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Welcome to Money Diaries, where we're tackling what might be the last taboo facing modern working women: money. We're asking a cross-section of women how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period – and we're tracking every last penny.
This week: "I am a 28-year-old working in music as an artist manager. I love my job and have been working there for four years – it's really exciting and fulfilling but I have recently started to feel fairly restless about the salary. I came from a job that I hated because of a bully boss and awful company culture so I worry that leaving my current role would put me back in a similar position of mega stress and sleepless nights. Is it worth it for a better salary?
Given the current climate, I have been incredibly lucky to be able to keep my job. The company didn't furlough any staff, even though they lost 60% of their income during the pandemic, with live events being the biggest missing chunk of income for the business.
I did cheekily ask for a pay rise in March to £30k (from £25k), which they gave very understandable C-related reasons against but met me in the middle at £27.5k.
I do often get asked what an artist manager is and the simplest explanation is that we handle the business side of our clients’ careers (both in a day-to-day and long-term sense) so that they can focus on making music and touring. We help to plan album projects, orchestrate tours and releases, create marketing strategies, run social media accounts, build merch businesses... It’s pretty varied!
I live with my fiancé, T, in our two-bed flat in east London that we bought a couple of years ago due to both being in an extremely fortunate position of having received inheritance, which paid for the deposit. We also have a lodger, who will be moving out soon. We will really miss that spare income.
T and I split all the monthly house/car costs proportionally to our salaries, and then everything else (e.g. food shop, petrol) is split 50/50. We use Monzo and have an ongoing shared tab so we balance each other out with spending."
Industry: Music
Age: 28
Location: London
Salary: £27,500
Paycheque amount: £1,750
Number of housemates: Two (we get £700/m from the lodger for rent + bills)
Age: 28
Location: London
Salary: £27,500
Paycheque amount: £1,750
Number of housemates: Two (we get £700/m from the lodger for rent + bills)
Monthly Expenses
Housing costs: Mortgage is £1,270 (shared expense). As T and I split house and car costs proportionally to our salaries, my contribution to this is £750, which I put into our joint bank account each month – I’ve pointed out below the shared costs that this goes towards.
Loan payments: Car loan £215, 0% financing for a wardrobe £400 left to pay (both shared expenses). Student loan, a laughable £1! The income threshold has increased each year so this is the first year that I’ve had to start (sort of) paying it... Not that it’s even touching the interest.
Utilities: Monthly: gas and electricity £65, council tax £130, water £26, internet £26, contents insurance £12, car insurance £48, British Gas HomeCare £23, TV licence £12.87. Yearly: £150 ground rent to freeholder (we live in a Victorian maisonette) and £300 building insurance (all shared expenses).
Transportation: Our car costs £48/m for insurance, £200/y for tax and approx £50/m in petrol (shared costs).
Public transport: I'm currently spending approx £20/m on Tubes (in normal times, I would spend about £100. I have a Young Person’s Railcard attached to my Oyster card so I get a third off travel off-peak.
Phone bill: I recently switched to a SIM only contract after finishing paying off my phone so I now only pay £6.50/m. I am waiting for the next iPhone drop in the hope that the 12 is cheaper by then – I can’t bring myself to pay over £40/m for a phone.
Savings? Our savings have been pretty depleted since buying a property. We cover the mortgage/bills between the two of us and we have been using the lodger income to slowly do up our flat. We’ve now done most of what we wanted to do so this income has very recently started going towards our wedding fund. We have just started to each put £150/m into our joint savings account and I try to save £100/m into my personal savings account. Joint savings is currently £1,500, personal savings is £2,500.
Other: My parents have a family account on Spotify and T’s parents have all of the video subscriptions so we’re lucky to be able to leech from them on these. Gym/swimming membership £59/m, yoga £35/m, magazine subscription £4.50/m, cleaner £16/m for my share – we all put money into a kitty for this (including the lodger). Weekly bread delivery £3/w (shared expense with T).
Loan payments: Car loan £215, 0% financing for a wardrobe £400 left to pay (both shared expenses). Student loan, a laughable £1! The income threshold has increased each year so this is the first year that I’ve had to start (sort of) paying it... Not that it’s even touching the interest.
Utilities: Monthly: gas and electricity £65, council tax £130, water £26, internet £26, contents insurance £12, car insurance £48, British Gas HomeCare £23, TV licence £12.87. Yearly: £150 ground rent to freeholder (we live in a Victorian maisonette) and £300 building insurance (all shared expenses).
Transportation: Our car costs £48/m for insurance, £200/y for tax and approx £50/m in petrol (shared costs).
Public transport: I'm currently spending approx £20/m on Tubes (in normal times, I would spend about £100. I have a Young Person’s Railcard attached to my Oyster card so I get a third off travel off-peak.
Phone bill: I recently switched to a SIM only contract after finishing paying off my phone so I now only pay £6.50/m. I am waiting for the next iPhone drop in the hope that the 12 is cheaper by then – I can’t bring myself to pay over £40/m for a phone.
Savings? Our savings have been pretty depleted since buying a property. We cover the mortgage/bills between the two of us and we have been using the lodger income to slowly do up our flat. We’ve now done most of what we wanted to do so this income has very recently started going towards our wedding fund. We have just started to each put £150/m into our joint savings account and I try to save £100/m into my personal savings account. Joint savings is currently £1,500, personal savings is £2,500.
Other: My parents have a family account on Spotify and T’s parents have all of the video subscriptions so we’re lucky to be able to leech from them on these. Gym/swimming membership £59/m, yoga £35/m, magazine subscription £4.50/m, cleaner £16/m for my share – we all put money into a kitty for this (including the lodger). Weekly bread delivery £3/w (shared expense with T).
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