What Do Adults Do With Their Money?
It all started with a question.
After spending a year working two part-time jobs, graduating from college, and spending another year working three part-time jobs, I was now in grad school over 400 miles away from home.
I had just spent a year in grad school on a slim stipend that put me around the federal poverty line, and I added up all my expenses. To my surprise, I found that I was actually making money in grad school! Not much, but hey, a surplus is a surplus! I did get an extra couple thousand dollars from summer employment, so I was actually doing okay. Not great, but okay.
But I had proven to myself that I could live—and pay all my own bills—on a $12,500 annual salary. Not that I had a very high standard of living, but at least I could do it!
After toting up the numbers, I came out 'in the black,' as they say. I never expected grad school to actually be profitable!
I wasn't only looking back at the past year; I was also looking ahead. In just a couple short years, I'd be earning an actual salary. For the first time in my life, I wouldn't be a student, or a grad student, or a young person balancing multiple part-time jobs while looking to further his education.
I'd have an actual, full-time job. With commensurate salary and benefits.
And I wanted to know what to do with my money before I got there.
Here I am in 2014, living on less than my $12,500 a year. In a couple years, my salary should roughly quadruple (and in retrospect, that's almost exactly what happened). Though I already knew my lifestyle might double once I was a real adult, it definitely wouldn't quadruple.
So...what do adults actually do with all that extra money?
