What's the scoop on 20-somethings who seem to have $$$ (Pittsburgh: sales, insurance)

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by UKyank

Even if there are some college kids living it up on their parents dime, that shouldn't be something to scoff at as they're injecting capital in the local economy afterall

Good point. I hadn't looked at it that way, but you're right. I've also never understood why people care if other people have money, anyway. What difference does it make?

[CortlandGirl79]

I don't live in Pittsburgh, I actually live in the Youngstown, Ohio area (as some of you already know), when i was in my 20s i was attending Youngstown State University for accounting and working part-time at Giant Eagle. My dad, grandfather and several members of my family worked for Delphi Packard Electric (a former division of GM). Delphi Packard is an auto parts supplier that makes automotive wiring harnesses, plastic connectors, metal stamped terminals, Bussed Electrical Centers (fuse box), etc.

When i was 20 in 1999 I was blessed enough to be hired there and i started out making around $11/hr (on the 3rd pay teir, which in today's wages would be over $14/hr). That $11 was more than double the $5.15/hr i was making at GE at the time and initially i decided to stay in school, as I already had a junior standing.

Because I was in a union at the time i got several raises that increased my spending power very quickly. The IUE (Internation Union of Electrical Workers) negotiated a pretty competitive agreement for it's time and our rate of pay was only 55% of the top wage at the time. Every year on our anniversary we would receive a 4.5% raise until we reached full pay, this process was to take 10 years. We also had benefits, but they're weren't as good as the benefits full wage earners made, not that I could complain, i paid absolutely nothing for my benefits and had $5 prescriptions! (pretty unbelieveable looking back now 12 years later!) In addition to my yearly raise we also received negotiated contract raises and cost of living raises almost every year. After just 2 years i was making around $13/hr and I was able to buy my first home.

At age 22 I bought a 2700 sq/ft Victorian in Niles, Ohio that cost me $76,900. As the years went by the raises kept coming, I was on afternoon turn which made it hard to go to school (plus the business advisiors at YSU ticked me off) so i quit w/the thinking that i would go back to school when I had enough seniority to hold dayturn.

When i was 24 i was making around $15/hr and i traded in my 1997 Pontiac Sunfire to order a brand new 2003 Chevy Trailblazer (my first new car). That car stickered at about $31k and because i got the GM discount i was able to get it for around $27k. Life was going pretty well, even w/several temporary layoffs that resulted in 5 months off one time and 9 months off another. Thankfully, while I was laid off I was able to collect unemployment and sub pay (this ended up paying me about 70% of my full pay).

In 2003 the company was shipping several jobs to Mexico and overseas at a rapid pace. This was nothing new as Packard had started outsourcing to Mexico back in the late 1970s. In the mid-80s the union saw the writing on the wall and negotiated that for every 3 jobs shipped overseas they only hire 1 person here, where in the past it was 1 for 1 replacement. Then in the 1980s the company (GM) came up w/something called the "Jobs Bank" (which some of you may remember hearing about), where employees that no longer had a work station due to jobs being shipped out. Instead employees would be paid to go to work and get training or to push a broom, etc. Well, once the company shipped too much out too fast there were a few hundred people w/out work stations and the company put them(including me) into the "Jobs Bank". Unfortunately they had us do absolutely nothing; instead of helping in the community, getting training, etc we just sat there and waited for jobs to open up.

In 2004 after 2 layoffs and 2 stints in the "Jobs Bank" I applied for one of the internal job postings. These jobs were still hourly union jobs, but they were jobs that typically would have been done by college grads or salary people. Many of these jobs were secretarial, but others were in accounting, purchasing, finance, engineering and so on. I ended up getting a job doing electrical testing on terminal interfaces and components. By this time I was making $19 or $20/hr and i was only 25 years old. Working one of these jobs meant I was working the highest paid classification of all the hundreds of jobs, even though i still wasn't at top rate. By the time I took a buyout at the end of 2006 at the age of 27 I was making a base rate of $23/hr plus a cost of living allowance of over a dollar. With a little bit of overtime my total wage in 2006 ended up being about $52,000. Pretty nice for a 20-something, non-degreed person.

Now i'm 32, I have a degree in business management and i make $12.54 an hour. I knew when i left my factory job that i would probably never make $50k/year again, even w/a degree. Unfortunately, now i'm starting to wonder if i'll even make $30k/year....it's disgusts me! I guess that's the choice I made when i decided to stay in the NE Ohio/Western Pa region.

I know i could make more if i lived in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, or Columbus (like many of my classmates have), but my family is here, my boyfriend is here and I love living in a town where i can run into people i know all the time, this would bother many people, but i enjoy having a shared history w/my friends and neighbors. Everyone can say they remember certain events that have happened here. Almost everyone has a family member that worked in the steel or auto industries. We all know what it's like to to go through a recession, we've been going through one here for 30 years! The rest of the country has nothing on us! lol People here are still going about their daily lives, we're still buying cars, buying houses, etc. This recession is normal life for us. Recently the Youngstown area has been one of the fastest in Ohio for job growth in manufacturing, thanks in part to the Marcellus Shale.

