Welcome to The Purse, a newsletter about money and women and motherhood and careers and all that good stuff!
Hello! And welcome back to The Purse! Before I dive into this week’s Home Economics (yes, that’s a big income in the subject line!), I want to remind you lovely readers that for every new subscriber who signs up for an annual subscription, I’m donating $5 to the nonprofit Chamber of Mothers, now through May 31. So far eight of you have taken me up on the offer—but I think as a community we can do a little better than that! 🙂
I also have a quick question. I’m approaching the one-year anniversary of The Purse (woo-hoo!), and I’m thinking of having a little event in NYC to celebrate. NYC-based readers, let me know if you’re interested!
Now, on to the reason you all opened this newsletter in the first place!
Home Economics No. 5
I haven’t featured a high-earning mother since the first Home Economics went sort of viral and hundreds of people felt like they needed to tell me in the comments that the series wasn’t relatable because it featured a woman earning over $200k a year. Readers who’ve been here for a while know that I pay very close attention to the comments, and I reply to nearly all of them. I really like to know what you all think, and in some cases, I apply it to the work I do. It was a conversation in the comments that inspired “Divorced in Colorado” to share her story! I love that!
I want to feature all kinds of women earning all kinds of salaries in Home Economics, but I’ve got to be honest, “relatability” is not necessarily my goal here. I see Home Ec as having a few purposes. One is simply that it’s fun to see how other people live and choose to spend their money, even if it doesn’t look exactly like my life. Two, I want to highlight women across the economic spectrum and examine how they make it work (or don’t), and that includes women who earn a lot (or whose partners earn a lot).
I’m not here to make some grand moral judgment on the lives of the rich or the poor, but I’m also well aware of how privilege and generational wealth have a huge impact on earning potential and financial success. I try to make sure the women featured here are forthcoming about their privilege, but I also hope this series shows that regardless of how much you make, it’s likely you’ll always be worried about something and have some sort of money stressor(s). Also, I think some of the negative comments around women who earn big salaries can be just downright sexist.
This is all a wordy way of saying that I love a vibrant comments section, but please remember that today’s “New Jersey Working Mom” is a real person (and also I’m a real person, LOL). Post with kindness. As someone said to me once, don’t write it in an email if you wouldn’t want it published on the front page of The New York Times. Same goes for this comment section!
Want to submit your own money story? (It’s anonymous!)
Fill out our Home Economics form.
Age: 33
Location: New Jersey
Relationship status: Married
Age of partner: 33
About me: Former bona fide city girl turned suburban mom, currently balancing a consulting career with hands-on parenting.
Income:
- Your job title/salary: Consultant, $200,000 + performance-based bonus. Last year, my bonus was $75,000. (My bonus varies a lot from year to year. Last year it was very high; during the first year of the pandemic, it was $10,000.)
- Partner’s job title/salary: Finance, $600,000 + performance-based bonus. (Like mine, his bonus varies from year to year, so we don’t factor them in when making our financial plans.)
- Your monthly take-home pay (paycheck amount after taxes and other deductions): $10,816
- Partner’s monthly take-home pay (paycheck amount after taxes and other deductions): Around $30,000. (We do not have shared finances.)
- Total monthly income: ~$40,000
Account balances:
Note from today’s contributor: My husband and I keep our finances completely separate, so the numbers below reflect just my accounts.
