General Adulthood, Planning for the Future: Business, College, Budgeting, Investments, etc! $$$ - General

[QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;52812093]Salary question for you guys, so my current (previous at this point considering business slowed to a crawl early last month) job was contract/on-call that paid hourly at $14/hr (which is ~$29k/year but of course the hours were variable and I still had to fill out a 1098 and do my own taxes). And that is absurdly low for an entry level EE (which on average in the south starts with a salary range of $50k to $60k). Looking back I was dumb to accept that but I was just eager to start even some engineering job literally three days after graduation. Reason I'm asking this is I have a few proper salaried engineering interviews coming up. I've ofc done my research on the positions and have put together nice "cheat sheets" and supporting reference documents (i.e BLS, PayScale, Salary.com, etc) to back up my salary expectations. If they ask about my previous compensation what should I say? I don't want to look like a twat and say that I was unfairly paid for my previous job but at the same time I don't want them to undercut me like my previous job did.[/QUOTE] If they ask you what your salary expectations are, answer with the following. I'd like to answer that once I know what the full compensation package is. You want to get them to reveal the whole deal before committing. Handing over a number is the last thing you want to do. What are their pension contributions? Is there a bonus scheme what % of your salary is it going to be? What is the annual holiday allowance? What is the average working hours? Pick them to the core, when they run their mouths you know they are fluffing over something so use the time to work out what number you need your salary to actually be! What you really want to do is get them to make an offer to you I.e. follow OvB's advice. Negotiate once you know the grade banding. Never take the first offer. You dont ask, you dont get.

[QUOTE=Boss;52813302]If they ask you what your salary expectations are, answer with the following. I'd like to answer that once I know what the full compensation package is. You want to get them to reveal the whole deal before committing. Handing over a number is the last thing you want to do. What are their pension contributions? Is there a bonus scheme what % of your salary is it going to be? What is the annual holiday allowance? What is the average working hours? Pick them to the core, when they run their mouths you know they are fluffing over something so use the time to work out what number you need your salary to actually be! What you really want to do is get them to make an offer to you I.e. follow OvB's advice. Negotiate once you know the grade banding. Never take the first offer. You dont ask, you dont get.[/QUOTE] I don't suppose then would be a good time to ask about relocation assistance? I've already compiled my moving costs (including breaking my current lease, setting up at a new place, utilities, food, U-haul + trailer rental, gas, etc) into a nice spreadsheet. Right now its totaling at $3500 which is apparently [URL="http://www.urbanbound.com/blog/dive-into-relocation-stats"]less than the average relocation costs for new grad renters[/URL]. Really for me to make this work I'd prefer they just cut a check for lump sum right after the offer instead of reimbursement checks. I'm already quite low in my checking account and my parents can't help much either. But I digress I'm getting ahead of myself a little (But I feel well prepared already and in general feel good about employment here).

[QUOTE=Twinflower;52810462]-food-[/QUOTE] depending on how much you have to spare you could try weaning yourself onto different foods like some kind of exposure therapy basically just train your brain to know that things arent as awful as it thinks they are by proving that it isnt awful a bit at a time

[QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;52813434]I don't suppose then would be a good time to ask about relocation assistance? I've already compiled my moving costs (including breaking my current lease, setting up at a new place, utilities, food, U-haul + trailer rental, gas, etc) into a nice spreadsheet. Right now its totaling at $3500 which is apparently [URL="http://www.urbanbound.com/blog/dive-into-relocation-stats"]less than the average relocation costs for new grad renters[/URL]. Really for me to make this work I'd prefer they just cut a check for lump sum right after the offer instead of reimbursement checks. I'm already quite low in my checking account and my parents can't help much either. But I digress I'm getting ahead of myself a little (But I feel well prepared already and in general feel good about employment here).[/QUOTE] That's a great time to declare it! "I am committed to moving for this role and estimate my costs to be around £3.5k, is this part of my pay packet?" If they don't realise you can't afford this by yourself they're pretty thick. I'm not saying milk them dry because there is a balance but you want to be completely aware what you are and are not going to get paid for.

Yeah definitely ask for relocation assistance. Northrop offered me $5k to move ~100 miles to Cincinnati [editline]24th October 2017[/editline] And it’s $5k lump sum, not reimbursement shit i think

Finally going to my local area's healthcare assistance place to see what they can do for me since I ain't got a real job right now. I really just need to make sure I can keep getting my meds prescribed.

On that note, i'm 25 right now so I'll be off my parents healthcare in a few months. I'm scared to think about what will happen if I don't get a career with healthcare after I graduate in December. [editline]24th October 2017[/editline] I take like 4 prescription meds daily. Without them I'd be a mess.

