Are you better off financially now versus 2000?

Is this measured in "real", indexed to inflation, number of hours worked, etc., dollars?

 

I put "slightly worse" based on income, but my IRA account has been halved.

 

Doing better - that no-money-down real estate course I bought is really working out!

 

i'll just clarify that that "much better" is me. and that is sort of off balance because i'm coming out of highschool but at the same time i represent the new job force.

i am however about to take about a 20 percent cut in may from the switch to military pay.

hey mike. just wanted to update you on some stuff i found out. i sparked a little conversation with some of the VP's at lunch today (i work almost directly under a VP) and they commented on the fact that it seemed like some of the new job market concerns lies with the fact that people don't want to leave their state for a new job AND pay for the move since most companies won't pay to move you anymore. so it seems like they feel some of the unemployment comes from the fact that alot of people don't consider the possibilty of getting up and leaving and would rather wait for something to come down the line. just wondering what you thought about that.

 

In real dollars I am worse off

 

Well, my pay has gone up 9% since I started working at my first real post-college job in Dec 2000. However, I work at a defense contractor, and those are pretty much the standard raises.

I know plenty of people who struggled to get jobs coming out of college after me. I'm terrified of trying to find a new job, should I have to. Our contract is up for recompete this fiscal year, so I'm a little sketchy. Since I work on a base, the new contractor (should we not win) will likely hire me on, since they'll need workers familiar with the systems, but...

However, overall I'm worse off. I got married. My wife is still in school, so all of a sudden I'm not living large as a bachelor - I'm making mortgage payments, covering bills my wife can't working part-time (her car, board for her horse), and failing at trying to curb her spending habit. I can't wait until she graduates and (hopefully) gets a job. An extra 30k a year would really help pay down those credit cards I ran up paying for car repairs, suit for the wedding, the honeymoon, emergency vet bills when the dog's liver failed, etc etc.

 

bringing in the concept of house payments and such definately changes my persepective i thought of it but getting some reality into it is good.my only real experience with a loss in money was when my father was going to take a cut at his job in GA he ended up getting a call from a head hunter and we moved right away my family is doing much better so i suppose i can be somewhat biased towards the moving for work prospect. all of this also makes me wonder if there's numbers that show single layoffs to layoffs with dependants and the such. i think i'll check that out.

 

I took this out of context and sent it to your wife. Good luck when you get home.

 

Much better but I work in the telecommunications industry so I'm don't have much job security so my future looks worse than it did in 2000.

 

learning to adjust my spending habits to my income was really hard. they don't teach fiscal responsibility in school. i think everyones got 90's spending hangovers though.

 

Jerk.

 

twas a joke - guess I should have put in a winky face

 

Laid off in December 2000. Took until October 2000 to find another position for about 30% less doing the same work. Dubuque is not exactly a haven for network admins. At the same time I should say that I was looking as far West as Des Moines and as far East as Madison. I got lucky in not having to move the family for the second time in three years and found a safe job with the City.

 

All of the unemployed here in this forum are envious of you with that kind of timeline. It would be great to have another job lined up before the unemployment line calls.

 

Much better. But I went from military to civilian pay in 2000. Cha-Ching!

I know it's relative. But I can afford a lot more now as oppossed to then. But we are still being cautious with out money. I know better than to assume that just because we are doing okay that the economy is fine.

Oh, and I survived one layoff in June 2001. The company I was working for at that time went under. Consequently, I went to work for Sprint at a higher wage. Even then I knew I was very lucky to land that job.

Needless to say, I still bite my nails a bit. Like many Americans that have jobs, I'm just thankful.

 

My pay for 2003 will be about 3 1/2X what I made in 2000. It would be 5X if the economy were a little better and I could make my bonuses. But in 2000 I hadn't finished grad school yet.

A very good friend of mine who is in sales had a gross income of $128,000 in 1999. In 2002, working the same job and selling the same product he made $66,000. I think that is very telling.

 

Those of you who were in school in 2000 shouldn't be voting in the poll.

 

I worked full-time in 2000 at a sh**ty office gig, and went to grad school at night.

 

Many of the responses seem to be focusing solely on salary income from employment (unsurprisingly). I wonder how the responses would change if you asked the question "Do you have more in savings now than in 2000?" or "Are you more comfortable with your financial position now than in 2000?"

My guess is there'd be very few positive responses.

 

Yes on both accounts. But I can see how I would be the exception. Saying "no" to yourself is tough, but so is bouncing a few checks and having your utilities shut off.

 

Hell no.