Who here got their first job at 22 straight out of college?

[Kemeticsoul]

22 ? Losers. Had my first full time job at 16 fresh after dropping out of high school, like a DOCTOR.

 

[A.S. Deep]

I don't care what you graduate with, there is no way in hell someone should be making 60-70k straight out of college. In fact, in your 20's you are too green to make that kind of money period unless you are a rare prodigy.

I'm in pharmacy and many pharmacists make more than 80k a year working at Rite Aid right after graduation.

 

[Oblivian]

This is a misconception that needs to die. Mortgage is not always better than renting. There's a lot of circumstances where renting is better than borrowing money to buy a house especially these days and when you're young. Do a google search, there's calculators that factors in your loan rates, rental prices, taxes and living projections. Also, when people buy homes, they tend to over buy. Do you really need 2 bathrooms and 3 bedrooms with a detached garage at this age? Does a small condo really gain you anything over renting after closing costs, repairs, taxes and etc if you need to upgrade in 4-5 years? Your first goal should be to gather $100k of investments, because that's the point in which you can influence your future with just your money. (10% of gain on $100k is $10k per year for your retirement) Houses, contrary to popular belief are very poor investments.

You are talking in absolutes just like the other side of your argument is. 100% agree that buying is not always better than renting. This is very true short term. With that in mind, it's completely situational and market dependent. Our starter house that we bought in 2008 and sold in 2014 would rent roughly 30% more than our mortgage payment + insurance + taxes. On an apples to apples comparison, you are paying quite the premium to rent here and in most markets. That isn't really surprising because the rent is increased to cover the higher taxes, higher interest rate on the mortgage, potential vacancies, and profit. If I would factor in costs for improvements, profit when I sold, costs for repairs, etc., I'd have probably been 20% worse off if I was renting. So I strongly disagree with focusing more money towards investment as I'd be pissing away money in this scenario.

The worst thing to do when trying to analyze if a house is a good/bad investment is to just look at your gain/loss. You have to compare it to what you'd be paying to rent. That's where the big difference is. You have to live somewhere, and unless you are in an odd circumstance, you are paying for that. On the other end of the coin, depending on a house to appreciate is sort of silly as well. I see a lot of people talk about that. Well guess what? When you sell, you also have to buy. It's a zero sum game as you are paying the same inflated price on what you purchase. In my opinion, the most important factors by far are how long you will live there, you are in a stable career, and rent costs vs. mortgage payment (in apples to apples comparison).

 

[ReAnimator Reagan]

who the fuck gets out of college at 22? doogie howser?

 

[MaxMMA]

Fucking newbs, had my first job at 12 loading and unloading a merchant truck.

Maybe if you low testosterone losers had some personal pride you wouldn't have been leaching off entitlements until the age of 22.
Bet y'all took free school lunches from your mommiesinstead of paying with your own cash like a real manboy.

 

[therealdope]

IMO my first "real" job wasn't until my late 30s. It was the first time I had an interview.

 

[Big Tuppy Hole]

I left school when I was 16, worked construction (bricklayer, stonemason) and other shit manual handling jobs. Started my apprenticeship when I was 21.

Worked wvery school holidays from the age of 13 as a brickies labourer

 

[quatin]

You are talking in absolutes just like the other side of your argument is. 100% agree that buying is not always better than renting. This is very true short term. With that in mind, it's completely situational and market dependent. Our starter house that we bought in 2008 and sold in 2014 would rent roughly 30% more than our mortgage payment + insurance + taxes. On an apples to apples comparison, you are paying quite the premium to rent here and in most markets. That isn't really surprising because the rent is increased to cover the higher taxes, higher interest rate on the mortgage, potential vacancies, and profit. If I would factor in costs for improvements, profit when I sold, costs for repairs, etc., I'd have probably been 20% worse off if I was renting. So I strongly disagree with focusing more money towards investment as I'd be pissing away money in this scenario.

The worst thing to do when trying to analyze if a house is a good/bad investment is to just look at your gain/loss. You have to compare it to what you'd be paying to rent. That's where the big difference is. You have to live somewhere, and unless you are in an odd circumstance, you are paying for that. On the other end of the coin, depending on a house to appreciate is sort of silly as well. I see a lot of people talk about that. Well guess what? When you sell, you also have to buy. It's a zero sum game as you are paying the same inflated price on what you purchase. In my opinion, the most important factors by far are how long you will live there, you are in a stable career, and rent costs vs. mortgage payment (in apples to apples comparison).

What part was I talking in absolutes? I said "Mortgage is not always better than renting". Or are you talking about the $100k of investments?

