Single, Childless (No Cat) Lady Finances
How I, a single woman with no kids or partner, achieved financial freedom.
How did I, a single woman with no kids or partner, become financially secure enough to quit my job without something else lined up? It took luck, time, and intention. Let’s talk about it.
Luck
I’ll start by saying I wasn’t lucky enough to be born into generational wealth, and I’m no nepo-baby. Until I was about eight years old, my parents were searching-through-the-couch-cushions-for-milk-money, let’s-go-eat-at-Abuela’s-because-we-have-no-food broke. Eventually my parents’ situation improved, but when college came around, my dad told me he wasn’t going to change his lifestyle to pay for my college. They expected me to figure things out, and I’ve been financially on my own since college graduation.
Now, let’s talk about how I was lucky. I had:
a loving and stable childhood with parents and teachers who had the time, energy, and ability to support me academically;
a full-ride, merit-based college scholarship that allowed me to avoid student loan debt;
a resume burnished with Teach For America to open doors my state college degree just couldn’t;
an employer that contributed 25% of my annual earnings into a retirement account for me (not a match, I didn’t contribute a dime);
a house that significantly appreciated in value over a short period of time; and,
no one to worry about but myself.
A note on earnings
My median annual earnings since I started working is $161,500, with a low of $14,500 and a high of $248,500. I debated categorizing my high income as luck, but I decided not to. My earnings have enabled me to save a lot. However, there are plenty of high income people who are not as financially successful as I am. Getting, keeping, and excelling at those roles was hard work and took skill. It wasn’t luck.
Time
In June 2008, I started my first full-time job. As a Teach For America corps member, I began teaching high school English in the Rio Grande Valley, a rural community on the Texas-Mexico border. My salary was modest, but the cost of living was low. Many of my fellow TFAers saved significant nest eggs during their two years in the Valley. I did not. I lived paycheck-to-paycheck. My only savings was a mandatory bi-weekly paycheck contribution to my Teacher Retirement System account. I was just thrilled to have a paycheck.
In June 2011, I started my first business job, and my financial life changed. With a stroke of a pen and a move to Atlanta, I tripled my earnings. I went from almost maxed out credit cards to having more money than I knew what to do with. My net worth was around $3,000, just that mandatory retirement money and a small emergency fund.
At first, I just enjoyed not checking my bank account for every purchase. I still didn’t think about saving, but my employer was making annual contributions to my retirement account. Over time, I slowly changed some money habits: I started paying off my credit card every month and building up an emergency fund.
In February 2014, I bought my first house and became more serious about my finances. I put more money into my emergency fund, and I started reading personal finance books. My net worth was $120,000, 80% of it in my employer-funded retirement account.
In March 2015, I opened my first investment account. By August, I had a job offer from Amazon. My last day was December 4th, ensuring I got my end of year bonus and a fully vested retirement account. My net worth was $300,000, 85% of it in employer-funded retirement and home equity.
In August 2023, I started working Jay Zigmont, PhD, CFP® from Childfree Wealth to streamline my finances and navigate being a childfree, single business owner. At the end of the year, my net worth was $875,000.
In October 2024, I quit Amazon. My net worth is just north of $1,000,000. It took 13 years.
Intention
I want to balance two truths in this section.
First, I was really lucky: I landed multiple job where my employers compensated me well and, in the case of one employer, gave me a giant head start on retirement, and I benefited from an exceptional housing market, buying and selling at just the right times to make a big profit.
Second, I didn’t become a millionaire on luck alone.
Since 2015, I’ve saved and/or invested around 30% of my salary each year to grow my net worth. Here are the actions I took that helped me do that:
Spent Less Than I Earned: Until I moved to Seattle, I tried to keep my fixed expenses (like my mortgage or car payments) low enough that I could have paid them on my teacher salary. When my bank was willing to loan me $500,000 to buy my first house, I decided to buy a house that cost $156,000. I don’t care about having a fancy car, so I bought a Kia in cash.
Automated Good Intentions: I don’t rely on good intentions; I rely on good automation. After I establish my goals, I set up my paycheck to direct deposit into two (or more) accounts. Bank A gets the money I’ll spend for bills and other recurring expenses. Bank B gets the money I’ll save or invest. I use different banks, so I never see the money I’m putting to work. It takes 3-5 days to access that saved money when I want it, so I can’t play the sly game of putting money into savings and then moving it back into checking when I want to spend a little more. For a very long time, I didn’t have the willpower to not spend the money I saw in my bank account. Setting up separate accounts helped me “hide” the money from myself.
Kept Investing Simple: Stock picking or paying more for a managed fund doesn’t make sense to me. Historically, the stock market has returned around 8%-10% per year, and there are no fund managers that have consistently beat the market. I buy low-cost index funds that track the market. My time horizon isn’t now; it’s 20 years from now. Daily changes do not matter to me. If I need the money for an upcoming purchase or as an emergency cushion, I park it in a high-yield savings account.
Don’t Forget Fun
You might read this and think I was depriving myself or not having any fun. That’s not the case. I’ve had a lot of fun along the way. I went on wonderful trips. I ate delicious meals (even some Michelin starred ones). I have a beautiful home that I love. I’ve supported causes I care about. I’ve never cut my spending to the bone because I knew that deprivation would not create the life I wanted. I spend on the things that matter to me and save on the things that don’t.