Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
All I read in this post, over and over, is excuses. I'm sorry. But I do. Wife and I graduated in 2003, very much a down economy, with $45k in debt between us (for those keeping score that is $60k in todays money).
Between the two of us, we made $27,000 a year ($35k in inflation adjusted money). That is TWO incomes. We drove old, paid for cars. I moved 900 miles after college for a job, spent four months there, didn't work out, moved another 900 back. When I did that, to rent a UHaul, it was $3000+ one way from A->B, to go from B->A it was $800 including gas. Bought an air airline ticket, picked up the truck, drove from B->A, loaded, A->B, unloaded, and B->A again to drop off the empty truck, all in 7 days, 2700 miles including loading and unloading a moving truck!
Moved 2000+ miles 8 months later for another job, spent a year there, moved another 2000 miles back to the east coast after that, as income went up I continued driving the same car. When the car needed a transmission, I bought another one like it with a blown motor, and swapped transmissions. All told out of pocket costs were around $250! You went out and spent $21k on a new car!
We scrimped and saved and bought a house in 2008, only to see the economy collapse around us! By then she was making around $25k a year and I was making $55k, well that all came crashing down and our income got cut back. She no longer had a job and I was making $35k-$40k. It was all we could do but pay bills. We kept the temperature in our house at 63* to keep the heating costs as low as possible. What saved us was the low overhead from not going out and buying new cars. Low mx costs, low insurance rates, etc.
We're better now but those days, back in 2008-2012, were pretty dark for us. Finally at the end of this past year, things have started to get better. She no longer has to commute an hour each way, as she got a job where she works from home (fingers crossed she can keep it). I moved up the food chain at a new company and we finally last month paid off our student loans altogether (we still had $8k left on them between the two of us). We are 34.
These newer college grads act like they are owed a middle class lifestyle right out of college, sorry no, you have to work at it. Pay off your loans, save your money when you are young, so that you can set yourself up for life later. No excuses. I'm sick of hearing sob stories like yours when you had complete control over your life to put yourself in an excellent position yet blew it making unwise financial decisions. FWIW we have a ~$600k net worth, almost all from saving our pennies, very little of that was home appreciation (maybe $15k). STOP MAKING EXCUSES.
I'm 33 so about your age. Your advantage is that you had a spouse - two incomes, half rent. You were making 40K circa 2009 when a newer grad would not even have been able to secure a job. 40K during that period when rents fell would have been more than enough for a decent apartment or small house. Two people and two cars are crucial if you're going to drive old ones. I have a 1988 S-10 that only cost me $1200 but you know what? When it goes down my wife can take me to the shop. She can drive me to work for the 4-5 days it's in there.
You were making about 55% above median household income circa 2008. You went below it after that but not for long.
You were one of the haves but don't seem to notice it. I'm going to call b.s. on your $600K net worth since you claim it is not home value appreciation - that had to be an inheritance or something like a GREAT 401K match at work. If it's the latter then again, you don't know how well off you actually had it.
I got my bachelor's degree in 2007. The same university today costs DOUBLE in 2016 what it did then. Your student loans were not to the level younger students have to take on. I'm not going to go back to my alma mater and condescend to them because they pay double what I paid for the same product and their job situation is worse.
Excuse me I don't think I made any poor choices in my 22 years living on this earth. I got my education like my teachers in high school preached to me while my cousins went to learn a trade and get a CDL. They actually make very good money for no college degree.
I lived cheap in college to avoid student loans and I will admit I got 5k of pell grant every year from the government but I am paying $10k a year in taxes from my $50k salary so the governments investment in my education is getting paid back in 2 years and I have another 43 years to work before I reach retirement age so the government did not get a section 8 welfare person abusing the system they got a tax paying citizen.
Roommates are an option if you know people. I live in West Virginia now and my friend that I was rooming with still lives in the Atlanta area. I am not moving in with a complete stranger that I met off of Craigslist and a new area I am not familiar with.
