Women sharing their budget breakdown

UPDATE: We've published the first edition of the series here! Go check it out :)

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Hi everyone!

In the spirit of pay transparency and financial empowerment, I've been playing around with the idea of creating a "Budget Breakdown" series where women in tech share how much they earn (or if they are unemployed is also another perspective) and what they spend their money on – could be shared anonymously or not ☺

Is this something you'd find value in? If so, what specifically about it? Are there any other topics or subtopics that would be interesting for the series to cover?

Would love to hear your thoughts! Let me know in the comments below ☺️

brookevlasich·Apr 24

I’m not in tech, but I’d be interested to see how others budget their money to see if I can find a better balance. I tend to stress over saving and limit myself from enjoyment.The concern I have is that people might feel judged or embarrassed for admitting how they spend. That’s why I think it might be better to keep it anonymous.Also, this might sound strange, but it might also be interesting to see how people manage their time, not just their money. How do they juggle their personal and professional commitments? What have they learned along the way? Any setups work for them? I recently read “Fair Play” and that was an interesting way for couples to work together and split up responsibilities to get everything done.

Hettie·Apr 30

That's not strange, budgeting time is more important than budgeting money; in fact, time is the only thing money can't buy, as we all know! For me, the question of how much I want to pay to save some time is one I am answering every day, multiple times. I agree that it would be great to discuss both bodgets together,

Iynna·Apr 24

I think people can chose to do it anonymously or not if they want! My guess is most people will want to remain anon and that's absolutely fine! And I love the idea of how people manage their time, though it can be a totally separate topic too!

Josefina·Apr 25

Thanks for your input, Brooke! Yes, you are right. I agree and suspect most will want to do anon and like Iynna said, that is totally fine!Ohhh, very interesting to see a similar breakdown but with time management! Kind of like a "schedule breakdown". I'll have to give "Fair Play" a read. Thank you!

brookevlasich·Apr 25

Appreciate the clarification and look forward to the conversations that come from it. Let me know what you think of “Fair Play.”

lisaschulze·May 01

Everyone has different values around where they want to invest their time and money. I love Ramit Sethi’s philosophy of “Live Your Rich Life” by spending money on things that fall under “your rich life” - which is stuff that you value the most and give you the most joy, and cut ruthlessly everywhere else.This helps me think less in numbers and more in concept on what brings me joy.I obviously apply this knowing where I’m comfortable spending each month in total expenses.

Iynna·Apr 24

Love it! Are you familiar with Money Diaries - a feature on Refinery 29 (https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/money-diary)? I used to love reading through some of those diaries especially during COVID/lockdown when I was revisiting my budget & spending way less overall). I think ultimately everyone is different and value different things (especially at different times) BUT I think that overall it's great to share our financial habits - we could all learn a thing or two I'm sure!

Josefina·Apr 25

I'm not familiar with Money Diaries but now wish I had been! Thank you, Iynna! And yes, I don't think the series should be prescriptive or pretend to give financial advice since, as you said, people value different things at different times and have different relationships with money. But there is still something to be learned from gaining visibility on others' financial habits!

Iynna·Apr 25

Omg no better time than the present ;) let me know what you think and if you have a fav diary!

brookevlasich·Apr 25

Looks like an interesting series! Can’t wait to check this out.

Iynna·Apr 24

Also check these out https://elpha.com/posts/2w7mrivx/let-s-talk-moneyhttps://elpha.com/posts/uzqsabwb/let-s-talk-money

zsoriano·Apr 29

YES! I love this! I helped my sister come up with her budget. I have an entire spreadsheet that I update about once a month or so. I wish I knew about budgeting when I was first starting out, I got into so much debt right out of college.

NavazBatliwalla·Apr 29

This reminded me of R29 as well. I'd love to read it. I'm sure many people would.

catherinevalega·Apr 29

As a general rule -- I like to tell women to start with an 'envelope system' -- for every income payment that comes in -- 50% can go to fund your personal life (aka your paycheck), 15% gets saved for your self-employment taxes, 30% goes to your Operating Expense account and helps fund the growth of your business, and 5% goes to your profit or fun account. If you haven't read "Profit First" I recommend it. You may need to adjust your percentages to fit your personal situation and the growth phase of your business, but it is a great starting point.I'm happy to help any way I can - I work with breadwinner women - and I can tell you that MOST do not know how to best use their income -- business owners in particular.Also, the earlier you establish your own 'Board of Advisors' the better -- this includes a bookkeeper, a CPA, an attorney, and a financial planner. My clients who have proactively created their team are having much better results than those who wing it. Happy to help - I have many names of professionals to refer to if you need it. -- you can find my scheduling link on my site - Green Bee Advisory.

Linda176·Apr 29

This is timely for me. When it comes to budgeting what app are you using? I've tried several but haven't found my best fit.

Josefina·Apr 30

I use one called Mujer Financiera (https://www.mujer-financiera.com/) which has been great for me. I chose it because it offers financial education courses specifically for Argentina (where I'm from) but others have recommended a bunch that might be better for your market/culture/country in this thread: https://elpha.com/posts/fczzm7w5/what-budgeting-apps-do-you-recommend

alexaplunk·Jun 20

My husband and I use the YNAB app and we have really liked it. Honestly, I have not tried many others so I'm not sure how it compares, but it has been easy for us to use and we feel like it has helped us have better understanding of where our money is going. You can allocate out funds into certain categories that you set up, so at the beginning of each month you can have an idea of where your money is going to go and how much (or how little) will be left over.

Loni155·May 06

I personally really like TFD (the financial diet), Suze Orman, money diaries. I think it can be so helpful to have more transparency around money and budget breakdowns.

Hettie·May 29

And back to the original question of money: I have been budgeting and recording all expenses since I was twelve, which means that I have been doing it for almost 50 years😀. I stated in a paper notebook: my mom taught me to keep track of our family of two budget. Later, I kept doing it with my first husband (on paper as well). And later, when I got my first PC at home, I moved to electronic records. My partner helped me set up a recording system in a program, which was the first primitive Excel-like system on MS-DOS. Later, we transferred it to regular Excel, and it has worked for me for the past 30 years better than any modern software would do. I will find an Excel sample and share it.

Angela·Jul 18

That would be amazing, thank you!!