Money Diary: An Influencer Marketing Specialist On 65k

This week: "I run an influencer marketing agency with a remote team based all over the world. I had my first baby nine months ago and I'm currently juggling work and motherhood to avoid the steep costs of childcare. I'm aiming to do this for as long as possible as I don’t have any family nearby who are able to support us. I live in a small village with my family in a four-bedroom house that we purchased last year. It’s not our dream home or location but it’s the best we could afford as a first big investment and we hope to sell in five years' time when our mortgage rate changes."

Occupation: Influencer marketing specialist (founder and director of my own agency)
Industry: Marketing
Age: 28
Location: Hampshire
Salary: £65,000
Paycheque amount: £3,861
Number of housemates: One husband, one baby and a handful of pets
Pronouns: She/her
 
Monthly Expenses
 
Housing costs: £1,100 mortgage.
Loan payments: £250 fixed fee to repay my personal loan and roughly £330 for my student loan repayment, monthly. My business is also paying off an £8,000 bounce-back government loan which I took during the pandemic to support with the loss of income.
Savings? My husband and I saved our whole lives to recently buy a £350,000 house with a decent mortgage rate. We both grew up in rented and council accommodation so we took a finance course together to learn how to make good decisions! Since the purchase, we have £15,000 in investments and another £15k spread across various accounts.
Pension: I recently consolidated all of my past pensions through PensionBee and have about £20k in there. I pay a couple of hundred pounds a month into it.
Utilities: Our council tax is £1,650.55, which we pay annually, and we have an additional local maintenance fee for the green spaces in our neighbourhood of £300 annually. We pay around £96 quarterly for water and our energy bill averages at £120 per month.
All other monthly expenses: Phone contract £11. We pay £55 a month for a cleaner who comes every two weeks and £50 a month in baby classes which I attend with our little one. Subscriptions: £6.99 iCloud.
 
Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?

I worked three jobs throughout college to save up for university. I had my loans but was still dirt broke until around my third year after graduation.
 
Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money?

My dad told me to always put something aside from every single paycheque into savings, even if it was a fiver. I haven't always been able to follow that as the majority of my adult life has been in debt. But we have managed to get on that horse in more recent years. My parents have generally always been pretty frugal. Spending money wasn’t something we did very much.
 
Does anyone else cover any aspects of your financial life?

I've been working to earn my own way since I was 13 but I became entirely financially independent at 18 when I moved out for university. There was no safety net and I actually sometimes feel that I am now the safety net for my family as my parents don't own their home or have well-paid jobs. My husband and I have taken it in turns to support each other over the years. We like to take a lot of risk in our careers – which is how we’ve managed to go from nothing to where we are now – but they’re always very strategic risks which we discuss and plan for months.

I started a business at 13 years old, taking grocery orders from the houseboats and yachts in my local harbour. I’d pay my grandad petrol money on the commission I took so he could ferry me about to fulfil the orders. I wanted to have my own financial freedom from a young age.
 
Do you worry about money now?

A lot less than I did a few years ago. Now that we have a house and my credit card payments are gone I feel a lot more in control. I still worry about the future, about maintaining my salary and about my baby.
 
Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.

No.