I’m turning 30 next week and I’m actually looking forward to it. A lot of people say, “life is all downhill after 21” but I reckon the next decade of my life is going to be pretty awesome.

Age is nothing to be ashamed of. It’s a measure of how many revolutions around the sun you’ve survived on this planet since exploding out of your mother’s womb. And you haven’t died yet. Now that’s worth celebrating.

Reflecting on my 20’s

My 20’s were a tumultuous time of my life. There was uni, going on exchange to Sweden, moving in with a partner, getting kicked out of home, partially failing uni & falling into bout of chronic depression. Scrapping through uni, moving to Sydney and struggling to find a community. Not to mention credit card debt, weight loss surgery and a broken ankle. My 20’s saw me go through 1 bout of chronic depression, 4 bouts of minor depression, 4 relationships, 12 jobs and moving 18 times. That’s a lot of change and disruption.

Finances (All balances in AUD)

My finances aren’t great but at least they are moving in a good direction. In the spirit of being transparent; it’s all here bear for you:

Super balance: 47k

My super (retirement fund) is growing nicely. I’m lucky to have had the one superfund since I was 14 and it’s over twice that compared to the average male’s super my age (reference). I’m with Verve Super, I transitioned from TasPlan Super who I had been with for 15 years. Verve are a super fund run by women for women and only invest in ethically run companies that have some diversity on their boards. They are a new kid on the block and I’d highly recommend checking them out.

Debt

Credit card debt: 30k; I paid for my weigh loss surgery on the credit card and a few other things (like a holiday and moving). I’m not proud of this but I feel like it’s a pretty common thing for people my age to go through. I’ve blogged about my struggles with credit card debt before.

HECS Debt (University fee’s): 39k

Salary

Salary (annual): 120k + super; I’m super proud of myself and how I’ve been able to grow my career & salary. When I started work at 14, I was on $7.42 an hour, that had doubled by the time I was 18. When I moved to Sydney 5.5 years ago, my graduate salary was 55k. I’ve now seen my salary double again since then and I’ve now been a software tester for 7 years. This salary also doesn’t include the extra 10-15k I can make in a year with the part time side business stuff I do, though I’m planning on investing most of this side cash in growing my business.

I currently spend a minimum of $1050 a month on debts (the credit card debt + a motorbike loan), I only have 1 year left before I finish paying off the motorbike.

Rent

$210 per week. I recently moved into my own 2 bedroom apartment in Crows Nest. The total rent is $460 per week and I’ve got a house mate in the big room that I charge $250 per week for. I recently spent a total of 4k furnishing the apartment (mostly second hand furniture) and I’m proud of my interior decorating skills: Here’s the Shared Photo Album if you want to check it out.

Summary

Why would I expect my 30’s to be worse? I don’t plan on changing anything about my existing job, relationship or living arrangements for the foreseeable future.

I’m looking forward to more stability in life, getting on top of my credit card debt, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and having less depression. What isn’t there to look forward to?