What is your economic status relative to how you grew up? - Page 5

[2mama]

I was poor dh was middle class and I would say we are mid-upper middle class and very comfy!

I worked my butt off after becoming a single teen mom and it really paid off!!

[MacKinnon]

DH and I are in very comparable situations to where our parents were at our age, execpt I work part-time and both our mom's were SAHM's. Our parents both started as upper lower class/lower middle class and steadily worked there way to upper middle class. Although my parents were much less responsible with money and incurred much debt later in life, neither is financially secure now. My FIL was able to retire early and MIL will be retiring soon, but they live in the same, almost paid off, older house that DH grew up in. They drive older cars, etc.

[jennifercp8]

I chose "The Same", even though I think I am better off than my parents were at my age.

My parents were/are upper middle class, but they were swimming in debt for a long time. They never had new cars (my mom still has never bought herself a new car), we never took big vacations - but we weren't exactly wanting for anything (dance lessons, cello lessons, instruments, etc).

My DH and I both had good jobs before having DS, and selling our house (and ending in the black!!!) has put us in a great financial position.

[BeanyMama]

way lower for me, way higher for dh.

[scrapadoozer]

I chose higher. There's not a huge difference but we do have our own home and land, a modest savings account and little debt besides the mortgage. Growing up we did not really have any luxuries at all.

[Savoir Faire]

I do not know, honestly. Why? My parents lived so far out of their means-- high credit card debt, bounced checks...we were never "safe."

So while my family seems to think we are poor, we are actually living better (and more securely) than they are.

[Sonnenwende]

Originally Posted by shayinme

Yet that education costs so am I really all that better off? I still live hand to mouth in a certain sense.

Shay

That is basically the reason I have decided to stop. I have my BA and it is not worth much. It is not worth nothing, but I am glad I stopped spending on my education when I did. I later learned that it is not financially wise to spend more than 2/3 what you think you will realistically make in the first year out of school on student debt. I think this is good advice for the vast majority of majors. I was lucky in that I found my husband, graduated a lot quicker, and moved abroad before I went over the 2/3 debt marker. Otherwise, I am sure I would be in a lot more debt. I could be a student forever if you let me. Idiotically enough, I never gave much thought to student debt until I was about to seriously graduate and then it really hit me how stupid I had been with it and I began to question if the vast majority of it was really necessary or worth it. I was really dumb and bought into the whole "Debt doesn't matter when you have your degree!" line of shit. Also I feel really suckered into the second line "There are no good jobs without a college degree!". That is not true either.

I would have to start all over again if I really wanted a degree that had real earning potential. Beyond that, there are few degrees with real earning potential that I have a natural aptitude for. For the moment, I have decided that it is not worth it to go further into debt and I will just make due with what I have. I would like to go back, but I don't know when. I would strongly prefer an employer pay for it this time. Barring that, maybe one or two classes a year at the community college. It is just all so expensive, even if you are working to support it, doing the frugal thing. My brother brought home his books for next semester, $650. FOR BOOKS. Not the class, just the books. And he bought used where he could.

Like the housing bubble, I think there is an education bubble. As long as all the free money is being handed out like candy (and it truly is), prices will rise and rise. Eventually, it will all collapse. The cost of higher ed can't keep inflating like it is forever. Something has to give. Tuition at my alma mater is nearly twice what it was when I started 7-8 years ago.

Oh and I guess on topic, it is too complicated to compare my economic status now against my economic status growing up. This might be a better question to ask me in 4-6 months.

[normajean]

Originally Posted by arismomkoofie

Just curious, and you don't need to answer me, but what field does your DH work in and does he have a full time job that only requires part time hours to fulfill? DH used to have a job like that (maintenance was only part time but you were "on call" for questions/help most of the day but they kept adding on more work to his job until it was ull time hours with only COL increases). Sorry, just curious!!!

Sorry, so late back to this thread, I took some time off for the holidays. He works 2-3 days a week as a trainer/coordinator for a educational collaboration program. Since he trains public school teachers, the 2-3 day a week schedule is only for the school year and he usually works 3 days over the entire summer. The days he doesn't work, he has to check his email & occasionally prepare a power point for a presentation. He gets a yearly salary for this. Any additional days scheduled into his job after his initial calendar & contract are set are paid on a per diem contract basis at a daily rate. This year, they have added 6 days to his schedule, but they dropped 4 from the original calendar so it works out to 2 additional days than we originally thought-but he is compensated for those extra days.

[koofie]

Originally Posted by normajean

Sorry, so late back to this thread, I took some time off for the holidays. He works 2-3 days a week as a trainer/coordinator for a educational collaboration program. Since he trains public school teachers, the 2-3 day a week schedule is only for the school year and he usually works 3 days over the entire summer. The days he doesn't work, he has to check his email & occasionally prepare a power point for a presentation. He gets a yearly salary for this. Any additional days scheduled into his job after his initial calendar & contract are set are paid on a per diem contract basis at a daily rate. This year, they have added 6 days to his schedule, but they dropped 4 from the original calendar so it works out to 2 additional days than we originally thought-but he is compensated for those extra days.

Hmmmm... that sounds very interesting! I'm a public school teacher who would rather not teach if I can stay home with the kids, but alas, we need the money. I will have to look into something like this for myself! Thank you so much for replying and I hope you had some restful days!

[frontierpsych]

I voted "the same".. I come from a military family and I am married to the military, and we're probably in about the same place economically and financially that my parents were at this point in their lives.