- Show:
- Comments
- Liked Comments
On How's That $148,000 Law Degree Working Out for You
So far what’s the best part about being a lawyer? In a way you really don’t have to do a lot of work, but you get to sit in a nice office. Hahahaha! Signed, A lawyer that graduated in 2004
2
On Not Having Children Is Letting Us Have It All
I loved this article! Maybe because I'm one of those crazy kid free people who doesn't understand that the love of a child will offset their financial drain. I grew up on the lower end of middle class and having financial freedom has meant a lot to me. I am not sure if I ever want kids but I know I cherish every day that I only have to pay for myself. A vacation budget goes much further when you only need to buy one ticket.
5
On I Chose the Expensive Private University — And Got the Debt to Go With It
Betty! This was so great, thanks for writing it. I went to NYU for grad school and graduated with about the same amount of debt, however, I sold my soul to pay it off. I think the difference between undergrad debt and grad debt is huge. As a 17 year old, I would've never been able to fathom exactly how much $130k was in practical terms or what a monthly repayment would do to my life. But as a 23 year old, I had a job and struggled to pay my $1100 a month rent. It meant so much more to me to hear that repayments would be up to $2000 per month. I thought long and hard whether it would be worth it to commit to that type of debt and what I would need to do to pay it all back.
0
On Do You Have a Uniform?
I love it! Also, you should consider a scarf to change it up.
0
On WWYD: Using a Family Connection
I'm going to offer a really shitty (and unpopular) opinion on this issue: You were kinda a tool for asking them to 'look over your taxes'. I work as a lawyer and we have some clients (like you) who think that it is somehow easier to take a look at something they drafted rather than draft it ourselves. But usually the opposite is true. If you send me all the raw material, I can make the judgment calls on what is needed/what is missing, etc. But when you send me a 'complete' product and want me to sign off, I have to guess whether the raw material was entered correctly. It's usually a bigger pain in the ass than doing it myself. The value in their service isn't whether you added all the lines correctly, it is whether you made the right judgment calls. That's what the $750 was for. If you don't want to pay, buy Turbo Tax for $49.99, it will help you do most complex returns.
2
On How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Chain Restaurants
@stuffisthings I'm with you 100%. My ex-husband was a chef and most of the places he worked at were of the locally-owned non-chain variety. Some were better than others, but most offered no benefits (paid vacation, paid sick leave, health insurance, retirement, etc). And more than once he had employers who bounced paychecks, never paid, never provided W-2s, tried to classify everyone as salaried employees so they didn't pay overtime, and on and on. His last job was a mini-chain (maybe 10-15 restaurants) and they offered a week of paid vacation and a craptacular health insurance plan but that's the best shake he ever got. If we really want to make a difference, we should support congress passing wage laws, healthcare coverage and food supply laws that benefit everyone rather than trying to make ourselves feel better with the veneer of responsible dining.
0
On Is There Anyone on Earth With As Much Debt As Me?
I graduated from law school in 2004 with a little more than $110k in student loans. I more or less took a big law job to pay off my loans (which I finished paying off in 2012). The issue with big loans/big job are two fold: 1. you end up taking a job that you don't particularly love 2. you end up buying into a lifestyle you cant give up. People will take big paying jobs and think "oh, I'll just do this for a few years to pay back my loans." But the problem with the law is that you are only a fungible commodity for the first year or two after law school. After you've started to become trained in one area of the law, it is nearly impossible to make a career change (especially in a bad economy). I'm at the 8th year associate level and personally, I'd prefer to do a different kind of law, with less hours and more personal fulfillment. But the job opportunities just aren't there. I'm lucky to just be employed in the field I'm specialized in. The harder part (for some people), is buying into the lifestyle. Once you start working at a big firm, your social life starts to get focused on people who make as much (or much more) than you. It starts off slow but becomes all consuming. When I was a student, I would wait for hours in line at a cheap brunch place or do free movies in the park. But once I started working 60-80 hours a week, I don't have the time or patience to do stuff like that anymore. So you start paying $28 for eggs because you just want to eat. Or you take a taxi because it will be quicker and you're tired from working until 2 am. And now your suit you got at H&M looks cheap next to everyone else's nice clothes. And you need an apartment closer to work because those precious hours between 1 am and 9 am when you aren't at work don't need to be spent on the R train. So you get a nice place in the Village. And it goes on and on. I was complaining to my boss the other day about being burned out on the law and he said "you can't give up the money". I'm not 100% sure if that's true. My biggest money spenders are things like travel and housing. And if I had a better job with more time off I would be happy to go back to shoe string travel or more remote housing. But at this point I haven't found something better to do. This is all rambling but it's all just to say, taking a high paying job solved the problem of loan repayment but it didn't solve all my problems.
6
On WWYD: Thanking Your Host
@cmcm Do you need a place in London? I have a lead on a room if you're interested.
0
On The Simple Solution to a Last Minute Passport Snafu ($$$)
Be very careful with the passport office. They can technically refuse to expidite you if you booked your ticket months ago but just now noticed your passport expired. I had a friend who was denied when they saw the booking date on her ticket! They did expidite me when I got my British visa (which they wouldn't put into my passport because I didn't have on blank front/back page) but they gave me sooo much shit about it. But it wasn't my fault! The British home office didn't say anything about the front/back requirement until they had the visa ready.
0
On How's That $148,000 Law Degree Working Out for You
@bgprincipessa It depends? Some states you have to take the bar there and there only (like California and New Jersey). Some states waive you in after 5 years of practicing in another state (so-called reciprocity). In other states, you get a mixed bag where you need to take the state specific half of the exam (usually the written part) but can carry over your score on the multi-state bar exam. In still other places, they allow you to take the bar concurrently (plenty of people sit for NY and NJ at the same time). Phew! It's complicated. Although, presumably if he new he was going home, he would've made arrangements for the bar after graduation. I don't think any states require you to have attended law school in that state to sit for the bar (with the exception of unaccredited law schools). Final complication, if he's just doing policy, he probably is not 'practicing law' and therefore doesn't need to be a member of the bar. Phew!