A Week In Minneapolis, MN, On A $120,000 Salary

Occupation: Software Engineer
Industry: Technology
Age: 30
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Salary: $120,000
Net Worth: $155,000 ($50,000 in a Roth IRA, $50,000 in 401(k)s, $15,000 in an emergency fund, $32,000 in a brokerage account for a future house down payment, $8,000 in checking)
Debt: $0
Paycheck Amount (biweekly): $2,788
Pronouns: She/they

Monthly Expenses
Rent: $533 for a two-bedroom split with a roommate and my partner
Utilities: ~$50 for electricity and gas
Internet: $68 (reimbursed by work)
Medical/Dental/Vision Insurance: $0 (covered by work)
Monthly Donations: $40
Cell Phone: $25
Prescriptions: ~$40
Bouldering Gym Membership: $85.34
Crossfit Gym Membership: $176
Nutrition Counseling: $60
iCloud Storage: $2.99
Pet Insurance: $40.77
Spotify: $10
New York Times All-Access Bundle: $4
Roth IRA: $2,000 until maxed out
House Down Payment Savings Account: $2,000
401(k): 15% pre-tax, employer matches 3%

Annual Expenses
Strength Programming: $108
Credit Card Fees: $500
Renter's Insurance: $140
Car Insurance: $1,900
Costco Membership: $60

Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?
Yes, the expectation from my parents was always that I would at least get a Bachelor's degree. My mom immigrated to the US from East Asia and she was very insistent that I go to a prestigious college and study something with high earning potential. I ended up majoring in math and computer science and was able to get a job straight out of undergrad. While my college provided a generous financial aid package, there was still a decent amount that remained; I took out about $60,000 in loans and my parents paid for the rest.

Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent/guardian(s) educate you about finances?
Money was mostly discussed very generally and within the context of personal finances. My parents always encouraged me to shop around for the best price on things/wait until things went on sale.

What was your first job and why did you get it?
I babysat for a bit in high school but stopped (at the request of my mom) to focus fully on my studies. My first “official” job was working as a caretaker at a daycare the summer after my first year of college.

Did you worry about money growing up?
No. I would characterize my family as upper middle class; my mom was able to stay at home and care for me and my sister while my dad worked full-time. When I was growing up, I was always self-conscious about not being able to get clothes from Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister like (seemingly) all of my classmates, and in retrospect, my parents could have afforded it, but they preferred to be very frugal in that regard. They prioritized spending money on extracurriculars and family vacations.

Do you worry about money now?
Yes and no. I'm very fortunate to be in a profession/industry that has lots of opportunities with plenty of financial stability. However, I don't plan on staying in tech much longer and am planning on going back to school next year to pivot to a career that I feel more passionate about, but has less earning potential. I'm not jazzed about taking on more student loan debt after just paying off my loans from undergrad.

At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?
I became financially independent as soon as I graduated college. I've been able to create a financial safety net for myself with my emergency fund, though I know that I could always go to my parents for financial support if I absolutely needed to.

Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.
My dad opened my Roth IRA when I was in high school and gifted me about $10,000 in contributions. I also got a completely unexpected bonus last year ($45,000) that allowed me to pay off the remainder of my student loans (about $28,000) all at once, which has been a massive weight off my shoulders.

9 a.m. — I wake up to my cats jumping on my stomach. I set out their food and make my usual breakfast: Honey Bunches of Oats with a vanilla protein drink and almond milk. My partner, V., usually wakes up earlier than me, so he has a pot of coffee at the ready. He just moved into my place earlier this month after a year of being long distance, and the thrill of waking up and him just being here hasn't gone away yet.

10 a.m. — After logging on and checking that nothing's on fire, I jump in the shower and go through my morning routine. My AM skin-care routine is Aveeno lotion all over my body, Laneige hyaluronic acid, Farmacy 10% vitamin C serum, and UltaMD sunscreen on my face, neck, shoulders, chest, and hands. I also take my meds for depression and anxiety, along with birth control, a vitamin D supplement, and a probiotic. V. packs his bag for class (he's in graduate school) and kisses me goodbye as he heads out the door.

