>>>It is not enough for me to move out into my own place and be able to afford heat, electricity, food, etc. It would be enough but with taxes- 7.5% FICA, 28% Fed income tax and 5% state income tax- I can’t afford it.
To be in the 28% marginal rate you must have taxable income over 83,600. That would be more than 70% of the households in this country. If that is nor enough to cover your rent, utilities and loans, I’d suggest you get a roommate.
Here is what I saw someone do 15 years ago. Graduated from Santa Clara (a so-so law school) with a JD and took a mediocre job, relying partly upon his new wife’s job as an elementary school teacher to pay the rent. Shopped for another job and took a transfer to Phoenix. Negotiated a company paid move package. Was able to buy a house with little down. Wife quit work.
Continued to shop for a job and took another company paid move to Kansas City where he bought another house and abruptly quit the new job when a firm in Texas offered him a better package. Don’t ask me how — he didn’t even have to pay back the KS firm for his move. !!! He stayed there all of a month.
Sold the house in KS and bought another in TX where he has gone on to a highly paid position with the TX firm, which is in insurance. I don’t think his furniture was even unpacked. I don’t know what he does for the TX firm, but he is rolling in dough. 6 years out of law school, and he had a wife, 3 kids, a gorgeous house, a company car (Lexus, of course), etc. And he strikes me as a dimwit.
Who knew that insurance companies needed lawyers and paid them so well?
I join everybody else here who recommends the military.
You won’t go wrong with your background. The military is clamoring for folks like you.
And you can write your own ticket after that.
(1) Save every nickel you can, get extra and part time work, and look for opportunities to make money. You might do appellate briefs on the side, or marketing studies using your MBA degree, or write for a legal publisher. Or maybe you will do menial work. In a pinch, you do what work you must to survive and get ahead.
(2) Develop specialized skills and knowledge as an attorney (or businessman) and find useful applications for them. That will require establishing yourself as an expert. Writing a Bar Journal article or for a local business publication will build your reputation and help bring in new opportunities.
(3) Constantly look to expand your network of contacts and your reputation as a reliable and steady worker. Politics and civic, professional, and volunteer organization memberships and work can widen your circle of acquaintances.
(4) Read and take to heart Ben Stein’s “Bunkhouse Logic.” Much of your angst is due to disappointed expectations. Ben Stein will cure you of that and school you on the old style American ideas and character traits that will give you the best chance to survive and prosper — and to dream and find happiness.
(5) And, to put it bluntly, get over yourself. Many millions of Americans are far worse off in life with more cause for complaint than you have. You though are intelligent, healthy, educated, and have the benefit of two valuable degrees and a professional ticket. A great many people would prefer to be in your shoes than in their own — and most everyone else would simply want to be young.
Rethinking that “not drinking and no casual sex” thing? Those days aren’t coming by again....
I don’t know of any generations in the past that would have as readily been afforded a subsidized undergraduate education and then the loans to add on graduate business and law degrees—so quit your whining!
So you aren’t making much money to start. This is an incredibly crappy economy and you’ve got yourself a job right out of law school—so quit your whining!
So you can’t afford your own place immediately out of school. You can either get an inexpensive apartment with a roommate or be ever so grateful that you have a family willing to let you live on their dime and stay with them—so quit your whining!
Will your new job give you an opportunity to get experience in an area you’re interested in pursuing in the future? If so, great. Work hard, learn lots and you’ll be moving on or up soon enough. If not, then you want to keep looking for a job in whatever that area is while working at the one you have. You should realize how very much easier it is to get a new job when you already have a job, like you have—so quit your whining!
I think part of the difficulty for young people today is that they expect to be funded right on through grad school and then plopped out immediately with just the right high-paying job. What was traditionally known as ‘paying your dues’ wasn’t spending a few extra years as a student, but starting out at or near the bottom, proving your worth as an employee and working your way up.
You’re in a great spot in a difficult economy, so count your many blessings and...
Sign up for JAG, any branch. Try to apply to a prosecutor’s office, maybe a white collar or fraud unit [it may reduce the loan]. Hang out a shingle.
What America really needs is more lawyers. lol.
Wow! I feel your pain. Your situation brings back memories. I graduated from my professional school in 1979, just in time for Carter, stagflation, and 22% interest rates. I, too, owed what would have bought a nice condo at the time. So....Here's my advice:
1) Read the book “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. I also recommend any of Norman Vincent Peale's books, especially “The Power of Positive Thinking”. “Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie is another good one.
2) Strive not to go further in debt. If you can continue to live with your parents for the next year, and if they are willing to let you do that, it will help a lot in crawling out of debt. ( I did not have that option.) If not try to find a room you can rent. Keep your personal expenses down to a minimum. If you can get along without a car that will save you a bunch.
3) Strive mightily to get out of debt! My husband and I committed ourselves to that goal and in ten years we had no debt and a house and cars free and clear. We literally had no bedroom furniture for ourselves and the children. We slept on the floor. But...When we did buy furniture it was with cash.
