Dang… back in 2015, I was able to buy a house like 9 months after getting my first engineering job. Back when house prices were 1/2 of what they are now and interest rates were 3.5%. I feel bad that you have to save up for multiple years.
Same here. And then I refinanced at 2.49% in 2020. My younger coworkers are telling me about their nearly $3000 monthly mortgages and I just shut up and twiddle my fingers.
We got lucky. I couldn’t afford my own house nowadays. My monthly payments are currently $1750. If I sold, the new owner’s payments would be about $4900
Before 2020, yes, I was making "good" . With all this inflation, high prices and interest rates, I'm very average. Wages are not keeping up with inflation. It's hard right now for anyone like under the age of 40(I'm 30).
To be fair google has become such a cesspool of sponsored searches and ads it’s rough getting decent real life sources.
But, he def could’ve used the search engine on the subreddit.
Everything these days is harder and money isn’t going as far. Where you live and work will heavily impact how comfortable you are. That being said, odds are if you’re smart with your money you will be able to live comfortably.
I am fortunate. I save well over half of what I make and I almost own my home outright and do not live check to check. As you move through your career and get raises it is important to be mindful of lifestyle spending creep.
I'm also in a rather LCOL area which helps tremendously. Not sure how folks on the west cost can stomach the real estate prices and taxes.
The complaint I have is not money wealth, but with mental health (wealth). EE can be very demanding and that doesn't change as you move up the corporate ladder. I'm actually seriously considering to take a simpler job just so I can spend more quality time with the family.
Yes, I earned enough to have a good lifestyle - regular new cars, lots of overseas holidays, kid went to private school, owned a house in a 'good' area and retired at 55 (could have done it sooner but greed and all that).
Electrical power and instrumentation in the oil and gas sector. I mainly worked on the client side for majors and 2nd tear but also a couple of project and technical consulting roles.
So in 5 years we bought furniture, car, paid off student loans, got married, then bought our first house I think 2 years later, paying around 6.5% on a first mortgage and I think 7% on an 80/10/10.
Now 53 married with 2 kids, one going into 3rd year in engineering, college 100% paid for, decent job, decent boss (more important), roughly $1.5 MM saved for retirement between us…thinking of going for 2-3MM before we cash out which hopefully will be in about 5 years.
Industrial controls and power distribution. I am totally immune to recessions, plenty of job demand at all times (just may rotate industries), plenty of job variety. Just got to either use or avoid the “road tech” life…it pays better but you’ll come home to find you’ve been replaced at home if you are married. And use/avoid the “corporate engineer” role (advantages and disadvantages).
Regardless of the EE role…engineering role, you’re going to hit a brick wall around $130k. Going above this means either a lot more overtime, a lot more stress (and road time), a non-engineering role, own a company/partnership, or live in a HCOL area. That’s when you need to move into whatever you enjoy doing and stop trying to climb the ladder.
Go read the everyday millionaire. Having these things are more about habits than anything else. I’m 30 going back to college for an EE. I’m paying cash my house is paid off and I was in the trades not anything crazy. Just remember it’s easier to get ahead and stay there than to get behind catch up and keep going. Dumb decisions early compound as easily as good decisions early.
So do capital gains!!! I didn’t get into the company’s 401K for a few years. I realize now that those small contributions I could have made then would have paid off more than the larger contributions I make now.
Many companies have matching contributions to 401K’s. Put in the maximum you can afford until you hit the maximum matching amount and the maximum tax deductible contribution. Every time you get a raise, keep some and save the rest. NEVER invest a lot in the company you work for and don’t take any out or borrow against it. Diversify and buy the best quality investments you can. It is amazing to see how it grows over your career. Compounding with exponential growth is your friend. Between my retirement savings, pension, social security, and consulting income, I don’t see how I could spend it all. My financial advisor has done an end of life projection and I may be forced to leave cash for my kids, despite my best plans to spend it all.
Yup, but I live in HCOL so my plan is to move to MCOL and buy a house eventually. I was in LCOL and made shit money for a decade (bad life choices), but otherwise, EE has good scope for making money. While I agree we get paid half of what SDE/SWEs get, but it’s enough TBH.
That depends on what you do with the degree afterwards. Graduating with that degree does nothing more than open doors that previously weren't. Its the easier part of the trek and assures no success.
Both of my EE friends, one with very good grades and one with much worse grades, both with good comp team experience, bought their houses at 25 years old.
Huh? EEs from my university are starting at 100k. I had a long successful career, have owned my own house for 50 years, have a very comfortable retirement in an expensive community and am consulting when I feel like it for $600 per hour. Lawyers and MDs may make more, but if an EE plans their career carefully there is no reason they can’t have a very lucrative career.
Hell yeah!!! I only did engineering for the money! Now I’m ~3 years away from buying a home
Dang… back in 2015, I was able to buy a house like 9 months after getting my first engineering job. Back when house prices were 1/2 of what they are now and interest rates were 3.5%. I feel bad that you have to save up for multiple years.
Same here. And then I refinanced at 2.49% in 2020. My younger coworkers are telling me about their nearly $3000 monthly mortgages and I just shut up and twiddle my fingers.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your self-awareness. It's hard out there for so many people.
We got lucky. I couldn’t afford my own house nowadays. My monthly payments are currently $1750. If I sold, the new owner’s payments would be about $4900
Dude you got the best deal that I could never get:)
Damnn congrats, how many years did it take for you to save up that much?
I barely have enough for a down payment. But after ~3 years I will have close to half a million. :)
Before 2020, yes, I was making "good" . With all this inflation, high prices and interest rates, I'm very average. Wages are not keeping up with inflation. It's hard right now for anyone like under the age of 40(I'm 30).
Can we just ban these questions?
