4 ms·

People rarely give the full picture of their situation in these articles. What an amazing time we live in where with just a name you can track down people's Li

People rarely give the full picture of their situation in these articles. What an amazing time we live in where with just a name you can track down people's LinkedIn, their general location, etc. The couple in the article have just made financial decisions that are simply put, shitty. I assumed both pairs didn't have anything sorted out until they were 30 and outside of extreme medical debt, gambling debt, etc couldn't find out how they're living pay to pay without sheer irresponsibility. They're living in a place they can't afford. They need to get rid of their second car or work with the flexible schedule the SO has to drive him to work. Lani needs to pick up another gig, she explains the work isn't consist, great, Uber the hours you're missing. These articles remind me that we are our greatest enemy, not the situations we're put in but how we function in those situations.

metabagel 8y ago
"I assumed both pairs didn't have anything sorted out until they were 30" I think it's the norm for people not to make much money in their 20s, particularly in southern California.
- lotsofpulp 8y ago
  There is plenty of opportunity to make money in 20s though, so I can only blame a lack of research (assuming one knows how to read English and has access to the internet). If you’re smart, you can go the MD or STEM route and end up in tech or finance, or if you can get into a target law school that feed into well paying NYC/SF firms. If you can’t do that, then electricians, plumbers, and mechanics make a decent amount starting very young. If you give up your 20s in SoCal, you better be doing something to hit the ground running fast with $150k+ pay. However, if you sacrifice your 20s obtaining skills no one wants to pay for, then yes, you will not make much in your 20s.
  - metabagel 8y ago
    "If you’re smart, you can go the MD or STEM route and end up in tech or finance" These typically entail large student loans, which make it difficult to save much in one's 20s. "If you can’t do that, then electricians, plumbers, and mechanics make a decent amount starting very young." These are good options, but realistically there are only so many of these jobs to go around. They also require vocational training, which costs money, or the good fortune to obtain an apprenticeship. "If you give up your 20s in SoCal, you better be doing something to hit the ground running fast with $150k+ " Most people will never achieve that salary in their lifetime (speaking in real terms).
    - lotsofpulp 8y ago
      That’s my point, if you’re giving up your earnings in your 20s, you better end up an MD, or FAANG, or a high paying finance/law firms. If that isn’t your trajectory, and you don’t have a trust fund, then you should expect a tough cash flow situation, especially if you’re accumulating debt, and giving up $50k+ per year for 8 years. Unfortunately, I don’t know the situation the trades are in from firsthand experience, but from the contractors I hire, they are constantly jacking up prices due to lack of licensed workers, so even if it’s not sufficient pay to entice enough people to do the job at this moment, I would say the future looks good for them. If that’s not doable, then unfortunately SoCal, and CA in general, probably isn’t an economical place to live in the long term. Just like living in Manhattan or London or SF is a luxury, so is a desirable location like CA. Edit: I’m not saying this is ideal, but that is the advice I would give to someone at the start of their life deciding on whether or not to live in SoCal, even if they grew up there. Perhaps the situation will reverse once all the people who are willing to suffer through the living conditions that lower paid positions offer, but I don’t see the situation bettering itself before that happens and the supply curve for labor shifts enough to force living wages.
      - slow_donkey 8y ago
        You're probably talking about LA when referencing socal, but San Diego is reasonably affordable if you live in the right places (aka not downtown/la Jolla).
  - supertrope 8y ago
    To play devil's advocate, law suffered a supply/demand shift ten years ago. There's a steep drop off in career prospects below the top 14. The same thing will happen to TE if it becomes more popular (there's a lot of lower paying science and math jobs). The same would have happened to physicians without the residency bottleneck on supply.

metabagel 8y ago

"I assumed both pairs didn't have anything sorted out until they were 30" I think it's the norm for people not to make much money in their 20s, particularly in southern California.

lotsofpulp 8y ago
There is plenty of opportunity to make money in 20s though, so I can only blame a lack of research (assuming one knows how to read English and has access to the internet). If you’re smart, you can go the MD or STEM route and end up in tech or finance, or if you can get into a target law school that feed into well paying NYC/SF firms. If you can’t do that, then electricians, plumbers, and mechanics make a decent amount starting very young. If you give up your 20s in SoCal, you better be doing something to hit the ground running fast with $150k+ pay. However, if you sacrifice your 20s obtaining skills no one wants to pay for, then yes, you will not make much in your 20s.
- metabagel 8y ago
  "If you’re smart, you can go the MD or STEM route and end up in tech or finance" These typically entail large student loans, which make it difficult to save much in one's 20s. "If you can’t do that, then electricians, plumbers, and mechanics make a decent amount starting very young." These are good options, but realistically there are only so many of these jobs to go around. They also require vocational training, which costs money, or the good fortune to obtain an apprenticeship. "If you give up your 20s in SoCal, you better be doing something to hit the ground running fast with $150k+ " Most people will never achieve that salary in their lifetime (speaking in real terms).
  - lotsofpulp 8y ago
    That’s my point, if you’re giving up your earnings in your 20s, you better end up an MD, or FAANG, or a high paying finance/law firms. If that isn’t your trajectory, and you don’t have a trust fund, then you should expect a tough cash flow situation, especially if you’re accumulating debt, and giving up $50k+ per year for 8 years. Unfortunately, I don’t know the situation the trades are in from firsthand experience, but from the contractors I hire, they are constantly jacking up prices due to lack of licensed workers, so even if it’s not sufficient pay to entice enough people to do the job at this moment, I would say the future looks good for them. If that’s not doable, then unfortunately SoCal, and CA in general, probably isn’t an economical place to live in the long term. Just like living in Manhattan or London or SF is a luxury, so is a desirable location like CA. Edit: I’m not saying this is ideal, but that is the advice I would give to someone at the start of their life deciding on whether or not to live in SoCal, even if they grew up there. Perhaps the situation will reverse once all the people who are willing to suffer through the living conditions that lower paid positions offer, but I don’t see the situation bettering itself before that happens and the supply curve for labor shifts enough to force living wages.
    - slow_donkey 8y ago
      You're probably talking about LA when referencing socal, but San Diego is reasonably affordable if you live in the right places (aka not downtown/la Jolla).
- supertrope 8y ago
  To play devil's advocate, law suffered a supply/demand shift ten years ago. There's a steep drop off in career prospects below the top 14. The same thing will happen to TE if it becomes more popular (there's a lot of lower paying science and math jobs). The same would have happened to physicians without the residency bottleneck on supply.