I believe that I am the pre-eminent financial under-achiever of the Yale University Class of 1980. I will never be able to know this for sure, of course, but I would like to think it is so. To be in the bottom 5% would merely be depressing, but to be the lowest lifetime earner in a class of 1,300 graduates would be sort of a sweet inverse distinction.
I just received my annual Social Security Statement, which is why I'm thinking about this. Including my graduation year of 1980 (I was a May graduate), I have had 29 years as an adult earner. My numbers are brutal. In 9 of those years, I made less than $10,000 (yes, you heard right). In another 7 years, I made in the $10,000-$19,000 range, for a total of 16 of 29 years earning less than $20,000.
In five years, I made in the $20,000-$29,000 range; in three years, in the $30,000-$39,000 range. One year, I nicked the 40s at $40,218. So in 25 of my 29 earning years, I made less than $41,000.
My four best years have come during the last six: one year in the 50s, two in the 60s, one in the 70s. But the other two of those six years were transition years between jobs (as 2009 is, too), and I was only in the 20s those two years.
The grand total for 29 years is (drum roll) $676, 537. I know people who made more than that for a bonus last year.
To make matters worse, I started with no family money, and never got any because there never was any. I have never owned property; I paid half a mortgage for several years, but my name was not on the deed (long story) and I walked away with nothing. I have never had investments, not even a 401K, and cashed out my one tiny retirement account years ago. On the bright side, this does mean that I haven't lost a dime in the downturn!
The question that arises is, how is it that I am still alive?
Breakfast is being served
3 years ago
