w00t!

[HaRuMaN]

The wife just landed a job today!  This will be the first time we have had two incomes... and won't have to scrape by paycheck to paycheck.  Life is good!    Time to buy that HD LCD TV!

[Joystick Jerk]

"Woot"?!? Is it 1998 again?

[Jouster]

Sweet...when in '98?  Find me and tell me some winning lottery numbers will ya?

Jouster

[HaRuMaN]

Wow... this thread got off track really quick.   

[Dervacumen]

Arsenio Hall is in da house.

You'll be surprised to see how quickly your lifestyle will expand to gobble up the extra income until you're living paycheck to paycheck again.

[shardian]

You are much better off living off the existing income as you were doing, and splitting your wives income between savings and house loan principal. That is what we will do in about a year when my wife gets a small job.

[ChadTower]

Exact same here as Sharidan.  The wife is just getting back into the real workforce and her income will go exclusively to the mortgage and other debt.  Don't go straight from paycheck-to-paycheck to "let's buy four figure items we don't need".

[HaRuMaN]

Exact same here as Sharidan.  The wife is just getting back into the real workforce and her income will go exclusively to the mortgage and other debt.  Don't go straight from paycheck-to-paycheck to "let's buy four figure items we don't need".

Oh I know.  That's what we plan on doing.  Her money is going to go into paying down our debt (mortgage, student loans, etc).  I'm still going to drive my '97 truck, still going to at home most of the time... we don't plan on changing our lifestyle.  It'll just be nice not to struggle every month.  Combining our incomes, we're making triple of what she was making a year ago (she was the source of income while I finished college).

[Chris G]

Treat yourself right... buy the TV.  The mortgage will always be there for you to pay down. 

[HaRuMaN]

Treat yourself right... buy the TV.  The mortgage will always be there for you to pay down. 

Oh, I'm buying the TV.  I'm using my signing bonus for that (even though they taxed the ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- out of my bonus).   

[ChadTower]

Bonuses get taxed at like 40-45%.  I hate that.

[shardian]

Signing bonus? You mean those actually exist? I thought it was yet another one of those cruel jokes that college career specialists tell you.

Apparently the job market is pretty good now. 3 years ago, it sucked major balls for Engineers and other technical people. Everyone in my graduating class had to fight over crap jobs.

[shardian]

Bonuses get taxed at like 40-45%.  I hate that.

You get it back in tax refund anyways.

[ChadTower]

Maybe, maybe not.  Often times that signing bonus is for a job that just put you into a higher income bracket... and if you weren't paying that higher bracket for much of the year, the entire overage ends up eaten in making up the difference between what you were paying in months 1-7 and what you now owe because of months 8-12.  That has happened to me a couple of times.

But yeah, used to be you could get a $5,000 signing bonus and they'd be happy to give it to you... now, entirely different scenario, no bonus, no stock options, most happy corporate benefits are gone.

[HaRuMaN]

Signing bonus? You mean those actually exist? I thought it was yet another one of those cruel jokes that college career specialists tell you.

Apparently the job market is pretty good now. 3 years ago, it sucked major balls for Engineers and other technical people. Everyone in my graduating class had to fight over crap jobs.

Yeah, they gave me 3K for signing on.    Job market is getting better, however, some of my friends that graduated with me still haven't found jobs yet...

[HaRuMaN]

Maybe, maybe not.  Often times that signing bonus is for a job that just put you into a higher income bracket... and if you weren't paying that higher bracket for much of the year, the entire overage ends up eaten in making up the difference between what you were paying in months 1-7 and what you now owe because of months 8-12.  That has happened to me a couple of times.

But yeah, used to be you could get a $5,000 signing bonus and they'd be happy to give it to you... now, entirely different scenario, no bonus, no stock options, most happy corporate benefits are gone.

I guess it depends on who's hiring.  I got a full relocation package, excellent benefits, company matching on 401K (up to 8% of annual salary).

[ChadTower]

And where they are located.  A company in a place without a strong engineering population is going to be more prone to that.  No one in MA offers relocation packages.  They never have to offer them because they can always find someone local.

[Chris G]

I guess it depends on who's hiring.  I got a full relocation package, excellent benefits, company matching on 401K (up to 8% of annual salary).

Hopefully you're already aware, but MAX out your 401k ($15.5k this year) if you can.  Or at a minimum, do 8% to get all the matching.  It's better than saving or paying down the mortgage.

[shardian]

I get a 5% matching 401k, but the real bread & butter of where I work is called an ESOP - Employee owned stock program. It outgains the 401k like 4-1. I also get a NICE holiday bonus and occasional smaller bonuses during the year if we are making money hand over fist. Unexpected extra paychecks RULE!

Having said that, I would still prefer the salaries I thought I would make while in college. Eh, maybe in a few years.

[Jouster]

This isn't right...we tried hard to derail this thread from the beginning.

Oh well...if you have extra income...you could always 'invest' in the Jouster cab charity.  It's a charity in which I accept obscene amounts of money to build to cabs for the underprivileged.  While taking a healthy chunk for my uh...operating expenses...yeah that 's it...just a thought.

Jouster

[Chris G]

I get a 5% matching 401k, but the real bread & butter of where I work is called an ESOP - Employee owned stock program. It outgains the 401k like 4-1.

