budget breakdown, episode four

michela allocca's (breakyourbudget) spending for march 2025, transition from finance into content creation, and building a $1m net worth

Apr 26, 2025

Welcome to the fourth episode of Budget Breakdown, where I feature finance creators’ budget for a designated month — this includes their real numbers for income, expenses, and savings/investments. In addition, they answer my questions about their 9-5, academic and career trajectory, side hustles, and/or monetization surrounding their social media presence. Most importantly, I end each breakdown with lifestyle-related questions to shine light on their qualities outside of just finance.

I am so delighted to feature Michela Allocca as my fourth guest on this series — please give her a warm welcome.

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What is your name/username?

Michela Allocca (Instagram)

How old are you, what is your job title and field, what type of city do you live in?

I’m 29, I am a personal finance creator, and I live in Chicago! So HCOL I believe.

Where did you attend? What degrees do you have?

I attended Elon University and I have a BSBA with a major in Finance.

Is your degree related to the career you're pursuing at this moment?

Sort of - since I am a creator now, the majority of my work is creative. But the topics I discuss were all related to my work experience and degree. I don’t think I would have become a finance creator if I didn’t go to school for finance.

What do you use to manage your finances?

I use a spreadsheet - The Personal Finance Dashboard. I am Team Spreadsheet!

What are your short-term finance goals?

In the short-term, my goal is just to max out my retirement accounts. I am not currently saving for anything - just focused on building my wealth as much as possible!

Do you recommend any finance books/creators/podcasts that have been integral to your financial independence journey?

Me! Haha. Check out my book, Own Your Money! Otherwise, I follow a few other finance creator friends but I do my best not to consume finance content so I can stay in my own lane in the space.

Reported numbers have been updated for the month of March.

Net Worth:

$1M+ (Made up of high yield savings account, CD, Solo 401k, a Roth IRA, a Traditional IRA, and a Brokerage account)

Income:

Brand Partnerships - 50%
Digital Products - 50%

Spending:

Essentials

Rent: $2,761
Utilities: $52
Grocery: $266
Subscriptions: $12
Household essentials: $23
Misc: $200 - this was stuff related to the dentist - higher than usual

Non-Essentials

Restaurants: $237
Shopping: $717 - higher than usual
Self-maintenance: $260 - higher than usual because I got my hair done
Ubers: $170 - also higher than usual because I was traveling
Coffee: $62
Travel: $220 - this was a flight
Misc: $280 - purchased patio chairs for my balcony

Sinking funds:

Made my bi-weekly contributions to my solo 401k (employee) and my quarterly profit share (employer)

How was the transition from working in a corporate role to pursuing your own business full time?

It was hard. I think the internet glamorizes self-employment, but creating structure and a schedule was challenging at the beginning. It is still challenging now, because I am in charge of what gets done and there is no one who is telling me to do more.

Pros and cons of being a full-time content creator?

Pros: flexibility, control over your life, infinite earning power
Cons: Never turns off, stability is a myth, can feel very lonely and isolating

Advice you'd give to those starting out in the social media space — growth, engagement, and monetizing tips?

Focus on consistency first. Everyone is so caught up in numbers and analytics - it doesn’t matter if you don’t have a library of content for people to go through when they find you. Content creation is a skill, so really theFrid first 3-6 months should be about developing that skill rather than monetizing.

Once you reach a point where you are ready to monetize, create your own product or service. Depending on brand deals alone is a risky plan.

Advice you'd give to those with an established online community but hope to quit their job and pursue social media full time, especially if job income exceeds social media income?

Take the leap, but make it calculated. You should not ever leave a steady job if you are not out-earning that role consistently for 3-6 months. You also need to factor in how your financial life changes - retirement plans, benefits, taxes, etc. There needs to be a clearly defined plan in place for those things before you leave. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Don’t underestimate the pressure and admin related to self-employment!

Rank effort to profitability ratio of all your income sources out of 5 (5 in effort = high level of effort; 5 in profitability = high financial yield).

Brand Deals: 2/5
Digital Products: 3/5
Affiliates: 3/2
Speaking engagements: 3/3