Living On $118K A Year In Philadelphia | Millennial Money
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- čas přidán 8. 04. 2020
- Roy Patterson, 31, lives in Philadelphia and earns a base salary of $118,000 per year managing a team of project managers at Cigna. Patterson was able to pay off over $55,000 in student loans just before his 30th birthday. Now that he’s paid off all of his debt, Patterson is focused on saving for the future.
This is the latest installment of Millennial Money, which profiles people across the U.S. and details how they earn and spend their money.
Read more about Roy's budget breakdown here: cnb.cx/2RsquMi
There was no silver bullet to pay off the loans, which his parents co-signed, he says. Instead, he lived ultra-frugally, throwing every extra dollar toward the debt each month. While he will earn close to $150,000 this year, he paid off his debt while earning between $61,000 to $90,000 per year.
He was inspired by personal finance expert Suze Orman, and “The Suze Orman Show” became appointment television each week for him and his mother when he was still living with his parents in Connecticut.
Mother and son followed Orman’s advice together, holding each other accountable to pay off debt - credit card and car bills for his mom, student loans for Patterson - and get the rest of their finances in order. While his parents provided a stable home for him and his siblings growing up, Patterson says, as immigrants from Jamaica they didn’t understand the nuances of the American financial system. Watching Orman’s show taught them how money works in the U.S.
“I told my mom, If you do it, I’m going to do it. And we made this pact,” he says. “We would share our wins, we would share our successes. If we failed at something or we felt like we could do better, we shared that as well.”
Using advice from Orman and Patterson’s own internet research, he decided to use the snowball method of debt repayment: He paid off the loan with the lowest balance first, and then moved on to the next largest loan, and so on, until all seven federal loans and five private loans were paid off. He credits part of his success to Orman’s no-nonsense attitude and advice, adding his reverence has become something of an inside joke. “My friends call me Mr. Orman,” he says with a laugh.
He doesn’t regret the years of cost-cutting now that he’s debt free, although he occasionally wishes he hadn’t made quite so many sacrifices. He skipped a family trip to Jamaica because he didn’t want to buy a plane ticket, and he doesn’t want to miss out on experiences like that any more. Some things, like vacations with his loved ones and, of course, the P50, are worth the expense.
“I worked with my mom, and the joy that she has in her life now, knowing that she’s also debt free, makes me realize that what we did works,” he says. “It allows us to live the life that we wanted to live.”
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Living On $118K A Year In Philadelphia | Millennial Money
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Good to see a hardworking, educated BLACK man in a good position in life
I hope y'all heard it took him 7 years to reach a six figure tech salary. It's not a get rich quick career. Not everyone automatically goes to a bootcamp for 3-6 months or studies a CS degree and comes out with six figs. Some worked help desk at $15 an hour and worked up the IT ladder or made lateral moves into software or cloud. Others came out of college with a 50k a year programming job and worked up. Others, like me, struggled for years before even getting in. Don't lose the faith. Be realistic. 🤷🏾♀️ So proud of him. 👌🏾
I agree with him fully about feeling free and capable of doing anything when you have no debt. I’ll be 100% debt free next month, approximately $52k paid off in about 30 months. It was a mixture of student loans, my car, and credit card debt. I’ll be so happy to be done.
His company paid for his master's degree. Look for jobs that will pay for part of your education instead of having to pay for it out of pocket.
He is absolutely right, money doesn't make who you are, but rather exposes the good and bad aspects of your personality.
Good parenting is very important.
I did the TECDP internship with Cigna this summer and Roy was my mentor!! I’m planning to move to Philly next summer to work full-time and I can’t believe I found this video when I searched “life in philly”. Roy is incredibly smart, kindhearted, and hardworking. I’m so glad he’s been and being recognized😁
Handsome young brother, educated, good with money, acknowledging his parents and their sacrifices and upwardly mobile. You, sir, will go far. Congrats 🍾🎉🎈 on your promotion and being debt free!
"Money brings out the best or the worst that's already in you"
"It feels like I'm a new person. I feel as if I could do anything." 👏 Without having debt holding you back, it really does feel that you can go live out your best life!
it seems like most of these people do something related to IT or computer science.
He has a beautiful spirit and his gf is gorgeous
... when you hear a guy say he did not want to saddle his parents with loans... you know his parents are immigrants.
Representation really matters because seeing him earning that much, helps me realise that I CAN do it too 💪🏿. Thank you guys for this
Now do an episode on his girlfriend
I had to work 2 jobs to reach 6 figures so my time with my 3 kids was precious. Managed to pay for my wife’s student loans, my 3 kids’ university degrees and the house mortgage. Started late to work towards retirement but that’s on track.
He’s does Skin care and plays Sims!!!
This was dope! I especially appreciate the illustration of how his employer empowered his professional growth. Keep these coming.
The bills split thing is honestly a case by case basis type of thing. Before we got married, my spouse and I split bills 50/50. After marrying, we had separate expense accounts for a while and split bills proportional to our salaries - it was about 65/35. After fully combining finances it’s just become an common expense pool. You gotta do what works! Until it doesn’t. Then you communicate and tweak it.