Trying to Mentally Prepare for What Feels Like an Upcoming Confusing Financial Void | brokeGIRLrich
I’ve spent the last few weeks thinking a lot of about the weird income streams I’ve cobbled together.
I’m trying to see if there’s any kind of pattern to how I’ve done this or if it’s just a pile of dumb luck.
See, when I head over to England, several of my income streams will be unavailable.
And I… worry about money. As much as the next person. But in relation to getting this degree, you know, there’s Plan A, pay for the whole dang thing, which I could do but will drain my savings majorly.
And I will be in my 40s when I finish. I might want a home. My car is literally on its last legs. I don’t feel like I can skip retirement contributions for 3-4 years because America’s social safety nets are garbage. I’m also still well position to rack up some good returns from compound interest but those days are starting to wane.
It’s such a wildly different set of concerns than the total YOLO whatevs way I approach my MA – taking on a bunch of debt but not giving much of a damn because I was just going to hop back on cruise ships and start paying it off 10 months later.
And who cared about retirement or places to live back then? It would all just sort itself out somehow.
(These were pre-brokeGIRLrich days, clearly.)
In a fit of possible madness, I took a stage managing job for the first two weeks of February. Because my brain said, “You’re starting your PhD remotely, trying to sort out visa issues, and move to England by the end of the month, do not do this” but my mouth said, “sounds like fun, sure!”
It doesn’t even pay that well. Rehearsals are just above minimum wage for 5 days and then the shows are $150/show, which is actually not terrible and the theatre is 10 minutes from my house, so there is that.
I think I panicked a bit over the whole move and ran to something familiar.
Though I as I write this the day before rehearsals start, I am hyperventilating a little knowing my official first day of “school” is also the first of our two days of tech.
I remember dragging my brain onboard with this idea under the guise of “but you should work as much as possible in February because you won’t have opportunities after you move to London. You can only do the one job for a set number of hours each week.”
In reality, working my regular digital producer job would’ve made more over these two weeks by a lot.
But not everything is exactly about money, is it? Another stage management credit is always helpful. I’ve never worked on a drag show, so that’s a cool new thing to learn. I am super rusty at calling at the moment and am excited to have one more shot at brushing up a bit after the circus last fall. I also rusty at shows that aren’t circus or events, so that’s another nice thing to brush up on.
I am also very excited that only two days of rehearsal are in NYC and I don’t have to deal with like a 3-4 hour round trip commute during rush hour for the rest of rehearsal.
It’s the same with the stagehand work. I just like it sometimes. And I think I’m sad that it’s going to hard to figure out how to build anything like those situations again in another place. Which is maybe just as much a part of the panic and uncertainty as the money attached to doing these things.
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Oddly enough, taking some time to ramble about this has actually calmed my nerves a little bit today. Somehow it has always worked out. When money was tight, I found ways to scramble and hustle and make more. When it’s abundant, I still seem to keep my spending choices reasonable.
So maybe the next few years are higher expenses/lower income, and if that’s how it works out, by 2026 I can be back on my home soil, assuming I don’t flunk out or give up even earlier, hustling away if I have to.
Sorry if you have to read several more posts on this topic. I have definitely noticed over the years that when I have a big change that I’m trying to sort out I wind up writing 20 posts that are like very nearly the same as I essentially use this blog to think aloud before I find some peace with a new topic.
Thanks for coming on the insane journey that is my state of mind with me yet again.
It’s an exciting change to be following 🙂
I think garbage is a bit strong to apply to our safety nets. I just had a difficult and rare surgery I could not have gotten done in Canada or the UK that cost $250K. Out of pocket cost to me? Zero. Thank you Medicare. In three years when I start taking Social Security payments my wife and I will receive over $70K a year. And that will be inflation adjusted yearly, no means testing like in Australia. That’s pretty huge in my opinion. I know it depends on the individual how the benefits apply but keep in mind the tax burden is much lower here, making your dollars go further than in other western countries. If people invest the money not taken by taxes here they can possibly come out ahead. But it does put more responsibility on the individual. I agree there are huge gaps people fall through and maybe that does deserve the garbage moniker. I’m big fan, you are such a fearless young risk taker. My view of safety nets as a wealthy guy is probably unfounded because with millions I’ll never need a net. But I have been amazed at how well Medicare works and how much in Social Security we will receive, at least until it goes insolvent or is changed. You’ll figure your future out, you always do!
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I have to say that as a low-mid income freelancer, our social safety nets don’t seem very trustworthy to me compared to some other places – specifically in the medical field. Even with insurance, if something really bad happened to me, it will still cost me around $10,000 a year to deal with, on top of my insurance premiums. To many, that’s not a big deal but to me that would be pretty intensely derailing – especially if it were chronic and had to be paid year after year (though I suppose I would reevaluate my insurance plan in that case). When you start factoring in the costs of the personal responsibility things like paying for insurance premiums other countries don’t need, it is often a wash tax-wise. Medicare does seem lovely though, so if I live long enough to be on it, I suspect those will be good times 🙂
First of all, we all have freakouts when big events occur, and this is massive. If it helps, I think you’re going to crush it like a bag of Frito-Lays in a good way! 😅
Also, ramble away because so many of us (including me!) only post the afterglow of success. You have guts and gall to be open and honest before the guarantee of success. Thank you for keeping it real. 👊
LOL. I wouldn’t want people to make the mistake that I confidently chase my dreams. 🙂 I just keep stumbling forward in a cloud of fear-filled haze most of the time.
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