you can start off with a lot more, but the debt factor the and work experience factor can balance that out.

I make $8/hr, but wind up getting lots of overtime (some weeks upto 65hrs/wk).

Fortunately, 3-4 hours a day are spent doing nothing - I get paid to post on VGC. I drive a van all day taking people to doctors appointments and dialysis.

In the US, jobs can be very good, or very bad - thats the great thing about an almost-truely free market system. Many jobs suck, but if you actually care about making money, the sky is the limit. Going to college guarentees $50k/yr or more. But even high school graduates can do real well with trade school. Even without trade school, you can do well if you know what your doing. In my case, I make the $8/hr, plus pastor a youth group for $125/wk. I manage around $1100 every 2 weeks. I have almost not expinses.

My money's going into buying and leasing/renting houses in my local town. My goal is to quit my normal job, and start managing my properties exclusively....That'll get me somewhere in life :)

i dont know how much an hour but a make like 2400$ monthly here in venezuela

It also matters where you live. I live in a very small, retirement city, so all the "high" paying jobs are usually taken. The rest are all the minimum wage jobs, and that's only $8/hr. If you wanted a good job here, you'd have to work REALLY hard to try and get in somewhere, or know some people who could get you in. Or you could start your own business, but there's always risk involved.

Right now I make $0/hr. :P I'm a stay at home dad/student while my wife is taking a PSW course. She just had another baby though so she's delaying her placement for a month or two since having 3 babies in 3 years is strenuous on the body. She'll more than likely be making $11+/hr unless she finds a really good job or goes private, which can make about $18+/hr.

I've got to finish getting my high school diploma, all the while getting in shape. I'm going to become a police officer. The pay is salary and will be very nice. My wife wants to go further then PSW and become a nurse, dealing with obstetrics.

Here's what a police officer gets within the first year.

Cadet $ 31,491.00
Probationary Constable 0 – 12 months $ 40,470.00

After that first year....

Constable 12 – 18 months $ 51,600.00
18 – 24 months $ 58,975.00
24 – 36 months $ 65,610.00
36 months to 7 years $ 73,714.00

So within 3 years, I'd be making about 75k on salary, not including OT. No college required, just need your highschool and you need to pass some psyche test which I can fake *twitch* :D

~$27/hr ($56k/yr) on salary working as a computer network tech (MS Server, MS Exchange, SQL, Desktops, Tech Supp, etc) with no college degree, just experience. I've been at my current job for almost 2 years and will be getting a significant raise at the end of the month.

On a side note, does anyone think it was really necessary for the US government to raise the minimum wage? I don't think I've ever met anyone that was actually paid mimimum wage. Even McDonalds starts people at ~$7/hr. It seems like political grandstanding to me.

6 figures per year in the gaming industry.

Timmah! said: On a side note, does anyone think it was really necessary for the US government to raise the minimum wage? I don't think I've ever met anyone that was actually paid mimimum wage. Even McDonalds starts people at ~$7/hr. It seems like political grandstanding to me.

Well, when the minimum wage is increased, for those making just over the minimum wage, it kind of forces the employer to give them a raise if someone else working a more menial job earns more than them, and this effect can work its way up.  It won't apply in all cases, but it'll apply in a bunch.  I know if I was making say $10/hr and minimum wage jumped up from $9.50 to $11, I'd certainly expect to be making more than $11/hr since before my job was already worth that much more than the minimum wage.

 

$30/hr. So I feel a little guilty that I spend time on this forum while at work, heh.

There is alot to be said for having your own business, but there is alot of peace of mind that comes with working for someone else. Especially if they provide good health insurance, and a good retirement program. Sure, I know that you can have those things with a private business, but I know many private business owners that at age 50 plus, are still not able to spring for the health insurance. My uncle worked like an animal as a contractor building houses for 30 plus years. Then he hurt himself, and with the meager health insurance he did have, burned through his life savings getting his back fixed. I make a decent living, and will make more retired than I will while I am working. For me to get a private business that makes more than I do now, I would be putting in 70 hours a week plus, working like mad and still have to find a way to save for my retirement and make sure the kids have insurance. For now I will happily remain an employee.