It’s Pay Day! The ABC’s new column where we ask Australians the money questions we don’t like to talk about. We aim to demystify personal finance and normalise conversations about what we earn and how we save it — or spend it.

Jess Cerro (aka the singer-songwriter Montaigne) didn’t study music in school because the tuition was expensive, but taught themself guitar and pursued music anyway. Since releasing their first album in 2014 they have won an ARIA, been nominated for a Grammy, represented Australia in Eurovision, written music for video games and collaborated with David Byrne. They also featured in the portrait that won last year’s Archibald Prize.

Last year they parted ways with their record label and have taken on a larger role in managing their finances and career.

For Pay Day, Montaigne talks about how they’ve learnt to organise their savings, the anxiety surrounding saving for a house, and the $350 guitar that disappeared forever.

How would you describe your financial situation right now?

I would say it’s very stable if not comfortable so long as the shows I’ve been booked for in the next six months don’t get cancelled lol.

How was money spoken about in your house growing up?

“Tienes platas” is one of the most ingrained phrases I have from my childhood, meaning “Do you have money?” in Spanish.

Money was spoken about very cryptically — I never had a sense of how my parents were doing financially because they fought a lot about money but I went to a private school and was often reassured we were doing fine. At times I would be blamed for my parents’ financial situation because I went to an expensive school (I was a child, not my choice). It was fraught and confused as a topic but my parents weren’t afraid of spending money.

About how much of your income goes towards your rent or mortgage each week?

I theoretically pay $325/week however currently I am paying our apartment’s full $650/week rent because my partner is not earning a lot right now and I earn a pretty comfortable wage (which I pay to myself).

I trust my partner entirely and so I’m happy to be paying a higher proportion of rent right now (he’s also gonna back pay me eventually) and when he finds more secure and higher paying work we’ll adjust the split again.

What has been your biggest financial disaster?

I have the good fortune of never having had a truly disastrous financial accident but the closest I’ve come (that I can remember) is that I bought a new electric guitar for $350 and after using it a handful of times I left it at airport baggage claim, only realised weeks later, and never saw it again. I evidently didn’t use the guitar very much when I had it.

What’s your guilty splurge?

Ordering food to my apartment is something I definitely wish I did less often, but I kinda need to if I want to eat because I often don’t have time or energy to cook!

How much was the last loaf of bread you bought?

$8.50 Sonoma sourdough from Woolworths, I think!

How many bank accounts do you have? How do you organise your money?

I have like five accounts. Four are personal and are divided into these categories: spending money, big purchase money (say, getting a tattoo or piercing or buying a kitchen appliance like a blender), holiday savings, long-term savings (money for a house deposit basically) and “emergency” savings (this usually goes to car expenses which I share with my partner).

I don’t put money away every week because I’m not very frugal but my ideal week sees me putting $25 into big purchase money, $100 into holiday savings, $100 into long-term savings (I usually toggle the ratio of holiday + long-term savings depending on whether or not a holiday might be coming soon), and $50 into emergency savings. Spending money is where I get paid into and the account I spend on everyday needs from (food, gas, transport, clothes etc).

My business account is where I get paid to for anything Montaigne-related and where I spend from if I have a business expense (paying touring costs, contractors, equipment, insurance, etc).

What’s your biggest source of money anxiety?

It’s probably saving for a house. At the rate I save, being able to afford a house that suits my needs (free-standing so I can sing loudly without bothering neighbours, space for a studio, space to practise movement and choreography, centrally-located) is soooo far out of reach. And that’s insane because I have middle-class capability of saving so you can only imagine how people who don’t have my luck are going.

What are you saving for right now and how are you doing it?

I’m currently saving for a two-week trip to Japan at the end of the year and long-term I am continually saving for a home. I haven’t taken a big personal holiday in about two years so I’ve been able to save well week on week but I also get monthly APRA AMCOS publishing cheques which range from $100-$1,000 depending on how well songs I’ve written have been streamed. Because of my song with Tom Cardy I’ve been able to put some good money into my holiday savings from that.

What’s your biggest financial achievement?

I think literally just getting organised with my savings was big for me. I made the big mistake in my early 20s of thinking my finance manager was saving on my behalf because I didn’t know how anything worked and didn’t ask questions until too late so I spent several years of my earning life not putting any money aside. When I realised the truth is when I started saving like, at all, and eventually I put my current system into place. God, how I wish I could have saved money over those five years but you can’t turn back time.

If you could tell 18-year-old you one thing about money, what would it be?

I guess I would just give them a rundown of the basics. I had zero financial literacy when I was younger and I didn’t know how credit cards or loans or savings or interest or taxes or anything worked. I never got into trouble because my management company had a finance manager embedded in the structure who looked after keeping track of things for me but it would have been great to understand what they were doing from that age.

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Jess Cerro aka Montaigne is a singer-songwriter from Sydney. They recently released new music and a podcast. They will be performing at PrideFEST in Perth on November 22 and Undertone Festival on the Gold Coast on November 10.