4) Remember that the business of banks is to get you into as much debt as possible. That is how they make their profit. They do NOT have your best interest in mind! So....If a bank says you can afford “X” amount on a mortgage, you can really only afford 1/2 to 2/3 of the amount. Do NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT get over your head in a home mortgage. Strive to pay off your house as quickly as possible. There is nothing more comforting than knowing if you are disabled, or lose your job, that the only thing you need to worry about are the property taxes. Yeah! Yeah!...There will always be financial advisors telling you to not pay off you house and that you can make more in the stock market, etc.....well...My parents survived the Great Depression. They would have told that these advisors are wrong. I survived Carter. I am telling you that these advisors are wrong.
5) As for you profession, I had many attorneys come into my clinic. The clinic was located in the downtown of one our state's major cities. Those who **LOVED** being an attorney were the patent attorneys. All had a law degree coupled with one of the sciences, mathematics, or engineering. They were highly successful financially and had a great deal of enthusiasm for their work. The other attorneys, without a single exception, hated their jobs. ( I am not exaggerating.)
That should be “advisER”. :-)
One more thing:
While you are waiting to start your job, get up every morning, and put on very nice business clothes. Then go out and do something that will help you professionally. While I was desperate to get a job in my profession, I visited medical supply houses, real estate offices, and office furniture stores. I learned about leasing office space and equipment. I talked to bankers. I priced out the cost of all the supplies and equipment that would be needed for a clinic in my profession. I visited office buildings to learn about the cost of space. I talked to contractors. I visited the zoning office to see what city buildings were zoned for my profession.
The most help thing that I did was have coffee with others in my profession. The most useful question that I asked was, “If you could do things differently, what would you **not** do?” Then I resolved that I would **never** do those things. Believe me. When these professionals answered that question it came from the heart.
Become a specialist in an area that is under-served or where the lawyers in that specialty are very old.
Example: I used a guy who did 1031 exchanges. He was a CPA and an attorney. He made about $3M/year for moving paper and knowing the rules. Not bad.
So think like an entrepreneur and find that special market niche.
Never give up. Stay healthy! Beware the scam artists.
maybe you’re starting to realize they aren’t trying to help you. that, in fact, they are doing everything they can to undermine people like yourself... to drain the motivation from you... leaving you desperate with nowhere to turn... except the government.
that’s what progressives have always done.
it’s always been in their best interest when people fail... as those people will vote progressive to get the gov’t handouts.
as for getting a good paying job, that’s always possible especially if you have skills.
first, find the company you want to work for. do not restrict yourself by region. this will give you more opportunities.
once you know who you wish to work for, contact them. interviews are good... but you need to distinguish yourself from then the others in the pile.
one idea would be to offer your services for FREE for two weeks. if by the end of those two weeks you are not better then the worst person they have, then they should drop you without explanation. BUT... if you’re not the worst, then ask them if they would hire you as a replacement... at 5% less pay... and let that other guy go.
(obvious caveats for the job being in the category you’re applying for)
this is a win-win for you and them. they get a better, more motivated employee... and you get a job in your field. (this tactic is valid in all fields)
the guy that got forced out will learn to stop being complacent and would improve his game at the next firm.
this is why capitalism works.
Such lamentations and you with a law degree. What if you didn’t have one? Would you be better off then?
Then pretend you don’t have one.
Quit thinking of yourself as a shiny, sparkling new lawyer that someone should be picking up.
Look for a job that pays the bills.
Or you could just be glad you have what you have, that so many people wish they had. Others are suggesting the military but somehow you don’t sound like the right stuff for that.
Join the military and become a JAG officer.
Do what every other generation has done. Go out and work, get a night job if the day job doesn’t pay the bills. Keep your eyes open and take advantages of opportunities, they are always around, most people just can’t see them.
If you feel like this is the end of the world, buck up, I started my independent life during the Carter administration, it seemed like the end of the world back then too, things will get better.
If you want a job where you can move out of the folks house, call Uncle Sam, they take lawyers. You will be a commisioned officer, you won’t be rich but you will make a living. You will also get a chance to mature in an environment that provides enough structure to keep you on a track for growth if you choose. They also provide a lot of free entertainment.
Good luck, now stop whining and get out there and do something. (light punch on the shoulder)
Ya got two choices: Earn more money or cut expenses. Most of the people where I live earn less than $8 an hour. They have families they are supporting on that wage, so I assume that while you are living with your family, your income should exceed your expense.
Live with your family for a while longer, help pay the utility bill, and use the extra money wisely. If you used the money saved to build a duplex, you could rent one side for almost enough to make the payment. Just one of many things to do.
A lawyer I knew supplemented his income with real estate investments (rental income) and teaching business law at the local university.
So give it some thought - how can you increase your income, and decrease your expenses?
More advice, from my better half:
People who hire lawyers aren’t looking for just a law degree holder who passed the bar.
Those are a dime a dozen.
They’re looking for something else besides. Think about what that might be.
If you got that something else, you’ll be fine.
If I were younger, I would seriously think about looking for another country to live in. Maybe Australia. Of course, I realize a guy might find his law degree of limited use in a foreign country.