31% Of Americans Have No Retirement Savings At All (blog, employees, retiring)
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Freemkt, please stop with the b***s***. Just stop it.
I strongly believe that private student loans should be eligible for discharge in bankruptcy (awesome but disturbingly successful lobbying by those creditors) but your "Oh, Woe is Me" posts are over the top. Unlike most former students, you had the opportunity to graduate from law school, pass a bar exam, get a job as an attorney OR hang out your shingle. Apparently, you have not done this and the only one at fault is YOU.
When I worked as a "street lawyer", my colleagues and I earned about $25-$30,000 (2002). Even today, in many parts of the country, legal aid attorneys make about $30-45,000/year. This is a REAL problem for organizations trying to find lawyers who can "afford" to provide legal services for the poor, but apparently, this is not YOUR problem. There ARE legal jobs out there. The pay may be paltry, but they certainly pay more than what you're earning.
Finally, you could have opened your own practice IF you graduated and passed the bar (or were not later disbarred).
There are hundreds of thousands of people who have real needs and to someone like me, who has spent her entire life advocating for the poor and disenfranchised, your posts are sickening.
The same amount of time spent telling the same tales of woe spent researching better jobs and how to get them would be far better spent. Obviously others are filling those slots and you are not.
I would be very surprised if private lenders would make student loans to teens and young adults with no credit history, limited if any assets and no jobs if they could be discharged in bankruptcy court. Considering the high percentage of not graduating in six years. If loans were made at what interest rates? Who would invest in?
It depends on location. Where my son was hired right out of school the starting pay was 106k 5 years ago, today it is higher. That is in westchester ny.
Manhattan firms are about the same.
Of course it depends on where they are located, as well as what type of law they practice, what type of firm they are in, etc etc.
That is why I chose to cite the MEDIAN salary -- 50% make lower, 50% make higher salaries.
Not discouraging folks from getting their JD. But the reality is, depending on where and what you are practicing, being an attorney isn't necessarily going to make a person wealthy.
Of course it depends on where they are located, as well as what type of law they practice, what type of firm they are in, etc etc.
That is why I chose to cite the MEDIAN salary -- 50% make lower, 50% make higher salaries.
Not discouraging folks from getting their JD. But the reality is, depending on where and what you are practicing, being an attorney isn't necessarily going to make a person wealthy.
Reality is that law for many lawyers requires a projection of wealth and success otherwise well paying clients might be hard to come by. Of course those working further social and civic causes may have a different style.
Reality is that law for many lawyers requires a projection of wealth and success otherwise well paying clients might be hard to come by. Of course those working further social and civic causes may have a different style.
All I can think about when I read what you wrote is "The Rainmaker" (book and movie, John Grisham).
I had a co-worker that was like that.
Put 3 kids through private college, paid for 2 weddings for his sons (the girls' families didn't have money), took lavish trips and then wondered at 64 why he had no money saved. He did live life to its fullest and it cost him dearly.
He was amazed that I was taking an early retirement and didn't need to work anymore.
One of the few things that make me ill is a person who makes good money and wastes it all. Good for you for being fiscally smart. I feel a sense of great embarrassment for your friend.
I also worked with a guy who made at least $10,000 a year more than me. He ended up declaring bankruptcy. I found it all very ridiculous. People use that as a strategy for getting out of debt and it is simply lame.
I can see how someone who made a low income their whole life may end up without retirement but ones who make a decent income-there is something pitiful about that and I have no respect for those people.
Getting back to the original question. For those who do not want to end up later in life with no money here is my take on what to do.
One thing the investor folks recommend lately is if it come down to choosing to put $ in retirement vs. a kid's education they say now to not spend your money on your kids education. Put money in the bank for retirement and let your kids save money and work through college. Help them some but not completely.
Another thing is to as my Mom called it "live below your means".
If you end up in life making say $35,000.00 a year then don't try and have a lifestyle of someone who makes $60,000 or $80,000 a year.
If one day you get married and you and your mate have a combined income of $80,000 a year and you go to buy a house and they tell you to pay 40% of your income on your mortgage. Don't, get a smaller house than they tell you you qualify for.
The agents told us we should get a house with a monthly payment of $1200.00-$1400.00 we said no and got one with a monthly payment of $900.00. This way if one of us loses our job (which just happened btw) the other if we live on the cheap, can still make our payments off one's salary.
Please be smart-beat the system that tries to tell you - you need everything right now, the latest phones, the newest cars, the bigger house-all lies!
One of the few things that make me ill is a person who makes good money and wastes it all. Good for you for being fiscally smart. I feel a sense of great embarrassment for your friend.
I also worked with a guy who made at least $10,000 a year more than me. He ended up declaring bankruptcy. I found it all very ridiculous. People use that as a strategy for getting out of debt and it is simply lame.
I can see how someone who made a low income their whole life may end up without retirement but ones who make a decent income-there is something pitiful about that and I have no respect for those people.
I see bankruptcy as a legal tool for people to get a fresh start, whether the reasons for their bankruptcy are their own fault or not is really immaterial. I don't try to pass moral judgment on the filer.
I bought a car two years ago when I was making $45k that was affordable for me. I then moved back home, but then lost the $40k contract job I had as the company was restructuring out of chapter 11 and was back to under $12/hr this time last year. The car payment that was affordable when I was making more money was no longer so at $11.68/hr.
Sure, I probably should never bought the car in the first place, but circumstances changed and if I didn't get the job I currently hold when I got it, I'd have filed bankruptcy by now. Sometimes people have to file bankruptcy through no fault of their own, others just get really stupid, but as long as one learns one's lesson and improves their behavior, why scarlet letter them?
Freemkt, please stop with the b***s***. Just stop it.
I strongly believe that private student loans should be eligible for discharge in bankruptcy (awesome but disturbingly successful lobbying by those creditors) but your "Oh, Woe is Me" posts are over the top. Unlike most former students, you had the opportunity to graduate from law school, pass a bar exam, get a job as an attorney OR hang out your shingle. Apparently, you have not done this and the only one at fault is YOU.
When I worked as a "street lawyer", my colleagues and I earned about $25-$30,000 (2002). Even today, in many parts of the country, legal aid attorneys make about $30-45,000/year. This is a REAL problem for organizations trying to find lawyers who can "afford" to provide legal services for the poor, but apparently, this is not YOUR problem. There ARE legal jobs out there. The pay may be paltry, but they certainly pay more than what you're earning.
Finally, you could have opened your own practice IF you graduated and passed the bar (or were not later disbarred).
There are hundreds of thousands of people who have real needs and to someone like me, who has spent her entire life advocating for the poor and disenfranchised, your posts are sickening.
So please, just stop it.
??? HowTF did i have the opportunity to graduate law school when I couldn't afford to go to law school?
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good for you!
