Working for a living 3
letter from yated excerpt-------As we see countless times, the husband will
decide that the time has come to face the inevitable: he will prepare to
enter the work force. Suddenly, as a working citizen, he no longer has
access to NJ Care, WIC, and other programs he previously relied upon,
leaving him with an even greater burden.
To help out our mathematical whizzes, let me give them a start:
$18,000 - Rent for a 4-bedroom house/apt.
$12,000 - Health Insurance
$15,000 - Discounted (!) tuition
$6,000 - Prorated purchase and maintenance of one reliable car (for work),
and one not-so-reliable car
$6,000 Utilities, gasoline, phone bills
$9,000 Groceries ($175/week), including Yomim Tovim
$4,000 Clothing, medical co-pays, dentistry, miscellaneous
Total: $70,000 a year (after (!) taxes)
Remember, this is just for the basic minimum. It does not include any winter
or summer vacation, eating out, gifts (jewelry, etc.), orthodontics, day
camp (forget the dream of sleep-away!), or any hope of home-ownership.
Why in the world should these young men be making such a far-off cheshbon so
early?
For one simple reason: There are few...no, let's rephrase that...there are
zero $70,000 jobs available for an entry-level applicant with no previous
experience. The only 70K jobs out there are the ones in which the
job-holders started at 30-40K, and built them up into a 70K job.
I think many people are unaware of the financial realities. If people wish
to go into full time learning, they should be more informed of the real
financial difficulties that they will face now and in the long term. If a
person is at that level of faith, or has adequate means of financial
support, then well and good. If not, serious consideration and planning
should be made before someone makes such a choice in life - before and not
after the fact.
When one gets a job, health insurance comes with it so strike 12k and we
are down to 58k. If they live in NYC forget about a car, that saves another
6k. We are down to 52k. That is less than a bus driver makes. So one can
make ends meet with a little effort. I believe that you can rent in NYC in
the outer boroughs for about 18k or possibly even less.
utilities etc are way too high.