That is your choice. For those who can't afford it, it's not a necessity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Poor Chemist
I moved into the cheapest apartment I could find in the Morgantown area. I pay $620 a month for a modest 900 square foot apartment. Not extravagant by any means. Luckily, All of Morgantown is a safe place to live because in Atlanta $620 a month gets you an apartment in an area were an armed robbery or murder happens every week.
Buying a 21k isn't a poor financial choice when you don't know how to fix on cars and you need a car that is going to last a long time.
That is your choice. For those who can't afford it, it's not a necessity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Poor Chemist
I have a piece of mind that my car isn't going to break down when I driving back to Atlanta to visit my family 600 miles out of town
That is your choice. For those who can't afford it, it's not a necessity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Poor Chemist
and I think my car is worth every penny I paid for it because I plan to keep it until it has 300,000 miles on it like my Camry I use to own. Toyotas are good cars. All you have to do is keep the oil changed and don't have to worry about any major mechincal problems happening to the vehicle when have an auto loan.
I am doing a lot better financially now that I am making decent money. My current job I am able to save $1,000 a month and I will have enough for a 20% down payment for my first house in 2 years.
I don't have an entitlement complex or an attitude. If anyone needs to change attitude or sense of entitlement it is you.
Maybe both of us. A car is still not a necessity as often as people think, esp. for single childless grads. Living without roomies is the same way.
That is your choice. For those who can't afford it, it's not a necessity.
That is your choice. For those who can't afford it, it's not a necessity.
That is your choice. For those who can't afford it, it's not a necessity.
Maybe both of us. A car is still not a necessity as often as people think, esp. for single childless grads. Living without roomies is the same way.
I could of continued driving my old car for a couple more months until I could have saved up enough to get a reliable used car with decent miles but now that I moved 600 miles away I kind of glad a bought a new car to go out of town.
Sure I could fly back home but round ticket trips from Pittsburgh to Atlanta cost about $500 around thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Could cost $1500 a year to go home on an plane while it costs me $50 worth of gas round trip in my car.
Sure. If you live in New York City or San Francisco a car isn't necessary since they have an excellent public transportation system that takes resident from one borough to the next but 90-95% of the country doesn't live in NYC or San Fran.
To get back on topic student loans for individuals currently in school is a major issue. I started college in 2011 when Georgia State only cost 8,000 a year and the states hope scholarship program paid 100% of students tuition who maintained a 3.0 GPA. Now GSU cost almost $11,000 a year and they have cut the scholarship program to pay 80% of the tuition because the program was going over the allotted budget amount.
This means current GSU students are going to have to borrow more in loans to cover tuition and living exspenses and a minimum wage part time job isn't going to make up for the increased tuition they have to pay like it worked out for me. I got 5,000 back from the school because my tuition was fully covered by the hope scholarship and my part time job covered my groceries, gas, and insurance while my pell grant covered my rent and utilities off campus.
Current students at my school aren't as lucky as me and have to turn to loans to cover the rising costs. Tuition costs need to be frozen!
I could of continued driving my old car for a couple more months until I could have saved up enough to get a reliable used car with decent miles but now that I moved 600 miles away I kind of glad a bought a new car to go out of town.
Sure I could fly back home but round ticket trips from Pittsburgh to Atlanta cost about $500 around thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Could cost $1500 a year to go home on an plane while it costs me $50 worth of gas round trip in my car.
3 trips home every year are not a necessity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Poor Chemist
Sure. If you live in New York City or San Francisco a car isn't necessary since they have an excellent public transportation system that takes resident from one borough to the next but 90-95% of the country doesn't live in NYC or San Fran.
Living away from work is not a necessity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Poor Chemist
To get back on topic student loans for individuals currently in school is a major issue. I started college in 2011 when Georgia State only cost 8,000 a year and the states hope scholarship program paid 100% of students tuition who maintained a 3.0 GPA. Now GSU cost almost $11,000 a year and they have cut the scholarship program to pay 80% of the tuition because the program was going over the allotted budget amount.
This means current GSU students are going to have to borrow more in loans to cover tuition and living exspenses and a minimum wage part time job isn't going to make up for the increased tuition they have to pay like it worked out for me. I got 5,000 back from the school because my tuition was fully covered by the hope scholarship and my part time job covered my groceries, gas, and insurance while my pell grant covered my rent and utilities off campus.
