I'm getting a teeny tiny raise at work. Grocery inflation is going to eat it, but I was going to have to adjust the budget, putting less into savings and now I shouldn't have to.
@pawkiki That’s awesome. Congrats.
Avoid lifestyle creep like you said.
mathematical optimization for cash:
1. emergency fund
2. 401k match only
3. Pay off High interest debt
4. invest (business/rentals/index funds)
5. Save for personal goals
6. Pay off Low interest debt (mortgage, student loans)
@andrewtlfc Well I’d slow down there. Consider getting a high come skill first/degree, that would help significantly increase your income. Most businesses don’t make it, and if you go in with the mindset of “I need to get rich off of this”, you already lost.
@andrewtlfc If you have no in-demand skills, community college is a great low cost way to get the skills and connections you need to move up in the world.
Your options are not 100k of debt or be poor.
@joeyfish Look into fast track programs. They are high demand skills and low cost. Usually well under 2k and can be completed in one or two semesters. The professors are usually well connected and can help you find jobs. They will also help you setup your LinkedIn and resume.
@nondenom40 Yep. This is exactly what I did a while back. Retrained into another field and have since gotten multiple decent jobs because of that training.
@pawkiki Holy cow, that’s wonderful! Did you expect it, or was it a surprise? Is there any way you could pretend it was only a percentage, say, a 75 cents raise, and have the other 25 cents an hour auto drafted to a savings account? It would slowly build up to something you could be so proud of. I know it doesn’t sound like a lot of money, but a dollar an hour is going to be a big boost to your confidence level. Way to go!
@pawkiki Congratulations keep doing whatever you did to get the raise and more will follow. Inflation is tough I been working all the overtime I can get. This from summer until now I averaged 65hours a week. There were plenty of weeks that were 80 hours. Now is the time to put in extra hours and try to save and invest . It will pay you back in spades.
@pawkiki You're lucky. My factory has the IAM union and every 3 years for contract negotiation, we get $1.25 raise the first year, 25 cents the 2nd and 25 cents the third. New contract comes and it's the same. Over and over. Many of us quit the union because it's $14.25 a week for dues and goes up a dollar every new contract so we lose money/the raises. Also all the union does is let someone in each shift stand with another union worker if the supe or someone else in power needs to talk with them. Unions (at least the Aerospace workers and Machinists union - IAM) is useless. According to long timers here, they used to get huge raises before the union came in. Now every one gets the same pay and new ppl top out to where those who've been here for decades TOOK years to get to that pay. My area is topped at $13.26 (well, 1st shift is $13.18, 2nd is $13.22 and 3rd shift is $13.26. Third gets an 8 cent differential).
Which makes me think they're full of shit about the pre union raises since the company has been around since 1930s.
