I started my new job on Monday. So far, it's going ok. There were a few surprises-- I thought the position was benefited, and it's not. I got a nice surprise when I went to go sign my contract and my insurance contribution was $221 a month! Since I only take home about $1800, that was a pretty painful number. This will be my first week working a full six day week (since I decided to work a second job one day a week for some extra income now, while I don't have much to spend it on.) I'm hoping to put the extra money into a fund to help me buy a new car in two years or so.
I also decided to adjust my tax withholding once I saw what my refund would be this year. I realized that I was loaning the government a little over 3% of my income every year, tax free. I adjusted my withholding so now it looks like I will owe them about $25 next April, but my paychecks go up by $83 a month! I've gotten so used to not being able to use my tax return (used to go to tuition, books, or debt) that not having one won't be a big deal for me.
The other expense I'm trying to cut is my lunches-- I am really in love with this local burrito place, but I need to stop eating $8 lunches. I am trying to let myself have one occasionally instead of a couple days a week. I guess the burritos were sort of like my starbucks since I don't drink coffee.
I've also started reading the CreditBoards and MSN "YourMoney" boards to see how other people are handing the recession. I'm learning a lot about credit, savings, and debt now.
The next post will be about how I found this job in the midst of 10% unemployment...check back soon!
Also, I've been reading some pretty excellent books on my kindle lately. I'm finding I'm saving a lot of money by buying the kindle versions of bestsellers instead of hardback books. I save about $15 per book this way. If you've been thinking about a kindle or an e-reader in general, check it out-- they're really a lot of fun, and I love mine!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Reality Check #1
I admit it-- I lived a pretty cushy life when I was in college. I went to an expensive school, but my parents paid for the vast majority of my tuition, and they paid for my rent, groceries, books, etc. I lived in expensive apartments (the school was in a high cost-of-living area, not helped by the plethora of renters whose parents foot the bill), had a car, and I'll state right now that I was damn lucky to have all that. My parents are amazing for putting up with me and paying all that money.
So, with that disclosure out of the way, we come to my first reality check:
My degree wouldn't let me actually do the jobs I thought it would.
Let me backtrack. My undergraduate degree is in Biochemistry. When I entered the program, I had glamorous visions of being a highly paid research associate at some huge Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company, doing glamorous things like curing AIDS.
What I discovered is, without a Ph.D, what I would actually be doing is running the machines day in and day out for someone who DID know what they were doing. All the research associate jobs listed a minimum qualification of 2 years experience and an MS degree.
How was I supposed to get 2 years experience if no one would hire anyone who hadn't worked for two years?
If you called my mother right now, and asked her to describe some of the rants she was on the receiving end of during this time, I guarantee you she will use the word "epic." I screamed, I cried, I yelled, and it didn't change one fundamental thing: my career field was not what I had imagined it was.
Now, when everyone asks me what I wish I had done differently, one of my standard responses is: I wish I had looked into what jobs I could get with that degree, BEFORE I spent four years writing fifteen-page lab reports and learning calculus and suffering through thermodynamics.
I would have been a lot happier.
Don't get me wrong, I love my new job, and every second of my time spent earning my degree was worth it. But what I am doing for my career is not ANYTHING I had ever envisioned myself doing. In a way, the job I ended up with was perfect for me. But more on that later.
So, with that disclosure out of the way, we come to my first reality check:
My degree wouldn't let me actually do the jobs I thought it would.
Let me backtrack. My undergraduate degree is in Biochemistry. When I entered the program, I had glamorous visions of being a highly paid research associate at some huge Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company, doing glamorous things like curing AIDS.
What I discovered is, without a Ph.D, what I would actually be doing is running the machines day in and day out for someone who DID know what they were doing. All the research associate jobs listed a minimum qualification of 2 years experience and an MS degree.
How was I supposed to get 2 years experience if no one would hire anyone who hadn't worked for two years?
If you called my mother right now, and asked her to describe some of the rants she was on the receiving end of during this time, I guarantee you she will use the word "epic." I screamed, I cried, I yelled, and it didn't change one fundamental thing: my career field was not what I had imagined it was.
Now, when everyone asks me what I wish I had done differently, one of my standard responses is: I wish I had looked into what jobs I could get with that degree, BEFORE I spent four years writing fifteen-page lab reports and learning calculus and suffering through thermodynamics.
I would have been a lot happier.
Don't get me wrong, I love my new job, and every second of my time spent earning my degree was worth it. But what I am doing for my career is not ANYTHING I had ever envisioned myself doing. In a way, the job I ended up with was perfect for me. But more on that later.
Recession Graduate
If anyone had told me about five years ago that I would graduate in the middle of the deepest recession since the Great Depression, I would have done what pretty much all children of the Nineties would have done: I'd have laughed in their face.
After all, we grew up in an era when stocks didn't go down, houses only got more expensive, and the college degree was the only ticket to wealth anyone needed.
I was gonna be a scientist! I had visions of $50,000 starting salaries and delightful benefit packages dancing in my head as I bought my books for my first semester and got down to work in the fall of 2005.
In 2007, when I scored a prime internship at one of the top biopharmaceutical companies in the world, I knew I was on my way.
By December of 2008, I was starting to panic. There were no jobs ANYWHERE. Everyone wanted people with Ph.Ds. What was someone with a simple BS degree to do? And what about that pile of student loans, not to mention what my parents paid out of pocket?
So began my journey as a broke recent grad, in an era where 10% are unemployed. I got a pretty big reality check.
After all, we grew up in an era when stocks didn't go down, houses only got more expensive, and the college degree was the only ticket to wealth anyone needed.
I was gonna be a scientist! I had visions of $50,000 starting salaries and delightful benefit packages dancing in my head as I bought my books for my first semester and got down to work in the fall of 2005.
In 2007, when I scored a prime internship at one of the top biopharmaceutical companies in the world, I knew I was on my way.
By December of 2008, I was starting to panic. There were no jobs ANYWHERE. Everyone wanted people with Ph.Ds. What was someone with a simple BS degree to do? And what about that pile of student loans, not to mention what my parents paid out of pocket?
So began my journey as a broke recent grad, in an era where 10% are unemployed. I got a pretty big reality check.
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