[QUOTE=OvB;52815733]On that note, i'm 25 right now so I'll be off my parents healthcare in a few months. I'm scared to think about what will happen if I don't get a career with healthcare after I graduate in December. [editline]24th October 2017[/editline] I take like 4 prescription meds daily. Without them I'd be a mess.[/QUOTE] Healthcare is one of the largest sources of anxiety in my life, too. Re-enrollment for the marketplace is coming around soon, and I'm more than a little scared about what kind of options are going to be available to me. The notion of emigrating sounds more and more attractive with every passing year. My wife and I are talking about kids in the next year or so, and the thought of them not being raised in an environment where they can have access to affordable healthcare and education is a bit terrifying to me. The main thing keeping me here is that my understanding of US real estate markets is the foundation of my career. Without that, I feel like I would struggle to find work in another country. I'm hoping, one day, to be able to leverage my skillset into a career as a foreign investment consultant, representing clients abroad who want to invest in US real estate markets. That best represents my skills, [I]and[/I] would allow me to live and work abroad. It'll be probably be 5-10 years before I have the experience, portfolio, and capital to really jump into that, though. Like, "hi, I'm a random 27 year old foreigner with no college degree and only one year of official real estate experience. Want to give me a bunch of money to go buy apartments buildings in Saint Louis?" Prolly wouldn't get me too dang far right now lol.

I managed to get financial assistance! The payment is only $20 a month, they assign a doctor to me, and I should be able to get my prescriptions for about $5. That takes a big load off my shoulders tbh.

Nailed my phone interview with one of the companies I was looking at working at (felt prepared, well researched, the engineers who interviewed me also asked about my personal projects due to me linking my youtube portfolio :v: ). And they're wanting to bring me in for an on-site interview sometime next week! :dance:

Congrats, dude! You said you're looking at relocation -- what state would you be heading to if you land this?

[QUOTE=Big Dumb American;52816313]Congrats, dude! You said you're looking at relocation -- what state would you be heading to if you land this?[/QUOTE] Atlanta, Georgia. Tennessee is pretty dry for electrical engineers outside of utilities (Which really isn't my focus).

How long was the phone interview? I'm terrible with phone calls.

I don't post here often - but I'm moving this Saturday into my own apartment and I'm both psyched and scared. What is it like? How do you guys typically handle food shopping? I'm budgetting around $300/month but if I'm using less then that's fine, I just want to make sure I'm buying healthy.

[QUOTE=OvB;52816546]How long was the phone interview? I'm terrible with phone calls.[/QUOTE] Went on for a full hour. First 25 minutes was them verifying my employment history (me telling them what I did at my previous jobs), my education (some of the highlight classes that are relevant to the position) and me going into detail about some of my other relevant skills. They asked why I wanted to work there (I told them I admired their interdisciplinary teams, their products from an engineering standpoint and that I wanted to be a long term contributor as well as develop my own skills there). They also asked what I knew about the company (I had dug alot into the company's background before the phone interview and had my cliff notes handy). Perhaps the best part was them issuing me a short design challenge yesterday before the interview which I knocked out of the park for explaining my thought process behind my decisions for it. The rest of the time was them asking about my personal projects and swapping anecdotes about ham radio and electronics in general. They were really cool people. [editline]24th October 2017[/editline] [QUOTE=Nookyava;52816553]I don't post here often - but I'm moving this Saturday into my own apartment and I'm both psyched and scared. What is it like? How do you guys typically handle food shopping? I'm budgetting around $300/month but if I'm using less then that's fine, I just want to make sure I'm buying healthy.[/QUOTE] Depends upon how much you each ofc but I recommend shopping at discount stores like Aldi and/or also getting a Sam's or Costco membership for bulk items/discounts along with cheaper gas. Personally I'm able to spend ~$150/mo at Aldi for all my groceries and then perhaps another $15/week for eating out. So roughly $210/mo in food.

There IS a CostCo nearby so maybe I'll pay the membership fee, because that would not be a bad gig. I'll have to figure out discount shopping for sure, but I definitely plan on cooking if I can help it so that should hopefully reduce my bills. If I can manage like you just $150 a month would not be bad at all.

[QUOTE=Nookyava;52816553]I don't post here often - but I'm moving this Saturday into my own apartment and I'm both psyched and scared. What is it like? How do you guys typically handle food shopping? I'm budgetting around $300/month but if I'm using less then that's fine, I just want to make sure I'm buying healthy.[/QUOTE] When I first moved out I was ecstatic but things also felt daunting because of the freedom it brought. If it's your first time moving in to a place on your own I'd recommend looking up videos or topics on how to organize various things (e.g. cupboard, junk drawer, fridge/freezer, office supplies+filing system, etc.), it's better to be organized outright then let things get out of hand. For food shopping I just use Walmart's grocery pickup which saves me about an hour of shopping each time, although the selection is limited to what's available online. I'm not sure how it is in the US, but $300/month for groceries would be plenty for one person in Canada.