As for me I'm just applying for jobs and lately I've been noticing a lot more in the over $30k/year range. I can live quite well on $30k and I'm looking forward to landing one of those jobs. Pittsburgh and Cleveland might have cheap housing, but in places like Warren, Youngstown, Boardman, Sharon, Pa, and Hermitage, Pa our houses are cheaper and so are the taxes. We have great highway access and we're right smack in the middle between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. We have great services and Ohio has the best library system in the nation (if you're into going to the library! lol).

Anyway, sorry i went off topic, but i just want to say that I'm probably a better person for losing my $35k-$50k/year job, it still sucks, but now i live on a budget and i realize that stuff doesn't really matter. I've never carried debt other than a house or my car, never carried a credit card balance, i pay my bills on time and have great credit. I put down 20% when i bought my first house and if i can ever buy again i already have $15k in a house fund and my emergency fund is funded for 6 months. My college was completely paid for by my parents who budgeted for it and by my former employer, who paid a small portion through tuition reimbursement. At the present time i do have a car loan that was probably a mistake, but i owe less than $10k on a year old $27k car and my rent is $350. I live in a safe, walkable, little town on the shores of a lake and I'm happy.

[Denton56]

Originally Posted by Caladium

Good point. I hadn't looked at it that way, but you're right. I've also never understood why people care if other people have money, anyway. What difference does it make?

That's exactly what I don't understand either. Some people will always have more money than others, unless you're Bill Gates or Warren Buffet. Why would we care?

[PreservationPioneer]

Originally Posted by Denton56

That's exactly what I don't understand either. Some people will always have more money than others, unless you're Bill Gates or Warren Buffet. Why would we care?

"If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself." -- Desiderata

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

Since you quoted me I thought I'd add that these were obviously college students, given their Oakland addresses and out-of-state license plates. I don't really think there's any question in my mind that these possessions they own were "hand-me-downs" from their parents. I worked full-time through college earning $11.50/hr. (plus commissions), and there's no way I could have afforded such luxuries while also paying for tuition, books, etc., which is why I know the money is coming from elsewhere. I can't say I'm envious, but what I can say is that those parents are setting their children up for a lifetime of entitlement and not truly understanding the value of a hard-earned dollar.

Sorry for reviving an old thread. I just found it interesting because I went to Pitt UG and somewhat fit this "trustafarian" description.

When well-off parents give their children expensive "toys," one of two things happen. Just as you said, they certainly can become entitled and never truly understand the value of a hard-earned dollar. But this is not necessarily so. If their parents raise them right and limit these rewards in response to strong showings of hard work and good behavior, they not only appreciate what they have, but realize that if they want to maintain a luxurious lifestyle once they're on their own, they'll have to work very hard in order to do so.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by CortlandGirl79

Delphi Packard is an auto parts supplier that makes automotive wiring harnesses, plastic connectors, metal stamped terminals, Bussed Electrical Centers (fuse box), etc.

We have a friend from Howland who recently moved to Pittsburgh. Her parents were janitors at Delphi Packard. Our friend is in her early 30's, and her parents are writing her a check for $400,000.00, and the check is for her to find any home they want in that range in the Aspinwall area. Times were really good during the hey day of that company.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by Caladium

^^ Here's an interesting quote I saw in another thread. I thought it might make a good topic for a new thread.

So, what's the scoop on 20-somethings in Pittsburgh who have been able to buy nice cars, homes, etc.?

First off, are there a lot of them? Is this just a handful of the young people, or would you say a good percentage are able buy cars and homes? Are they most living off their parents, working at jobs that pay well, or people who were very frugal for years and managed to save up for such things? Or maybe a little of all three? Or, maybe they made money in another city, and then moved to Pittsburgh because it's a city where you can buy relatively inexpensive real estate?

What do you guys think?

I'm more familiar with CMU students, and in their case, they are coming from families with uber money to begin with. I just noticed a Porsche Cayenne parked at a well known off campus student apartment on Forbes Ave the other day. It wasn't brand new, but it was still a Porsche Cayenne. And I see a lot of the international students driving newer Infinitis, Lexus, etc.

[Goinback2011]

There are kids leaving school with 6 figure student loan debt. That's where the money's coming from.

[UKyank]

Originally Posted by scottrpriester

I see a lot of the international students driving newer Infinitis, Lexus, etc.

Good to see that they are spending their money in the US then

[CortlandGirl79]

Originally Posted by scottrpriester

We have a friend from Howland who recently moved to Pittsburgh. Her parents were janitors at Delphi Packard. Our friend is in her early 30's, and her parents are writing her a check for $400,000.00, and the check is for her to find any home they want in that range in the Aspinwall area. Times were really good during the hey day of that company.

Are you sure it was $400,000??? I can see $40,000, but unless they inherited that kind of money I can assure you that weren't making that kind of money as janitors, maybe executives. lol