![]() He also has $2,700 in student loan debt, but since payments and interest rates are currently frozen, he's set the debt aside for the time being. I'm just trying to take good care of it so that I'll have that car as long as I possibly can." He drives his dad's old 2004 Honda Pilot, which is fully paid off. There's one area of his budget that Zickefoose doesn't need to worry about: car payments. "Whether that be seeing a movie or going to a concert, that's probably going to be something that I will at least consider spending money on," he says. The only thing Zickefoose is willing to splurge on is "social experiences" with his friends or girlfriend. He spends around $550 a month on groceries and dining out. His two largest expenses are his rent - $400 covers his share of a four-bedroom apartment - and food. ![]() Zickefoose keeps "meticulous track" of his spending using a spreadsheet that tracks every time he makes a purchase or adds money to his savings. "Always be cognizant of exactly how much money you have then you'll make a lot smarter financial decisions." "The most important lesson for me is only spend what you have," he says. Currently, he has a little under $10,000 in savings. Subscriptions: $34 for Spotify, Amazon Prime, a VPN phone app and cloud storageīecause he doesn't make a lot of money, Zickefoose is always careful to know how much he has in his accounts at any given time.Utilities: $49 for his share of the internet, heat and power bills.Insurance: $59 for car and renters insurance.Transportation: $220 on gas and parking costs.Savings and investments: $240 split evenly between his savings account and Roth IRA.Discretionary: $300 on entertainment, household items, clothes and haircuts.Rent: $400 for his share of a four-bedroom home.Food: $550 on groceries, dining out, coffee and drinks."I'm pretty content with where I'm at financially right now." How he spends his money "For where I'm at in my life, the money that I'm making is enough for me to pay all the bills that I need to pay and do a lot of the things that I want to do," he says. While he wants to earn more in the future, Zickefoose is happy for now being able to pay his way on his own. Those earnings, combined with his part-time work as a planning assistant in Spokane's Planning and Economic Development Department, brings his annual pay to about $32,000. On top of that, he receives a $1,159.20 monthly stipend from the university as well as $875.97 per month in additional scholarships. And he's earning enough to fully support himself financially.īecause he's part of a graduate assistantship program, his tuition is paid for by the university. ![]() Now 26, Zickefoose is a graduate student pursuing his master's degree in urban and regional planning at Eastern Washington University in Cheyney, Washington, near Spokane. "Once I found out that I had that interest, then I had a reason to go back to school that I knew would lead me to a career that I wanted." "I decided to look a little bit more into what it would take to become a city planner myself," he says. He discovered the field of city planning through YouTube, where he watched videos from the popular City Beautiful channel. The salary allowed him to pay his bills and start saving money, but he didn't feel called to marketing long-term and began looking for something new. "And I thought, 'My goal one day is to be financially independent and make money for myself.'"Īfter earning his bachelor's degree from the University of Idaho in 2018, Zickefoose worked as a content writer for a print marketing company in Boise, earning around $40,000. In college, he admired friends who were "making their own way financially," he tells CNBC Make It. Though he's always been grateful to his parents for their support - including paying his rent during college - Zickefoose knew he didn't want to depend on them long-term. The son of an elementary school principal and stay-at-home-mom, Zickefoose had a "pretty solidly middle class" life growing up in Boise, Idaho.
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