less boozy brunch and excessive spending.

So you’d be buying a home somewhere else, if that were the case.

Or traveling for a year.

Or traveling for a year and THEN saving for a home! They’re not exclusive!

True!

If I didn’t live in NYC (which includes Brooklyn) I would not bother to live outside the city. I figure at that point I might as well move somewhere cheaper with better weather and more space.

Right now I value free movement and month-to-month leases but I am starting to make a plan for buying a house eventually.

I am considering the Atlanta or Portland areas for where I want to settle and buy a house.

Beware, home prices are super high in Portland right now:

Want to Know How Much Rent Has Gone Up in Just One Month?

Haha, I heard. I was thinking Seattle or San Mateo too but they’re all pricey.

So what do you think you do really well financially, and what do you wish you could do better?

I think that I save well and I am very conscious of where my money goes.

I wish I could stop getting myself into credit card debt; I tend to shop a lot and whenever I have zero credit card debt and I see sales I kind of go crazy. It makes it hard to use the money in a better way. It usually means also being frugal on going out and disposable income because what’s left over for fun is not always as much as I’d like.

So less instant gratification and spending on material things I don’t care about soon after.

What material good is your particular weakness?

Mostly clothing and shoes. I don’t even wear half the stuff, but then I see a good sale and I want it and then I wear the same favorites already in my closet.

I’ve actually run out of space to store it and I always have laundry as a sort of storage.

I love the concept of laundry as storage! Do you fluff and fold?

Yep. Laundry day for me is a couple hours’ event. I put on a movie and a face mask and get busy… well, when I get back from the laundromat.

Wait, I meant “do you send out your laundry for someone else to wash and fold.” You go to the laundromat, and then come back and fold it yourself. Right?

Ahh, yeah. I don’t trust people with my laundry, LOL. I am trying to make my clothes last. The cost is actually pretty similar, hmmmm…

But you get the face mask time, which is also important!

Yep, it’s kind of a ritual to wind down my weekend.

And now we’ll wind this down with my last question: what advice do you have for Billfold readers?

I would say keep a budget, even if you don’t track every single detail. Don’t let it rule you and be okay with not being perfect. Sometimes you need to reasonably enjoy life and enjoy the money you are making!

Beauty products are a perfectly reasonable expense to budget for when you love products like I do!

Would you like to be part of a future Doing Money interview? You can be anonymous. Email nicole@thebillfold.com.

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