Hellobee Boards

I wish I was making 32! I'm only making 24K a year, and I'm two years out of college I do LOVE my job though (I work as a library specialist at a large state university), and my husband makes about 36K, so together (and our area is fairly low cost of living) we make enough to have bought a house 6 months ago and are currently trying for a baby! I'm working on my MLS degree right now, so potentially I will double my earnings in the next 4-5 years. To be completely honest, I am disappointed that I am making about half of what I thought I would. BUT, I have a good job with excellent benefits (including free grad school!), so I consider myself lucky

*edited for what job I have

We are! I shot myself in the foot by getting a history degree, and graduating a year later. I do sometimes feel VERY jealous of my HS friends who have nice cars and can afford to buy new clothes all the time...but really, I'm lucky I wouldn't trade where I am in my life for anything! Be nice to be able to afford a new car, though

I graduated from college in 2003 and made $32K - nine years and a masters degree later I make about three times that.

@Bookworm: I have a degree in English, so I know how that goes

When I first graduated college 12 years ago, I wanted to work in advertising/PR or marketing. Instead all I could find was an awful customer service rep position at a large health care company, making $21,500. After a couple layoffs I decided I needed to change what I was doing. So at 29 I went to grad school and I now work in software design and make about $93k. I live in a really high cost area though.

Ugh. I've made the exact same amount of $$ for the last several years.
I was making $10/hr, and have been for the last several years. Oh well. It's the line of work I'm in.
I need to finish my degree though so that I transfer jobs. But for now, I LOVE what I do.

I'm still in college, but I have an equivalent to my associates degree right now. I am in a stable job making about 33k. I'm working towards my bachelors degree right now, so once I have that, I should hopefully bump up to at least 45-50. DH makes just under 30k. I wish we had a little bit more money, but we are surviving.

I was at a straight-commission job outta college (summer of 2006) and barely made $3000 the entire 6 months I was there... I spent 4 months "studying" and taking licensing exams.

I left and went to an IT company making $42K as a fulltime business analyst for a couple of years.

@Mrs. Jacks: not necessarily logical but explainable. I know why it happened. It is part of the reason I looked for another job (thus the 54k now).

I got my MBA and started my job in 2009. I'm still at my same salary but it's not bad and the job market is rough so I'm happy to have a job. Within the next year or so I will be looking for a raise or a new job.

2 weeks after I graduated college, I started teaching preschool full time and made about 20K that year. Now (only 2 years later), I'm teaching a public pre-k program at a private center making about 25K.

Ack. If I didn't seriously LOVE what I do, I definitely wouldn't be doing it. I don't understand why teachers (at least in my state) are paid so poorly...ugh!

I graduated in '06 with a BS in engineering, and started making around 60K, now 6 years later I've worked my way up through a couple of promotions to around 100K.

I graduated in 2006 and made $58k. Six years later and a Master's Degree and I'm up to $81k. Computer Science degree.

i graduated in 2002 and made $37K as a first year teacher. our area has a *really* high cost of living and our district and surrounding districts have great starting salaries (though most first year teachers still have to room with someone to keep up).

unfortunately, with teaching, there's not much salary growth potential. 10 years and a masters + 10 additional grad. credits later, i'm making significantly less than double my starting salary. i think the most you can make ever in our district is $90K and that's after 30+ years of teaching and a PhD.

not complaining though...no one ever went into teaching for the money!

I graduated in 2003 as a graphic designer. My first job I was making 27K, up until last year I was making 44K but then got downgraded to 41k (I stayed at this job because I knew I'd get pregnant again) I have no idea what my salary will be when I go back but I'll have over 10 year experience which technically means I should make more around the 45-50k range. Fingers crossed.

When I graduated from college I went straight into a sales and marketing coordinator position with a small software company at $32k plus bonuses. I made my way through several companies and now 9 years later, as a contractor I make about 2.5x that amount if you calculate it at an hourly rate.

When i graduated from uni i made 27/hr now i
up to 33/hr and hubby make about 60/hr. Taxes are freakin rediculous though the more u make the more they take.

@Lindsay05: Hmm... if you are in the US, taxes are actually lower now than most times in the past.

http://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-tax-rates?op=1

Money quote: "Today's income tax rates are strikingly low relative to the rates of the past century, especially for rich people. For most of the century, including some boom times, top-bracket income tax rates were much higher than they are today.

Contrary to what Republicans would have you believe, super-high tax rates on rich people do not appear to hurt the economy or make people lazy: During the 1950s and early 1960s, the top bracket income tax rate was over 90%--and the economy, middle-class, and stock market boomed."

@Mrs. Jacks: im in Canada and regardless of tax rates.... It sucks to have to give up nearly half your paycheck which goes to supporting those who dont work! But thats a whole other argument!