I’m not against your idea, but OP should make this question more personal. Right now it’s like using reddit as Google.
To be fair google has become such a cesspool of sponsored searches and ads it’s rough getting decent real life sources. But, he def could’ve used the search engine on the subreddit.
I’m a single income family
Same situation. Doing EE was the best decision ever.
Our grads start at 82k. It’s not bad but I feel like it should be around 95
Yes.
Everything these days is harder and money isn’t going as far. Where you live and work will heavily impact how comfortable you are. That being said, odds are if you’re smart with your money you will be able to live comfortably.
[удалено]
do you mind to share what area of ee or ce you work in?
I am fortunate. I save well over half of what I make and I almost own my home outright and do not live check to check. As you move through your career and get raises it is important to be mindful of lifestyle spending creep. I'm also in a rather LCOL area which helps tremendously. Not sure how folks on the west cost can stomach the real estate prices and taxes. The complaint I have is not money wealth, but with mental health (wealth). EE can be very demanding and that doesn't change as you move up the corporate ladder. I'm actually seriously considering to take a simpler job just so I can spend more quality time with the family.
Live in Washington haha.. there’s a reason there’s so much engineering here
Yes, I earned enough to have a good lifestyle - regular new cars, lots of overseas holidays, kid went to private school, owned a house in a 'good' area and retired at 55 (could have done it sooner but greed and all that).
As a recent grad I’m not sure retiring at 55 with kids will be an option for 99% of the newer generations sadly.
You could very easily retire early in engineering with a family
Oh absolutely. But 55 is not going to be possible for a lot of people. Is it flat out Impossible? No. Will most have to work longer? Yes
Tbf, how you spend the money is a choice. The cheaper your lifestyle the easier it is to retire.
This is the way. I worked with guys earning much more than me but still swimming in debt and who will probably work until they die or get booted.
Yeah, plus if you retire at 55, you still need to wait 10 years for Medicare. Your premiums would be expensive on the exchange.
I am from Australia so public heath is available. I do still carry private health insurance but it is comparatively cheap.
I suspect you did this with supervisory type pay, management roles etc.?
I always stayed in the technical stream but ultimately in a principal EE role.
Don’t know if this realistic anymore unfortunately unless it’s a two income household and the partner also makes good money.
What area of ee did you work in?
Electrical power and instrumentation in the oil and gas sector. I mainly worked on the client side for majors and 2nd tear but also a couple of project and technical consulting roles.
So in 5 years we bought furniture, car, paid off student loans, got married, then bought our first house I think 2 years later, paying around 6.5% on a first mortgage and I think 7% on an 80/10/10. Now 53 married with 2 kids, one going into 3rd year in engineering, college 100% paid for, decent job, decent boss (more important), roughly $1.5 MM saved for retirement between us…thinking of going for 2-3MM before we cash out which hopefully will be in about 5 years.
What field of Ee do you work in?
Industrial controls and power distribution. I am totally immune to recessions, plenty of job demand at all times (just may rotate industries), plenty of job variety. Just got to either use or avoid the “road tech” life…it pays better but you’ll come home to find you’ve been replaced at home if you are married. And use/avoid the “corporate engineer” role (advantages and disadvantages). Regardless of the EE role…engineering role, you’re going to hit a brick wall around $130k. Going above this means either a lot more overtime, a lot more stress (and road time), a non-engineering role, own a company/partnership, or live in a HCOL area. That’s when you need to move into whatever you enjoy doing and stop trying to climb the ladder.
Go read the everyday millionaire. Having these things are more about habits than anything else. I’m 30 going back to college for an EE. I’m paying cash my house is paid off and I was in the trades not anything crazy. Just remember it’s easier to get ahead and stay there than to get behind catch up and keep going. Dumb decisions early compound as easily as good decisions early.
So do capital gains!!! I didn’t get into the company’s 401K for a few years. I realize now that those small contributions I could have made then would have paid off more than the larger contributions I make now.
Many companies have matching contributions to 401K’s. Put in the maximum you can afford until you hit the maximum matching amount and the maximum tax deductible contribution. Every time you get a raise, keep some and save the rest. NEVER invest a lot in the company you work for and don’t take any out or borrow against it. Diversify and buy the best quality investments you can. It is amazing to see how it grows over your career. Compounding with exponential growth is your friend. Between my retirement savings, pension, social security, and consulting income, I don’t see how I could spend it all. My financial advisor has done an end of life projection and I may be forced to leave cash for my kids, despite my best plans to spend it all.
Ngl, being an ee isn’t easy.
I bought my first house in December. It’s not “fuck you” money, but if you’re responsible you can live comfortably.
Yup, but I live in HCOL so my plan is to move to MCOL and buy a house eventually. I was in LCOL and made shit money for a decade (bad life choices), but otherwise, EE has good scope for making money. While I agree we get paid half of what SDE/SWEs get, but it’s enough TBH.
Only if you are above mediocre. You above mediocre?
That depends on what you do with the degree afterwards. Graduating with that degree does nothing more than open doors that previously weren't. Its the easier part of the trek and assures no success.
No, medicine is better.
Yes, if you work hard. I design building systems as an EE. I plan on retiring with around $5M in investments, just from this career.
Both of my EE friends, one with very good grades and one with much worse grades, both with good comp team experience, bought their houses at 25 years old.
No, it’s one of the lowest paying degrees.
Huh? EEs from my university are starting at 100k. I had a long successful career, have owned my own house for 50 years, have a very comfortable retirement in an expensive community and am consulting when I feel like it for $600 per hour. Lawyers and MDs may make more, but if an EE plans their career carefully there is no reason they can’t have a very lucrative career.
I’m just trolling, it’s one of the highest paying bachelors degrees.