I know y’all are feeling this too..

[zb1995]

I am a 21 year old woman living with my grandmother in Eastern Kentucky. I had been living in the ghetto in Louisville, $650 a month with a 50 yr old roommate who was an xray tech. Due to groceries, gas, gas bill, electric, etc, me and her both could barely afford the place. I had 2 jobs, one paying $16.65/hr at the zoo and one serving job. That apartment burned down (my luck) so I ended up back with my grandma in rural Kentucky. Back at my hometown sports bar serving. Though some shifts I leave with $7-$20 (mind boggling), it’s still one of the highest paying jobs in my area. A good night is about $200. My boyfriend, who lives in Lou with a roommate, pays $700 a month and makes $17/hr. We are in a position where he has only just enough to afford his rent, and I have only just enough to pay for my car. ($310 insurance, yes that’s the cheapest, I don’t know why, i’ve tried, and $192 car payment). I recently have been fatasizing about us getting a place together, we live 1.5 hours away. Just an apartment, i’d love something with a nice kitchen, maybe a yard… hell i’d love to buy a home. Get married one day, have a daughter. When I think about it I want to cry because it’s near impossible in this economy. Me and him both work so hard, full time if not more. We hardly go out, and buy the cheapest of everything. College is too expensive, trade school is too expensive and so is living right now. I think maybe we should try to get new jobs, hell, maybe even follow our dreams. However, pathetically I don’t think either one of us could even save up one month’s worth of expenses. Im so heartbroken and scared that we will have to live like this forever. Broke and hopeless. I just wanted to rant I guess, maybe if you relate you can tell your story. We’re all in this together…
Edit: Not in a hurry to move in together, our situation isn’t completely fucked. We are lucky to be in our current living situations. Him and I both have a small amount of wiggle room. Perhaps a combined of $800 or so a month.Depends on the month. Im thinking ahead to a year or so from now, I’d really love for us to be happy together with enough to live with low worry. If you know a way we can turn our extra cash into more money somehow, i’m all ears.

 

[wilovski]

@zb1995 I’m in KY, was raised in eastern KY. There are so many no cost programs for job training. Have you looked into any of those resources - specifically Work Ready KY?

 

[zb1995]

@wilovski I actually haven’t ever heard of that

 

[wilovski]

@zb1995 https://workreadykentucky.com/

Might be worth looking into. There are some time sensitive deadlines but it’s a fantastic program.

 

[wilovski]

@zb1995 It’s hard. The hollers are drying up. I feel you, friend and I love the hills with my whole heart but it is so hard to make a good living.

 

[zb1995]

@wilovski You’re right

 

[chosen_1]

@zb1995 Have you thought about switching industries?

Insurance is a great industry that pays well, and if you end up with a great company, can be fully remote!

 

[zb1995]

@chosen_1 Is insurance always sales? And yes I have been considering recently, i’d like a stable check. Currently just don’t have a buffer for switching. I’ve been pretty locked in for abt 2months busting my ass but recently started dragging it due to burnout. But I think you’re right, if I pick up the pace to save a little I can switch industries. He also is a line cook rn but has enough experience to be a sous chef. That’s his dream and I will encourage him to follow. Thanks.

 

[willp]

@zb1995 I didn’t come here originally to comment about insurance, but that’s the industry I’m in so I figured I’d chime in.

I worked in restaurants for the first 5 years of my working life and got tired of the inconsistency in tips. 11 years ago I started working an office job making $11 an hour, no benefits. My husband worked as a construction laborer making $10 an hour. It was tough. I worked my way up to $18 an hour before I switched to insurance at $22 an hour. I work in employee benefits and now make $100k base plus $25k in commission and that number is expected to increase every year. My husband now makes $80k as a construction superintendent. It gets better I promise, but it takes hard work.

Regarding insurance, no, not all positions are exclusively sales. Brokers and carriers need customer service reps, that’s where I started. I eventually worked my way up in the industry and I love it. I work remotely but that came with a lot of experience and trust from my employer.

The industry can be tough to get into, but the biggest thing my employer looks for when hiring entry level employees is a positive attitude, willingness to learn, and excitement for a career (rather than someone just looking for a job).

Search on indeed for entry level positions in insurance and if you play your cards right, you can get to Account Manager or higher. It takes patience and a lot of hard work, but from someone who was in your shoes, it is possible.

Best of luck to you both!

 

[lost_1]

@zb1995 Not always, there’s medical coding which can also be fully remote.

 

[mak333]

@zb1995 No. There is sales, underwriting, IT, adjusters, estimators. Insurance has a plethora of career paths and alot of them don't require a degree. It's a demanding field, but it's a decent living

 

[resjudicata]

@mak333 I have a lot to say on this that aren’t anything to do with the original post but I’m so curious. Aren’t these insurance companies also working alongside hospitals for profit? Like isn’t that why our healthcare is so expensive..? Or is it because we (not we but them —hospitals) get sold technologies by pharmaceutical companies and others in the tech industry and now insurance companies are left to deal with those costs that irresponsibly are spent by hospitals that invest in those products? These high expenditures in healthcare are inflating costs and I’m trying to understand that role of an insurance agent. it would be nice to know what they actually do and what role they play beyond the obvious. Is it really like that from your pov or are you just happy you have a job. Because in the end these jobs are what kind of keep the operation going… I can’t even see a life without insurance living in a country like this. So I guess I’m referencing healthcare in case anyone works in healthcare that wants to chime in. I only had one friend tell me she worked for health insurance and she left after 6 months in search of a better option.

 

[willp]

@resjudicata Not OP but I’ll jump in to hopefully answer some of your questions. After the ACA (Affordable Care Act) was implemented, employers with 50 or more employees are now required to offer affordable coverage to all employees.