"The first $100K is the hardest and most important" is a mantra in the personal financing world. I didn't just make it up, you can google it. Putting it off to buy a house goes against the rule of diversifying your portfolio. Taking all your savings and putting it towards a house is like investing all your money on real estate. Yes, you can win, but you can also loose. What happens if the housing bubble pops and your loan goes under? It's difficult to predict, which is why you are supposed to diversify your investment portfolio to insulate against swings. Now, if you already had $100k and put $15k of it into the down payment of a house, that's more manageable.

This is why you use the rent/buy calculators. Consider your rent/mortgage as a fixed cost, while you try to save up for the first $100k. The problem is, a lot of people cheat on the calculators. As a young adult, you can probably do just fine with a 1-2 bedroom apartment, but when buying a house, people want a 3 bedroom with a garage. Also consider that if you buy a house, you are less likely to move from the area. Since wages have not kept up with inflation, it is recommended that you switch jobs some 5-8 years to pursue salary increases.

 

[Rob_M.]

I was working at 18 as a Carpenter which was also during the recession around 2009-2010 and switched to Machine Programming in 2015. It's a good time right now as I can get 5-10 job offers within a week if I want to and a SR Machinist makes anywhere between $28/hr and $35/hr and the standard work week is 50-55 hours.

I actually started my machining career while I was in college. I learned about machining while working as a student in the physics department. I never looked back after that.

 

[Boomslang]

Fucking newbs, had my first job at 12 loading and unloading a merchant truck.

Maybe if you low testosterone losers had some personal pride you wouldn't have been leaching off entitlements until the age of 22.
Bet y'all took free school lunches from your mommiesinstead of paying with your own cash like a real manboy.

I wouldn't call unloading trucks a career. When I was 16 I was a janitor at the Airforce Academy. That job sucked. That motivated me to get a real career.

 

[dc007]

I did. Took me about 6 months of interviewing to find it. Kept my college retail job while I looked.

 

[Katsumi Yamada]

I got my first full time job after college.

Before that I had only worked summers, mostly as a decorator and one summer as a labourer which was hellish.

 

[boingyman]

What part was I talking in absolutes? I said "Mortgage is not always better than renting". Or are you talking about the $100k of investments?

"The first $100K is the hardest and most important" is a mantra in the personal financing world. I didn't just make it up, you can google it. Putting it off to buy a house goes against the rule of diversifying your portfolio. Taking all your savings and putting it towards a house is like investing all your money on real estate. Yes, you can win, but you can also loose. What happens if the housing bubble pops and your loan goes under? It's difficult to predict, which is why you are supposed to diversify your investment portfolio to insulate against swings. Now, if you already had $100k and put $15k of it into the down payment of a house, that's more manageable.

This is why you use the rent/buy calculators. Consider your rent/mortgage as a fixed cost, while you try to save up for the first $100k. The problem is, a lot of people cheat on the calculators. As a young adult, you can probably do just fine with a 1-2 bedroom apartment, but when buying a house, people want a 3 bedroom with a garage. Also consider that if you buy a house, you are less likely to move from the area. Since wages have not kept up with inflation, it is recommended that you switch jobs some 5-8 years to pursue salary increases.

Although I believe it's usually better to be aggressive with your retirement early on in your career due to better compounding each individual scenario will vary.

In my opinion for most people you need to at least cover some of the fundamentals such as budgeting, getting rid of debt (if you have any) and building a decent emergency fund (at least 6 months). When it comes to investing towards retirement, putting in enough to maximize the employer match is the first priority. Then maybe maximizing your IRA. Then calculate roughly about reaching 15% of your gross income. If you get to that point you can then prioritize maximizing your retirement contributions versus saving up for other priorities such as a downpayment for a home.

To get your first so called $100k would take at least 4 years for most people that are able to max or get near to max out their retirement every year ($18k for 401k and $5500 for IRA). Unless you are also considering non-retirement investing, have more investing options (for example my first job I could max $18k in 457 anad $18k in 403b) and/or just make really good money.

You also mention what happens if the housing bubble pops? I'm willing to bet your investments will all take a huge hit as well. Should I generalize people that get scared, take their money and run? or should I mention some of the investors that will take advantage of the situation and invest more? Also what if the housing bubble pops and you haven't bought yet, but since you've saved so much cash for downpayment you were able to take advantage and buy a house during a crash/dip? Sounds like many home buyers in 2009-2012. My friends bought a place in San Fran for $600k in 2011 during the crash and now easily worth over $1.3-1.4 million 6 years later. I wouldn't be surprised if they could sell it for $1.5 mil the way the market is now. There's no way you could get that kind of return elsewhere.

Your recommendations is not bad/wrong though. It's good for noobs with a grain of salt.

 

[Skov]

I actually started my machining career while I was in college. I learned about machining while working as a student in the physics department. I never looked back after that.

