I found a pile of old paystubs while looking to test out my new paper shredder, and decided to trend out the past 127 months of my gross working income (so non inclusive of scholarships/stipends).
Some takeaways:
- Rent was easily over 50% of my income throughout college, even with 3 roommates. Thank god for scholarships.
- Even after my first career move, I still needed my side job to keep rent below 33%
- My side job was very convenient for me (fully at home), but quitting my first job to only focus on the side job was a mistake, as I discovered my hours (and pay) were capped very low. This was a rough period of underemployment, where I had to move back in with mom and dad.
- First career job was a big boost to the finances, but I also had to move 2.5hrs away from my family and friends just to get that first line on my resume.
- New job in 2014 was when I finally started reading r/PersonalFinance, learned to negotiate a salary, and began contributing over 10% to my 401k.
- Quitting my side job in early 2015 was more costly than I remembered, but it was worth the free time I bought back.
- New job in 2016 was a scary move. 180 day contract, with no guarantees for conversion to full time. Fortunately I proved my value and was converted in 60 days, then promoted in October. I stopped contributing to my 401k to maximize savings for a house downpayment (needed $43K to close with no PMI on the mortgage).
- Renegotiated my salary in mid 2017 after an uninspiring annual COL increase. Again, r/personalfinace helped guide the dialogue for me.
- New job last month. Not sure how I feel about it yet as there is no 401k match, but the salary helps offset that.
Not pictured, my wife who finished grad school and started working last autumn. I'm fortunate her (very stable) career will enable me to be a lot more aggressive in how I can proceed with mine.
Submitted June 19, 2018 at 12:09PM by Thug_Dimmadome https://ift.tt/2JNLGKR
