This cinematographer makes $102,000 a year, here’s how he spends his money

Mayowa Alaketu is a cinematographer who prides himself on reaching the highest visual quality for the equipment he uses. He has worked entire seasons at the NBA G-League as an Audio Engineer and has years of audio mixing experience.

Also, he has done film work and photography for many clients and has years of computer hardware and software experience, troubleshooting and solving many issues. He has also done mixed audio on live television broadcasts for the Knicks and the Nets’ NBA G-League Teams. 

According to CNBC Make It, Alaketu makes $102,000 a year from his hustle. He earns $85,000 a year working in multimedia production at a legal nonprofit as well as an additional $17,000 mining Ethereum.

How Alaketu spends his money

He comes from a frugal family that places great importance on saving. However, he has created his own philosophy about money, giving himself some freedom to spend if he so wishes. Unlike many workers, Alaketu does not keep a budget.

“My brother is one of the most frugal people I know, but for some reason, I’ve always been that one black sheep when it comes to saving money,” he told CNBC Make It. “A lot of my financial knowledge tends to be centred around making and generating income as opposed to properly managing the income that I have.”

In September last year, Alateku challenged himself to spend $400 a week although he usually spends $1,200 per week. In the end, he spent $1,000 on restaurants and going to the movies but he was elated that he was below his average weekly spending.

He told CNBC Make It that his spending varied from day to day. He spent $281 total including dining out and going to the movies on one day and spent a total of $65 on another day, spending more on buying snacks at 7-Eleven. Alaketu claimed that he discovered he was happier on days when he spent less money and spent his time engaging in free activities like playing baseball in the park.

“I know it sounds terrible coming from me, but I realized that you don’t need to spend a lot to have a good time,” he said. “I want to make some changes and see if I can make my way down to my original [$400] goal.”