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A shame that real taxpayers will have to pick up the tab for the concrete/asphalt damage. Hoping to see one of the jerks land on a spiked fence at some point, little lesson for the kids and all that.
As the saying goes, “No matter where you go, there you are.”
From your post, the problem is that you haven't picked a field. You need to pick one and pursue it. I think you'll have some variant of your problem in almost any city.
You could pick a place with lower CoL like, oh I don't know, Boise or Omaha. You'd probably find something but it may not pay the salary you're expecting or there might not be the jobs you want. Lower CoL usually means there are fewer jobs.
You could pick a more glamorous place to live like Chicago, Seattle or New York City but find that your job does not pay enough to get you a decent house. Lots of jobs and especially specific niche jobs usually means high CoL.
I decided what kind of job would make me happy and I was willing to go anywhere in the U.S. for it, from Alaska to Maine to Florida, it didn't matter to me. Other people settle on a particular place but may find there are not the jobs they want there. Ie: you may think the Catskills in New York are beautiful, but that is an economically depressed area that doesn't have a lot of jobs, so you'll take what you can get if you go there.
Austin is trendy. Trendy places attract talented people who will move even without a job - that drives wages down. It also attracts people that have pre-existing money. That drives housing and rent up. I would encourage you to avoid the "trendy" places - Austin, Portland, SF Bay, Nashville, Boston, Seattle, Raleigh-Durham, etc... Unfortunately the cool, hip, "livable" cities are also not affordable.
Off the top of my head places that offer reasonable CoL and economic growth are Minneapolis, Des Moines, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Tampa, Jacksonville, Phoenix, Pittsburgh. In Texas there's San Antonio, Corpus Christi, the border region like the RGV, Laredo, El Paso, places like Midland/Odessa, Abilene, etc... they all have lower CoL and educated people would have a leg up. That's just what I can think of at the moment and I may be wrong about what the housing markets and job markets are like in those places now.
Last edited by redguard57; 06-01-2015 at 07:01 PM..
Seriously. You'll find about ten bazillion call-center jobs here paying $14-15 an hour. Maybe you can get one with Discover Card or Fidelity or some other financial company in the area. Look for an internal promotion or two (I've had friends take this route) and get up to $20-25/hr, it shouldn't take more than a year or so. Rent here is pretty dirt cheap, you can find apartments in Downtown for $600 for a 1BR and $800 for a 2BR. They won't be the nicest in town, but they exist. Utilities are dirt cheap, I pay like $100 a month for gas, electric and water on a 2,000 sq.ft. suburban house. Groceries are cheap .. well.. they used to be until California ran out of water.. There is a nightlife, tons of single people and we're finally over 1 million people in Salt Lake County, so I feel like it's a real American city now.
I don't know, maybe as a Salt Laker I'm biased, but this city is really exactly what you're looking for. It's been my experience with life here. I'm 29 and have a B.S. in geology. I make enough to have a family and a house. (Also if you stay in or very near Salt Lake City proper, there isn't much Mormon influence here and it's surprisingly liberal, just avoid places like Provo.)
What very few want to admit is that white collar jobs are decaying wage wise. I think the next 5 years we could see people in IT jumping out of windows when that bubble crashes. IMO re-tool and get into the trades.
I agree with this guy. I was a tradesman who put himself through a bachelor's degree program during the Great Recession, graduated, and found that the only work available with my degree and 3 years of related internship experience was either at Wal-Mart, restaurants, or unskilled $10/hour work.
I returned to my trade at 31k, am now making just a hair under 60k, and have the potential to earn 80+ with another 5-7 years of experience. Kinda funny how I always wanted to get away from doing skilled labor in the hot sun, but ran back to it after seeing the dearth of opportunities for college graduates these days.
I returned to my trade at 31k, am now making just a hair under 60k, and have the potential to earn 80+ with another 5-7 years of experience. Kinda funny how I always wanted to get away from doing skilled labor in the hot sun, but ran back to it after seeing the dearth of opportunities for college graduates these days.
which is why your job won't ever be in demand most people prefer AC even if it pays half lol
I don't think white collar is in decay, just the type of white collar most people think of. Maybe I associate "pink" collar as white collar but a lot of healthcare is office work, white collar type jobs.
Too many young people seem to believe that all college degrees are the ticket for high paid jobs. They are wrong. Some are very high paying, and others pay less than most high school graduates earn, especially in the trades.
The easy course, fun type jobs many people have degrees in, have 2 to 5 more available degree holders than there are jobs. Others you write your own ticket.
Take a look at what starting salaries average, and mid career point incomes after years of experience pay.
Rule of thumb: The lower the starting pay, the more overcrowded that field is. Petroleum Engineers are about $100K to start. Those with the most overcrowded and few job degrees are one third of that. With 200 different types of degrees available, a lot of people made a bad choice if they wanted to make a good income.
which is why your job won't ever be in demand most people prefer AC even if it pays half lol
That's quite alright with me. I enjoy doing work that doubles as time at the gym, which keeps me fit and in good health, and also provides a pension. I also like the fact that I can quit my job on a Wednesday and start with a new company on the following Monday. There are some benefits to working in one of the most difficult position to fill in the US
You had me till the last paragraph. I know everyone says their company is different but multiple level marketing schemes are predatory at best.
Multiple level marketing schemes that don't focus on the product are predatory at best. Plenty of amazing companies out there that happen to have an amazing product line where the product sells itself. If you are involved with a company that the focus is off the product and the product is not selling or getting into the hands of the consumer then you are not in a MLM you would be in a pyramid scheme. Any company that focuses on selling training or membership in the company or some other means other than the product that they say they are selling would be a pyramid scheme. For example with the company I am involved with, I want them to be a customer first. What good does it do to sell a product that you are not into.
The funny thing is that I can not find a product today that does not sell thru MLM. A lot of major companies have even switched to a MLM format for parts of the company.
Too many young people seem to believe that all college degrees are the ticket for high paid jobs. They are wrong. Some are very high paying, and others pay less than most high school graduates earn, especially in the trades.
The easy course, fun type jobs many people have degrees in, have 2 to 5 more available degree holders than there are jobs. Others you write your own ticket.
Take a look at what starting salaries average, and mid career point incomes after years of experience pay.
Rule of thumb: The lower the starting pay, the more overcrowded that field is. Petroleum Engineers are about $100K to start. Those with the most overcrowded and few job degrees are one third of that. With 200 different types of degrees available, a lot of people made a bad choice if they wanted to make a good income.
Something like petroleum engineering is not the best example. The jobs are highly concentrated in generally remote areas (few amenities and few people want to live there) and we'll see how these jobs do now that oil has crumbled.
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most people prefer AC even if it pays half lol
