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Old 10-11-2010, 02:55 PM
 
2,238 posts, read 8,982,600 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Exiled Texan View Post
Newly employed state workers, not matter how senior, get about 2 weeks vacation a year. Health care is okay, at best. Sick days are okay (you need to be sick to use), but I don't think you get any maternity leave.

If you work till at least 60, you get a pension about 50% of your average last 5 years salary. No 401K matching, etc.
The insurance plan changed for the worse recently. My wife has found that for her random meds she gets, it's cheaper to order from a Canadian pharmacy and avoid the State insurance altogether.

The way retirement works is that for every year of service you get 2.2% of the average salary of your last 18 months of state service. So with 30 years of service your retirement benefit would be based on 66% of that final average salary. There's a finite limit on how long that pays out. There's 3 or 4 different scenarios you can choose. NONE payout that full amount for a long time. For example, I remember one used to be you could get ~50% of that 66% for life or something like 50% for 15 years and then your surviving spouse on your death would get it for another 10 years. None of them were really good payouts when you do the math on how much you put in and how much you get back in retirement vs investing that same amount of money in an index fund.

For the retirement plan, you must contribute 6% to it. The State matches it at 6% but you do not vest for 10 years so if you leave before then you get none of the matching money. Also, the way I understood it is that if you leave at say 20 years and you want to roll your state retirement over to your new employer's retirement plan, you don't get any interest that would've accrued with a traditional retirement plan over those 20 years. You just get the straight contribution money for each year of service. Without compound interest, it's a worthless retirement plan if you want to move your money elsewhere.
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Old 10-11-2010, 03:32 PM
 
99 posts, read 179,791 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by achtungpv View Post
Well, my niche is GIS which has only admitted it is an IT discipline a decade ago. Unfortunately a lot of GIS folks haven't admitted this to themselves, no TX universities have so they're not graduating anybody with any computer science background. The state is generally well behind also on how GIS is utilized and they usually put staff in such narrow focused roles that their experience is shallow.

Sorry, state benefits suck compared to most private sector companies. Maybe they didn't years ago but they do now. My wife has worked there for over 10 years and I did for 6 years so I'm pretty aware of the benefits.

Right, the state does not use much GIS. They should be using much it more, of course. I have GIS degree and have had only one interview for that type of job in my 12 years at the state.

I feel more comfortable "trusting" the state with my pension currently. Too many people I know lost lots of retirement money this last downturn. They thought it was safe since it was from companies that they worked for and trusted.

State pays 100% the employee health care. Our health care selection options have been less over the years. We can choose from S&W or Health care select and maybe one other now. Not sure how they can be worse than private companies are offering. Everyone is trying to cut back, sadly.The state has a huge pool of employees to leverage.
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Old 10-11-2010, 10:26 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX
15,232 posts, read 35,410,327 times
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Quote:
For the retirement plan, you must contribute 6% to it. The State matches it at 6% but you do not vest for 10 years so if you leave before then you get none of the matching money.
Vested in retirement in 5 years (or used to be) and health plan after 10 years.
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Old 10-11-2010, 11:55 PM
 
Location: Austin
2,522 posts, read 6,012,370 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by riaelise View Post
Puhlease. You can do very well making 50K solo in this town. Are you confusing this town with LA? There are many people who make below 50K here and aren't slumming in. Please don't give wrong information. You can easily afford transportation, entertainment, whatever. Live in a nice neighborhood too. I make in the high 50s as a base salary and even without my husband, I would do very nicely here. I don't NEED an extra salary. Oh, and I have kid(s) and we live in a nice neighborhood. If you were "just making it" at 42K that many years ago, you must've been saddled up to your neck with debt and student loans.
All depends on if you are single or not..one, Austin is NOT cheap, and Transportation is a huge expense anywhere, especially in a city whose population lives out of their car....I would question easily affordable entertainment...many clubs and concerts charge 20 dollars and often much more(obviously there are always free events, but not the most desirable ones - try seeing how far you get for free at SXSW or ACL, not to mention any name artist....even many small clubs like continental charge 10 bucks a head or more....