Current students at my school aren't as lucky as me and have to turn to loans to cover the rising costs. Tuition costs need to be frozen!
I would like to agree but cannot say more without the mods thinking I am violating the no politics rule for this forum, so I'll just leave it there.
I'm 33 so about your age. Your advantage is that you had a spouse - two incomes, half rent. You were making 40K circa 2009 when a newer grad would not even have been able to secure a job. 40K during that period when rents fell would have been more than enough for a decent apartment or small house. Two people and two cars are crucial if you're going to drive old ones. I have a 1988 S-10 that only cost me $1200 but you know what? When it goes down my wife can take me to the shop. She can drive me to work for the 4-5 days it's in there.
You were making about 55% above median household income circa 2008. You went below it after that but not for long.
You were one of the haves but don't seem to notice it. I'm going to call b.s. on your $600K net worth since you claim it is not home value appreciation - that had to be an inheritance or something like a GREAT 401K match at work. If it's the latter then again, you don't know how well off you actually had it.
I got my bachelor's degree in 2007. The same university today costs DOUBLE in 2016 what it did then. Your student loans were not to the level younger students have to take on. I'm not going to go back to my alma mater and condescend to them because they pay double what I paid for the same product and their job situation is worse.
Except you forgot I was supporting two people. Two cars, insurance (home, car, and medical), food, phone, the list goes on. It's double the cost.
I think it's hilarious to state that a newer grad couldn't even get a job in 2009. Maybe they couldn't in their field. When I graduated I made $7/hr my wife made $8.50, circa 2003. Those were absolute bottom of the barrel jobs back then. I'm sorry, your pity party of woe is me, I only make $50k out of college, makes me sick. 2001-2003 was a horrible time to graduate as well. But we made it. This economy is so good it's not even funny. So much hiring going on.
"One of the haves"
That is so funny on so many levels. Hilarious. I don't know anyone in my life who would use that phrase around us. Did we make more than the median wage? I'm sure averaged heck yeah we did, but we didn't go to college to accrue $45k in debt ($60k in todays dollars which split between the two of us is still almost double the median amount folks graduate with) to flip burgers, so stuff your comparisons.
No inheritance. It was very simple. Save and invest.
"Americans are flooding the government with appeals to have their student loans forgiven on the grounds that schools deceived them with false promises of a well-paying career—part of a growing protest against years of surging college costs."
Promises, promises in the dark lol.
When will people learn? Or at least learn to think?
Except you forgot I was supporting two people. Two cars, insurance (home, car, and medical), food, phone, the list goes on. It's double the cost.
I think it's hilarious to state that a newer grad couldn't even get a job in 2009. Maybe they couldn't in their field. When I graduated I made $7/hr my wife made $8.50, circa 2003. Those were absolute bottom of the barrel jobs back then. I'm sorry, your pity party of woe is me, I only make $50k out of college, makes me sick. 2001-2003 was a horrible time to graduate as well. But we made it. This economy is so good it's not even funny. So much hiring going on.
"One of the haves"
That is so funny on so many levels. Hilarious. I don't know anyone in my life who would use that phrase around us. Did we make more than the median wage? I'm sure averaged heck yeah we did, but we didn't go to college to accrue $45k in debt ($60k in todays dollars which split between the two of us is still almost double the median amount folks graduate with) to flip burgers, so stuff your comparisons.
No inheritance. It was very simple. Save and invest.
Either you are lying or are exceptional. The former is widespread on the internet. If it's the latter, you might have a little empathy for those who are not as awesome as you are. I'm betting that there was some help somewhere in there. No man is an island and I'm sure you got some help. To achieve the net worth in 2016 you're talking about since the early 2000s mostly through investments, assuming your house is worth 300 and you made 300K more with investments tracking the S&P, you would have had to have invested at least 100K before the market started to skyrocket in late 2011.
