Emily Jardine, 37, a voice actor and coach from Reading, decided against going to university to pursue acting and music. She earned £114,000 last year and has recorded adverts for Coca-Cola and Milka. Her income fluctuates, with some months bringing in as much as £20,000 and others around £5,000.
Money management and savings
Emily keeps her bills relatively low, paying £1,100 a month for her mortgage and roughly £460 for bills. She likes having a financial "buffer" and makes sure her savings do not dip below £6,000. Currently, she has around £10,000 in savings, though this would usually be more if not for recent wedding and house construction costs.
She told Talk to the Press: "I like having a buffer - I don't tend to spend loads of money and I've always been good with money. I just want to be comfy and happy. We have our home, we love our home and we built the studio next to it. The only real difference from when I earned less is that the numbers are bigger."
Career growth and spending habits
Emily started voiceover work in 2012, initially doing jobs for free while working admin roles. She said: "At first in 2012 I would do jobs for free, which isn't great, but I would do it and then eventually clients would ask for me again and I started getting paid. And that grew and grew and grew, and suddenly I was doing huge jobs for companies like Vodafone and Milka chocolate. I was then doing Coca-Cola, and just all of these massive, massive brands. It was amazing."
She admits she "won't necessarily look at the price tag" when treating herself but only does so a few times a year. She said: "If I really want a particular outfit I won't necessarily look at the price tag. Recently we were in Gran Canaria and we booked a huge suite for five days and we spent a fair bit for what it was. But I have no intention of doing that again soon. I impulse buy once every couple of months - the next big thing is making Christmas special. Last year, I bought 30 presents including a mini fridge. One thing I do for myself every month is I have flowers delivered to my door from myself to myself."
Future plans
Emily's goal is to hire someone to help with her workload. She said: "It would be things like getting a new kitchen or a new bathroom, and being able to hire someone to take the workload off me. I would love to be able to get into a position where I can have more free time by outsourcing more of the editing."
