<p>There is no pension for most part-time jobs and some/many courts end alimony at some point. Hopefully your sis will get some share of her ex’s pension to help her in retirement (particularly if she was married for a long time), but she HAS to prepare for HER future. Wish there were a way for people to see what they are enabling and the future they are looking at if they continue along their paths. VERY SCARY!</p>
<p>My brother is in his 50s and has a number of friends who don’t have a real job. They came from families that gave them allowances so they never got any career path job, and then they inherited enough money so that they do not need to work. Even more are severly underemployed for the life they lead because it is so subsidzed. They work for non profits, some teach in Catholic schools or work for some charity organization for a pittance. I’ve been offered such jobs a number of time. One of my brother’s ex SOs was a Yale grad who did social work for years for less than $30K a year, lived in a nice apartment in Manhattan. She’s from a very wealthy family and her father died a few years ago, and she essentially bought herself and husband jobs with her inheritance. </p>
<p>My son has a lot of firends who are living very well on salaires that are very small because of their large subsidies. When he gets too jealous, I remind him that he too gets handouts, not of the size of those firends, but certainly more than many who are trying to make it on their own and/or have to do it on their own. DS has no college loans, and family home is a half hour or so from his apartment. He has a great safety net. But it’s easy to feel poor when you around so many who have so much more. Actually, a number of kids sort of live off of these subsidize kids in that they often offer room shares and such at bargain prices.</p>
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<p>If the family money can support them at this all their lives, why should I judge them? They are working. They are probably making the world a bit better. Rich folks have been doing this since …well, forever.</p>
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<p>I have a daughter who is an actress (she graduated in 2011). She lives in Philadelphia and has landed a number of parts in theater productions in the Philly area, but what she earns from these acting gigs is not really enough for her to support herself. As such, she works a number of part-time jobs and keeps going to auditions. Her college mentor helped her get a job teaching a drama class and after-school club at a private school. D also babysits and recently started working as a barista one morning a week at a local coffee shop. She pays her rent, food, clothes, and other expenses. DH and I have agreed to help her by paying for her health insurance (she’s still on our family policy) and also her car insurance. I feel like this help is giving her a chance to do what she loves to do and to make a career for herself. She didn’t expect the help and is grateful for it.</p>
<p>Bromfiled, don’t let your DD meet my DS! I’m in the same situation as you are, but my son is in NYC, and doesn’t have or need a car.</p>
<p>IF we have the means, we will likely supplement D’s income while she tries to make a living in cinema in LA. It’s a tough field and we are all happy she can stay on H’s medical insurance until she ages out at age 26. To the extent we can help her for a while WITHOUT JEOPARDIZING our retirement, we will do so, as long as she’s doing what she can in her field.</p>
<p>I think it’s great that people are able to work for jobs they are greatly over-qualified for, doing important work to improve society in their own way. In fact, that is what I’ve been doing since 2007 and am grateful to be in the position that I CAN do this. Why should people be judged for not earning as much as they can if they don’t NEED the money and are not a burden to society? Who will do the work for a pittance if we don’t do it? It just won’t be done and our society and world will not be the wonderful place we all want it to be.</p>
<p>In a perfect world, we would all get properly compensated for doing interesting and important work. The reality is that many people in the artistic, non-profit and “human services” sectors are sadly and greatly underpaid. To the extent they and their families can underwrite their endeavors to improve our world, why not?</p>
<p>This is NOT the same as sponging off someone who can ill-afford to take on additional expenses, especially where the person who is providing the funds does not have financial security of his/her own. Some of these “trust fund” people get literally hundreds of thousands or millions/year and finding/working their passion is a good thing.</p>
<p>Good for you HImom. I fully agree with you. I have a few friends who work in non-profits and not draw any salary because they can afford to. They are trust fund adults but they are not sitting on their butts.</p>
<p>As our grant funding dwindles, I am drawing a smaller and smaller salary, so I can continue to pay our workers, who NEED the money for their expenses or they will not be able to work for our non-profit. I do not want to compete for shrinking funds with organizations who will shut down if they do not get funded–we are close but should be able to subsist for a while longer with limited funding–as long as we can pay insurance and other REQUIRED expenses. </p>
<p>We will rely more heavily on volunteers and spend more resources training them (even though they keep graduating and have to put their school work first).</p>
<p>emilyb $17k in 1978 was a very good salary.</p>
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<p>What do you mean “she bought herself and husband jobs with her inheritance”?</p>
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<p>I agree! I don’t see the problem here.</p>
<p>I have a friend with a friend that has a nice, secluded place in HI and my friend gets an invitation there every year. The FoF has a trust fund with a bunch of dividend-paying stocks and lives off the dividend income in the mid-six figures. I think that he’s in his forties. Must be nice!</p>
<p>Why would I think that 4000 needed an add on? Simple: our home was build in 1931. We have huge rooms (except the maid’s room which is tiny). I would love to have an exercise room, an office for my husband, and a library. I really can’t add on or breakdown walls because it would ruin the floor plan. </p>
<p>Interesting news: My son is thinking about buying here in about a year. He wants to live here. This is the kid who said he would always be a “valley dude”…but that was long ago. My daughters have always said that they would live in this area, except the youngest would also want a beach house. Who knows?</p>
<p>there is definitely less stress when you live 5 blocks from the office(s).</p>
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<p>Definitely!</p>
<p>The big thing here with new homes is the “theatre room,” aka “media room.” They are typically very large rooms with huge TV and theatre type seating. Some are quite elaborate. And from my perspective, a complete waste of space. When I watch a movie, I want to be curled up in our family room or my bedroom wearing my comfy stretchy pants, holding a glass of wine. I don’t want to be isolated in a dark pseudo movie theatre. We just bought a house with, yes, a huge theatre room. We are ripping out the black out window treatments and converting it to a functional office for DH. He has been able to get out of his lease at his office complex and will now work from home. He is a very disciplined person, so this will not interfere with his productivity. He is thrilled; no more late nights and weekends at an empty office complex (cold at night and on weekends in the winter, hot in the summer). And as mentioned above, NO MORE TRAFFIC!!!</p>