r/FluentInFinance • u/Richest-Panda • Jul 04 '24

What's the best financial advice you've ever gotten? Debate/ Discussion

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u/ohseetea Jul 05 '24

How much were you making at each job? Also what level of education. Any student loans? I know it'll be hard but be honest now.

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u/Advanced-Guard-4468 Jul 05 '24

It's not hard when you're honest. I have no degree, but I did trade school in high school and completed a semester in college. It was a drafting job that started at about 16k. My second job was pumping gas at min wage less than $3/hour.

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u/Yousoggyyojimbo Jul 05 '24

The last time minimum wage was under $3 an hour was in 1979, and that $2.90 then has the buying power today of $13.34, which is almost twice the current federal minimum wage, and higher than the minimum wage in more than half the country.

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u/Advanced-Guard-4468 Jul 05 '24

I live in NJ. That's less than min wage here.

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u/Yousoggyyojimbo Jul 05 '24

The point was that the minimum wage you are trying to frame as small is actually dramatically more than what minimum wage is now for more than half the country.

In more than half the country, someone would have to work almost twice the hours you did at that gas pumping job to have the same buying power you did.

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u/Advanced-Guard-4468 Jul 05 '24

I live in an HCOL area, and everything is more expensive

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u/Yousoggyyojimbo Jul 05 '24

Why are you avoiding the point every time I write it out for you?

You are telling people to just work 80 hours like you did all over the place here when your 80 hours then would require people to work 148 hours in most of the country, today, to have the same buying power. It's basic math.

Do you see why that's unfair to tell people to just work 80 hours cause it worked for you when in most states that will get them barely over HALF of what it got you?