Christi Delarco
Age: 30
Salary: More than it's ever been and still not as much as I'd like it to be.
Occupation: Part-time business manager for a technical recruiting firm, and full time accupuncture student in NYC.
Tripod: How do you do you manage your time and money?
Christi: Taking 12 credits and working 35 hours a week does my finances for me because I almost never have time to go out and spend money. I spend three hours a night at school with people who have become my friends (other than tuition it's a very cheap social life), and in between work and school I study. It's been a great savings plan.
| I think people's sense that they deserve things is the biggest stumbling block to saving money. There are some times in life when you just can't have it all... |
Tripod: What is your financial philosophy and how did this come about?
Christi: I was lucky enough to be raised by a woman who was a big believer in savings. She instilled in me a healthy sense of money and savings combined with a bit of fear for good measure (one never knows what catastrophe the future may bring).
My philosophy often looks like Scrooge McDuck (only not such a big pile of money in the basement) and I'm often teased about being cheap. The thing is that I'm very selective about what I'm willing to spend money on; i.e. I'm not a big fan of going out to dinner unless it's for a special occasion, I'd rather have friends over and cook for them.
For me it's easy to be thrifty (read cheap) when I have a goal...and I always have a goal. Right now my goal is to save enough money to pay my $10,000 tuition bill each year; before that I was saving for a down-payment on an apartment. I think goals are the keystone to being able to save.
It's easy to forget that the world wasn't always such a capitalistic acquisition-driven place. Somewhere along the line a lot of people started thinking that they deserve things just because they want them. Don't get me wrong, I think all people deserve a decent place to live, enough food to eat, decent clothes and enough left over to save — but no one, and I mean no one, deserves a Porsche, or diamonds. Those things are luxuries, great if you can afford them but tough if you can't.
I think people's sense that they deserve things is the biggest stumbling block to saving money. There are some times in life when you just can't have it all and if you're able to see the bigger picture (what it is you're saving for) it's easier to deal with.
On to the next interview.
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