1 p.m. — I step away from the computer to make myself a quick lunch. I just went to Trader Joe's yesterday and I'm excited to try out their beefless bulgogi, which I hadn't seen before! I heat that up along with some frozen mixed veggies, edamame, and quinoa, and spend the next 45 minutes eating and working on the New York Times Spelling Bee.

4 p.m. — I log off a little early and head to the gym to lift. My job is thankfully chill about working hours as long as everything gets done. I eat a pot of skyr and some bread with goat cheese as a pre-workout snack. Normally, I'm a late-evening gym-goer, so it's a nice change of pace to be there at a less crowded time. Today's session is centered around deadlifts — my legs feel like jelly by the time I'm done!

5:30 p.m. — From the gym, I head straight to the pottery studio for my evening class. I started doing pottery several years ago, and I'm not particularly good at it, but I enjoy the meditative nature of it and the incremental progress I make each session. The only drawback is I have way more bowls and mugs than I know what to do with, so I'm spending this session trying to make things that are, uh, not those. Today I work on hand-building some small shelves and catchall trays. I take the class through Minnesota's Parks and Rec department, which is a STEAL compared to other studios. It was $145 for 12 weeks.

9 p.m. — I leave the pottery studio and am welcomed home by V. and the cats. I'm not super hungry, so I make myself a small scramble with mushrooms and parmesan, as well as a protein bar because I can't be bothered to cook anything else.

12 a.m. — Usually, I try to be in bed by midnight, but I'm not feeling sleepy yet. I decide to go to the living room so I don't disturb V. and finish my latest book (Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang). I also take this as an opportunity to foam roll. When I'm finally starting to feel tired, I go through my evening routine — skin care is face wash, tretinoin, and moisturizer tonight. I cycle through my PM products to allow my skin to recover from the actives. In addition to that, I apply StriVectin neck cream, a brow and lash serum, and a CBD salve on some eczema spots. I fall asleep around 1:30.

9 a.m. — The usual morning — wake up, shower, brush teeth, take meds, run through my skin-care routine, and start making coffee. V. works his part-time job today, so he's out of the house by the time I wake up.

12 p.m. — I'm subscribed to a couple of newsletters from artists I really like, and today I receive one from Avery Williamson with a password to access her online shop early! I've been wanting one of her paintings ever since I discovered her on Instagram, so after weighing a couple of options, I finally bite the bullet. It's pricey, but I absolutely love the piece and it makes me feel weirdly grown up to buy an original work of art. $325

1:30 p.m. — Weekly one-on-one meeting with my manager. They're usually pretty quick, and today's no different — we talk about the status of some of my open pull requests and he fills me in on upcoming projects he'd like me to take on next. After the call, I make myself the same lunch as yesterday.

4 p.m. — I eat a bowl of Greek yogurt and prepare a protein shake for later in the evening. I log off a little early on Tuesdays so I can run to FedEx to pick up an Ikea delivery and still make it to my 4:30 CrossFit class. Today's workout involves dips and an evil combination of Turkish get-ups to thrusters.

5:30 p.m. — As soon as class is over, I book it to my naturalist course in St. Paul. I've always loved spending time outside, so when I learned about this program offered through a local university, I immediately wanted to take it! I'm not from Minnesota originally, so it's interesting for me to learn about the area's natural history and our local biome. I registered for this class six months ago (they fill up shockingly quickly), and it cost $295 for nine weeks. I walk in right as class starts.

8:30 p.m. — After class I head straight home and make dinner.

12:30 a.m. — Foam rolling, skin care, bed!

Daily Total: $325

8:30 a.m. — I wake up to a kiss goodbye from V. as he heads to work and then I go through my usual morning routine.

