What does everyone here do for a living?

[KiwiJo09]

Front Desk Agent at a hotel

[ar_campbell]

Investment banking analyst for a boutique firm. I'm a licensed broker but don't actively trade as part of my job.

[Thrifty Ray]

I am in Risk Management and the hub works on the North Slope in Alaska.

[Ramose]

Student

[bethasaver]

Medical coder/documentation specialist for a hospital

[Bades]

It's curious that there are so few (if any) people here who seem to have low pay or minimum wage jobs. I guess it's harder to save at those levels of income, but I find it's very hard to compete when so many are able to save twice as much as I earn in a single year.

This is an interesting observation, but not one that surprises me too much. I would generally think people who have higher paying jobs, also carry more responsibility, have college degrees, etc, therefore they are more proactive and aware of the benefits of saving and managing their finances. Of course there are always exceptions and this is not to say that people who make more money are smarter with finances because we know that's not always the case

[Gina23]

Senior Developer in IT in the Higher-Ed industry.
My better half is Promotions Manger for a local part of a much, much larger company based out of Southern California.

[gostumpy]

Sales & Service Rep for auto-glass distribution

[Gailete]

Quote:




Originally Posted by UnknownXV

It's curious that there are so few (if any) people here who seem to have low pay or minimum wage jobs. I guess it's harder to save at those levels of income, but I find it's very hard to compete when so many are able to save twice as much as I earn in a single year.

This is an interesting observation, but not one that surprises me too much. I would generally think people who have higher paying jobs, also carry more responsibility, have college degrees, etc, therefore they are more proactive and aware of the benefits of saving and managing their finances. Of course there are always exceptions and this is not to say that people who make more money are smarter with finances because we know that's not always the case

In my 10-15 years of purusing on line forums on saving and frugal living, this is the only one where people had the kind of income coming in like I'm seeing here. Most places the people are just as interested in saving, but many are even more interested in making ends meet so that there is something to put into savings. In a different thread I mentioned trying to save something like around $50 month towards retirement and was told basically that it wasn't hardly worthwhile to save that little amount and I should get a better job was the implication. HMmm, I'm on disability now and have been for over 10 years. Some of us don't have the ability to get better jobs. I scrounge money where I can when I can on days that I feel well enough to do so. Then there are days like today where I've been in bed most of the day as I've been in too bad of shape to hardly hold up my head.

Seeing what folks here do and the income that they seem to make, makes me understand much better where people are coming from. Many with good incomes but still not enough money to get through the month generally have something or several somethings that they can cut from the budget to make things right where on other forums a family of 5 with $25K/hear coming in needs to know every frugal trick in the book to even be able to set aside a bit each month and for them to have a thousand dollar emergency fund is a big deal.

[siggy_freud]

Project Manager in Government Public Safety. I also run a consulting business on the side that focuses on Education grant evaluation, public safety, and mediation/communication issues.

[amarowsky]

Railroad conductor.

[Bades]

In my 10-15 years of purusing on line forums on saving and frugal living, this is the only one where people had the kind of income coming in like I'm seeing here. Most places the people are just as interested in saving, but many are even more interested in making ends meet so that there is something to put into savings. In a different thread I mentioned trying to save something like around $50 month towards retirement and was told basically that it wasn't hardly worthwhile to save that little amount and I should get a better job was the implication. HMmm, I'm on disability now and have been for over 10 years. Some of us don't have the ability to get better jobs. I scrounge money where I can when I can on days that I feel well enough to do so. Then there are days like today where I've been in bed most of the day as I've been in too bad of shape to hardly hold up my head.

Seeing what folks here do and the income that they seem to make, makes me understand much better where people are coming from. Many with good incomes but still not enough money to get through the month generally have something or several somethings that they can cut from the budget to make things right where on other forums a family of 5 with $25K/hear coming in needs to know every frugal trick in the book to even be able to set aside a bit each month and for them to have a thousand dollar emergency fund is a big deal.

You are right, every forum has their niche and audience to say the least. But even if there are some people here that make good money, that doesn't mean they don't belong here or don't need help maximizing the most out of their income. The website is "Saving Advice".

Besides the person that told you saving $50 a month isn't worth it, is one person's opinion; someone who has been involved with finance forums for over 10 years should know to take forum answers with a grain of salt. They are merely opinions, and the OP must make a final decision for him or herself.

Finance forums, like this one, are generally made up of two different types of people. People who have their finances in order, and people seeking advice of others that have their finances in order. If it wasn't like that, there wouldn't be much good advice going around

[Gailete]

Finance forums, like this one, are generally made up of two different types of people. People who have their finances in order, and people seeking advice of others that have their finances in order. If it wasn't like that, there wouldn't be much good advice going around

You are very right and I would much rather read a forum that isn't all about reusing sandwich wrappers for kids lunches! My kids are on their own! I do take advice with a grain of salt when it doesn't apply, but it does help when those responding remember that some people are coming from a very different situation than they are in. Just like on some of the blog type entries that some post on savings advice. Someone mentioned that they made their own household cleaners while someone else told them basically that they were stupid to waste the time and they should just earn more money instead of doing something that saves it. There are some that can't make more, there are some that don't want to work more and there are others that are more than happy to work more and then there are others that can't work a regular job and so have to be creative about making and saving money. It is all interesting.

If there is one thing that I have learned by being sidelined by disability and that is if I was miraculously healed in the next 5 minutes I would never go back to punching a time clock(I am an RN). I would just take the small business we have started and ramp it up to a full time income for us. I love not having to answer to bosses and not having to deal with office politics. Others who have gone through what I have would be dancing in the streets cuz they could go back to work, see people and get all the benefits and paychecks associated with a job. We are all so different. It is also interesting to see what people do, since some of those jobs didn't even exist when I graduated high school! People have so many more choices for careers now, especially women.

[Jeff Yeager]

CEO (Cheap Executive Officer) at The Ultimate Cheapskate. I'm also the sole employee, which means that I'm a shoe-in for Employee of the Month twelve times a year.

[Gailete]

CEO (Cheap Executive Officer) at The Ultimate Cheapskate. I'm also the sole employee, which means that I'm a shoe-in for Employee of the Month twelve times a year.

Bet that means you getting the best parking spot as well!