My point is that it is not a GOOD salary, at least one worth boasting about or transferring to Austin for....a good salary in a large city would be one you can support your family solely on...50K will not pay the mortgage and family needs per kids...not without drastic scrimping and a very small home, if one could even qualify for one with such an income...50K would get you about in qualification for a condo mortgage, or a very small house of about 125K max...not many nice areas with homes under 125K....in a major metro, if you have a mortgage, you need a combined of at least 80-100K just to be in the game, per family expenses...if you want to live in a really nice area, you are talking 150K combined just for starters...so, not saying 50K is bad, just that it just gets you in the affordability game if you double the same with family...50K is what 30K was in the early 90's, and secretaries were making that at the time, and I was with a run of the mill political job driving a muni truck.....30K now means you are living on your own, and just paying off a rental of about 700K absolute max, and not saving a penny for emergencies...I think you also forget to mention saving money here...along with paying off credit card bills...so many, prob most of us, live to some extent on credit..now that that AND much of home equity is tapped out, it is much harder now as well...even compared to just a few years ago....

Point again, is that 50K is OKAY for a single person in a major metro, but certainly nothing at all to boast about or live large on, and some on here were mentioning that 50K was "good"....you really have to define good..and if you are raising a family with kids solely on that, not good at all...families MUST have a double income to survive now....and if hubby's paycheck was gone, or yours, I can voucesafe you will either burn through savings and/or struggle...

100k is what used to be 50K, and 15-20 years ago, when 50K was worth 100K, many more people were making that equiv than are making 100K now.....which leads to the fact that 100K is a "good" salary now....again, what would have been the equiv of 15 K in the late 60's - early 70s'...which simply says not only how little middle class salaries have moved up, but how much we are living on credit, with education, medical, AND housing expenses moving up FAR faster than inflation..

To sum, for a single person who does not mind living with a roommate and skimping hugely/not saving a penny, 20-30K is doable in Austin...for someone who wants his/her own place, in a reasonably decent area not a ghetto or marginal ghetto, and save a little bit, just a little bit, and go out a little bit(presuming this is a guy not planning on spending much dating as well, as women in that situation will at least have someone paying for dates), and rent something up to 650K AND save just a little bit, 30-40K is
doable in Austin....for someone that want to have an active social life, a male that needs to spend a fair share of money dating, or anyone that wants a nicer place to rent, AND save a little bit a year, perhaps 3-5K, than 40-55K is doable in Austin....for a single person, 50K and up should qualify you for a smaller mortgage, and get you in a condo/TH, or a small house...To really live it up, so to speak, and save a large share of cash, after taxes mind you, 75-80K will make that happen in Austin, at base, or more than that...

To sum, for a family living in Austin, a combined of 100K is absolutely base just to purchase a small home in a decent area, and be relatively thrifty with expenses..little money will be saved in this scenario......for those looking for a larger home, AND raising a family with kids in Austin, or a really decent area. 150K would be the bottom base for that to happen....200K combined is doing well in Austin..you might laugh here, but realize that that is simply what a double income of 100K was pulling in in the mid 90's.....note I am talking a GOOD double income, the type considered good over the years..the type that upwardly mobile families need to be in the game....

Lastly, Austin is somewhat egalitarian for a large metro, unlike Houston and Dallas, and there is not as much striving pressure here...people largely do not move here for the same reasons they would move to Dallas and Houston, and that is a good thing on many levels, and on many levels not such a good thing....Austin simply lacks the same social pressures to do well/keep up with Joneses that Houstin/Dallas and other major metros have...many here are simply not LOOKING to go very far, and are centered in a different way than those that move to the "striving" metros.....more egalitarian ethos here....which is a major attractor of residents in the first place......simply nice to live in a metro where you dont feel compelled to "measure up" at every step to your neighbor..not that we are lacking in such neighborhoods, but there are not very many of them, and people largely do not come here that are driven to make a large splash/sum of money.....they go to Houston/Dallas and the rest of the top flight US metros for that..

