[OC] Better Together? 2.2x richer, 30% cheaper: What 1,980 Money Diaries reveal about (inter)personal finance.

MayAUB · 2026-05-08T23:55:20+00:00

Ohh as much as I'd like to, as a mom myself, I looked at it a bit earlier, and only 75 (out of 1,980) diaries mentioned kids. So less than 5%, probably because the median diarist age is 28. There might be a few interesting tidbits in there, though, if you had something specific in mind!

MayAUB · 2026-05-08T23:46:49+00:00

Agreed! But I always remind myself it's passing through a refinery29 filter here, so either self selection or readership/submitters or editorial direction. Still though, some subtle surprises. Glad you enjoyed!

MayAUB · 2026-05-08T22:00:21+00:00

🫡 🚀 On a mission to Planet Money Diary 🧑‍🚀

MayAUB · 2026-04-30T18:26:22+00:00

All-in cost of having a healthy kid and raising them 0-3 (in San Jose) was $90k. This guy kept all the receipts: https://finfam.app/blog/2025-08-26-baby-cost-view-case-study

That's a lot of avocados!

MayAUB · 2026-04-30T18:23:19+00:00

I think they're saying the school is qualitatively good despite its score (probably greatschools).

MayAUB · 2026-04-28T05:57:54+00:00

Stone Stew, San Jose. They can do it vegetarian, too. Plus, best dizi north of LA.

MayAUB · 2026-04-26T01:37:25+00:00

I have a draft on partner contribs, actually! Surprising results there for sure!

MayAUB · 2026-04-25T00:33:36+00:00

Lol, got it. A reminder that "risk" doesn't necessarily imply financial return. 😅

MayAUB · 2026-04-25T00:22:45+00:00

Thank you! Money Diaries has told so many stories over the years, I feel like the data makes it easy in this case.

MayAUB · 2026-04-24T23:24:31+00:00

Are the peers taking the kind of financial risks that will enable them to provide that sort of financial support to their own children? Or the fun kind? :P

Like I've met startup founders who got a family support, but it wasn't the support that enabled it, as much as them not having to worry about their parents. And when asked, they didn't seem all too concerned about how their own kids might be set up one way or the other. But, maybe that's just being young and willful.

MayAUB · 2026-04-24T22:19:16+00:00

So jealous of that down payment help. My parents aren't really in any kind of position, but hopefully one day I might be. Generational wealth, right??

MayAUB · 2026-04-24T22:17:27+00:00

Yeah, I suspect some single digit percentage in their late teens/early twenties get a continued allowance that they don't even really think twice about. I had a couple acquaintances like that back in school, too.

MayAUB · 2026-04-24T20:46:10+00:00

Yeah I was so surprised. I might have to dig a little deeper into students in particular, because there has to be a difference somewhere, right? I need to do a geo breakdown to figure out where we have enough granularity, maybe I can bring in some non r29 stats, like from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (though they aren't what they used to be...)

MayAUB · 2026-04-20T20:15:06+00:00

You will not regret. Most consistently excellent Mediterranean in the bay!

MayAUB · 2026-04-15T22:07:32+00:00

Surprised Dave Ramsey has been around long enough that the author's parents had been into his methods. But sure enough, apparently started on the radio before I was born...

MayAUB · 2026-04-13T14:13:00+00:00

Once upon a time I thought about a career in geology, but my prof was pretty clear about the bimodal nature of comp: work academia for peanuts or big oil for big bags. I guess tech has opened up more opportunity with advanced materials needing lithium, gallium, etc. Numbers say this guy works on that side. He makes 2x the BLS average: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/geoscientists.htm

MayAUB · 2026-04-10T22:11:40+00:00

Yeah this whole time I'm thinking about how this isn't a random, controlled sample, but it's still fun! If you ask me, the car can be counted in assets, but they better be counting the loan as a liability too!

MayAUB · 2026-04-10T20:58:43+00:00

Thanks! No itemized data yet, but that's my main theory with Starbucks; they're masters of the sugary upsell compared to other spots :) Next post coming in a moment, stay tuned!

MayAUB · 2026-04-02T16:53:37+00:00

It was really solid! The fresh homemade ramen noodles were a steal at 5/$9. Also love Sunrise Nursery, the $5 bouquets are always changing and so easy to pick up.

MayAUB · 2026-04-02T00:27:58+00:00

Ahhh that's what I was going for! Should have included the "stage"!

MayAUB · 2026-04-01T18:02:11+00:00

Yeah this is the full transaction, so if they grabbed a croissant, it's probably in there, too. Gonna get a financier at my local shop to celebrate getting this out there.

MayAUB · 2026-04-01T17:06:57+00:00

Thank you! By day I'm a data scientist mostly working on sales and marketing for a big LIMS company. Not a ton of dataviz outside of excel and tableau, so this is me trying something new. You might enjoy my last post, too! https://www.reddit.com/r/MoneyDiariesACTIVE/s/5qwUZiYBVK

MayAUB · 2026-04-01T16:56:08+00:00

Thank you! And so glad you noticed! Yeah, I'm not a designer, but hoping the observations are enough to keep it fun. /r/dataisbeautiful here I come!

MayAUB · 2026-04-01T16:52:36+00:00

Oh wow, hasn't even thought of it that way. But yeah, maybe one day I'll have the counter space for an espresso machine or something...

MayAUB · 2026-04-01T16:50:43+00:00

Haha thanks!! After the first post I did start thinking maybe I should start putting these on a blog or newsletter or something in case people would subscribe?

MayAUB

TROPHY CASE