Under 25 and unemployed?

[ThisIsMyUserName]

Originally Posted by gumby013

I can't relate to this unemployment problem. When I decided to get a job again after my mini-retirement, I found one in 10 minutes on craigs list...seriously. Just have to be smart about selling yourself and tailor each resume/cv to the job you are applying for. Try to put yourself in the mindset of the person doing the hiring. What qualities will they be looking for? Highlight those qualities when presenting yourself.

Their strategy seems to be, look at the first 3 resumes that come in. Throw the rest out and hire the least horrible person from the 3. I don't get answers from any resumes or emails I send. Most places don't want to even tell you the company name in the ads because they don't want you bothering them. If you do somehow find a number and call or show up, they just tell you to email or *shiver*, fax your resume to them.

You got pretty lucky. I don't even know if anyone is reading my messages.
I did get 2 jobs so far related to what I wanted to do. After they said they wanted me, I never heard back and they stopped responding like the rest.

I've given up and after 6 months of depleting my savings, going on unemployment. I feel like a loser.

[gumby013]

Originally Posted by ThisIsMyUserName

Their strategy seems to be, look at the first 3 resumes that come in. Throw the rest out and hire the least horrible person from the 3. I don't get answers from any resumes or emails I send. Most places don't want to even tell you the company name in the ads because they don't want you bothering them. If you do somehow find a number and call or show up, they just tell you to email or *shiver*, fax your resume to them.

You got pretty lucky. I don't even know if anyone is reading my messages.
I did get 2 jobs so far related to what I wanted to do. After they said they wanted me, I never heard back and they stopped responding like the rest.

I've given up and after 6 months of depleting my savings, going on unemployment. I feel like a loser.

Their actual strategy is to scan the resume for key words. Most hiring managers know what they are looking for. For the job I currently have the company received about 100 resumes. The guy in charge of hiring tossed all but four out because they didn't scream out the skills he was looking for. Those four got interviews...and I got the job.

Bear in mind that I have never done exactly what I am doing now (Retail Analyst), but I knew the skill set that that job requires. I made sure to prominently feature those skills first on my resume. Also, don't put every job you have ever had...only put those that can reinforce the skills you will present you have.

[spooky]

Originally Posted by DWarrior

That's just stupid.

First, I doubt anybody gets 10% long-term without having a large initial capital to invest.

The market on average since it was created has earned annually right about 10%. It has had it's ups and downs, but that is about what it consistently works out at.

Being younger, going after an actively managed no load mutual fund with an aggressive stance that returns a measly 2 points higher isn't rocket science. It will likely have more ups and downs, but that is just part of the risk, you have far more time to recover from a down period. If you were 60 years old, I'd shoot for 10%, or maybe something rock solid at 8 or 9 points.

Why do you assume there is some kind of minimum to buy shares? Understanding that a Roth IRA has a cap as to how much you can put into it at $5000 a year, what kind of "large initial investment" do you think is required? I think my account required $50 to open?

Where do you conjure these assumptions from?

Originally Posted by DWarrior

Second, you're ignoring inflation. It takes $50k today to buy the same amount of goods as $10k bought in the 70s. So sure, your savings will increase, but will not counteract inflation all that much. It's much wiser to increase your earning power through education than work shitty jobs hoping for unrealistic returns to offset the crap wages.

Inflation exists, sure, but when you are doubling your money every ~6 years, you are easily outpacing inflation, which sits around 3%. God forbid you let that million ride until you reach 48, when it is 2 million, or 54 when it is 4 million, or 60 when it is eight million, or your retirement age of 66 with $16 million in after tax money. And that's still only working that ten hour a week job and assuming the cap on a Roth IRA won't ever increase, your $10 an hour won't ever increase, and assuming it is the ONLY way and ONLY money you ever contribute towards retirement.

And in terms of increasing earning power through education, are you telling me you can't find ten hours a week of spare time to work a shitty job AND attend college? I went to college full time and still worked at least a 30 hour week. When I was Art Director and earning very decent money, I still worked nights delivering pizza and did construction on weekends. It's fine and dandy that you believe higher checks later in life are worth more than earning interest all the way through, but have you worked out the actual math(you not understanding that a 10% return is pretty average leads me to believe you pulled that statistic right out of your ass)? Please show your work, I showed mine.


You started off saying "that's just stupid", but beyond demonstrating your own ignorance or unwillingness to use google to fact check, you never actually pointed out anything stupid? Maybe you left that off your post or lost it somehow? Please explain.