The ACA requires that any preexisting conditions that may have otherwise been terms of disqualification must be covered.

Look at medications such as Spinraza. It’s covered by certain health plans and is VERY expensive. We’re talking close to a million for the first year of treatment, then hundreds of thousands every year after. If you’re with a carrier that covers this medication, you inadvertently pay premiums based on others’ sickness. All carriers with ACA compliant policies are the same.

The role of an agent/broker is to provide guidance on the current market trends, ie what premiums look like with carriers, which insurance carriers cover which medications based on the formulary, and to advise clients on what plan might fit them best.

Agents and brokers aren’t the bad guys here, they are very much here to help.

 

[kutesagfire23]

@resjudicata Not the first poster, but here's my perspective. I work for an insurance company. A lot of what I do is looking for ways to help members afford their medications, calling around to find a medication that's in short supply, calling the doctor's office for members who are too intimidated to call or don't know what to say, calling the pharmacy when they're not putting the claim through correctly, and doing overrides for emergency situations. In a perfect world, we'd all have exactly the same coverage and no one would go without care or medication. We don't live in that world currently. I feel like I'm helping people every day while I'm at work.

I think if we had universal healthcare, there would still be a need for people to do what I do, we would just be doing it for the government instead of for corporations.

 

[mak333]

@resjudicata I can't really speak on medical insurance. I work in auto insurance. There are different types of insurance.

 

[chosen_1]

@resjudicata So no to the inflation of pricing.

Here is the 411 on this.

Medical care is expensive due to the tech innovations. Do you really think if I am going to develop a modification to a CPAP machine, that I am going to sell it cheap, especially without much competition, and an obvious medical need?

Nah I am pricing it high, and if you can't afford it, sorry bye.

Medical school is also north of 350K, and most everyone if you are lucky will walk away with 100-200K in student loans.

I was super lucky to only have around 95k in loans.

So all that schooling, all those expenses should be fairly compensated. That is why we charge so much for our services. I mean, you need me or you will die if you come into my ER. I am not negotiating prices as I provide services.

Hospitals then set charges for procedures and use of the equipment and real estate as that costs a lot of money due to doctors charging a lot since there is a lot of training, and costs. We have to keep going to school basically until we die. I love the seminars.

Then there is the insurance companies that will only pay a usual and customary charge on services, procedures, and stays. These will change wildly depending on where you like, and the different billing codes will be evaluated differently depending on severity.

So a hospital may charge you say, 15k for an ER visit with imaging, medicine, and a team of M.D.s, P.A.s, and nurses. There is also orderlies, and CNAs to employ, maintenance and janitors.

Lets say the Physicians group charges around $790-1500 for the doctors time spent evaluating you, treating you, and educating you.

These charges will more than likely get reduced to maybe 7K, and $800.

Then to make it all worse, and honestly the reason why insurance, and hospital visits are expensive, is the Personal Injury attorneys and the malpractice attorneys.

At times the personal injury attorneys will send their clients to all these medical visits, in the hope of securing a big settlement from the insurance companies. Most often, they will have clients that are making stuff up, and do not need to take up our time and resources, all in the hopes to get a bigger settlement.

Malpractice, I will give it to you, there are fuck ups, and people should pay. But some of the settlements are ridiculous.

There is an incredible amount of Medical Fraud by these attorneys, but the laws haven't caught up yet.

Personal injury attorneys will then settle a claim with say Allstate for 50k, for a minor rear end, that realistically did not result in much more than whiplash.

So then once they settle that, they show their clients the settlement, and the attorney takes their 30-50% of that settlement, then they pay the bills, and whatever is left over goes to the client. They then turn around and say the 34K in medical bills gets reduced down to 20k VIA attorney negotiations with the medical providers, and they pocket that 14K plus the 30-50% of the 50K settlement.

THIS is why auto insurance, home insurance, medical insurance, hospitals costs soooo much money,.

If you look at Thailand, that same accident, you might have 2-5k in medical bills, and you'll get a fair settlement from the insurance company. Say they spend maybe 10k at most for an even more severe accident than a minor fender bender.

Rant over.

Into into insurance is something to look into for OP. You will like the industry. It's always interesting to be deposed due to a lawsuit. Usually the insurance adjuster if it makes it to trial, and they have to be there, are the cool ones.

The attorneys for the insurance companies are decent too, though some are assholes, and usually most Personal Injury attorneys are just sharks and bad people. Every lawyer family member I have do consider them the bottom of the barrel.

 

[fostersdf]

@zb1995 Insurance is often sales, but more insurance sales are laydowns. No where as bad as tech sales or something would be.

Most of the time people are coming to you.

 

[resjudicata]

@bwtbrandon lol don’t do this for any college major it’s not smart to take out loans and advise this please don’t do that. If you don’t have a plan for after college don’t go. If you’re in community college that’s a lot cheaper and more affordable so you can find a plan to get outta there if needed for a bachelors. And even then it’s not even worth it fam. Just get into a different career and get the tf out of serving tables. You’re smarter than this and can use the internet.

 

[bwtbrandon]

@resjudicata Yeah thats why I suggested healthcare jobs and just metnioned Kentucky state university as its one of the cheapest in the state. They have nursing degrees going from LPN to RN to BSN. Solid career lots of money.

 

[kathynchris]

@zb1995 Skilled trades. Both of you. Apprenticeships. There is a lot of money to be made. You are young, you don’t have to love it, but you might. Work and get paid a good wage while your employer pays for you to go to school. It’s a win win. Underutilized and there’s always a need. I work in this industry, it’s so smart to go this route.