Where I work we get dozens of applications for EVERY entry level job, sometimes up to 200-250 and most of them meet the basic qualifications. Sometimes more. We use ridiculous nitpicking and niggling criteria to whittle them down. Getting in is a lottery unless you already have an inside connection. These are for 3/4 time jobs that pay around 35K gross.
I'm not afraid to call out my advantages. I had veteran status which meant they were required by state law to give me at the very least a phone interview, considerably improving my odds beyond the HR lottery with what was essentially affirmative action. I have considerable sympathy for those coming up behind me without that advantage, high student loan debt, and an economy that works against them.
Last edited by redguard57; 02-21-2016 at 05:00 PM..
Either you are lying or are exceptional. The former is widespread on the internet. If it's the latter, you might have a little empathy for those who are not as awesome as you are. I'm betting that there was some help somewhere in there. No man is an island and I'm sure you got some help. To achieve the net worth in 2016 you're talking about since the early 2000s mostly through investments, assuming your house is worth 300 and you made 300K more with investments tracking the S&P, you would have had to have invested at least 100K before the market started to skyrocket in late 2011.
Where I work we get dozens of applications for EVERY entry level job, sometimes up to 200-250 and most of them meet the basic qualifications. Sometimes more. We use ridiculous nitpicking and niggling criteria to whittle them down. Getting in is a lottery unless you already have an inside connection. These are for 3/4 time jobs that pay around 35K gross.
I'm not afraid to call out my advantages. I had veteran status which meant they were required by state law to give me at the very least a phone interview, considerably improving my odds beyond the HR lottery with what was essentially affirmative action. I have considerable sympathy for those coming up behind me without that advantage, high student loan debt, and an economy that works against them.
For my current job I defiantly had advantages. The Sr. Lead Scientist I work for told me over 150 applicants applied for the position and they were only looking for 2 candidates to hire for my Analytical chemist position.
Considering the fact that I am a minority gave me a huge advantage against the other applicants. This company I work for is only 3% minorities so the company is looking to develop a more diverse workforce.
I know my race/ethnicity was the reason my resume got to the top of the pile. I also have the advantage of having no student loan debt which helps a lot. The typical college grad that isn't part of a protected class isn't as lucky though.
Either you are lying or are exceptional. The former is widespread on the internet. If it's the latter, you might have a little empathy for those who are not as awesome as you are. I'm betting that there was some help somewhere in there. No man is an island and I'm sure you got some help. To achieve the net worth in 2016 you're talking about since the early 2000s mostly through investments, assuming your house is worth 300 and you made 300K more with investments tracking the S&P, you would have had to have invested at least 100K before the market started to skyrocket in late 2011.
Where I work we get dozens of applications for EVERY entry level job, sometimes up to 200-250 and most of them meet the basic qualifications. Sometimes more. We use ridiculous nitpicking and niggling criteria to whittle them down. Getting in is a lottery unless you already have an inside connection. These are for 3/4 time jobs that pay around 35K gross.
I'm not afraid to call out my advantages. I had veteran status which meant they were required by state law to give me at the very least a phone interview, considerably improving my odds beyond the HR lottery with what was essentially affirmative action. I have considerable sympathy for those coming up behind me without that advantage, high student loan debt, and an economy that works against them.
Well I never said we are struggling now. But my point was we had lots of debt, and made little money. We got by and those frugality skills have served us well. Our house is $196k we paid $176k eight years ago for it, mortgage still has $108k on it. So half a mil+ in liquid. Sad thing is I pulled all our money out in the Spring of 2012, finally got back in in August 2015, so I've lost out on a huge gain. That's called tuition and I paid through the nose.
We did get $2,500 for our wedding so I guess you can take that off the top. I left home my second year of college and never went back.
As far as inside connections go, that is called networking. Buddy of yours gets hired, he helps you out and vice versa. I never had the minority card so it's the only thing I could do. Since college I have had five jobs and all but one did I not know someone or even multiple people at the company. Networking is huge. I'm not talking LinkedIn which I don't even have (or Facebook which I also don't have) I'm talking treating people you work with nicely and helping each other out and building long term connections. This seems lost on the folks 5-10 years younger than us who hide behind their computer screens and send text messages to people sitting next to them.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
