Millennial Money: Living On $62K A Year In NYC

Maria Melchor, 25, lives in New York City and makes $62,000 per year working as a Legal Aid. She helps low income New Yorkers gain access to government benefits, housing, and healthcare. She also runs FirstGenLive where she gives advice about financial aid. She expects to make $10,000 in 2021.

Melchor lived in Mexico as a child before her family moved to the United States for economic opportunities. For most of her life, her parents lived as a low-income family because they were undocumented immigrants.

She managed to get approval for her green card in high school which allowed her to go to Yale University.

Melchor spends $3,500 per month and encourages people to continuously track their spending.

“I am a big proponent in that especially if you’re new to budgeting,” she said.

She typically saves $1,140 per month.

“I really feel like I got interested in personal finance out of need,” she said. She wanted to find the best way to use her first post-graduation paycheck. Most of her savings goes to retirement and financial goals.

Looking ahead in the future, she hopes to get her citizenship and study law. She is inspired to enter law because of the discrimination she has felt as an undocumented immigrant.