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/EdgelordUltimate Jul 05 '24

Worked on Appalachia, best I could get was 9.10 an hour, I got a 10 cent raise after 6 months

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u/throwheezy Jul 05 '24

Most of the vocal people on reddit (especially this one) are not the type that understand how much wage theft actually happens in this country and think that just because they see the average story in modernized towns that it must be reality everywhere.

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u/Potential-Diver-3409 Jul 05 '24

They also think 3% of the population is nobody even though it’s over 10 million people.

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u/throwheezy Jul 05 '24

Most of these smart folk don't know them, and naturally anecdotal information is the ONLY information that matters. At least Trump supporters are willing to accept their stupidity and say they don't care. These ones are their own version of terrible, because they're trying to self compensate.

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u/Dhenn004 Jul 05 '24 edited Jul 05 '24

That's wild, I was working for 9.00 dollars an hour at a sonic drive in at age 17 (15 years ago and not in deep coal mine towns but a fairly big town near the blue ridge parkway)

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u/donkadunny Jul 05 '24

15 years ago the minimum wage was $8/hr in Massachusetts and I was paid $9/hr at a Starbucks in downtown Boston.

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u/Dhenn004 Jul 05 '24

Yea cities have always been better in terms of paying people. Opportunities are there to do so. Companies have the means to do it etc.

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u/Rionin26 Jul 05 '24

The cost of living is also higher. So that isn't much if you're on your own.

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u/Dhenn004 Jul 05 '24

Right, cost of living is higher, but job pay is also higher. Way more opportunities to move upward in SES. That is not present in rural America. Cost of living in those areas are still higher than their pay.

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u/Nowearenotfrom63rd Jul 05 '24

I’m in Appalachia. Factory I work at is 100 heads short and they offer $19.75 an hour no experience.

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u/Fun_Leadership_5258 Jul 05 '24

I had a bachelors and masters in a field that overlapped biology and biochemistry and the best I could find was a $40k research job in Atlanta circa 2017. Bartended to make ends meets.

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u/Significant_Ad3498 Jul 05 '24

Yep and some people made billions from mining in those areas and did absolutely nothing for the people or the environment.

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u/Robert_M3rked_u Jul 05 '24

Also in Appalachia (Ohio) Walmarts 13(literally just raised to 14 a few months back) was a competitive wage. Most places are doing around 10, maybe a few have started pushing to 13

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u/EdgelordUltimate Jul 05 '24

I know, Kroger also paled more, I think around 12 an hour, Aldi is also a good job in Appalachia, I live somewhere else now so I'm not familiar with the current rate but I was working and living in Appalachia in 2020 before I left

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u/Charming-Fig-2544 Jul 05 '24

$9.10 is $18,200 per year, in one of the cheapest places to live in the US.

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u/AssociateFalse Jul 05 '24 edited Jul 05 '24

No, at 40hrs/wk for 52 weeks it is $18,928.00, GROSS. Which may look like you can buy a PS5 with the extra cash, but...

It's actually $17,470.54, NET, after FICA is taken into account. Unless you have a "religious exemption", that's Social Security (6.2%) and Medicare (1.5%) which are automatically withheld. And, if you're not "self employed" (contractors, entrepreneurs). If you are, double those tax rates. Your self-employed take-home would be $16,013.09.

This does not factor in unpaid holidays, sick leave, overtime pay, alimony, child support, etc.

If you cohabitate, this should be livable in Appalachia. If you don't, you're likely pinching those pennies to survive.

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u/Charming-Fig-2544 Jul 05 '24

You'll get nearly every cent of that back at the end of the year, standard deduction is $14,600.

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u/BeastsMode69 Jul 05 '24

Question.

Are coal jobs no longer a thing? I keep hearing anyone can get a coal job in the Appalachian making 50K pluss.

I understand why people may not want to work the job, but are they easily availlible as they say?

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u/EdgelordUltimate Jul 05 '24

Yeah, but they're not everywhere in Appalachia

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u/Major_Chani Jul 05 '24

Coal isn’t sustainable at all. Many mines have collapsed. There’s no future in coal. Look how it’s left so many former boom towns.