If this is right, then i am kicking ass. I cant imagine having only a NW of $7k at this point in life o_O.

https://thecollegeinvestor.com/...ge-net-worth-millennials/
https://www.financialsamurai.com/...-worth-for-a-30-year-old/

yeah I don't think my NW is anywhere close to being that high 9800$... man I wish I had 9800 worth of fluff, I would sell it all off and retire!

It's directional, but yeah.

Every generation has those that make bad choices, but millennials entered the workforce with the highest rates of student loans and worthless degrees. Many also face inflated home prices and poor wages (not assigning any cause).

Probably hard to pay off a worthless education and buy a house by making coffee.

This. So much this. Smh

There is a mountain of data supporting this. Yes everyone makes their own choices, but the deck was stacked against most of the under 40 crowd like it never has been before as they graduated. Its REALLY hard to dig them out of the debt too given that wages are pitiful when compared to the cost of living.

We all need to listen to Bill Burr advice and start killing off the world population then housing will be free with almost no demand :)

I was just surprised to see myself in the Above Average category. Im not doing anything special. I thought i would be in the middle.... average. I started contributing to a 401k late-ish, but i have been max contributing for a couple years now so i guess ive caught up. Every month for the past 8 months ive created a CD. Only 4 more CDs needed to have them rotating yearly. And 2 months ago i learned about Roth IRAs and decided to max contribute to the one ive created every year. I was just shy of being too late age wise to make a proper amount of dough on the roth IRA.

All this coming from a first job that was only $33k out of college.

Is awesome you're able to save so much. You actually made me look up again why I don't have an RIRA.

But you're highlighting why you're above average. You got a job out of college that allowed you to advance.

That's critical. That allows you to buy a home and invest, which is what so many millennials are missing.

I would bet, though, that this game has a heavier weighting of 'above averages' than general population.

I have no degree but am lucky to have landed a $50k+ job. I am also raising a family of four(soon to be 5) and lucked out with a rural development loan from USDA for our forever home.

Still hard to make ends meet and I have been unable to save jack fluffing fluff even though I'm pulling down over $1k/week after taxes =`(

I was going to say Soviet has no degree, we have no debt. Both of us have great jobs, he is technically the breadwinner. I will say when we got together I was in debt, Soviet was not. We paid off all my stuff, following a combo of Dave Ramsey and YNAB. A lot of people think we are crazy to have bought a home in Alabama. Honestly, we made a smart decision. Soviet's company is on the GA/AL line. The property and home we bought would have costed a ton more had we bought it a mile away in GA. We used to live in a place called Peachtree City, GA rank #8 as one of the richest cities in GA to a rural area in a county that is rank #49 out of 67 counties in AL. We live pretty comfortably. We choose to move away from an area that would cost us more than we needed to pay.
The thing about Soviet is this: if you want to buy something you need to come up with a 10-page essay on why you need it ;) lol Most stuff isn't even worth me writing out a 10-page essay lmao

There are several things that can be cut out of life to save money and pay off debt. Shoot we don't even cable (Why in the world do people even pay those people for 300 of channels of nothing?). We watch shows on youtube on our tv, and then there is that thing we don't talk about to get movies and tv series ;) lol

Sometimes you make sacrifices to get where you want in life.

We were also encouraged by our parents to pursue meaningless degrees because the gen xers gave us the whole "you're gonna need a degree to flip burgers soon enough" line of bullfluff. Theres only like 6 or 7 degrees that are even worth getting based on avg income vs avg debt.

I currently manage a restaurant where the entire front of house staff has at least a bachelor's degree. Even the bus boy has a degree. Mine is in electronic media from university, but 3 of them have fine arts degrees from art schools. Gen x parents were known for the umbrella they put on their children and encouraged them into $100,000 degrees with no job placement. Unless you had the foresight to go for like IT or engineering, you got a worthless piece of paper. My brother has a master's degree in jazz and gives guitar lessons for a living....

Some millennials had the opportunity to join the work force out of college but before the recession (born 1980-83), and you can see it is much worse for those in the mid to late 80s and early 90s. The trouble really for our generation was the lack of job placement after college, and the astounding number of worthless degrees. Maybe the gen xers thought they were doing the right thing sending their child to 100k in debt to learn to draw better, because when they were children, the minimum wage equivalent based on inflation now would be around $125k. You could go to college, get a job on an assembly line making cars, and have your art school paid for in a few years. It was just easier for them.

I was a teacher NOT in the public sector working with children under the age of 5 who have behavioral disabilities. I have 6 years of schooling and am required to take an additional 18 credits each year on my own dime. This is mandated by the state. I get zero tax breaks in my field even though I was a teacher and without my husband's income I didn't even make enough money to even qualify to make any payments to my student loan debt. Essentially, I was paying to have a job.

On the flip side, I used to be a corporate recruiter. I sold my way in without a degree and made six figures working late hours for years before deciding to get a family.

