Mastering Your First Budget: Balancing Expenses, Student Loans and Fun
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Here's your Money Briefing for Sunday, June 30th. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. We're back with the third and final installment of our series, Adulting 101, Navigating the Real World. I'm here with my co-host for this series, our producer, Ariana Asparu.
Yes. So far, we've looked at all the challenges that Gen Z workers are facing as they get their first job and how AI tools can help.
And how to choose your benefits and what deductions are taken out.
Oh, my gosh. I remember you got that teeny tiny number at the bottom of your check. It can be tough to stretch that out to cover all of these expenses.
And you still want to save some money and be able to have fun, right? That's the whole check right there.
This was one of the hardest things about going out on my own. Trying to create a budget so I know how much money I have and what I can afford to spend. I hit the streets of New York City again and talked to a few young workers. I asked them about how they feel about their money and what the vibes are with their personal finances.
In a way, almost scared of everything, trying to manage every part of your life. So even if you do get reasonably good job and all of those things, it's going to be very tight, the budget. I'm hoping to be almost as independent as I can be. I am not great at budgeting. I really tried to make it a big goal this year to be more financially conscious. I wish I could be saving a little bit more. It sucks when it's only a little bit at a time. But for the most part, we're just kind of riding that way, like, even line.
But it's okay not to have it all figured out. Ariana, I remember when I was just getting started, I used to think of my budget as movable and immovable objects. rent, utilities, my car payment, the cable bill, those were immovable objects. I can't just push them off the calendar and think, you know, I'll get to that next month. Other things, like going to the movies, buying clothes, going on a trip, those are more flexible. And did it work? Sometimes, yes, but not always. Your first real-world job, budget, and relationship with money, it's such a roller coaster. Our personal finance reporter, Oyin Adedoyin, has written a lot about this, specifically about Gen Z. She told me all about how they're spending more, how they're feeling about their money, and why it's so hard for them to face their finances to make that first budget.
a lot of their necessary expenses like rent and groceries and even student loans have returned and in some cases even gotten higher than they used to be. And so that's really causing them to put on more credit card debt, potentially take out more loans and just spend more money overall. At the same time, their wages aren't keeping up with inflation. So they've got less money, but more debt.
Now, you've written about an approach to balancing your finances called loud budgeting. How does that work?
How does Gen Z describe their money stress when starting their first job?
One of the things we're seeing on social media is an increase in talking about money, particularly with Gen Z. So that's how the whole concept of loud budgeting came up. It's basically making people feel better about not having the finances to afford big trips or really extravagant purchases. And so it basically makes it cool to say no purely because you don't have the finances for it.
So they feel okay declining, going out with friends and spending money that they don't have?
Yeah, where it used to be a little taboo to say that you couldn't afford something, now that's the only reason you need to give.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:31
2
How does Gen Z describe their money stress when starting their first job?
3:31–9:15
3
What is the 'movable vs immovable' framework for first-time budgets?
9:15–11:39
4
Why are Gen Z spending and debt rising despite wage stagnation?
11:39–15:11
5
What is 'loud budgeting' and how does social media change money conversations?
15:11–18:30
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from WSJ Your Money Briefing
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