What do you mean by "It outgains the 401k"?  Are you severly limited in terms of what you can invest your 401k dollars in?  Even if you are, there's no guarantee that the stock of your company is going to consistently outperform even a crappy mutual fund.  Even factoring in a huge discount on the ESOP, there's just way more risk over the long haul.  What am I missing?

[shardian]

I get a 5% matching 401k, but the real bread & butter of where I work is called an ESOP - Employee owned stock program. It outgains the 401k like 4-1.

What do you mean by "It outgains the 401k"?  Are you severly limited in terms of what you can invest your 401k dollars in?  Even if you are, there's no guarantee that the stock of your company is going to consistently outperform even a crappy mutual fund.  Even factoring in a huge discount on the ESOP, there's just way more risk over the long haul.  What am I missing?

ESOP is free. 

[ChadTower]

I get a 5% matching 401k, but the real bread & butter of where I work is called an ESOP - Employee owned stock program. It outgains the 401k like 4-1.

When I was at Cisco, that is where the money was... people would buy at $50 through the program but by the time the price period was over it would be like $175 - they'd buy, it would split and come back to $100, and they'd sell at something like a 10x profit.  All in a few months.

Then the crash happened and all of our ESOP holdings that hadn't been sold yet, that we had dropped substantial coin on, were worth less than 10% what we paid.  Almost instantly.

Don't invest in your employer.  If the company goes south you get hit from multiple angles.

[Chris G]

ESOP is free. 

Ok, so it's not an either/or decision of where to invest your money - they're just giving you stock.  Nice!  Most places' ESOP's are just a buy-at-a-discount type thing.

[shardian]

By free, I mean that the CEO decided to "give" the company to the employees when he retired. We don't buy anything. All of the excess profit goes into stock for us. Since the ESOP was set up, business has skyrocketed, thus the ESOP has grown immensely.

[ChadTower]

That is unusual.

[Chris G]

So in a sense, you have incentive to buy your own company's products (if that's possible - I don't know where you work).  Reminds me of when I was a kid trying to sell chocolate bars or magazine subscriptions.  Half the time I ended up buying a few myself so I could get the bike or whatever.

[shardian]

So in a sense, you have incentive to buy your own company's products (if that's possible - I don't know where you work).  Reminds me of when I was a kid trying to sell chocolate bars or magazine subscriptions.  Half the time I ended up buying a few myself so I could get the bike or whatever.

Construction contractor. And yes it is VERY unusual for the head of a construction company to give back profits to employees. We only have about 100 normal employees.

[pointdablame]

Oh, I'm buying the TV.  I'm using my signing bonus for that (even though they taxed the ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- out of my bonus).   

I actually just got my signing bonus in the mail this morning, and yeah... holy hell did that tax that bad boy

Congrats on the second income though.  I wouldn't mind being in that situations but I'm missing a crucial part of the equation... the wife...   

[ChadTower]

Hey, you're smart enough to not add a debt that requires a second income!  Call it preemptive nonwifing second income requirement elimination.

[shardian]

Oh, I'm buying the TV.  I'm using my signing bonus for that (even though they taxed the ---Cleveland steamer--- out of my bonus).   

Congrats on the second income though.  I wouldn't mind being in that situations but I'm missing a crucial part of the equation... the wife...   

Shoot, you don't need a second income. You could probably buy a house, a corvette, and a whole arcade and still have money left over w/o a wife.

[boykster]

congrats man...dual incomes are a thing of beauty.  Agreed with the more "conservative" posters, invest in retirement, mortgage, etc.  Heck, with the new job I'm starting next week, my wife actually will be making more $$ than me for the first time in years due to her salary going up quite a bit over the past couple of years and me taking a lower paying job at a non-profit organization.  But we balanced our finances as our incomes grew and it's not really going to make a big difference.

And go buy that flatpanel...but if it were me, I'd pass on the LCD and I'd get a plasma  

[ChadTower]

When you're single, getting laid costs more than having a wife.  Getting married is sort of like buying in bulk but forgetting that the stock will never be refreshed.

[boykster]

When you're single, getting laid costs more than having a wife.  Getting married is sort of like buying in bulk but forgetting that the stock will never be refreshed.

Its like vacation travel vs business travel.

Vacation travel is ALWAYS fun....

Business travel is exciting at first, but after a while.....

[ChadTower]

After a while even going to Orlando on business is a chore.

[pointdablame]

 

It's threads like this that make me happy I'm not married.   Don't get me wrong, I'm sure you all love your wives, and wouldn't change a thing, etc etc.

But I'm happy where I am right now, haha.  Second income would be nice.. but you're prolly right Sharidan, I might be better off this way anyway.

[ChadTower]

The key is right now.  If you wait too long, all the good bulk deals are gone, and if you wait a little longer, you can only get the D grade stuff that was returned to the factory for being defective.

[pointdablame]

The key is right now.  If you wait too long, all the good bulk deals are gone, and if you wait a little longer, you can only get the D grade stuff that was returned to the factory for being defective.

You forget I'm from Jersey... most of them are already defective.  Hot? easy to find.  Sane?  not so much.

[ChadTower]

Oh man been there done that have the scars.  Jersey chicks are about as stable as a clumsy fat guy with an ass rash on a 50' unicycle in 50mph winds that had Mexican for lunch.

[pointdablame]

 

Yeah, life may be a lot of things when you're dating a Jersey girl, but boring isn't one of em.