Last edited by inthecut; 10-12-2010 at 12:22 AM..
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Old 10-12-2010, 07:55 AM
 
2,238 posts, read 8,982,600 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Trainwreck20 View Post
Vested in retirement in 5 years (or used to be) and health plan after 10 years.
It was 10 years for each when I left in '04. I definitely didn't get any matching funds when I rolled it over.
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Old 10-12-2010, 08:24 AM
 
Location: Austin
2,522 posts, read 6,012,370 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by achtungpv View Post
To actually spend what you qualify for is a horrible financial decision. $52K gives you a take home salary of a bit over $3K per month so basically 50% of your monthly income is your house payment. Good luck if something comes up like major medical expenses or actually saving for retirement.
Also, good luck if you have a few kids and a wife....if so, kiss all that other half of the 3K a month goodbye as well....
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Old 10-12-2010, 08:29 AM
 
Location: Austin
2,522 posts, read 6,012,370 times
Reputation: 707
Quote:
Originally Posted by achtungpv View Post
The insurance plan changed for the worse recently. My wife has found that for her random meds she gets, it's cheaper to order from a Canadian pharmacy and avoid the State insurance altogether.

The way retirement works is that for every year of service you get 2.2% of the average salary of your last 18 months of state service. So with 30 years of service your retirement benefit would be based on 66% of that final average salary. There's a finite limit on how long that pays out. There's 3 or 4 different scenarios you can choose. NONE payout that full amount for a long time. For example, I remember one used to be you could get ~50% of that 66% for life or something like 50% for 15 years and then your surviving spouse on your death would get it for another 10 years. None of them were really good payouts when you do the math on how much you put in and how much you get back in retirement vs investing that same amount of money in an index fund.

For the retirement plan, you must contribute 6% to it. The State matches it at 6% but you do not vest for 10 years so if you leave before then you get none of the matching money. Also, the way I understood it is that if you leave at say 20 years and you want to roll your state retirement over to your new employer's retirement plan, you don't get any interest that would've accrued with a traditional retirement plan over those 20 years. You just get the straight contribution money for each year of service. Without compound interest, it's a worthless retirement plan if you want to move your money elsewhere.
Thanks for bringing up savings along with retirement planning, especially savings though...one thing not mentioned is that, with the low salaries in Austin, few are putting away much(if anything) towards retirement, let alone money in the bank for emergencies....its great if you are in your 20's, and really not focusing on the future, but, if you plan on, or HAVE a family, different ballgame...I think much of the reason Austinites are so "good" with small salaries is they are single, young, and not really working on the family thing yet....having a family and kids magnifies that concern just a tad, i would say..
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Old 10-12-2010, 08:41 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX
732 posts, read 2,116,963 times
Reputation: 476
Quote:
Originally Posted by inthecut View Post
My point is that it is not a GOOD salary, at least one worth boasting about or transferring to Austin for....a good salary in a large city would be one you can support your family solely on...50K will not pay the mortgage and family needs per kids...not without drastic scrimping and a very small home, if one could even qualify for one with such an income...50K would get you about in qualification for a condo mortgage, or a very small house of about 125K max...not many nice areas with homes under 125K....in a major metro, if you have a mortgage, you need a combined of at least 80-100K just to be in the game, per family expenses...if you want to live in a really nice area, you are talking 150K combined just for starters...so, not saying 50K is bad, just that it just gets you in the affordability game if you double the same with family...50K is what 30K was in the early 90's, and secretaries were making that at the time, and I was with a run of the mill political job driving a muni truck.....30K now means you are living on your own, and just paying off a rental of about 700K absolute max, and not saving a penny for emergencies...I think you also forget to mention saving money here...along with paying off credit card bills...so many, prob most of us, live to some extent on credit..now that that AND much of home equity is tapped out, it is much harder now as well...even compared to just a few years ago....
To sum, for a single person who does not mind living with a roommate and skimping hugely/not saving a penny, 20-30K is doable in Austin...for someone who wants his/her own place, in a reasonably decent area not a ghetto or marginal ghetto, and save a little bit, just a little bit, and go out a little bit(presuming this is a guy not planning on spending much dating as well, as women in that situation will at least have someone paying for dates), and rent something up to 650K AND save just a little bit, 30-40K is
doable in Austin....for someone that want to have an active social life, a male that needs to spend a fair share of money dating, or anyone that wants a nicer place to rent, AND save a little bit a year, perhaps 3-5K, than 40-55K is doable in Austin....for a single person, 50K and up should qualify you for a smaller mortgage, and get you in a condo/TH, or a small house...To really live it up, so to speak, and save a large share of cash, after taxes mind you, 75-80K will make that happen in Austin, at base, or more than that...