[QUOTE=_RJ_;52817425]When I first moved out I was ecstatic but things also felt daunting because of the freedom it brought. If it's your first time moving in to a place on your own I'd recommend looking up videos or topics on how to organize various things (e.g. cupboard, junk drawer, fridge/freezer, office supplies+filing system, etc.), it's better to be organized outright then let things get out of hand. For food shopping I just use Walmart's grocery pickup which saves me about an hour of shopping each time, although the selection is limited to what's available online. I'm not sure how it is in the US, but $300/month for groceries would be plenty for one person in Canada.[/QUOTE] Thankfully organization is something I crave and enjoy so I'll be doing that by default anyway. I'm ecstatic to have the space to do so because right now I can't. Main thing is definitely figuring out the whole food situation for the most part, since I already got everything else bill wise settled I think.

I'm feeling incredibly despondent about our housing situation right now. Currently my boyfriend and I live in a motel paying $1,300/mo. His school pays for half the rent and he gets financial aid from it as well. I get paid $12/hr (soon to be bumped to $15+), and work full time. Around here, apartments are [I]expensive.[/I] $1,200 for a studio is not uncommon. We really want a 2-bedroom, and occasionally there are ones to be had in the ~$1300-1400 range, but the problem is qualifying. Most everything is run by a property management company, which means they demand proof of either 2.5x rent's income, or 3x rent's income. Now if you factor in that his school automatically pays for half the rent, it's easy to prove we get 3x that from my work alone. The problem is if they don't accept that, we barely even qualify for a $900 studio. What do we do? We were thinking of looking into a mortgage on a small house, but we don't even have $10k saved up for a down payment. Also we're unsure if his school would keep paying half the payments on a mortgage. It all seems so hopeless.

[QUOTE=Trekintosh;52820528]I'm feeling incredibly despondent about our housing situation right now. Currently my boyfriend and I live in a motel paying $1,300/mo. His school pays for half the rent and he gets financial aid from it as well. I get paid $12/hr (soon to be bumped to $15+), and work full time. Around here, apartments are [I]expensive.[/I] $1,200 for a studio is not uncommon. We really want a 2-bedroom, and occasionally there are ones to be had in the ~$1300-1400 range, but the problem is qualifying. Most everything is run by a property management company, which means they demand proof of either 2.5x rent's income, or 3x rent's income. Now if you factor in that his school automatically pays for half the rent, it's easy to prove we get 3x that from my work alone. The problem is if they don't accept that, we barely even qualify for a $900 studio. What do we do? We were thinking of looking into a mortgage on a small house, but we don't even have $10k saved up for a down payment. Also we're unsure if his school would keep paying half the payments on a mortgage. It all seems so hopeless.[/QUOTE] You really can't know what you'll qualify for until you speak to a mortgage lender. There are lending options that allow for very low down payments (or even no money down) for home purchases, depending on what you qualify for and what's available in your area. Additionally, there may be no-strings-attached down payment assistance programs available in your area for first time homebuyers. They are first come first serve, so you may have to wait until the new calendar year, but some of them can end up providing quite a lot of help. One of my buyer clients (a young couple) just got $5,000 assistance towards their down payment from the county. All they had to do was attend a brief class and submit an application. I can't tell you what's going to be available in your area, but a good mortgage lender can. If you want to PM me what city you live in, I'll reach out to my lending partner and see if her network, Thompson Kane, extends there. They do great work. I refer all my clients to them. Even if a lender is unable to help you now, they can at least point you towards financial services and resources to help put you on the right track. If that fails, locate a financial adviser. Northwestern Mutual is an national insurance company that may have branches in your area. They'll generally try to sell you on life or disability insurance policies (which aren't a terrible idea, but may be an unnecessary burden given your current situation -- don't buy them if you don't need them), but they also provide free access to financial advisers who can help you get a handle on your budget and put together long-term financial goals to help you keep on track. Pretty handy.

is it a good idea to accept a non-binding job offer right away? i think i have one or two pending applications but i feel like at this point they just forgot about me i kinda don't want to negotiate salary because the offer they gave me is higher than the average for entry level at the company (according to glassdoor)

[QUOTE=elitehakor;52820743]is it a good idea to accept a non-binding job offer right away? i think i have one or two pending applications but i feel like at this point they just forgot about me i kinda don't want to negotiate salary because the offer they gave me is higher than the average for entry level at the company (according to glassdoor)[/QUOTE] It's never a bad thing to come back at them if you feel comfortable enough and say "Would you be willing to do X higher". Like if they offer you $17, see if they'll do $18. Worst comes to worse they'll apologize and say no, and you just take it - but they may even meet you in the middle or say yes.

