What was your best - and worst - Christmas gift?

+ an interview with Maria DeVoto of Ten Dollar Latte

Hi and welcome to The Ladybird Purse, my weekly newsletter about women and money. I’m not a financial advisor and not qualified to give financial advice.

If you celebrate Christmas, what was your favourite present as a child?

I remember bikes under the tree. A cassette player with three tapes, The Everly Brothers, Shakin’ Stevens, Elvis. A doll I’d coveted for ages that actually crawled (I still remember the mechanical sound she made as she lumbered across the room).

I still have the little skater girl I’m holding in this photo (Small Shots Breezy Bridget). My sister no longer has the terrifying Andy Pandy doll, thank god.

I loved the Raylite musical church you can see on the shelf behind me. It lit up and played Silent Night. Every year, I tell myself I’m going to buy one off eBay and every year I’m put off by the delivery charges.

What was your worst present? My aunt once gave me a washing up bowl, rubber gloves and tea towels. Festive!

I’m taking the next couple of weeks off - Properly off! Must not work at all! (Probably will, let’s face it) - but before I go, I have another interview with a money substacker, Maria DeVoto who writes Ten Dollar Latte.

I’ll be back 6th January 2025, well-rested and raring to go (I hope).

Happy Holidays!

---

Paid subscriptions enable me to keep writing these newsletter and buying my own tea towels.

If you’re not a paid subscriber already, I’d love it if you’d consider upgrading. (And if you are, thank you, I love you.)

If you would like a paid sub, but can’t swing it right now, email me and I’ll sort it.

---

An interview with Maria DeVoto

Maria lives in New York City. She writes Ten Dollar Latte, a Substack about managing personal finance while enjoying a $10 latte. She also runs Sidetracks, a party card game business.

Firstly, what inspired you to start writing Ten Dollar Latte?

I started writing Ten Dollar Latte because I love reading/watching other personal finance content but felt like it was hard to find others in a similar situation as me—living in a VHCOL (very high cost of living) city, sometimes making a higher than average salary compared to the rest of the country but also spending much more (and having different costs—for example, higher rent but no car), and navigating it all in my 20s.

I wrote the newsletter I wanted to read but hadn’t found yet! 

What is your relationship with money currently?

Complicated. I keep things organized and am happy with my safety net and earning potential, but there’s definitely a feeling that you’ll never have enough money to keep up that’s pervasive in New York culture.

What’s your earliest money memory?

My earliest money memory was going out with some friends to dinner around the time we were thirteen. It was a relatively nice Italian restaurant, and we split the dinner four ways. It cost $35 for my portion.

At the time, my parents had given me money here and there for when I had plans with friends, but that’s when they decided to give me an allowance instead, earned by doing chores around the house. They thought the dinner was outrageously expensive and that without a budget (and “income”), I wouldn’t spend money wisely.

Ironically, I don’t remember spending most of that allowance over the next couple years, but actually saving most of it (expensive dinners weren’t the norm).

What advice would you give your younger self about money?

Spend more money treating your friends and less money on cheap clothing.

What’s the biggest money mistake you’ve made?

I did a co-op (semester-long internship) in college and was offered $20/hour. For my next co-op rotation, I assumed I would remain flat at $20/hour, and didn’t ask for more. Later on, I learned that others were getting a $1/hour raise each new co-op rotation.

The money I missed out on that rotation wasn’t a crazy amount, but I learned to negotiate at every job since then.

What’s the best thing you’ve ever spent money on?

Ironically, it coincides with that money mistake. My junior year of college, I was offered a job offer for a co-op, where I would take that semester off of school to work in my field. My parents told me if I took the offer, I would have to spend the money I earned on during the co-op on living expenses for the additional semester of college I would add (the one semester delayed my graduation by a full year). I took the offer, completed the co-op, and spent the extra money.

It helped me figure out what I wanted to do after college and gave me valuable real world working experience, and was totally worth it.

Do you have a retirement fund? If not, do you have a plan?

I have a retirement fund, but not much of a plan of when I’ll retire and use it. I have a habit of investing monthly, even when I’m not able to invest a lot.

What would you do with $10,000?

I would like to say I would go on vacation or buy something nice with at least part of the money, but I would probably put it in savings.

If I had to spend the money and couldn’t put it in savings, I would go on a vacation to South America.

What little luxury could you get with a tenner?

An $8 beer at my local bar plus $2 tip, while watching the Yankees game or hanging out with friends.

If you were me, what would you want to ask women about money?

I’d want to ask how much everyone has in their emergency fund, and what their goal is - for example, 1 month, 3 months, or 6 months.

I’m always torn on how much to keep there as a goal compared to investing money towards retirement or other things.

If you’d prefer not to subscribe right now, but would still like to support me/this newsletter, you can you can buy me a coffee. Thank you!

RELATED POSTS:

"We can empower ourselves to take control of our financial futures and live life on our own terms."

“Money is not as important as everyone makes it seem.”