hah!.. My husband found his first real job (post college) paycheck stub

[SoCalDem]

net pay $199.41 per week..(salary..no overtime)

The date on the check stub was June 25, 1966
(Also his birthday..probably why he saved it all these years)

he made less than 11,500 a year and had 2 degrees.... in architecture & education

We started reminiscing about the olden days..

His rent was $75 a month for a very nice 2br apartment
phone bill was under $10 a month
elec & gas were included in the rent
Lunch at the elks club (down the street from his office) cost $1.75 for the "blue plate" special

his only credit card was a Standard Oil gas card with a $100 limit

His car payment for his brand new GTO was $83 a month..insurance cost about $20 (he thinks)

He ate dinner at a restaurant almost every night, so he did not shop all that much, but when he did, he said he never spent over $25 bucks, and got 2 or 3 bags of groceries.

he graduated with ZERO school debt, and on that meager income (by today's standards) he took summer vacation for a week, and skied at Vail every winter..and dated a LOT.. (I was in high school then, and did not meet him until 1969)


I'm going to frame it and give it to him on his 65th birthday in a few months :)

[LSparkle]

1. I still remember my first real job (which I got in 1980)

The pay was $1025 per month (and I was THRILLED to make over $1000 a month!). My rent (for a single apartment) was $175. My car payment was $99.17 and my insurance was around $50 a month.

It's sad but I almost miss those days ...

[DrDan]

2. 2 years later - as a new 2nd Lt in the U.S.A.F. - I was making

a whopping $435 a month. Of course, I also had free housing with all utilities provided. And there was some little allowance for having a wife.

But I shall always remember the $435 a month.

SoCalAlum

[panader0]

3. I remember a new VW was $1499.00 and gas was .25 0r .30 cents

The costs have gone up a lot faster than my pay.

[Jazzgirl]

5. My first brand new car was a Volkswagen Beetle.

Cost me $1600 in 1973. **Sigh** Car payment was $83 a month. 3 year note. Dayum! I was living at home and working for AT&T making very good money!

[jedr]

12. back then you didn't finance a car over two or three years;

they didn't last much more than that. 80-100k and they were shot....rusted out or major engine work. Bugs were easy to work on and could keep them going forever,just couldn't get past that heater thing. Have a '03 Honda now, figure it will do 250k easy, not a spot of rust ever, some things change for the best. 11 k was damn good money in '66, made 8k in '72 and lived good, make over 50k now and can't make ends meet. got to keep them peons desperate!

[bbinacan]

6. What year was that? n/t

[bbinacan]

4. I used the CPI Calculator

and have taken your 1966 numbers to equate today's prices. How do you compare?

Income 11500=73593

Rent 75=480 (what kind of place did he live in?)

GTO 83=531

Lunch 1.75=11.20

Groceries 25=160

[SoCalDem]

10. That's close..

but today's young folks graduate with tons of debt..and fall into credit card hell ..

His place was very nice..nothing fancy but a nice apartment building

[lumberjack_jeff]

7. My first real job was $184/wk in 1980.

... and that was with 4 hours of overtime each week.

That's like $28,000 2008 dollars.
http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi

[DesertFlower]

13. wow. in 1980 i was making $9.00 an hour. i was working

as a temp at new york tel. they hired me in '79 and kept me for 9 years. when i left in '88 i was making $17 an hour. of course, there were no benefits, but i had hubby's. i worked all the overtime i could get and was averaging about $45-50k a year.

[lumberjack_jeff]

21. I made $4/hour drafting at a nuke plant.

I found out later that they were charging the general contractor $12/hour for my time.

Whatever. When you're 18, you pay your dues. It got better. :)

[sandnsea]

8. My dad got a 5 cent hr raise

in 1967. I remember it because my mom was quite happy about it and I couldn't understand how a nickel could make any difference. But since, by your numbers, it paid the phone bill, then I can see where she'd be pretty excited about it.

[DesertFlower]

11. it's understandable.

my parents bought their first house in 1953. it was $10,000 -- a VA loan with $500 down. my mom said after they closed they barely had enough money left to buy a new garbage pail.

[DesertFlower]

9. my first job was in 1958. i made $48.00 a week.

after tax, it was $40. had to pay my mom $15 a week room and board.

married my first husband in '61. his job paid $85 a week. our rent was $85, gas and electric $10-12 a month, phone -- about $8.

married 2nd husband in '71. he was making about $10,000 a year, but worked all the overtime he could get. he started with the company in '69 and is still with them. through many years of hard work and long hours (he came off the clock in '74), he's making some really good money now. he'll get a nice pension when he retires. i think we are the last of the american dream. very few jobs give pensions now and so many jobs have been "outsourced".

we are grateful for what we have.


on edit: with husband #1 we bought a new 1966 mustang. with tax it came to $2,618. we broke up a few months later and i kept the car and the payments of $64 a month.

[TahitiNut]

19. That's $350/week ($8.75/hour) in today's dollars.

Better than minimum wage, but not much better. $18,200/year.

[Matariki]

14. my first job paid $2 an hour in 1977

what's that, $80 per week.

I think your husband's $200 per week was pretty good for 1966. And especially good for a recent graduate.

I think my parents bought their first house not in 1960 for about $8k - It was about the size of the house I bought in 2006 for $315k.

I KNOW I'm not making 40x the amount my dad was making at the time.

[SoCalDem]

15. In fairness, he was a very smart guy..and the leading architect in town hired him

so he was lucky..but he also worked very hard :)

[Matariki]

16. well, I was smart too, but I had a fine art degree

;-)

my parents tried to warn me...

[sandnsea]

17. I'm sure you worked hard too n/t

[TahitiNut]

18. That's more than DOUBLE what I got teaching HS Math later that same year.

Teaching high school mathematics for the Archdiocese of Detroit got me $5,000/year. Of course, I only had a B.S. in Math with a Physics minor, but ... (sheesh). A year later, I took a job at GM/Chevorlet for a 68% increase in pay ... to $8,400/year.

I think the reason he saved it is because it's a HELLUVA good starting salary for those days. In today's dollars, $11,500 in 1966 is about $76,500!! GOOD money!


P.S. I'm three days older than he is. Shall we team up on the candles?? :silly: (I plan on using a 65-watt bulb ... and a switch.) :dunce:

[DaDooRonRon]

20. First post-college job - VISTA volunteer

VISTA was the domestic arm of The Peace Corps.

I made $132.50.

Every two weeks.

[ileus]

22. Too bad he didn't find the stub in the GTO....

[SoCalDem]

23. Our oldest still razzes us.. We sold the GTO and bought a Ford Maverick

That Maverick we bought when I was pregnant with him, was his "first car" when he turned 16..It only went to "car-heaven" about 5 years ago.. 1973 Beige Maverick with fake "leather-tooling" on the vinyl seats..Paid about $2400 new for that little car..

Scott always wished we had saved the GTO for him..or the 1964 red Falcon convertible they gave us $400 for when we traded it in on the maverick