You seem pretty out of touch. I make $30k. Somehow I bought a $125k house in a nice neighborhood putting 20% down. I live alone so I don't share bills. I have money in savings and contribute monthly. I pay my cc's off every couple of months. I have two cars. I go out to concerts and restaurants.

Admittedly it would be more difficult raising a family with me making 30k but if I had a kid theoretically I would also have the second income of my wife.

If I was making $50k I would feel like a king.
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Old 10-12-2010, 09:42 AM
 
Location: Austin, TX!!!!
3,757 posts, read 9,022,199 times
Reputation: 1762
Quote:
Originally Posted by inthecut View Post
My point is that it is not a GOOD salary, at least one worth boasting about or transferring to Austin for....a good salary in a large city would be one you can support your family solely on...50K will not pay the mortgage and family needs per kids...not without drastic scrimping and a very small home, if one could even qualify for one with such an income...50K would get you about in qualification for a condo mortgage, or a very small house of about 125K max...not many nice areas with homes under 125K....in a major metro, if you have a mortgage, you need a combined of at least 80-100K just to be in the game, per family expenses...if you want to live in a really nice area, you are talking 150K combined just for starters...so, not saying 50K is bad, just that it just gets you in the affordability game if you double the same with family...50K is what 30K was in the early 90's, and secretaries were making that at the time, and I was with a run of the mill political job driving a muni truck.....30K now means you are living on your own, and just paying off a rental of about 700K absolute max, and not saving a penny for emergencies...I think you also forget to mention saving money here...along with paying off credit card bills...so many, prob most of us, live to some extent on credit..now that that AND much of home equity is tapped out, it is much harder now as well...even compared to just a few years ago....

Point again, is that 50K is OKAY for a single person in a major metro, but certainly nothing at all to boast about or live large on, and some on here were mentioning that 50K was "good"....you really have to define good..and if you are raising a family with kids solely on that, not good at all...families MUST have a double income to survive now....and if hubby's paycheck was gone, or yours, I can voucesafe you will either burn through savings and/or struggle...

100k is what used to be 50K, and 15-20 years ago, when 50K was worth 100K, many more people were making that equiv than are making 100K now.....which leads to the fact that 100K is a "good" salary now....again, what would have been the equiv of 15 K in the late 60's - early 70s'...which simply says not only how little middle class salaries have moved up, but how much we are living on credit, with education, medical, AND housing expenses moving up FAR faster than inflation..

