Money Journal: Living In Patrick Henry On $133k A Year

Welcome to The Pickup’s Money Journal series, where we (anonymously) snoop on our Tulsa neighbors’ finances. Want to be snooped on yourself? Fill out our Money Journal submission form, or email Matt Carney at matt@thepickup.com. Thanks to our pals at Racket for sharing this format with us.

Job: Attorney
Age: 34
Neighborhood: Midtown - Patrick Henry area
Education: JD
Estimated annual income: $133,000
Partner's salary: N/A 
Dependents: No
Estimated net worth: $75,000

DEBT 
My mortgage is $238k (at a 6.99% interest rate 😢) and I have $94k in student loans (6.25% interest!! ugh), plus $1.5k on a furniture credit card (no interest promotional purchase).

ASSETS
I own a house (valued at $248k - $280k on Zillow) and a car (small SUV, paid off). I have a 401k-equivalent account ($118k), a health savings account ($10k) and a high-yield savings account ($18k).

MONTHLY INCOME
I take home about $5,700 from my job after taxes and retirement contributions and usually get about $50 in interest income per month from my HYSA. 

MONTHLY EXPENSES 
Mortgage: $2,050

Student loan: $850 (sadly, this is coming due again in a few months after an extended forbearance)

Discretionary — restaurants, bars, Amazon shopping, travel etc: averages about $1,000

Paying to fix up a trailer for my mom: $500

Groceries: averages about $400

Utilities — city water/sewer, Cox internet, ONG gas, PSO electric, Verizon cell: averages about $400

Subscriptions (streaming services, YMCA, newspapers, beard trim): $200

Vehicle expenses (gas, repairs, etc.): averages about $150

MONEY TALK

Did your family talk about money growing up?
I don't remember that we openly talked about money much — maybe my parents talked about it without us kids? Money wasn't a sore subject or difficult to discuss with my parents, but there wasn't much point in asking about it, since we didn't have any.

Did you worry about money growing up?
I don't remember really worrying about money, but we were dirt poor for most of my childhood. My mom was very good at stretching money and juggling bills, so we survived well enough. I knew we were poor, but I didn't realize quite how poor until high school and college, when I started to see how most Americans live.

At what age did you become financially self-reliant?
18, when I went to college.

How did you learn to keep a budget?
Trial and error for the most part. After college, financial apps started to become more common and I learned a lot about budgeting through them. (RIP Mint!)

Have you ever received inherited income, major financial gifts or a large insurance payout? 
No :( I was fortunate to have a lot of financial aid for undergrad and law school, though, which helped keep my student debt down.

Do you worry about money now? 
All the time, even though it's not super rational. I make good money, have halfway decent savings (both retirement and emergency funds) and generally stay within a budget. But I used all my savings to buy a house in 2023 (after the interest rate spike, ugh) and rebuilding my savings, furnishing the house, dealing with maintenance and improvement, etc. has been stressful. My employer is experiencing turbulence, so the fear of being laid off is also weighing on my financial habits recently.

How much do you think a person or household needs to earn to live comfortably in or around Tulsa? 
This is a hard question, because it really depends on homeownership and family needs. For folks who rent or who bought houses a while ago (so a rent or mortgage at around $1k), I could see a reasonable household income at around $50k. If you have a family and need to be in a larger home near a decent school, I'm sure you'd need more. And to buy a house today, you'd need potentially a lot more, given rising home prices, interest rates, insurance, etc.

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What are your financial goals? 
Short term, I'm trying to build up my emergency fund more so I can feel comfortable starting to save for home improvement projects. I'm scared of the prospect of spending my money on sealing the crawlspace or new windows and then suddenly losing my job 😅 Long-term, I'd like to feel more financially stable. I want to get to a place where I wouldn't feel destroyed by a major financial shock or maybe feel prepared to have a family someday.

Do you have any habits around money that you consider to be beneficial or harmful?
On the beneficial side, I'm pretty disciplined about retirement savings. I contribute 10% to my governmental employer's 401k-equivalent, get a 5% match and have 4.4% of my income taken out for a pension. I think I'm on a good path! On the harmful side, I need to cut down on restaurant and bar spending. I like a good meal and a nice cocktail and Tulsa has too many great restaurants!

Is there anything you'd like to add? 
I was inspired to write in after seeing one of your recent articles by a person with a $750 mortgage for a house in Midtown. Everyone's financial situation is different and one day I'm sure future generations will think I had it good, but it does seem like housing costs and student loans are big problems for my generation. I make a lot of money for Tulsa and I still feel very weighed down by how expensive my house and student loans are.