The Financial Bombshell

a broke millennial trying not...to be a broke millennial

[thefinancialbombshell-blog]

Living at home I have the luxury of not paying rent or any major bills for that matter. Whilst I have always had a strong appetite to move out and tackle the ‘real world’ on my own, my financial capabilities aren’t as inclined at the moment. 

I have been earning income since I was 15. Being unemployed after working part time for so long has been...character building.

When I was working and spending recklessly, I was very aware of my behaviour but was somewhat okay with it because I knew money was going to come back in as fast as it went out. 

Now that I am not working, I am little more conscious about where my money is actually going. Essentially, I receive a fortnightly fixed amount from the government because I am studying full time. I am grateful for this amount (because I am not really earning it) but it is not nearly as much as what I was earning when I was working. 

Above is a diagram of the 3 fixed costs I incur weekly, fortnightly and monthly.

1. TRANSPORT: From Monday through to Friday I am travelling to the city via public transport. Being a full time student the fairs are pretty cheap. In saying this however, travelling and back and forth for five days with consideration to the distance between my home and the city (the further you have to travel the more it costs), transportation adds up to roughly $40-50 per week. 

2. PHONE: Currently I am on a $84 per month plan. I am very guilty..(in fact I do this so often I don’t even think I feel guilty anymore) of going over my data which then leads to a hefty phone bill at the end of the month. 

3. GYM: I know that people will contest my gym membership fee. I’ve heard it all. “Why are you paying so much, all gyms are the same.” , “I’m paying half of what you’re paying at it’s literally the same.”  I.get.it. But I am locked in this contract for 12 months so I can’t do anything about it unless I pay 60% of the remainder of the contract upfront to cancel my membership. I am not going to do this because contrary to what everyone has told me, I quite enjoy my gym it’s facilities. I have a great relationship with the trainers and I am quite passionate about my fitness so I am using my gym membership productively. So $40 a fortnight is a cost I am happy to incur. 

If my math isn’t wrong that’s roughly a fixed cost of $324 a month. Yikes!                            

[thefinancialbombshell-blog]

This is the video that inspired my journey to FINANCIAL STABILITY hehe 

[thefinancialbombshell-blog]

My money philosophy has always been dictated by my (very naive) assumptions of its fluidity. Deductively, my financial prowess is about as strong as my performance in Corporate Finance I and Corporate Finance II…really not that great.

Whilst I don’t regret the experiences I’ve collected over the past couple of years, I know for a fact that I would be in a much better (financially and partly mentally) position right now, if I had been a little bit wiser. Suffice it to say, I have just turned 22 and despite knowing other 22 year olds investing into the Sydney property market, rather than buying another round of over priced gin and tonics, I am definitely very different to the girl that thought money was fluid.

At the start of the year I committed to only investing into habits that would kindly benefit me in the long term. You see, I didn’t just associate this concept of fluidity to my understanding of money, but to my understanding of feelings, relationships and really important priorities. Whilst it was great at the time, in retrospect, it put me in a really tough position. But all those mistakes are sunk costs and as cliche as it is, it’s about moving forward and learning from these mistakes to be better.

So here it is, I’m 22, in final year at university, currently unemployed and interning (I quit my part time job to focus on gaining “industry experience”, have just started receiving government support every 2 weeks (until November when I finish my studies), living at home and I woefully buy 1-2 coffees a day ($3-4, not cool).

This is my journey as a broke millennial trying to not be a broke millennial.