Just a 48-year-old mom of 2 in Northern California. My kids are Monkey Monkey(MM) and Drama Llama (DL). I am married to Monkey Hubby (MH). After a couple of really terrible jobs (many broken employment laws, measly pay, etc.)... DL(20) landed a real job at the end of last summer. It was a teacher's aide type job (I think his job title is 'recreational aide') and the interview sounded far more difficult than any job interview I have ever had. What!? But he's a smart and articulate kid. That won't get you a job at McDonalds (fast food was literally only hiring 1 out of every 6 that came in for in-person interviews). But it was enough to get this job.
They were not honest at all about the job. DL(20) is in charge of 20 kids for 4 hours a day. No one prepared him for that. (It's an after school daycare basically. One classroom per grade). And... He absolutely loved the job. He was there a full year (did a 4-week summer program) and made about $12,000. Roughly $1,000 per month. There's lots of holidays and breaks.
He had already changed his major (very early on) from accounting to Stats. I think he's about 99% sure at this point he wants to be a teacher. He's locked into his fall class schedule and isn't sure what route he wants to take yet. He could always get a credential later. Teachers are paid *very well* in our region, but I suspect the high paying jobs require Masters degrees. Things to figure out. He's got homework to do and options to consider.
The serendipity is crazy though. That he just happened to get this one random job.
DL(20) ended the summer with $10,000 cash, as expected. Setting that aside for a 'newer car' fund.
Not sure if his job will mesh with his college class schedule all year, but I think it's probably safe to say that DL will make $5,000 this semester. Could be $0 next semester.
It looks like DL(20) spent about $4,500 the last 12 months. If he wants to take a couple of years off work (like his brother did), he certainly has the luxury. Living at home and going to college, he has even more luxury to do this. He's less likely to use his college funds for college, so has more money to access. Could use his college funds to replace his car (that he needs to get to college). He has options.
DL(20) is overall more interested in working during his college years. He's ready to tackle long-term investing and ready to start some financial planning. He may want to just play it conservative and make sure he has money to get a Masters and a teaching credential. He is interested enough in investing that I think he will also want to make sure he is investing some percentage of his paycheck. We've just been going from 0 to 100 because we needed to do all the things. Got his a savings account (he didn't have enough money to bother before), got him his own credit card (now that he has income.) Longer term financial plans and investing will be topics to go over in the next few weeks.
Side note: DL has been contributing to a work retirement plan (mandatory). It's something like they take 8% and pay 3% interest. Ugh. It's really unclear if he is getting a match. Haven't seen any paperwork since he signed up a year ago. I am just adding this to the list of financial things to figure out. I expect we will ignore this when deciding what % of his income to invest in the future. Because it's not very helpful and he has so little in expenses. Heck, his savings account pays 5% interest.
It has felt like a huge load off of my shoulders that DL(20) has found some financial footing. It's just icing on the cake that both my kids *love* their jobs right now. They are finding their true passions.
Edited to add: I think both my kids are interested in working and making money (now) but the truth is that MM(22) is distracted by his many extra-curriculars. He has a lot more conflicts. & motivation is a factor. I think MM(22) has been a lot more *Shrugs* about his pile of money from earlier jobs. DL(20) was getting increasingly desperate, applying for anything and everything. I think the reason he wants to work and make another $12,000 this year is mostly because he can't imagine not doing this job at this point. It's more about the passion for the job than the money.
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