Living On $210K A Year In NYC | Millennial Money

This is the latest installment of Millennial Money, which profiles people across the U.S. and details how they earn and spend their money.

She attended Columbia University where she studied political science. She graduated in 2016 with $7,000 in student loan debt, thanks to combination of needs-based financial aid and holding a job throughout college, as well as financial support from her grandmother and her parents, who also took out some loans. She paid off her loans by the beginning of 2018.

Growing up, “we had a saying that you could either be a doctor or a lawyer or a disgrace,” she says, and after college, she expected to go into law. But it didn’t take her long to realize she wasn’t passionate about the work.

Computer science, though, had appealed to her since she took an introductory course in undergrad. After researching careers online, Ayodele quit her job in compliance in 2017 to attend a three-month engineering retreat at the New York City-based RECURSE Center to refresh her programming skills.

Leaving behind a steady job is never an easy call, especially when you’re living paycheck to paycheck, like Ayodele was. While the retreat itself was free, she saved around $6,000 in the months before she quit her job. Making that career change is what inspired her to start taking her finances more seriously: She watched YouTube videos, listened to podcasts and cut her expenses down as far as she could to save up.

Ayodele is a fan of the FIRE — financial independence, retire early — movement, and one of her goals is to earn enough off of her investments that all of her monthly costs are covered.

To that end, she contributes $1,583 each month to max out her 401(k) contributions for the year (those were her contributions in 2019 when this story was reported; the 2020 individual contribution limit increased slightly from $19,000 to $19,500), and invests an additional $4,000 a month in a Vanguard brokerage account. She also contributes around $42 a month to a health savings account.

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Living On $210K A Year In Brooklyn | Millennial Money

[jaientenduunevoix]

American dream right here, holy crap. And donating 800 a month to charity, at 25? She's a saint

[Unknownuser]

She could EASILY pay for a nice apartment without roommates and instead she chooses to save and donate to charity. We need more videos of people like her!

[Lances_]

It actually broke my heart when she said she gets stopped in the building she works at because they don’t think she works there, I couldn’t even IMAGINE how dehumanising that is

[thelegendarykevininsales]

If I make $210k a year, I ain’t telling no one

[nunyabiznys]

She's definitely on her way to being a millionaire. Proud of her.

[sarsar]

She is LITERALLY one of the smartest, most beautiful girl inside out. She has that X Factor. Inspiring

[JasonB]

"You can either be a doctor, a lawyer or a disgrace." If you grew up in an Indian, African or West Indian/Caribbean household, that saying you know all too well.

[ss]

She is literally the model kid every parent wants 😂 girl is KILLIN it

[donjohn]

Shoutout to immigrant parents who left their families, friends, and every person they know and love back at their home country to migrate to another country for a chance of a better life for their family and kids. I have the utmost respect for anybody that does that, especially my mother.

[FloydofOz]

She is the most impressive person in this series so far.

[chrisbruce]

Shes saving 60K a year. She’s bound to be a millionaire before 35

[dajurniesofar]

I love to see a woman in color in the STEM industries making it and doing it well.

[ginandjustice]

I'm literally Nigerian and finishing up my degree in Comp Sci - this is THEE most motivating thing I've seen omg

[sidmichael]

Studied four years then quit her job. Studied for a 3 months then find her dream job. That right there is what's wrong with the educational system.

[caitox]

I'm five years older than her yet I want to be her when I grow up.

[niobiumplums]

a successful young black woman making $200K in tech? we love to see it 🔥 more features like this please

[loganmarquis]

An immigrant African woman making her way in NYC is very inspirational, love this.

[alimahb]

Her bank account told mine to sit tf down and be humble!😩

[Nextlevelnesha]

As an HR professional, hearing her say she gets stopped while trying to enter her work building makes me cringe. I hope there's an educational training in program because that's sad.

[helenrietta]

You make us black folk feel a sense of pride..thank you miss