I hate being in the sales field. I love teaching. When the little one came into play, I had to switch back for the income because we love spoiling our little princess rotten.
Maybe in 30 years when she can finally afford rent, I'll go back to teaching. ;)

Like galleri said. We all make sacrifices to get where we want in life.

After the housing market debacle I fell in the red, last year I finally got in the green and as long as that number stays green and grows, I'm happy :-)

Stop drinkin' ya DruncK..and cut back on ur weed budget and you be rich like me...….white privilege baby!

I used to be broke then I started making my own beer. Now I own 4 houses :)

Cheers on that, bro! 🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺

Moral of my story...Move to cheap ass Alabama. Lol living here has made me feel rich.

Here is another one. How many of you are paying out wazzoo for cell phone service? If you are I suggest looking up Ting.

If you buy your own phone and dont always have to have new gadgets, prepaid will save you hundreds a year. I just buy whatever fluffty Samsung is $90 and pay like $30/mo for 5g of high speed. My bro pays nearly twice that on a contract but he always has the new iphone

Getting a degree that actually has use has helped me do well. Going to school for free helped too. Dont always have to go to the best school.

Being able to buy a house early, and make max contributions to my 401k for over a decade now is paying off.

On the flip side, my brother went to a 2 year trade school on grants and is making $70k a year 2 years out of school. And he loves his job.

I think it really depends on your field to be honest. Some jobs pay off with degrees and others never will, while others don't need degrees - just the right person. Now if only the older generation could understand that. :P

If you're working a job that has no use for your degree what the hell are you doing working that job?

Oh and this from a guy who never went to college, makes 55k/year full benefits, that has 3 paid off cars, bought a house at 24, 800 credit score, 4 more years of 0% loan on the tractor in the barn, and a 30 year old military 5 ton truck that is my retirement plan to travel the US with no bills.

IMO most people are dumb and ignorant and want to stay where they grew up. NEWS FLASH aint nobody gonna build a place with the perfect job for you right down the street from the house you lived in since you were 8. You gotta be willing to move and change your scenery otherwise you wont get anywhere in life.

*ain't
And ain't isn't a word :p

To your point Soviet, I've lived all over the US and have never once settled in my home town in my adult life. I've constantly been willing to move and have lived in 5 states and a van. I used to work in my degree field as a new music solicitations manager, asst music director, producer and radio personality for an NPR affiliate based out of Ypsilanti, MI. I spent 6 years with the company. I recieved national recognition for the playlist on WEMU's HD-2 channel that I programmed with about 300 roots and Americana albums. My playlist was sent out nationally and published once a month in Downbeat magazine and I was widely considered "the guy" when it came to contemporary Americana/folk.

My compensation was $11/hr after 2 raises. I eventually picked up pizza delivery to supplement my income, and quit working in my field as I fell in love with cooking. The first time I was offered $20/hr to cook was the last day I worked in my field. Although people usually do a 2 year tech cert. for electronic media, I can attest to the fact that 90% of radio jocks supplement their income because it doesn't pay, although some nationally syndicated radio jocks do well.

The reason I came back to this game is because Link literally fed me while I was starving to death working in my field. He asked me to come play elders and it's the best I could have done at the time to repay the fact that he payed donations for my albums so I could eat.

I loved that job and would have worked it for my entire life if I didn't have to eat. The fact that I was encouraged, not only by my parents, but by guidance councilors/teachers from both my high school and a state-funded nationally accredited university, to go to school for a completely worthless degree is baffling to me. I was young, and I respected my elders like any ole country boy. Unfortunately now I just have the debt and don't trust fluff that gen xers and baby boomers have to say. They're clueless as to how it is now.

As a millennial, if you went to college for a worthwhile degree (IT, mech engineering, programming etc) OR did not go to college, you're fluffing a billion miles ahead of us that went to school for fine arts degrees. It's just a fact.

Unfortunately those who joined the work force instead of going to college think somehow people like me should have had the foresight to know my parents and the adults around me were bullfluffting. But it was the times. If I hadn't gone to college I'd have been a disappointment given my status as an honor student. People would see me with no debt, working in manufacturing, feeding a family, and feel like I didnt try to achieve a great life. Clueless baby boomer gen x nonsense.

Even galleri would've been in a way worse spot if she had not married you and combined finances with someone who did not go to college. If you had both gone to college and were sitting on 200k in debt you'd feel less like "why dont you eat bread for the the rest of your life, never pay your debt and work in your field?"

You're one of the lucky ones that didnt go to college. Most of us did.

I actually did go to college .. moved all over the US.
You need to find you a man trapped in a 12 year old body Derrick. All is well then.

P.S. NPR sucks now.

Yeah, right? All downhill since I quit working there in '11....

Hahaha

It ain't too late Derrick!

https://www.cnbc.com/...w-toyota-mazda-plant.html

Goes for anyone willing to work for a living.

*rolls eyes*

Sounds like some Detroit wannabes amirite?

May I live a thousand lifetimes and never work in manufacturing. Oh lord please. Anything but that.

I'm allergic to monotony. Doesn't mean I dont work my ass off running a nightclub and restaurant haha.

