Money Feels: The 28 Year Old Whose College Project Propelled Her Career

Here you are. Back in your Money Feels. Ready to be open and honest about money stuff.

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Three things you need to know about where you’ve landed:

👩🏻‍⚖️ you’re now in a no judgment zone

🎙 there’s no tip-toeing around numbers here

🙏 you can get involved, too

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This week, we spoke with Christina*, a 28 year old Senior Product Manager living in New York City.

*not her real name.

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Before we get into Christina’s money feels, it helps if you’ve seen her weekly spends (give them a quick read here. There’s ways to get great discounts in there, too).

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Here’s a recap of Christina’s details

Pronouns: She/Her

Location: New York City

Job: Senior Product Manager

Industry: Entertainment

Yearly Salary: $250,000

Rent: $6,200 (shared with her boyfriend. They both pay $3,100)

Utilities: $200

Subscription products: $500 (includes Hulu, Netflix, Soho House, and Nutrifall)

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Christina’s savings

In the bank: $10,000

in the stock market: $50,000

In crypto: $30,000

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Quick note from us before things get real: Christina talks about crypto and investing in this interview. All views expressed are hers. If you’re thinking of investing, make sure you do it responsibly. Mwah. 💋

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You’re in a pretty comfortable financial position, Christina. How did you get here?

First, I majored in business at a pretty prestigious college. That made it way easier to get a job.

But a huge part of my financial success came because I founded a start up in college. It was luck: a school project spun out of control, and I ended up with a great product.

Ultimately, it failed (writer’s note: those are Christina’s words. In our eyes, the whole experience sounds like a huge win). But while it was doing well, I was able to build a team In NYC. I closed a round of venture funding and everything. It opened a lot of doors for me in terms of jobs.

Once I got those jobs, I would try my hardest to be positive and hard working. In the pandemic, when we all switched to working from home, I took on a load of freelance work, too.

Those side hustles brought in a lot of cash and levelled up my work experience. I’m the youngest Senior Product Manager in my company. Everybody else is in their 30s/40s with kids. I’m in my 20s and don’t have children.

I feel really lucky to be where I am.

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Anything else?

As I said, I’m lucky. I’ve never had debt: my family has always helped financially, so I didn’t have a student loan.

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Do you have any money tips to share?

🥣 Food: eat out less, cook more

📊 Invest: investing a small amount of money weekly into an index fund will pay off over time

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Can you tell us more about your index fund investing?

Sure. My bf works in finance and is super into investing, so I got into it through him. He believes compound interest is, like, the 8th wonder of the world.

He showed me John Boggle books. They say if you put away a tiny bit every week, you're gonna have a ton by the time you're 40. So I’m trying to be patient and put away $50 every week.

If I didn’t invest, inflation would make my money shrink.

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If you could start over, would you make any different money decisions?

I didn't start investing until I was 26. I’d go and back start as soon as I had an income.

When I started investing, the stock market was a bubble, and now it’s crashed. If I’d started 10 years ago, even just tiny amounts,  I’d be in a much better financial situation now.

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Finally, what’s your relationship with money?

My relationship with money is a lucky one. And a privileged one.

But I also believe that if you work hard and are smart, it will come.

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Aaaaaand that was Christina.

We appreciate her so much for getting involved.

If you’d like to speak to us about your money, go ahead and hit me up at alex.s@meetcleo.com. It’s $60 for your time, and as anonymous as you’d like it to be.

Wherever you’re at with your money, keep going. You got this.

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Enjoy this post? Def give it a share or send it along to a friend. You never know, it could make a big difference. And of course, if you want to try the best money app in the world for free, just hit this link right here.

‍Big love. Cleo 💙