To sum, for a single person who does not mind living with a roommate and skimping hugely/not saving a penny, 20-30K is doable in Austin...for someone who wants his/her own place, in a reasonably decent area not a ghetto or marginal ghetto, and save a little bit, just a little bit, and go out a little bit(presuming this is a guy not planning on spending much dating as well, as women in that situation will at least have someone paying for dates), and rent something up to 650K AND save just a little bit, 30-40K is
doable in Austin....for someone that want to have an active social life, a male that needs to spend a fair share of money dating, or anyone that wants a nicer place to rent, AND save a little bit a year, perhaps 3-5K, than 40-55K is doable in Austin....for a single person, 50K and up should qualify you for a smaller mortgage, and get you in a condo/TH, or a small house...To really live it up, so to speak, and save a large share of cash, after taxes mind you, 75-80K will make that happen in Austin, at base, or more than that...

To sum, for a family living in Austin, a combined of 100K is absolutely base just to purchase a small home in a decent area, and be relatively thrifty with expenses..little money will be saved in this scenario......for those looking for a larger home, AND raising a family with kids in Austin, or a really decent area. 150K would be the bottom base for that to happen....200K combined is doing well in Austin..you might laugh here, but realize that that is simply what a double income of 100K was pulling in in the mid 90's.....note I am talking a GOOD double income, the type considered good over the years..the type that upwardly mobile families need to be in the game....

Lastly, Austin is somewhat egalitarian for a large metro, unlike Houston and Dallas, and there is not as much striving pressure here...people largely do not move here for the same reasons they would move to Dallas and Houston, and that is a good thing on many levels, and on many levels not such a good thing....Austin simply lacks the same social pressures to do well/keep up with Joneses that Houstin/Dallas and other major metros have...many here are simply not LOOKING to go very far, and are centered in a different way than those that move to the "striving" metros.....more egalitarian ethos here....which is a major attractor of residents in the first place......simply nice to live in a metro where you dont feel compelled to "measure up" at every step to your neighbor..not that we are lacking in such neighborhoods, but there are not very many of them, and people largely do not come here that are driven to make a large splash/sum of money.....they go to Houston/Dallas and the rest of the top flight US metros for that..
BS. We've been a family of one income on and off for years and are doing fine. We both come from poor families so we don't have anyone helping us out. We save money, live in a nice neighborhood, and occasionally go on trips. We get to eat out once a week. We carry no credit card debt, our cars are paid off. We have one kid and don't have an income anywhere near 150K - the amount you are quoting as a bare minimum to have kids here. If I didn't have student debt we were paying on monthly, we would be rolling in the cash here. I know lots and lots of people that are raising kids here that make less than 100K a year and are still doing fine.

I am not really sure what you mean by being in the "game."
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Old 10-12-2010, 09:52 AM
 
2,106 posts, read 5,766,734 times
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I used to make 50k and yes- its definitely a bit more challenging but I never felt like I was destitute. That's while living in here in the SF Bay Area. Even now something like 30% of my income is taxed. I did the math and figured that even if I took a serious paycut in Austin to say- $40k-$50k, the actual reduction in salary would be less in actual take home pay since there's no state income tax.

Our situation is a bit different anyway because we've managed to save up enough cash to buy a median priced Austin home for cash free and clear. Our cars are paid for and we usually keep them until the wheels fall off. I work on them too and do everything from changing the clutch, radiators, and so on. So the whole problem of having to get a job that pays the mortgage is averted. Instead the job will pay for utilities, property taxes, whatever repairs are needed, food, and retirement funds.

Anyway... there was a lot of talk on this thread about Austin folks hiring out of state workers. A few things I'm curious about is do you that do hire out of staters immediately throw the resume in the trash if you see an out of state address? I repeatedly ran into this problem where the postings would say "LOCAL ONLY!" or I got no response. One company said I would need to fly in to talk to them- the next day- for an "initial" interview, as in they were talking to 100 other applicants. Being out of state seemed like a big problem. I had people tell me I was right up their ally and perfect but then they would say they couldn't pay relocation expenses- which I said was fine, I didn't need to have them do that anyway.

When the time comes for me to start making aggressive steps to moving there I'm thinking about buying a mailbox in Austin and getting a Austin area phone number. Is that worth it?
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