{"id":866274,"date":"2026-04-02T04:01:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T04:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/866274\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T04:01:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T04:01:17","slug":"a-week-in-the-midwest-on-a-135000-salary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/866274\/","title":{"rendered":"A Week In The Midwest On A $135,000 Salary"},"content":{"rendered":"

Occupation:<\/strong> Physician Assistant
Industry:<\/strong> Healthcare
Age:<\/strong> 35
Location:<\/strong> Midwest
Salary:<\/strong> $135,000
Joint Income\/Financial Setup:<\/strong> $265,000 base (mine and husband’s combined salaries), plus up to 15% yearly bonus for my husband. I also \u201cmoonlight\u201d or pick up extra shifts. This year, I made an extra $20K. So I expect us to make $290,000 total this year. My husband and I have had joint accounts since we married in 2014. He bought our house in 2013, as I was in school and he was working. My husband spends very little when we are apart, typically just on gas and the occasional meal out.
Assets<\/strong>
Savings:<\/strong> $100,000. This is high because we have had some big purchases this year: a backyard renovation and a new car for me (we will start moving money to brokerage in the next month).
My 403(b):<\/strong> $265,000
My husband’s 401(k):<\/strong> $202,000
I-bonds:<\/strong> $800
529 plans:<\/strong> $10,000
Roth IRA:<\/strong> $34,000 (x2)
Brokerage:<\/strong> $45,000
House value (estimation):<\/strong> $400,000 (fully paid off)
Car (x2):<\/strong> Estimated at $15,000 and $30,000 (both fully paid off)
Debt:<\/strong> $0
Paycheck Amount (2x per month):<\/strong> $3000
Pronouns:<\/strong> She\/her<\/p>\n

Monthly Expenses<\/strong>
Housing Costs:<\/strong> $0
Loan Payments:<\/strong> $0
Utilities:<\/strong> gas\/water $150; electric $85 and internet $40.
Phone:<\/strong> $143, which includes Netflix and AppleTV.
Gym:<\/strong> $20 for my husband, $0 for me as I have a gym at work. I do occasionally buy passes to yoga and Pilates, and spend $300 over the course of the year.
Disney+ and Hulu bundle: <\/strong>$2.99
Cleaning service:<\/strong> $160 (2x per month). This is a new expense as I’m injured, and just underwent surgery to repair an ACL tear.
PreK for daughter:<\/strong> $1050 a month
Before\/after school care for son:<\/strong> $90 per week
Groceries:<\/strong> per last year’s budget, we typically spend $1000 a month
Dining out:<\/strong> per review of past year, typically $800 a month<\/p>\n

Yearly Expenses
Property taxes:<\/strong> $6,000 (we pay twice a year in split payments)
House insurance:<\/strong> $2,500 (we pay yearly)
Car insurance: <\/strong>$1,500 (we pay yearly)
Vehicle taxes\/registrations:<\/strong> $2,750 (I bought a new car this year). <\/p>\n

Was there an expectation for you to attend higher education? Did you participate in any form of higher education? If yes, how did you pay for it?<\/strong>
Yes. My mother had gone to college on a full ride, and there was an expectation I would as well. Luckily, I’m a good standardized test taker, and my ACT score qualified me for full tuition. My parents had started a 529 plan for me at birth, and luckily paid for my housing expenses. I originally had planned to become a pharmacist, but I shadowed a primary care PA, loved it, and switched gears to attend PA school mid-way through undergrad. My GPA during PA school qualified me for a full tuition scholarship, and my husband paid for our living expenses during school. I actually got married and we bought our house during my last year of school (I do NOT recommend; very stressful). <\/p>\n

Growing up, what kind of conversations did you have about money? Did your parent(s) educate you about finances?<\/strong>
Growing up we didn’t have a lot of money. My dad didn’t have a college degree, and worked fixing phones at companies. My mom was a stay-at-home mom. I was aware that we didn’t have money for extras like travel and eating out. However, we always had a roof over our heads and food on the table. I received an allowance when I was younger, but was terrible with money and blew through any money I had almost immediately. <\/p>\n

What was your first job and why did you get it?<\/strong>
I started working at a grocery store when I was 15. I needed to pay for gas and car insurance for my car. I was also an impulse spender and wanted to buy myself clothes and other treats.<\/p>\n

Did you worry about money growing up?<\/strong>
Sometimes, yes. My parents were transparent with finances, and I knew we were on a budget. My parents made it seem like I wouldn’t be able to go to college if I didn’t have scholarships, so I applied to many. I didn’t realize loans were an option at the time, which was terrifying, but now I’m so glad I don’t have any. My most recent PA students have had 150K+ in student loans, and it breaks my heart because the loan repayment is such a burden.<\/p>\n

Do you worry about money now?<\/strong>
Sometimes, yes. We are in a great financial situation, but ever since I became injured, I now know things can change in the blink of an eye. During this break from work, I have realized I would love to work part-time or work PRN, but I’m not sure we could swing things on one paycheck.<\/p>\n

At what age did you become financially responsible for yourself and do you have a financial safety net?<\/strong>
When I started PA school. Technically, my parents and in-laws could both be our financial safety net, but I dread ever having to ask them for money. It’s hard enough for me to ask them to watch the kids.<\/p>\n

Do you or have you ever received passive or inherited income? If yes, please explain.<\/strong>
My parents paid for my living expenses until PA school, and I benefited from the 529 they had for me. They also gave us $10,000 for our wedding and honeymoon, mostly because I wanted to elope, and they wanted us to marry in a church. My husband’s parents gifted us $10,000 towards a down payment for our house. We each had our first cars paid for, a $3,000 salvage title for me, and a brand new sporty two-door car for my husband. We have since bought new cars ourselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Occupation: Physician AssistantIndustry: HealthcareAge: 35Location: MidwestSalary: $135,000Joint Income\/Financial Setup: $265,000 base (mine and husband’s combined salaries), plus up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":866275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3093],"tags":[51,474,8448,2499,18637,16,15,8449],"class_list":{"0":"post-866274","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-money-diaries","11":"tag-personal-finance","12":"tag-the-latest","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-work-money"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116333123037428510","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=866274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}