Are you still a Machinist or move onto new things?

 

[jericksen5]

I landed a job 2 weeks before I actually graduated. I have an engineering degree though.

 

[ineverpost]

I was well into my 25th year until I got my first "real job" in the office after a few internships.

Was I a late bloomer or quite typical nowadays? Let it be noted that I came out of school in 2010, during the recession, in a small job market at that.

Recent grads who belly ache about no job right out of school...need to face reality. Then on the other side of things I see people making 60-70k as a 22 year old...

I didn't get my first real job until i was 25 but that's because I was an idiot. I say was, because I generally make better choices these days, maybe it's just learning the hard way.

College kid only needs to ask himself one question. How is what I'm doing going to lead to money in my pocket? If there is no plan, that kid is pissing money down the drain. Some kids make good money out of college, but those kids did the research ahead of time to know what to do to get into the high paying fields. You're competing for those jobs while you're still in school through internships and recruiting events.

 

[quatin]

Although I believe it's usually better to be aggressive with your retirement early on in your career due to better compounding each individual scenario will vary.

In my opinion for most people you need to at least cover some of the fundamentals such as budgeting, getting rid of debt (if you have any) and building a decent emergency fund (at least 6 months). When it comes to investing towards retirement, putting in enough to maximize the employer match is the first priority. Then maybe maximizing your IRA. Then calculate roughly about reaching 15% of your gross income. If you get to that point you can then prioritize maximizing your retirement contributions versus saving up for other priorities such as a downpayment for a home.

To get your first so called $100k would take at least 4 years for most people that are able to max or get near to max out their retirement every year ($18k for 401k and $5500 for IRA). Unless you are also considering non-retirement investing, have more investing options (for example my first job I could max $18k in 457 anad $18k in 403b) and/or just make really good money.

You also mention what happens if the housing bubble pops? I'm willing to bet your investments will all take a huge hit as well. Should I generalize people that get scared, take their money and run? or should I mention some of the investors that will take advantage of the situation and invest more? Also what if the housing bubble pops and you haven't bought yet, but since you've saved so much cash for downpayment you were able to take advantage and buy a house during a crash/dip? Sounds like many home buyers in 2009-2012. My friends bought a place in San Fran for $600k in 2011 during the crash and now easily worth over $1.3-1.4 million 6 years later. I wouldn't be surprised if they could sell it for $1.5 mil the way the market is now. There's no way you could get that kind of return elsewhere.

Your recommendations is not bad/wrong though. It's good for noobs with a grain of salt.

The general thought is $100k in total investments, not just retirement and also assuming debt. Mortgages are generally not considered as debt, because the house is leveraged against it.

If you had diversified your portfolio accordingly, only 15% of your investments should be in real estate and tangible assets (gold, oil). If the bubble bursting leads to another recession, you should have 30% bonds in your portfolio that insulates against it. The whatifs for pre-empting the market is endless. What if instead of spending $600k in 2011 on a house, he bought Apple stock at $50 per share? For every winner, there's a loser. Tons of people went under on their mortgage during the bubble burst as well. Therefore, you have to diversify your investments.

Again I have to reiterate that using your current house as an investment is a bad idea and you need to consider it a fixed cost. If the buy/rent calculator says you are loosing $10k per year renting versus buying, you wouldn't gamble on the housing market dipping more than $10k a year. It's easy to look back in history and find the peaks and valleys, but you can't predict how long those peaks and valleys last. You need to live somewhere so it's difficult to enter/exit the market at opportune times. What happens if you sell your house for $1.5million and find that rentals in the area also tripled due to influx of people like SF has seen?

 

[sub_thug]

Went straight into the workforce after college. I waited roughly 3 weeks before I shipped off for the Army as a very green officer. I had no idea the adventure that I was embarking on at the time.

 

[bufetadanacara]

I got my first lawn cutting job at 9 years old- $10 per week!!
By 11, my little brother and I had half the lawns in town (I'm exaggerating) , we were making over $75 per week each. In the winter, we would chop and pile firewood.

From 12 to 14, full time jobs in the summer, working for farmers (hay and straw mostly). Still doing firewood in the winters.

14-16 construction on weekends and summer- firewood in winter

16- working in a factory after school and weekends- no more firewood, except for my dad's use.

17- night shift in factory (full time) then high school in the day.

18- off to college, still working at factory on weekends (different factory).


I got a loan for college but I didn't spend any of it.



I'm from a rural area though, it was normal back then. If someone was 16 and hadn't had a job, people started asking what was wrong with them. Also, my parents could have helped me financially but I couldn't ask them. It was normal where I'm from, most of my friends paid for their own school.

 

[Rob_M.]

Are you still a Machinist or move onto new things?

Still am. I have my own shop now. Still love what I do.