What was your starting salary (approx.)?

[flirtkakat]

27k at 21 for now. No real education so even getting a job has been all charm, luck and really hard work. Not too worried, I'm able to live fairly well. I am going to study later on though, just no idea what I'd like to do.

 

[masaccio]

$28K USD in 1994 as a university librarian in the South upon completion of my MA (History) and MILS.

 

[VinnyMac]

27k at 21 for now. No real education so even getting a job has been all charm, luck and really hard work. Not too worried, I'm able to live fairly well. I am going to study later on though, just no idea what I'd like to do.

Do you live outside of the U.S, or do you live with your parents? These days, $27K seems pretty hard to live on in the US without mooching off of someone.

 

[Gibonius]



Do you live outside of the U.S, or do you live with your parents? These days, $27K seems pretty hard to live on in the US without mooching off of someone.

Depends on your standards. I made $22k in grad school and it was fine. Live with a roommate in a low cost of living area. Rent worked out to $300 a person. Wouldn't have wanted to raise a family on that or anything, but I didn't have to worry about money too much.

 

[flirtkakat]

Living in Sweden, moving into my first own apartment in October so I've been saving alot of money for furniture. Cost of living is rather low, 1 bedroom with kitchen is about $900 in a very central and sought after location, with everything included. And you can eat fairly well at about $500 per month as a single person. Leaves me about 750 to save for clothing or travel or whatever it is I want. That's more than enough for me, as I grew up pretty poor I feel amazingly rich now and can do without pretty easily if necessary.

Edit: 100 posts, I'm such a veteran.

 

[VinnyMac]

Depends on your standards. I made $22k in grad school and it was fine. Live with a roommate in a low cost of living area. Rent worked out to $300 a person. Wouldn't have wanted to raise a family on that or anything, but I didn't have to worry about money too much.

College kids with roommates aren't quite what I had in mind. You were probably paying for part of your expenses with financial aid, and you'd probably admit yourself that you weren't living an adult life. No adult can live a decent life in the United States on $27K pre-taxes.

 

[otc]



College kids with roommates aren't quite what I had in mind. You were probably paying for part of your expenses with financial aid. No adult can live a decent life in the United States on $27K pre-taxes.

Grad students aren't exactly "college kids with roommates"...

 

[VinnyMac]

Grad students aren't exactly "college kids with roommates"...

The overwhelming majority of them are. Especially if they enter soon after undergrad.

 

[brokencycle]



College kids with roommates aren't quite what I had in mind. You were probably paying for part of your expenses with financial aid, and you'd probably admit yourself that you weren't living an adult life. No adult can live a decent life in the United States on $27K pre-taxes.

I beg to differ. I have friends in their PhD programs right now. First, their education is 100% paid for plus they get a stipend. So they live off the stipend, and they live fairly comfortably.

Perhaps it isn't possible to live on $27k/yr in NYC or SF, but for most of fly-over country, it is do-able.

 

[VinnyMac]

I beg to differ. I have friends in their PhD programs right now. First, their education is 100% paid for plus they get a stipend. So they live off the stipend, and they live fairly comfortably.

Perhaps it isn't possible to live on $27k/yr in NYC or SF, but for most of fly-over country, it is do-able.

Education alone is significantly more than $27K, and depending on the school, room and board may be covered too. They're PhD students, so they're practically living in school (class, research, assisting professors and teaching). That's another example of being shielded by school. Most of the cash drains that adults deal with probably don't exist for them.

Still, we're getting off track...trying to "prove me wrong" rather than dealing with the original comment. Of course you can find unusual examples that don't fit with what I said (particularly, people who are still in school), but my original comment was to a guy who presumably had his first job in the "real world," and was no longer in school. Find someone in that situation who can live with $27K pre-taxes in the US without mooching off of someone. If your friends weren't in school, I'd be willing to bet that they wouldn't be able to live on that amount pre-taxes.

 

[flirtkakat]

Oh the 27k is post-taxes.

 

[brokencycle]



Education alone is significantly more than $27K, and depending on the school, room and board may be covered too. They're PhD students, so they're practically living in school (class, research, assisting professors and teaching). That's another example of being shielded by school. Most of the cash drains that adults deal with probably don't exist for them.

Still, we're getting off track...trying to "prove me wrong" rather than dealing with the original comment. Of course you can find unusual examples that don't fit with what I said (particularly, people who are still in school), but my original comment was to a guy who presumably had his first job in the "real world," and was no longer in school. Find someone in that situation who can live with $27K pre-taxes in the US without mooching off of someone. If your friends weren't in school, I'd be willing to bet that they wouldn't be able to live on that amount pre-taxes.

Provided someone doesn't have student loan payments, someone right of college can live on 27k/yr. Assuming 25% tax rate, that's $1687/mo. While not ideal, that is certainly liveable.

Sure my PhD friend lives at school for the most part, but he still has to rent an apartment, have transportation, eat, etc.

 

[Gibonius]



Education alone is significantly more than $27K, and depending on the school, room and board may be covered too. They're PhD students, so they're practically living in school (class, research, assisting professors and teaching). That's another example of being shielded by school. Most of the cash drains that adults deal with probably don't exist for them.

Still, we're getting off track...trying to "prove me wrong" rather than dealing with the original comment. Of course you can find unusual examples that don't fit with what I said (particularly, people who are still in school), but my original comment was to a guy who presumably had his first job in the "real world," and was no longer in school. Find someone in that situation who can live with $27K pre-taxes in the US without mooching off of someone. If your friends weren't in school, I'd be willing to bet that they wouldn't be able to live on that amount pre-taxes.

College kids with roommates aren't quite what I had in mind. You were probably paying for part of your expenses with financial aid, and you'd probably admit yourself that you weren't living an adult life. No adult can live a decent life in the United States on $27K pre-taxes.

You've got a pretty narrow vision of a "decent adult life."

Doing PhD work is really more like a job than "being in school" for most STEM people. I've been in the real world for awhile now and my day to day is not very different from grad school. I actually work fewer hours if anything, for a lot more money. I get a salary now instead of a stipend. I never paid tuition. Was certainly not "shielded from the real world," aside from being too busy to worry about spending a lot of money. Not so different from a lot of young professionals, just a different job description. All the same factors would have been there if I had some bachelors level science job, and I'm sure I would have been able to live on the same salary.

I wouldn't have wanted to do the $22k thing forever, but it wasn't that bad. Certainly wasn't eating ramen, Spam, and ketchup. As much of an "adult life" as the one I live now, just more frugal. Absolutely livable without debt or mooching.


Point is: if you're trying to say that it's impossible to live on $27k/year, you're wrong.

 

[sugababy]

oh ****... I am making minus 100 k a year now .. so embarrassing ! I am running company right now. hope I will get profits this year for my goodness.

 

[sugababy]

oh...maybe someone could offer some help to me ? this is my first time to run a company I swear .