I am an engineer and not to brag but received over 60K to start. Yeah its all about the job market and your location. I'm a computer engineer so may be slightly different and I had worked at Lockheed at their HQ in Bethesda while I was in college during the summers.

As for Lockheed though, my best friend works there here in Maryland and they are starting to lay off people. Hopefully that trend will stop!

 

Congrats with getting that kind of salary. That was my fear and that's why I didn't take an offer with Lockheed. Mass hiring in my book means mass layoff. And Lockheed was only offering at most $51k.

 

K, for those who are "interns" and are talking about the salary you're going to get of 50-60K...make sure you have secured the job and they won't let you go after...cause then you'll really be screwed.

Once you know the job is yours, then maybe if you have enough already saved up, then do it, but dont live check to check cause I guarantee you, you'll be hatin life with no money and just a car...

I bought the car as an intern at an engineering firm...after graduating last month they told me they had to keep me at the intern level since the company is strugling...I said F it, I have a degree, I need what I'm worth 50-60K...

Long story short, I am interviewing with Northrup Grumman later next week.
Class of 05 (Electrical Engineering/ Computer Science)

 

My only advice is to remember that there is no such thing as job security. That said...live beneath your means. My rule of thumb is "If I had to shut down my business tomorrow and work 50 hours/week at McDonald's for the next 6 months could I manage to keep the things I have." Note: I'm not telling anyone that they shouldn't take risks, if that was the case we'd all be driving around 1976 Datsuns, and that's no way to live either. Just remember that the salary you're at today, may not be the salary you're at tomorrow...unfortunately your monthly payments will be the same for the next 36, 48, 60 months. I guess I'm saying... just don't feel like you have to exhaust your salary just because it's there. Save, save, save.

"Fail to plan, plan to fail." - somebody

 

Two weeks out of college with a mid 30k job for now (just getting experience and then bouncing). BTW I'm working for Volvo. Their cars are no way close to the G. Anyways I'm still getting the G in a month with a huge down saved from PT jobs while in college. Final cost per month = 250 Not bad cause I'm just going to pay it off in about 6 months.

 

I started at 55k + 8K signing bonus. Several raises and bonuses since then have made me very happy. This is how I manage my funds currently:

Put together an excel sheet of your monthly finances
Pay down all debt

Max out 401K (diversify funds)
Max out Roth IRA (S&P 500 all I have to say)
Develop a diversified portfolio
ING Savings Account

If you have to rent, rent low and as short term as possible. I can't say enough of how nice it is to own property that appreciates in value. Get a 2 bedroom condo,apt, or townhouse, rent out one room, now you have someone paying 1/4 to half of your mortgage payment.

Buy the car of your dreams (G !!!)

 

wow, does the color really matter? I'm w/ GEICO and all they care about is whether it's the G35 coupe or the sedan (sedan's cheaper). BTW, try checking out GEICO. At least in Hawaii, it's the cheapest out there w/ excellent customer service. Also, if you go through GEICO, tell 'em you're a Golden Key (International Honour Society) member and they'll give you I think a 10% discount or something. Oh, and it soo helps to have a perfect driving record.

 

Yeah, definitely! Get a Roth IRA! I put in a $100/mo thru American Express Financial Advisors and I checked my statement - an $800 investment in mutual funds (stocks & bonds) is now worth like $1800! tax free! A car's nice, but don't let it dictate your financial life. I don't know if you have student loans, but a couple things are sure bets: you'll always have your education (that never depreciates), chances are your house (if you buy) will also appreciate in value, and a car (G35 or otherwise) will consistently lose its value over time. Besides, assuming you get like a 5-year car loan, assuming regular payments, we'll all be driving the new GT-Rs when you're done w/ the monthlies!

 

Yeah, you wanna be careful about that! My friend's friend worked at Verizon, st8 out of college and was getting close to $50K/yr here in Hawaii (which is like $1M/yr by mainland standards, cost-of-living wise). Anyway, he got laid off and they gave him a $26K or something severance. You know what he did? He blew it on a brand-new, fully-loaded Mazda6s w/ leather seats & sunroof! A FWD car for crying out loud! That's powered by a Ford 3.0-L duratec V6! (Yuck!) Anyway, he really regretted it, having paid for the whole thing in cash and having not much to say for it except it ain't worth anything near $26K now. Oh, BTW, he got rehired by Verizon when they realized they laid off too many people.

 

I graduated last May with an EE degree and I'm just now starting a Network Engineering job. Good luck to all the engineers waiting to graduate. I hope your final projects are going well. I'm on my way to saving up for an '05 or '06 G35C.

Great thread.

 

Try using Quicken 2005 (I use Premier Home & Biz) to organize your finances. Keep track of everything (your regular expenses now, like rent, gas for your Accord (?), unreimbursed job expenses for your new work, etc.) and get insurance quotes so you know how much you'll be spending on the new G once you get it, just so you won't set yourself up for anything big.

Definitely, big congrats on your new job! But be careful w/ your finances! $54K/yr or something is A LOT OF MONEY to a new college-grad - trust me! When I got my first job straight out of undergrad, I was pulling $33k/yr working for the state, a pittance, I know, but I was still going to grad school at night, and when you go from a part-time on-campus job to something like $33k/yr, you go crazy! I sure did! and i bought everything under the sun!

Around the same time, when I started grad school, I bought an '03 Altima that I was planning to trade in after about the first 4 mos. of ownership for a (at the time) new '03 Lexus IS300. I would've lost gobs on the trade-in so, I kept it. I would've gotten the '04 G35 but didn't really care for the interior but waited instead for the '05. I'm really glad I did because as great a car as the G is, it's certainly nothing to get yourself screwed over in personal finances.

without knowing anything about your additional finances, it sounds like you'd be in a pretty good financial situation to buy a new car, let alone the G. With prices and options, the car costing upwards of $36K is a lot of money, and if you figure on, say, a $50K/yr salary, w/ say a $3K/mo take home salary, figure about $1000/mo on rent/mortgage, and about $500/mo for car payments, that leaves you with about $1500/mo for car insurance, on top of regular living expenses - assuming you have no other outstanding debt. don't be like one of my friends who filed for bankruptcy at age 23! (and she drove a '77 corolla!)

anyway, check out your options first and definitely don't let emotions get into play or what the dealer says you're qualified for. Check this site out for personal finance, it has some pretty good money articles.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/home.asp

 

hmmm... i don't know if i'd liquidate my stocks just for a down payment. assuming a benchmark of 10% per year, you'd never do that good in almost any other kind of "safe" investment (bank CDs or otherwise). i think the only "good" reason to cash out your stocks is if it'll make you more money (like for another investment) or for a down on a house (since you'd have equity in it). Maybe just save up from your current job, brown bag your lunches, and use your cash savings from now till October and use that for the down? Also, when you go through GEICO, make sure you tell them you're a Golden Key member. They don't ask for verification. It's part of their "marketing promotional discount.) (BTW, I'm actually a golden key mbr; i was our chapter's vice president in undergrad.)

 

do you work for PWC? I have a friend who works there at the Honolulu office and she has since forgotten what it's like to be in a weekend! I have another friend who works at Deloitte & Touche and he doesn't have a life either! And the friends I know who work at KPMG have to drink away their workaholism!

 

haha! i get laughed at by all my ICS (information computer sciences) major friends since i decided to go the 'easy' route by doing MIS! yeah, it may be easy, but can you ICS majors read a balance sheet or SEC filing?

 

wow, you work for volvo and you're buying a G? yeah, just try showing up for work in the company parking lot w/ your new g! haha!