31% Of Americans Have No Retirement Savings At All (parent, problems, NYC)
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??? The liberal arts degree was suited extremely well to its intended purpose, which was to get me into law school. (The name of my major was just oozing with connotations of law and politics.) What I didn't expect was that law school would be financially beyond my reach. Even so I expected my comp sci minor would afford me some additional opportunities, but the then-emerging PC changed everything.
I fully understand the errors of the path you went down. Many others have made that mistake. Selecting your undergrad major based on grad school without knowing the source of grad school funding can be fatal. We could discuss this and have agreement in another forum where it would be on topic. American education has a knack for steering students down the wrong path. The intent is good but a flawed sense of reality exists. There are real world consequences for not having money.
??? Where did you get that idea? I graduated in the top 5 percent of my class (grades and scores.My combined SAT scores were 98th percentile. All I was "handed" was a New York State scholarship - which 15 percent of my graduating class and practically everyone in my homeroom got - which amounted to a measly $100 per year for books (because my dysfunctional family situation rendered me "not needy".
Financial aid includes employment - hardly a handout - under the Work-Study program. I couldn't get Work-Study, so I had to clean toilets to pay for school, and was beaten out for an entry-level IT job by someone with "related" Work-Study experience - who might or might not have had greater financial need than I.
Yes, I could have gotten a two-year degree if I had been willing to stay with the dysfunctional family that made me ineligible for financial aid in the first place.
You said you were struggling because of student loans. You got what you went in debt for. End of discussion.
You said you were struggling because of student loans. You got what you went in debt for. End of discussion.
You and I differ on this one. His student loan debt and his decision making is not isolated and is encouraged by modern education. It is a major reason why many today are unable to save for retirement. Chasing dreams can be expensive and not financially or ability realistic. The down side consequences can be a retirement planning killer.
Not complaining about the way money is being spent, rather about how it is being taxed.
I make minimum freaking wage and I pay income tax - WhoTF are all these people who pay no income tax?
How much do you get back when you file your taxes? For a long long time, yes, I paid taxes BUT when I filed I got nearly every penny back. To me that equates to 'not paying taxes'. These days I make enough that I don't get it all back so I guess I AM 'paying taxes' now.
You and I differ on this one. His student loan debt and his decision making is not isolated and is encouraged by modern education. It is a major reason why many today are unable to save for retirement. Chasing dreams can be expensive and not financially or ability realistic. The down side consequences can be a retirement planning killer.
No, I actually think we agree. I am saying - he did it the way he did it and now he is responsible for paying it back.
But I also stated in an earlier reply that there are other ways to get an education, rather than paying a premium price at an Ivy League school.
I 100% agree with you that a segment of the population, and usually those are parents who do not have a college education themselves, has been wooed by what became easily accessible student loans -- and in their desire to be able to say "my kid got a college degree!!!!" . . . they encouraged their children to get a degree (any degree!) b/c that was the ticket to "big salaries."
At the same time, kids who would have been better served getting tech degrees that led to available jobs decided that it was a lot more prestigious to get the 4 year degree so they could compete in the workplace. What they and they parents didn't seem to understand (and didn't bother to research) is that by the 80s, anyone in a Fortune 500 company knew full well that it takes an MBA as entree into the best jobs - not just a BS/AB.
On top of that, colleges were making it easy to get financial aid and were lowering their admission standards so they could pump up enrollment and trick out the campus (yes, over-simplified but I know you get my point).
It was a perfect storm, especially in families where parents are not savvy about what is going on with the job market -- and where egos get in the way, as well. Add to that poor job counseling at many high schools -- where the mantra for decades has been -- "get a college degree" rather than "get education that leads to employment and a career."
So I think we do agree on WHY so many kids are now stuck with huge financial aid obligations. Until the message gets out that there are many ways to educate one's self -- and that simply having a diploma in hand does not mean a career on the horizon and doesn't mean you are suddenly rubber stamped as good employee material -- we are going to hear folks bemoaning their decisions. But the facts are -- bad plannning leads to financial problems in every aspect of life and when you take on debt, you are responsible for paying it back.
The real reason for the whine is -- folks want to declare bankruptcy and dismiss their student loan debt just like they were able to dismiss other debt in the past.
I now am a SQL developer. No education in that field. pretty much strictly on the job learning. What you got a degree in has little bearing on what you can become if your education is not a useful trade all on it's own.
I fully understand the errors of the path you went down. Many others have made that mistake. Selecting your undergrad major based on grad school without knowing the source of grad school funding can be fatal. We could discuss this and have agreement in another forum where it would be on topic. American education has a knack for steering students down the wrong path. The intent is good but a flawed sense of reality exists. There are real world consequences for not having money.
The cost changed; plus law schools were cranking out unemployed graduates by the time I got my degree.
I know am a SQL developer. No education in that field. pretty much strictly on the job learning. What you got a degree in has little bearing on what you can become if your education is not a useful trade all on it's own.
What a degree tells a prospective employer at a minimum is that you can read and write and complete a long demanding project requiring a lot of work and self discipline. That's a lot.
No, I actually think we agree. I am saying - he did it the way he did it and now he is responsible for paying it back.
But I also stated in an earlier reply that there are other ways to get an education, rather than paying a premium price at an Ivy League school.
I 100% agree with you that a segment of the population, and usually those are parents who do not have a college education themselves, has been wooed by what became easily accessible student loans -- and in their desire to be able to say "my kid got a college degree!!!!" . . . they encouraged their children to get a degree (any degree!) b/c that was the ticket to "big salaries."
At the same time, kids who would have been better served getting tech degrees that led to available jobs decided that it was a lot more prestigious to get the 4 year degree so they could compete in the workplace. What they and they parents didn't seem to understand (and didn't bother to research) is that by the 80s, anyone in a Fortune 500 company knew full well that it takes an MBA as entree into the best jobs - not just a BS/AB.
On top of that, colleges were making it easy to get financial aid and were lowering their admission standards so they could pump up enrollment and trick out the campus (yes, over-simplified but I know you get my point).
It was a perfect storm, especially in families where parents are not savvy about what is going on with the job market -- and where egos get in the way, as well. Add to that poor job counseling at many high schools -- where the mantra for decades has been -- "get a college degree" rather than "get education that leads to employment and a career."
So I think we do agree on WHY so many kids are now stuck with huge financial aid obligations. Until the message gets out that there are many ways to educate one's self -- and that simply having a diploma in hand does not mean a career on the horizon and doesn't mean you are suddenly rubber stamped as good employee material -- we are going to hear folks bemoaning their decisions. But the facts are -- bad plannning leads to financial problems in every aspect of life and when you take on debt, you are responsible for paying it back.
The real reason for the whine is -- folks want to declare bankruptcy and dismiss their student loan debt just like they were able to dismiss other debt in the past.
There are many ways to educate oneself, but damned few ways to get into law school.
The cost changed; plus law schools were cranking out unemployed graduates by the time I got my degree.
The median salary for attorneys is about $80K/annually. Unless you have gotten those credentials economically, for 50% of attorneys, it isn't that glittering a profession. Of course, there are always super stars but most attorneys across this country are not raking in the big bucks.
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