“The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest”

-Albert Einstein

[ThisIsMyUserName]

Originally Posted by spooky

And in terms of increasing earning power through education, are you telling me you can't find ten hours a week of spare time to work a shitty job AND attend college? I went to college full time and still worked at least a 30 hour week. When I was Art Director and earning very decent money, I still worked nights delivering pizza and did construction on weekends.

To be fair, you can't contribute 100% of your income to anything. Even if you work 30 hours a week and went to school, that's 1/3 of your money going into this millionaire fund. Not realistic at all, unless I'm not following the math, how would someone pay bills unless they just leech off other people?

Also, I worked my ass off in school and had almost no time for anything. I was working about 25 hours across my 3 days off of school and barely slept with all the projects I had. I'm not sure how you did school and all these jobs, but some people have a much higher work load and no time.

[spooky]

Originally Posted by ThisIsMyUserName

To be fair, you can't contribute 100% of your income to anything. Even if you work 30 hours a week and went to school, that's 1/3 of your money going into this millionaire fund. Not realistic at all, unless I'm not following the math, how would someone pay bills unless they just leech off other people?

Also, I worked my ass off in school and had almost no time for anything. I was working about 25 hours across my 3 days off of school and barely slept with all the projects I had. I'm not sure how you did school and all these jobs, but some people have a much higher work load and no time.

Rule number one in money is: Pay yourself first, ALWAYS. That retirement account should have a higher priority than groceries and that roof over your head.

I get that many really don't have ten hours a week of extra spare time like you say, but in the context of this topic, it's lots of people with heaps of spare time. It's this demographic that video games are marketed to. Movies. Sports gear and energy drinks.

Some are going for a phd in medicine and honestly can't find the time to do the extra job on top of their regular work, but in 2008, the average american male spends 5.9 hours a day, the average female, 5.1 hours, doing leisure activities.

I get your point, I totally do, and I am sure you get mine.

[kissmisskate]

I'm 21 and currently unemployed. However, up until last week I was working for a reasonable wage, living alone, and making enough money to do pretty well anything I wanted to do. I gave up my job (working retail) to backpack across the USA - but, I know that they would hire me back in an instant.

This is the first time I've been unemployed since I was 15 years old, doing everything from line work at a fast food joint, to pushy retail, to working as a baking apprentice for an angry Quebecois gentleman. I don't get why most people my age are jobless - I assume most get pulled into the whole "college" scheme. Ohs wells!

[Ansur]

Originally Posted by spooky

Rule number one in money is: Pay yourself first, ALWAYS. That retirement account should have a higher priority than groceries and that roof over your head.

That's retarded. Don't eat or have a place to live so you can save for retirement?

"Pay yourself first" does not mean to not pay your bills or buy food. It means put the retirement fund before discretionary spending. If you have an XBOX 360 and no retirement plan, that's when you are screwing yourself later for immediate gratification. If you have cable TV but no retirement fund, your 45-year-old self wants to come back in time and bitch-slap you.

[DWarrior]

The fund will have fees, the average fee is around 2%. Even if the fund manages to make 12%, you'll still only get 10%.

You're also assuming that somehow you'll find a fund that outperforms the market. Who makes up the market? It's primarily institutions, and there's no reason for you to say mutual funds have an innate advantage. In fact, there are two basic arguments to the contrary: they have more restrictions than hedge funds, and talented managers get hired by hedge funds. AFAIK, the standard investment to get in on hedge funds is a mil. Also, a high school kid working $10/hr won't have the financial know-how to pick out a fund that outperforms the market. So assume the market average less transaction costs, you'll be getting 8%. In reality, most funds (80%) average less than the market return, and I've seen statistics that the mean return of mutual funds after fees is actually negative (hard to find the statistics though).

In the end, you're not likely to average 12%. You'll be lucky to get 8% and you'll have to weather financial ups and downs, which many people can't do. You should factor in a person pulling out of the market if times get tough, or making other irrational decisions, thus lowering their long-term average.

PS, I don't believe higher checks later in life are worth more, I think more interesting work later in life is worth more than trying to fit your life to dreams of early retirement using unrealistic projections.

[DWarrior]

Originally Posted by spooky

“The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest”

-Albert Einstein

snopes.com: Einstein and Compound Interest

[crazyrob]

24yo in grad school with the only work I can get is unpaid. Hopefully once I get my law degree and pass the bar I will be able to live a decent life. Until then the only thing I am willing to pay for that isn't a necessity is high speed internet.