..........you should know what you're talking about.

Furthermore, you really should know what you're looking at before you quote it.

I went to one of the sites and looked up Accountant, http://www.salaryexpert.com/salaryexpert/index.cfm?job=4001&zip=&area=426160.0&x=20&y=11

It said that accountants in Philadelphia make about 41k with about half of them making between 31 and 48. Looking at the national averages further down the page, it gave 31k as the low, 41k as the average and 48 as the high. This means that 41k is the national average and 48 is the HIGH average, E.g. for a city like NYC where people get paid more.

Furthermore, a high average is NOT A CAP....in salary surveys most people make above or below the average.

Another thing to consider is that for a lot of people, they start out with a Job Title related to their Major..e.g. they start out as an accountant, and then end up a manager, consultant, VP., Financial Advisor, etc. These positions pay more then just being an "accountant" so when looking at someone's earning potential as an accountant, these numbers aren't entirely accurate. You could have a pharmaceutical company with an Accountant working in Sr. Mgt. pulling down 200k/year. He's an accountant by training, if not by job title...so again, stating 50k as a cap is just plain wrong.

So again, 50k is not a realistic cap for Accountants to make. They are accountants charging anywhere from 60 - 200/hour on up. Just that range puts their yearly income at somewhere between 120 - 400k/year.

Furthermore, looking at average salaries for the Real Estate, Insurance & Banking industries won't give you a sound estimate of what a college graduate working in the financial sector can expect to make. #1. Real Estate is not part of the finance industry #2. You left out consulting, investment banking, brokerages, financial concerns that sell Mutual Funds, the accountants/finance majors that a company that isn't a financial institution might snap up. #3. Real Estate, Insurance and Banking industries have a lot of low level people who will bring the average down. If prudential hires 5 financial analysts out of college for 50k and then hires 20 insurance salesmen for 20k out of college..it is going to push the average down.

But I'm not talking about the low level people who aren't making much. I'm talking about the highly educated offspring of people from middle to upper middle class homes.

So let's get back to the subject, what can college graduates realistically expect to make? IF they major in Finance, Accounting, Engineering or Computer Science and are just decent students? I'm talking about just a B- or 2.7 GPA here.

At my college, I do know that a lot of kids were getting offers as I stated before. As students we received that information, letting us know what we could expect...based on what the class ahead of us had gotten. Those numbers were right in line with what I quoted before.

But let's just say that my college was abnormal and in order to really determine the average salary of a college graduate, we would need to talk to recent college graduates and/or their career centers.

http://collegegradjobs.about.com/careers/collegegradjobs/library/weekly/aa051500a.htm

The above web site provides data for 00', 99' & 97. The data was gathered from US News, Bureau of Labor Statistics and Job Stats. The Job Stats list was the most compelling since it was taken from over 900 college career centers, with provided information on what graduates got as well as what various employers were offering.

So again, you misinterpreted the salary survey, you didn't take into account people changing career paths after graduation, you didn't evaluate the financial industry correctly, and you weren't looking at Data that was focusing on college graduates.

I'm only 25, and I went to school with people who made WAAAY above the averages you're quoting...as did I. I also know what the averages are for college graduates, all I have to do is look them up. I've also hired people fresh out of college, who are making that money. 50k isn't out of the question coming out of college, if we were talking 100k...then I'd agree with you....but still there have been kids making that much as well.

Going back to my original post, it is NOT abnormal in the least for graduates of the fields I mentioned to make 35-45 coming out of college and get into the 50-70 range by their late 30s (28+) then marry someone who makes a similar salary and end up with a 6 figure household income.

For these kids who came from affluent homes, this seems normal to them...while it may seem almost impossible for someone who came from a poor family. Perhaps, you fighting me on this reveals that. You see this as not possible, or abnormal...but in my world..it's the norm. Maybe 70 by age 28, is above average...but 50 sure isn't...60 is well within range as well.

I'm going by salary surveys of graduates, and by what I've seen in my own life. I know far too many people who aren't neccessarily exceptional, who will have a 90+ household income by their late 20s after they get married...a lot of them will hit 100k before 30.

The Bureau of Labor statistics provides numbers that are less in some cases then the ones gathered from College Campuses. But even then, that only puts people in the low end of my estimates..but again..it's an average so must people are above or below. Since, I'm not talking about the people who slacked through college and didn't handle business academically and career wise....my previous post stands.

I'm not going to sit here and argue facts you don't understand or won't accept...so if you want to discuss this further please come back with some real facts. I'm sick of the defeatists who love to tell me things aren't possible, that really are and are happening every day to average people. Especially amongst other Blacks, I have a friend now who thinks that buying a house is out of the question for people our age...that you'd have to be on some Bill Gates isht to do so.

I have an Aunt and Uncle who only have an associates degree between them, earn over 6 figures collectively and own 3 homes. Her side of the family is poor and blue collar, and don't understand how they can pull it off....and are always suspecting that they're selling drugs and isht to live how they do. WRONG! They are aware of what they can accomplish and don't impose limits on themselves.

But again, it's because of the environment in which they were raised...they see impossible what others see commonplace.

Their defeatist thinking is one of the reasons that Whites have Financial success in areas we don't. Sometimes we think something is impossible, when in fact it isn't. This is part of the reason why poor whites are more likely to own their homes, even if they don't have people to help them out...they didn't impose that limit on themselves.

I'm not arguing opinion here, I'm arguing financial fact.

Peace,


M2