Derrick needs to stop kissing 12 yr old boys

Finished high school while working on a dairy farm, got a job at the age of 18 turning valves in a nuclear power plant under construction. Just happened to be the first nuke licensed after Three Mile Island.
Got put into the new, post TMI, training program (reactor physics, health physics …..). Went through the whole startup process. Moved to Arizona to perform the startup of new nuke plants...then Chernobyl hit while I was there.
Was told I had mad skills and went on to direct the startup of 2 out of the last 5 NEW nukes. Directed the restart of 4 nukes previously shutdown by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Owned 3 houses and a chunk of land in three different states.
After 5 kids moved out on their own, and wife died, decided to down size. Got rid of my Corporation, that I ran for over 21 yrs. After 9/11 spent some time with the Army in developing a new method to destroy Chemical Weapons and spent the next 4 1/2 yrs destroying 1817 ton containers of those weapons. After that, was curious about coal plants. Went on to manage a coal power plant then decided to retire.
Was brought out of retirement to travel the country, and foreign lands to teach the next generation how to run these plants.
Then it happened...had an accident which lead to a progressive nerve disease (No cure)...recently diagnosed with stage-3 CRPS ( u can look that fluff up)… it is attacking my muscles....was reminded that the heart was a muscle so, I am living life like there is no tomorrow.
The old statement that "you can't take it with you" brought me to pay off the kids student loans, complete remodel of my West Virginia home, putting a new roof on my youngest son's home, and went out and just bought me a 2018 F350 Lariat, 8ft bed..(the texas Limo) with all the bells and whistles...give the boys something to fight over when I am gone LOL
All my kids went to college, and with guidance, all make six figures....from Doctors to DOD consultants....
I had the best of life....and yes, I busted my ass with long hours in my career, but it was worth it.
Rule 1) Failure is not an option
Rule 2) Maintain a sense of humor, it is important in times of stress
Rule 3) Remember that galleri enters WCs in her bikini
Rule 4) Remember that Derrick is a fluff snowflake
Rule 5) I have seen more than 5 younger folks die in the last year due to overdose, it is NEVER "just weed"

NPR hasn't been great since Garrison Keillor retired. I used to really enjoy A Prairie Home Companion.

What do you think Soviet does for a living?.... He works in a major car manufacturing facility in Georgia. Koreans pay well.

You're the one who liked that show!

A lot of it depends on what your local NPR station chooses to air. The one that I get in one direction from my house isn't very good. However, the one that comes from the city (where they actually get donations to afford programming) is very good.

As for Prairie Home Companion...ugh. I have always turned that off. News and in depth reporting pieces are where NPRs value lies.

Now pure political trash and their journalism are horrible and full of lies..
Example: They did an entire article on the manufacturing plant Soviet works at, only to name suppliers that were apparently on the same boulevard ..... except we have never heard of those supplier companies. Instead, they were up in Tennessee. The best one was when "we talk to this guy at the gas station on his way to work at (insert some unknown plant not even located here) just down the street making door interiors, umm actually my sister in law's plant does that and it isn't even on the same boulevard as Soviet's plant. Photos they took for the article were actually taken from a news station all the way in Birmingham, AL.
The funniest thing about this story is that the KIA plant and Korea had a deal already set that they are not affected by the tariffs.
https://www.npr.org/...aten-kia-plant-in-georgia
#somuchfakenews #theyhadnocluewhattheyweretalkingabout

$22k total debt for multiple business degrees. 1 AS, 2 BS (3 different majors)

Derrick you paid 100k for a $22k annual wage bfa?

Cynicism for the win. I never thought anyone could know what's best for me. #recycleyourelders

Nah I ended with like 24k in debt after 100k in educational cost. A lot of that was grant and scholarship tho and I got out cheap.

Good lord... You were blowing my mind with the 100k references

Sui isn't afraid of hard work either! And dammit if I wore a bikini into a chat, people would go blind ffs :P

wear cheerleader suit.

Random first post back after not being on EE for years.

The problem with complaining about wages and jobs - it's usually what value both you and that job bring to the table. I think people are also fed BS about being able to love what they do and follow their dreams. I'd rather make enough money to pay for whatever dreams or things I want to buy.

It's really never too late for a career change if you want. I actaully have a lot of friends and friend's companies that have either enrolled in coding bootcamps or hire a ton of coding bootcamp grads. Generally from what I know they're like 3 month intensive skill training with usually close to 6 fig job placements after.

I'm not going to act like it isn't repeatitive but if I didn't like my neighbors and road I live on I'd be heading up there for guaranteed 1-2 years of easy work while everyone learns manufacturing, then 2-3 years of 60+ hour weeks while they expand from 1-2 then 2-3 shifts.

At least where I work you top out after 3.5 years making north of $24/hr only requisite being high school diploma or GED. It being a Toyota plant making Camrys you know the demand is going to be there plus whatever Mazda brings to the table for job security.

This was less directed at you Derrick and more general information on the honey pot being built in north Alabama for any earthers looking for a job that does pay well.