- Share This Post
- submit
- 4
-
Sparkle (0)
In this week’s Ten Money Questions, we speak with Zandria Marcuson, the contributing writer for the Singles category at BlogHer. She also posts daily about young adult life at Keep Up With Me. On her About page, we learn that she takes her coffee black. No cream, no sugar. No fancy Starbucks mixtures. At 26, she’s already mastered The Latte Factor with finances. Find out what else she has to say about money and making it on her own in this candid interview. Enjoy!
1. It has been reported that the current twentysomethings could be the most indebted generation in modern history. What’s the cause of all this debt?
Everybody is different, so the reasons a person is in debt have to do with their particular life-situation. My attitude toward money is influenced by the fact that I grew up in a rural area, with a working father and stay-at-home mother, and was home-schooled for eight years.
On the flip side, I enjoy reading Heather’s posts, and I think her financial experiences are typical of many 20-somethings, but it’s hard for me to relate to her experiences. Instead of pulling out my credit card when I see an expensive purse or pair of shoes, the price tag makes me want to faint and I walk away.
2. What is your most significant memory about money?
That there wasn’t an overabundance of it when I was growing up. We never wanted for any of our basic needs, but my dad is very thrifty and doesn’t like to spend money unnecessarily if he can help it. He’s never owned a brand new car and he still lives in the house where he lived as a child. I think his thriftiness rubbed off on me: in general, I’m more a saver, less of a shopper.
3. What is your worst habit around finances?
In general, I think I have pretty good habits. I save money. I’ve never been in credit card debt because I pay off my balance in full every month. I don’t care about keeping up with all the latest trends.
But my worst habit, one that I know I should address, is not understanding what is happening to what I do have. I’ve read all those articles about how women don’t pay attention to what’s going on with their finances, and I know I’m guilty of that but I haven’t taken the steps to change it. My savings are in a high-interest ING account, but other than that it just sits there. I don’t have a separate IRA account, and I don’t know anything about stocks or investments or whatever.
4. I read that you bought your current car when you were 19, but have since paid it off and plan to keep it for a long time. What are your thoughts about having a car payment and other monthly expenses like cable service?
Yes, I was 19 when I bought my 2000 Honda Civic brand new. I paid it off three years later. I always took very good care of it and kept up with the maintenance schedule, and I would have kept it for a long time if it hadn’t been for a crazy drunk man slamming into me and totaling it. (And then he abandoned his car in the middle of the road and ran away on foot. It was quite exciting. Especially when he was apprehended a few weeks later.)
I think having a car payment is fine if you can afford it and that’s what you really want, but I told myself that if I ever replaced my first Civic I was going to get something used. I replaced the 2000 Civic with a 2002 model. I haven’t had a car payment for four years so I was looking for something I wouldn’t have to finance but that would still be reliable (and also look good—that’s important, too). So I paid for it using my insurance settlement and a little extra from my savings.
As for other bills: I don’t have cable at home because it’s not worth it to me to pay the high price when I live by myself. I work at night, Mon-Fri, so I’m not home when any of the interesting nighttime shows are on, anyway. Six months ago I switched from a monthly cellular plan that I was hardly ever using to a prepaid plan, and that has already saved me hundreds of dollars. That option might not work for some people