11 a.m. — Head of HR drops a message in our company's #general channel for an impromptu all-hands meeting in an hour. Yikes… that's never a good sign.

12 p.m. — A weirdly short and abrupt meeting confirming what I suspected — another round of layoffs. It's our second in four months and while I'm thankful to still have my job, it's certainly demoralizing and spikes my anxiety to 100. I remind myself that I have an exit plan that I'm taking active steps toward executing, and it helps a little bit.

5 p.m. — It's hard to be productive for the rest of the day, so I don't get a lot done. I had been planning on going on a bike ride organized by a local racing team, but I'm not sure I have the energy. At the last minute, I decide to go to get my mind off work.

7:30 p.m. — I'm so glad I showed up to the ride — it felt so nice to ride with a big group of people! When I get home, I make myself a scramble with quinoa and stir-fried vegetables.

9 p.m. — V. and I cuddle on the couch and watch the newest episode of The Patient. I'm not sure if I like it but the inertia is carrying us. Afterward, V. heads to bed and I stay up in the living room to start a new book (How High We Go In The Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu). I crawl into bed as quietly as I can around 1.

9 a.m. — V. doesn't have class until the afternoon, so he wakes me up with a fresh pot of coffee. He is truly an angel.

1 p.m.— Today is the one day of the week where I have zero meetings, so the day is spent alternating between furious anxiety-induced work crunches and mind-numbing article reading. Somewhere during that time, I make myself a lunch of BBQ tempeh with green beans and quinoa.

5 p.m. — I start packing up my bag to go to the gym and notice that I'm almost out of my Built protein bars, so I go online to order a couple of new boxes. They're not good, per se, but they're the least bad protein bar I've tried, which I guess is all I can ask for at this point. I drive over to the gym for a squat-heavy day. $50.92

7:30 p.m. — When I get home from the gym, I quickly scarf down a simple scramble with beans, cheese, vegan ground beef, some mixed veggies, and a side of quinoa before I'm back out the door for my beginner gymnastics class. I've been attending this class for a couple of months, and while I'm super bad at it, it's a lot of fun to just try new things! I'm very much a person who prefers to be mediocre at lots of things than good at any particular thing. Today we mostly do drills for cartwheels. Classes are usually $15 each, but by registering for four at a time, I get a 25% discount.

9:30 p.m. — I get home and cuddle in bed with V. and we have a good talk about being more intentional about making time for each other now that we live together. When we were long distance, we had to be super intentional about making time for each other, or there would really be no relationship. Now that we're finally together, it's nice to fall into the daily rhythm of life together, but there still needs to be effort! We're both people who have definitely lost our sense of self in previous relationships, so I think my/his interest in maintaining a lot of individual hobbies is a product of not wanting to fall victim to that dynamic again. That said, it can be easy to create too much distance that way too. I really love that we can talk about these things and approach them as a problem we're facing together, rather than something one of us is doing wrong. We agree to set aside tomorrow night for a date and fall asleep holding each other.

10 a.m. — The exec team holds a longer meeting today to discuss the layoffs and our financial situation. I mostly zone out and get to work on a couple of things I've been putting off.

1 p.m. — Nothing sounds good for lunch so I end up making my lazy person's version of pancakes: I take some Kodiak Cakes flapjack mix, add some vanilla whey protein and water, and stick it in the microwave for a couple of minutes. The result is something more of a cake-cake rather than a pancake. V. makes fun of me for this but I'm too impatient to make actual pancakes! I top it with some peanut butter and maple syrup.

6:30 p.m. — One thing I love about V. is that he is as much of a low-key meathead as I am, which means going to the gym together is an activity we're both genuinely into. We decide to work out a little before our date night. Today's main lift is bench press (my favorite). Afterward, I optimistically put on my climbing shoes and join V. in the bouldering area of the gym. One attempt proves I'm way too tired to climb, so I mostly cheer him on as he works on his current project. When he's tapped out, I change in the locker room and do some super simple makeup: blush, highlight, brow pencil, and mascara. I hardly ever wear makeup these days, but it's date night baybeeee.

