I’m a 23-year-old planning assistant on a low income, and still live with my mum. How will I ever save enough to move out, let alone get a mortgage?

Welcome to Money Matters: GLAMOUR’s weekly dive into the world of finance. We’re chatting all things personal finance, from contracting rights in the workplace to expert mortgage advice and saving for your first home, to ISAs and dealing with debt, to help empower you to make better choices. Now more than ever it’s important to understand our money, but so many of us feel as if we don’t have a handle on it – or worse, feel anxious and scared about money. 

So each week, a woman in a unique situation will give us an honest breakdown of her finances, and our expert will tell her easy tips on exactly how to tackle it. So, take a seat, and let’s talk about money…

Eimear* is a 23-year-old planning assistant for a fashion brand head office in Ireland. She lives with her mum in a ‘tiny’ rented property and worries she’ll never be able to rent alone, let alone save for a mortgage deposit, on a low income and with various outgoings. Here’s her money diary.\

MY ACCOUNTS

Current account: €141
Savings account: €108

MY INCOMINGS

Annual salary pre-tax: €27,200
Annual salary post-tax: €21,000
Monthly wage pre-tax: €2,266
Monthly wage post-tax: €1,750
Any other incoming payments: €0

MY OUTGOINGS

Rent/mortgage: €400
Bills: €650
Splurges: €100
Petrol: €100
Food: €200
Phone: €75
Insurance: €155

MY DEBTS

Car loan: €243 a month (€11,495 remaining)
Personal loan: €200 a month roughly on laptop (€912 remaining)

MY MONEY THOUGHTS

My worst money habit: Eating out when there’s food at home.
My biggest money worry: Never having my own place.
My financial hopes for the future: Earn €100k after tax per year.
Current money mood: ????????????

The undervalued things

When people say they want to earn more, our mind usually goes to side-hustles. That’s one option, but I’d argue that we’ve taken this whole side-hustle thing a little far. It’s no coincidence that the term has been coined in the last 10 years or so; not because humans have rapidly evolved to be more entrepreneurial and aspire to become ‘ShEOs’ or ‘boss ladies’, but because earning money beyond your 9-5 has become a necessity for many to have a comfortable life. A whole industry has been established in helping people to ‘be their own boss’ and in turn, we’ve started to undervalue things like good employers, a secure job that provides a good life and overvalue things like entrepreneurship, freedom from employment and billionaires. The truth is, the best way to build comfortable wealth is still with a good job.

You’re young