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If you're not in school, and not earning at least $100,000 per year, then you're either a lazy bum, or you have some other excuse. But in a free country people don't need excuses. You're only accountable to yourself.
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."
I'm still in school and I make less than fifty as a teacher. ;-)
The student loan debt "crisis" is completely overblown. Very few people finish with 100k in debt. Only about 4% of all students graduate with over 75k in debt. Another 6% have 50-75k in debt. 43% between 1k and 10k debt.
No need to drag in statistics! It's much more interesting to complain about how much in debt everyone is from college.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
41,938 posts, read 36,935,179 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by badgers54
There's a massive shortage of nurses, it's extremely tough to get people to go into that field and yet you want to massively cut their compensation? Yeah, good luck with that.
Plus, nursing is a very physically demanding job that wouldn't really be suited to people working more than 40 hours a week, so... yeah. If you want nurses working 60-70 hour weeks you better be the first to volunteer to be served by a nurse that is at the end of a 12 hour day.
Yeah, I know three nurses, all make more than $100k a year. One topped $120k last year. I'm not spilling a tear. She does long days though.
Many young people have no patience when it comes to getting paid. They think if they don't make 40-60k on their first "real" job then they are failing at life. I have met several people with this attitude, and even the title of this thread reminds me of it.
The stagnant wages, increases in cost and standards of living are a huge factor. The fact that one person in this thread said they felt accomplished for hitting 30k at 28 over 40 years ago is a huge red flag. I cleared 30k at the same age and now approach 40k, and I am a lucky for it. Most people in my line of highly technical, science-degree-required work get paid 12 - 14 an hour, where I was told in college that 35k should be the starting salary!
Come on, no way is 40k flirting with minimum wage. Minimum wage is poverty, it's too late to do the math but surely minimum wage is somewhere around the 25 a year mark right?
So do you live in the middle of no where nebraska, out of your car, your parents house or with an obnoxious number of roomates where you still have to have a tie on the door if you want a bj.
I made 55k on my first job and it quickly went up from there, if I made less than 80k I would know that I have failed at life and start coming to terms with dieing on the streets due to my own incompetance.
I dont know if anyone on here has checked rental rates but they are insane unless your in the middle of nowhere. If you are not making at least 40k your going to have to start coming to terms with your own mortality unless you have special circumstances with family or alternate income.
I am coming to terms with my own mortality and I make 130k, I do ok but certianly not as well as you would think someone on 130k should do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Basilide
Many young people have no patience when it comes to getting paid. They think if they don't make 40-60k on their first "real" job then they are failing at life. I have met several people with this attitude, and even the title of this thread reminds me of it.
The stagnant wages, increases in cost and standards of living are a huge factor. The fact that one person in this thread said they felt accomplished for hitting 30k at 28 over 40 years ago is a huge red flag. I cleared 30k at the same age and now approach 40k, and I am a lucky for it. Most people in my line of highly technical, science-degree-required work get paid 12 - 14 an hour, where I was told in college that 35k should be the starting salary!
ok so I was wrong but with the rental rates that I see in my area 15k a year would put you on the streets and 40k would be living hand to mouth.
In rural nebraska, wisconson or like places 40k might be ok.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Heath V
Come on, no way is 40k flirting with minimum wage. Minimum wage is poverty, it's too late to do the math but surely minimum wage is somewhere around the 25 a year mark right?
You can't just put age at a factor on this. There's a number of things to come into play.
Cost of living easily is a factor because it creates everything in terms of affordability. I live in an apartment in western Mass that might seem like quite a bit for the area but the reality is in Boston it would cost easily 2x if not 3x what I am paying. If I were to go to boston for a similar job I would have to ask for a raise to stay with the same square footage. Infact it would be financially impossible for me to find the same level rents unless I went further out and even then the additional costs of commuting would make it equal again.
Competition also is a factor. When I worked in retail the pay scales leaked and it was determined pretty quickly that it is really competition, not cost of living. Stores were leveled 1 to 5. Lowest being the lowest amount. 1's were remote areas, most stores were 2's and 3's. Difference between them was about 10% 4's were rare, 5's were very rare (SF,LA Bronx but Staten Island was a 3) and New Orleans. New Orleans? After Katrina they couldn't find people.
The other thing I'd mention a bit is that frankly there are areas which to some might be too rural, too urban, crime rate too high, place snobbish etc. Gradually I've developed a bit of a rep for being able to work at places that some can be scared to go to. Once you gt past that they would tend to pay more. My father was in the navy back in the 70's and he thought being stationed at Guantanamo was the best. Overseas pay, hazard pay, warzone pay. Yet you didn't even have to leave the base. Others are just remote. A friend of mine was in remote northern maine. We're talking a good two to three hours before you saw another somewhat urban area. Winters could be depressing but it gave him the responsibilities to get a better position.
Experience compounds with time. I just finished an excel sheet and I'll probably take about 15 online classes (they vary in work so it's not 100% like a undergrad class or graduate), a citizens police academy and some state industry seminars by the end of June.
Yeah, yeah of course there's always exceptions where people don't have to make that much or even if work. But I mean if you're a regular worker with a full-time job that values money.
Varies, but 22-23. Might take some people longer, but it's not hard to do by 22-23. Do well in high school and apply yourself to either college or a trade apprenticeship and you'll be making that pretty easily. Many people never get there because the choose not to apply themselves. It's easiest to apply yourself when you're young and gets progressively harder afterwards. Someone who didn't apply themselves in high school and then went out and worked retail jobs for 5-10 years can wake up in their mid 20s with a much tougher path than someone who decided at 15 to apply themselves instead of waiting until 25.
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