8:45 p.m. — We make it to the restaurant and head to the speakeasy bar entrance in the back. The host tells us the kitchen is closing at 9:30 and the waitlist is about an hour; we decide to gamble on the hope that most of those people will have bailed and we can move up the list in time for dinner. It ends up paying off — we're seated within 20 minutes! I had a slice of pickle pizza for the first time at the state fair this summer, and I've been craving it ever since, so we order a pickle pizza to split and a cocktail each. I pick up the bill. $56.77

10 p.m. — Once we get home, we cuddle on the couch and watch the newest episode of The Great British Baking Show while eating some frozen Trader Joe's macarons.

9 a.m. — I wake up in time to get ready for a 10 a.m. CrossFit class, but decide that these dogs, as they say, are barking... except the dogs are my entire body. I could use a rest day and decide to sleep in a little later.

11 a.m. — V. brings me coffee and then hides away to study. I putter around the house watering my plants and doing some overall tidying. It's noon by the time I start feeling hungry, so I make my usual breakfast and immediately follow it up with some fried eggs over avocado toast.

2 p.m. — My friend invites me and V. to come over to her place and help make fire cider for the winter. We've been trying to see each other for the past couple of weeks but our schedules keep misaligning, so I'm excited to finally spend some time with her, and for her to meet V. We get over to her place and immediately get to work peeling garlic, zesting oranges, and chopping chilies. I've never had fire cider before, so I throw a little bit of everything for maximum pungency. My friend gathered all the supplies ahead of time, so I make a mental note to treat her to drinks the next time we go out.

4 p.m. — On our drive home, we decide that since we're out, we might as well grab some groceries for the week. We stop at the local co-op and pick up some eggs, bread, mushrooms, bulk TVP, bulk nutritional yeast, mustard, maple syrup, hand soap, frozen veggies, ice cream, and veggie burgers. V. and I have a system where I pay for the majority of groceries from the co-op since it's pricier, and he pays for the majority of groceries from Aldi. It comes out to $76 and V. Venmos me $15. $61

6 p.m. — With V. focused on studying for his exam, I decide to try to learn how to crochet for the ~50th time. I queue up a couple of YouTube videos on the TV and dig out a crochet hook from my incredibly neglected craft drawer. After two hours of effort, I'm left with a lopsided but functional coaster, which is more than I've ever managed to do in the past!

12 a.m. — Intellectually, I know you're supposed to maintain the same sleep schedule over the weekends… but that's not enough for me to actually follow through. I end up staying up until 2 reading my book in the living room before going through my night routine and finally going to bed.

11 a.m. — I reluctantly wake up after a not-great night's sleep. I roll over and see V. has been anxiously waiting for me to wake up so we can start our Sunday tradition of completing the New York Times Spelling Bee and Crossword together. It was a tradition we started when we were long distance and I'm glad we've kept it up. He brews us coffee and we make quick work of the puzzles.

12 p.m. — Lunch is a couple of fried eggs over avocado toast with a side of Greek yogurt. Around 2, I take a nap.

5:00 p.m. — Dang, apparently that nap was MUCH needed. After waking up, I throw on some workout clothes and drive over to the gym. Once I get there, I'm feeling so much more energized that I start with some strength training instead of climbing. I do a deadlift-focused workout before switching my shoes and spending some time climbing V1-V2 problems.

7:30 p.m. — When I get home, I make myself a chocolate, peanut butter, and banana protein shake and open up my work email to prepare a little for next week. I admittedly didn't get much done after the news of the layoffs, so I do my best to make some more headway on my workload. V. is still studying for his exam, so it's nice to have some quiet company.

11 p.m. — Miracle of all miracles, I get through my evening routine at a reasonable hour and actually go to bed at the same time as V.