Quote:
Originally Posted by jtrain609  $65,000 a year is chump change in this country. |
Sorry John gotta disagree. $19k is certainly chump change. $65K is very livable. Sorry you cannot afford a condo in the playground of the rich, but $65k IS livable. I will make around $75k this year, Well over 100 with my wife's salary added in. We have a beautiful 6 year old home, all the bells and whistles, in ground pool with a pretty waterfall etc..... Even with me shelling out $3-4K per month for flying, we still live comfortably. Before planning for a future of making jack squat for a while, I bought flat screens and Nissan Titans on a whim, and we travelled all the time.
This is gonna discount it all for you, but it is true: In this day and age, A person could get a loan for $60k and be in the right seat of a Regional Jet in as little as 6-8 Months. I am not saying it is right, but it is true. It took longer for me to become a certified Aircraft Loadmaster, and those bastids paid me less! Grrrrr! lol.
Your vocation and that of a doctors' is hardly comparable. Also, gotta agree with others: 10 yrs of school, and ummmm, have you heard of RESIDENCY? Know the poor noobie doctor you went to see in the ER has been awake for 18-20 hours at times. They don't make jack either. I live in a town with one of the largest teaching hospitals in the state. I have a few neighbors who are residency doctors. If Mommy and Daddy had not bought them a house, they would not be my neighbors either.
So...why do people do it? Well, I am doing it because:
1) I want something more out of life than sitting in a cubicle day in and day out, with the only excitement being a good post on Jetcareers.com. Even a night in Lubbock sounds more appetizing, and yes, I have been to Lubbock.
2) Though the beginning sucks, and there is the likelihood I will get laid off for a while at least once in my career, the end result does not look bad. In fact, let's look at someone like good 'ole Cap'n Bob for example. 3 years after starting with ExpressJet, he is a Captain, I am guessing making 65-70 per year. He averages 15-17 days off per month. Thats double what I get for $10k less. In coming years, he will make more and more, with more opportunity to get more days off.
3) I have carefully planned for the extreme reduction in pay by reducing all my debt to virtually nothing, saving money, not going deep into debt for flight training, and having a backup career/job available should something happen(9/11).
4) Oh yeah...and I love flying.