Starting salaries for accountants and truckdrivers... (Los Angeles, Long Beach: to rent, how much, houses)

[shouston4]

I'll be graduating in December with a degree in Accounting. I plan to start preparing to sit for the CPA exam after that. My husband is a truckdriver (class A endorsement). My question is this: What can we expect to make on average in the Los Angeles area? What kind of quality of life would we have? Also, what area would we be able to afford with this income? We have three children (all school aged). I do plan on passing the CPA exam before we actually move. Any advice and guidance would be greatly appreciated.

***edit***

Also forgot to add that my husband has several years of experience in the trucking industry. I am the one who would be starting a new career.

okay, i know someone must know something. noone has relatives or friends in these industries? I tried looking on salary.com but those numbers can be misleading and monster.com ads don't post the salaries a lot of times, unless its an employment agency trying to reel you in. I also want to see if we would "financially" enjoy life out there being that we have three children. I would definitely want to rent first to get a feel for the area before we bought anything. The houses in our price range look like slum houses.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by shouston4

I also want to see if we would "financially" enjoy life out there being that we have three children. I would definitely want to rent first to get a feel for the area before we bought anything. The houses in our price range look like slum houses.

Renting sounds like a good idea.

Where were you looking? What schools would the kids go to?

[shouston4]

I'm not familiar with the surrrounding suburbs of Los Angeles, but I definitely would pick a surrounding suburb because it would be better, in my opinion, for raising a family. I guess the best suburb that we could afford that's safe, has a good school district (private schooling would be out of our price range, I believe) and close to the beach and city of l.a.

[shouston4]

bump....

if stevopolis can get feedback for his negative comments about los angeles, than i know i should be able to get a couple of suggestions

[wildgift]

The schools feeding into Mark Keppel in Monterey Park are doing well. The LA magnet schools are good too. Culver City has good schools. South Pasadena is also good. (Stay away from the Pasadena schools.) Look in Newsweek to see high school rankings, and the web to find other school scores.

[jamesandveybe]

New CPAs bring home $50k in LA proper. You should see a 10% increase per year that you grow your skills and responsibilities. Get your CIA and earn more. At your income levels, you are moving to a city where you both MUST work to provide a home. How much does your husband bring home? $100k/yr is the minimum take-home to realistically finance a home anywhere in LA.

There are no public schools I would approve of in LA proper. Private schools are a bit better for both education and social experience. Homeschooling is the best, but working parents cannot do all of that and sleep too!

[BRinSM]

$50k is about right for an entry level CPA in LA. as for your husband, is he a teamster? i'm sure he could find a full time job driving for a company in LA and make about the same with overtime. My dad is a teamster and drives for a liqour wholesaler and makes around $60k or so.

[missionhome]

I'm an accountant, but I only work part-time because I am a full time mom too. I work maybe four or five hours a day, some days I don't work at all, and then during the end of the year I get really busy and work a bit longer to finish up before the end of the year. I work from home and just have three clients in the area. I make 30k per year and it is just additional income to add to my husband's income, plus I enjoy working. I like having something else to do other than be a total housewife. I know full time accountants that make anywhere from 50k-100k depending on their experience, whether they are at a corporation, whether they have a few clients, etc.... I would guess probably 50k for starting full time, less if you go part time.

There are a lot of suburbs with good schools in the Los Angeles area. Do you need to be near a certain place though? Do you need to be near the port of LA or Long Beach? Do you need to live closer to the airport? Do you need to live close to a distribution center somewhere? Can you live anywhere in the LA area?
In Southern California the saying is that you should live where you work. You don't want to live in a place like Pasadena, but then have work thirty miles away in Long Beach for example (this would be a long commute).