Millennial… What does this word bring to mind for you? Do you have an image in mind of what the Millennial lifestyle is like? I wanted to create a series of interviews with bloggers sharing their lifestyle choices and financial decisions as Millennials. Just to clear things up before we get started I know there is some debate on what a Millennial is exactly. The age group that is considered a Millennial for this post is represented by anyone born between 1981 and 1996 (ages 22 to 37 in the year 2018) this is the group I am considering as Millennials.

What year were you born?

I was born in 1986.

Do you eat avocado toast?

Nope. My diet consists of mostly Nigerian food. Any other food is just for survival.

What do you do for a living?

I am a pulmonary (lung) and critical care (intensive care unit) physician by day.

Do you have a degree and are you currently using your degree?

I do have a degree in Mathematics and Biology – Double Major. But then, medical school kind of overshadows those degrees. In short, I am technically using my degree as they helped me get into medical school. And I am practicing medicine.

How long have you worked in your field and what is your current salary range?

I finished my fellowship July 2018. My salary is well over 300k. Ask me again at the end of my first year.

Do you save for retirement and how?

I make sure I have different bucket for retirement. Both pretax and after tax. I do save for retirement through:1. 401k at work. I make sure to maximize this since I was in training. Even if I had to take extra shift or side hustle to get it done. Used to be $18,500 limit by IRS, now starting in 2019, it would be $19,000. Can’t wait.Here is all you need to know about 401k. https://drbreatheeasyfinance.com/401k-concepts/2. 457 – This also has the same limit as the 401k and I have decided to start using it starting this year.3. Roth IRA – I maximize the $5,500 limit yearly. Next year, the limit is up to $6,000.Here is how to become a Roth IRA millionaire and the IRS limits. https://drbreatheeasyfinance.com/become-a-millionaire-with-roth-ira/

Do you have debt? What kind of debt? What are your goals to pay off this debt?

I have student loan debt. I started off with over 200k. Now I have about $30,000 left. I am in no rush to pay it off as the interest is low around 4% currently. I am pro leverage, and I believe there are better investments to get better yield at this time for us. I am actually hoping to leverage my work to pay it off when my new contract is due in couple of years.

Do you have or have you cancelled your home phone/cable/satellite TV?

Home phone is gone. Cable is gone too. In our house, we are anti subscriptions. Mrs. Breathe Easy Finance is becoming more frugal than me and I love that.

What percentage of your monthly income do you save?

We live on about $5,000 dollars every month. Everything else is either invested or saved.

What monthly subscriptions/memberships do use if any and why? Such as a gym membership, Blue apron, Graze, Amazon prime, Dollar shave club,etc?

Although, we are subscription averse, we do have Amazon prime membership. This on the long run has saved us tons of dollars on shipping. We also live in Arkansas and due to us using geographic arbitrage to supersize our income, the downside is less amenities and shopping mall in our small city. Amazon saves us the headache of traveling out to the nearest big city to get cool stuff. You would be surprised at how much food ingredient you can get on Amazon. We get dried fish, palm oil.. all essential ingredients for our meal which the nearest city to get it would be over 2 hours away.

How much do spend on groceries monthly? How often do you eat out?

We budget about $600 dollars for groceries monthly. We value cooking and eating at home.We have a budget of $200 for eating out monthly. It’s how many times this could be stretched. With two little kids now, we cook at home most of the time.We don’t cut corners on food. Culturally, and practically.Food is one of the few things that we put in our body, it has to be the best.

Do you have any passive income sources?

I have many side gigs, however, I can’t definitively say they are fully passive.From this blog, I do make about $700 a month now from banners and ad sense. However, at this point, it is not entirely passive, I work hard on building the blog still.My stock investments, can they be considered passive income?My goal is to build up enough passive income to cover about 10,000 after tax dollars per month.

Do you own or lease a vehicle?

We own our vehicles now. Toyota corolla and Rav 4.We leased one of our Rav 4 in fellowship and I consider this part of the financial decision I am not proud of. My 200,000 mileage trusted friend and vehicle - Honda civic was destroyed after hitting a deer. I was desperate for a reliable car and I ended up leasing somehow. Anyways, I decided to just buy it after the lease.You can tell, I love to tell stories huh!

Do you rent or own your own home/condo/apartment?

We rent currently. It is important to make sure you are ready before buying a house. There are many things to consider before taking the leap.Here is one of my blog posts on Reasons not to buy a house. There are 6 reasons listed, the most important of which are the security of your job and having a solid emergency fund. https://drbreatheeasyfinance.com/6-times-you-should-not-buy-a-house/

About the Author

Dr Breathe Easy Finance is a pulmonary and critical care physician by day and a personal finance blogger by night. My goal is to improve financial literacy among physicians and everyone willing to accept the challenge. I figured, if I help you breathe easy and better in my day job, why not apply the same principle to personal finance. Financial independence is my goal for everyone. Mrs Breathe Easy Finance also gives insight into budgeting through the lens of a frugal physician wife. Our mantra – spend less, save more, earn more and invest. Our main categories include budgeting tips, investing tips and general personal finance mix bag.

TRANSPARENT MILLENNIAL LIFESTYLE FEATURING DR BREATHE EASY FINANCE