#247: First-Gen Money Struggles and How to Overcome Them with Maria Melchor
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What emotions hit first-gen earners when they receive their first paycheck?
I have money for the first time. Should I buy a whole new wardrobe? Should I start dining out every weekend and maybe travel to all the places that I've been wanting to travel to? So I would say it was like the usual experience kind of reeled in by my background of like I know what it's like to not have a lot of money, and I know that this is a lot of money compared to that, and I should probably not just spend it all.
Hey, this is Allison Baggerly, and welcome to the Inspire Budget Podcast, where we talk all about budgeting, debt, and saving money. If you've ever been the first in your family to graduate college, step into a white-collar job, or just earn more than your parents ever did, today's episode is for you. That's what it means to be first-gen. you're the one crossing into new territory, often without a roadmap. Today, I'm talking with Maria Melchor, founder of First Gen Living, about the pressure that comes with being the first, the guilt of earning more, and the fear of getting it wrong. She also shares how she learned to balance saving and spending and how she opened up money conversations with a family that wasn't used to talking about money at all.
If you've ever felt caught between the world you grew up in and the one you're building, this conversation is for you. Let's get started. Hi, Maria. Welcome to the Inspired Budget Podcast. I'm happy to have you on and to hear your money story.
Hi, Allison. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
Yes. So I would love to know a little bit about your background, your financial story, your money story background, and then what inspired you to create First Gen Living?
Yeah, it's sort of in the name. I started First Gen Living right in my early 20s when I was trying to figure out how to be the first in my family to have graduated college and then be navigating, in my case, what I call the nonprofit industrial complex in New York City. So just trying to figure out like, corporate world, white collar world, and that also came with trying to figure out money. Got my first paycheck. My parents had never been paid money plus benefits, money plus deductions. What did this all mean? So this was around 2018, 2019 that I started getting into this space. And First Gen Living came out in 2020 when everybody was starting their Instagram pages for like their hobbies. And you saw people starting pages about baking and cooking and knitting and roller skating.
And the only thing that was on my mind was money. So I started mine on personal finance. In many ways, it was a way for me to say to my friends and family, like, hey, I want to talk about money. But if you don't want me to talk about it with you or on my personal Instagram, you can opt in and follow me on First Gen Living. So to be clear, started as an Instagram page in 2020.
And did you find that whenever you had graduated college and you're getting your first adult paycheck, what was going through your mind? It seems like you stepped into this, your parents couldn't really help you. How did you learn like what to do with that money? Because I know the first time I got my first real paycheck, I was like, what are all these things coming out? And I felt like I was like, I'm rich. I'm rich, which really I wasn't, but it felt like I was rich. So I want to know a little bit about what were some of the thoughts that went through your mind when you got that paycheck and what were some of your fears during that time?
I also felt rich, just like you. This was my first full-time post-college job. And before that, I'd been working during the school year, student jobs. And so the most I'd been paid was, I don't know, around $500 every two weeks, maybe. So going from that to I was earning around $50,000. So that was in New York, like 1,400, 1,500 every day. every two weeks, plus benefits, health insurance, commuter benefits. Yeah, I was like, wow, I have so much money. I also get to have fancy health insurance through my employer. I was very excited. But yeah, there was definitely some fear as far as like, how can I be the best steward for this money?
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What emotions hit first-gen earners when they receive their first paycheck?
0:00–7:45
2
How did Maria Melchor start FirstGenLiving and what motivated her in 2020?
7:45–14:02
3
What surprised Maria about employer paychecks and benefits compared to her parents?
14:02–29:00
4
How did Maria process ‘first-gen guilt’ about earning more than her parents?
29:00–31:41
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Inspired Budget
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