So, life's been a bit mixed up lately. I was originally planning on continuing with college classes next semester, but the National Guard tagged my unit for a mandatory, 2-3 week training event in early spring. No splits. Would it be worth it to register for classes and try to power through 2-3 weeks worth of work when I get back? Or should I just take the semester off and finish my associate's next year?

[QUOTE=Trekintosh;52820528]I'm feeling incredibly despondent about our housing situation right now. Currently my boyfriend and I live in a motel paying $1,300/mo. His school pays for half the rent and he gets financial aid from it as well. I get paid $12/hr (soon to be bumped to $15+), and work full time. Around here, apartments are [I]expensive.[/I] $1,200 for a studio is not uncommon. We really want a 2-bedroom, and occasionally there are ones to be had in the ~$1300-1400 range, but the problem is qualifying. Most everything is run by a property management company, which means they demand proof of either 2.5x rent's income, or 3x rent's income. Now if you factor in that his school automatically pays for half the rent, it's easy to prove we get 3x that from my work alone. The problem is if they don't accept that, we barely even qualify for a $900 studio. What do we do? We were thinking of looking into a mortgage on a small house, but we don't even have $10k saved up for a down payment. Also we're unsure if his school would keep paying half the payments on a mortgage. It all seems so hopeless.[/QUOTE] Shit man you gotta get out of CA. I pay less than you do a month for a nearly 2000 square foot house.

No kidding, the mortgage on my house is $969 a month. Granted, I live in the outskirts of Fort Worth.

[QUOTE=elitehakor;52815324]Yeah definitely ask for relocation assistance. Northrop offered me $5k to move ~100 miles to Cincinnati [editline]24th October 2017[/editline] And it’s $5k lump sum, not reimbursement shit i think[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Boss;52815067]That's a great time to declare it! "I am committed to moving for this role and estimate my costs to be around £3.5k, is this part of my pay packet?" If they don't realise you can't afford this by yourself they're pretty thick. I'm not saying milk them dry because there is a balance but you want to be completely aware what you are and are not going to get paid for.[/QUOTE] I'm questioning what I have listed down on my spreadsheet for relo costs as I don't want to make them think that some of these costs are extraneous (But I do have to pay for half of utilities at my old place and breaking the lease of my old place as my roommate needs to prep to move out). [URL="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1eWaIr9UB3EXvP-8fjWrQqZEnBtuOcVU6TTrxelxj2vk"]Here's the spreadsheet[/URL], feel free to pick em apart and see what's extraneous. Thank ya'll for your advice.

I'm just pondering about the values for games here, from personal perspectives. Previously, I thought that I would spare money for past, presents, and future games. That results in not getting old games (I need to re-buy them because they're lost) due to their prices hiking up so much. I justified that as reasonable because I'm getting new games, and I already played those old games anyway. But recently I dont think this is true anymore. It's because with time, newer games becomes more difficult to get close to your heart, because of reasons. Its the old games that I treasure. But those games are extremely scarce now. I just bought Megaman Legends for PC for $100, and thats the last copy on Ebay. Megaman Legends 2 will costs $200. And there are still more to get. I wonder this hoarding of old games is a correct thing to do. They will costs a lot, I can afford them, but I wonder if its really worth it. It would be great if I can get somebody old with game collecting hobby to give their opinion, just to see if its worth it down the road.

Not worth it unless you plan on playing them regularly or you have the space to display. I had a large console collection for older consoles from Intellivision to Atari to Sega Genesis and all the Nintendo stuff like NES, SNES, etc. I ended up selling them recently because my need for money was greater than my ability to play the games I had regularly. Unless you can play everything you buy or you have a good avenue to share these games with others, you’re really just throwing money into a hole so you can say “Hey I’ve got this cool old game.” Of course, if you have an expendable income it might not matter, but I’m broke as shit right now and that stuff pulled in some money I desperately needed so.

For now I just bought back the dearest ones, and just download/burn roms for the others. Because a lot of good memories from my childhood is related to games, so having the physical thing serve as sort of affirmations. I'm not interested in collecting rare or mint games either, just the ones from my childhood, but there are still a lot of them. Probably I should make a solid target/list for the things I want back. Lack of target/limit is the most dangerous thing here, as arbitrarily wanting one thing could lead to wanting more and more. I need more money for my 'freedom fund' after all.

Follow up to everything. Already interviewed with Kemet (Electronics Manufacturer) in SC and their HR manager got back to me saying that the engineers (who were super friendly and knowledgeable) loved me (I had brought in a few demo projects to show off my talents) and that I was a final candidate and will probably get an offer! Also the company that I had the phone interview with (Neptune Technology Group) is bringing me in next monday for a full day of interview, tours, meet & greets and more. They even booked hotel accommodations for me for the night before. I really hope this is the company I sign on with because the position is literally <10 minutes away from my SO and the work ticks all my check marks of what I want to do. (Also Atlanta just has alot more things to do than anywhere in SC).