This story is part of CNBC Make It’s Millennial Money series, which details how people around the world earn, spend and save their money.
Chi Baik has never earned as little income as she does today — or had higher living expenses.
The 26-year-old recently halved her $60,000 salary as a teacher outside Washington, D.C., to move to Seattle for a Ph.D. program, where she lives on a roughly $27,000 in yearly income. She used to pay $800 to split a townhouse with friends, but now spends $1,157 for 240-square-foot micro-studio.
“I didn’t even know they made apartments this tiny,” Baik tells CNBC Make It.
Money is tighter than it used to be, yet Baik says she’s happy with her decision to move and be on her own for the first time. “It feels like I’m starting a new chapter in my life, and I’m really excited for it,” she says.
Baik is getting her Ph.D. at the University of Washington in special education and expects to get about $24,000 for nine months of funding during the academic year. She also picked up an extra job as a grader and will earn about $3,000 for 11 weeks of work (at 10 hours per week) this spring.
Baik knows most people will think $27,000 is “so little money,” but says “I feel very grateful that I’m making that much, that I have a home to live in, especially in Seattle. The unhoused population is really large, and that makes me even more grateful for the money that I am making.”
Here’s what spurred Baik’s “big lifestyle change” and how she’s making it work.
From business to special education
Baik was born in Seoul, South Korea, and moved with her family to Silver Spring, Maryland, when she was 4.
She spent her life on the East Coast and enrolled as a business major at the University of Maryland because she thought it would lead to a solid job after college. But by sophomore year, Baik realized, “I wasn’t happy in my classes. I didn’t like any of the networking things and I was just sad.”
She enjoyed volunteering with kids in the past and gave teaching a try….
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