What was your parents' anual income when you were growing up?

[Anonymous]

My mother, until I was around 8 years old, "stayed at home" in the traditional working class sense, which means she worked plenty of odd jobs and just took us with her. Bookkeeping and wallpaper hanging (it was the 80s!) mostly. She had an AA in accounting.

When I was 8, she got a job as a teacher's aide in the school system. It was part time, so she didn't need childcare for us, and she made 11K per year. Eventually she opened her own small tax prep business, but passed away a couple of years later. No idea how much she made from that.

My father was a firefighter for the federal government during the latter part of my childhood; earlier he was a firefighter at the local level. My sense is that his last couple of years of working, he made around 50K, as that number sounds vaguely familiar from college financial aid forms. I remember he was at 36K per year for a long while, just remember that number being mentioned. This was in the 80s and 90s, he retired in the late 1990s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually just found this out recently... When I was around 7 years old, we were a family of 4, and my dad was making $24K as a medical resident (1989/1990). When I was 18 (family of 5) and getting ready for college, his salary was around $270K (2000). Now that I'm 34, his salary is at least double that.

Not bad for a man who came to this country with $214, a wife, a kid, and a huge dream. We may not have had it all when I was growing up, but he's worked his ass off to give us the world and he still works his ass off just to continue giving us all that he can.

(My mom has never worked outside the home. She's a SAHM and her FT job has always been our family, which is a huge undertaking.)

Bro, can we stop saying shit like this? Working moms' jobs are ALSO their families. They just have to be energetic enough to do TWO FT jobs (one for pay, and one for free).

PP here. Bro, can we stop being so insecure? What I wrote wasn't a knock against anyone. You taking it that way is on you.

+1 I am a SAHM and my family could not function at the high level they do with me working. Two income families sure have more money but they also have to spend more. I see costs for tutors, therapies, cars, drivers, camps, clothing, food, cleaning ... all adding up at two income households. But they also have money to throw at their problems. We went another route. To each their own.

Hmm. Most SAHMs are not qualified to provide therapies. And last I heard, they still eat and wear clothes. Nice try. It's the typical tactic of the self-justifying SAHM--add up all the costs of working, but neglect to account for any of the costs of staying at home, much less fully account for the salary and benefits.

[Anonymous]

About 25 years ago they were making 30k together, but didn't have any housing expenses as their job paid for our apartment (they were superintendents). BUT my father was great with money, saving and investing, and built up a stock portfolio of 300k+. Might not sound that impressive, but considering we came to the country as refugees with a few hundred dollars I'm pretty proud of him.

[Anonymous]

WHy would anyone know this?

[Anonymous]

None of this information makes sense unless posters say what years/decade they are talking about.
I was in highschool late 70's and early 80's. I remember hearing my mom say my dad got a promotion and was making 60k. That's was the year he bought a new Mercedes.
I do know they paid all three kids college (private) tuition. And our house was purchased in early 70's for 40k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WHy would anyone know this?

It was on some college form.

[Anonymous]

For most of my childhood, probably $20k. Bartender, musician, construction, college student, odd jobs.

In 1992 my mom graduated & got a teaching job in the part of Central Va. that, at that time, was still NoVa with a 703 area code. $19k. Kept tending bar on weekends. Dad got a maintenance gig with about the same salary, maybe a little less, plus continued playing music. So, through HS, maybe $35-40k combined. From 15 on, I worked and paid for clothes, car, insurance, gas, school stuff like yearbooks, field trips, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mom worked 2 jobs. I remembered she'll take vacation on one job and pick up more hours at another job. She work 70 plus hours a week. She was earning $10-12/hour. Now all her kids her successful. I owe everything to her and blessed to have learned hard work ethics, persistence, tenacity, adaptability and resilience. I'm getting ready to launch a business with many investors. I'm already looking forward to buying her a brand new house a
, car and vacations when my business is thriving. I owe everything to her.

?????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mom worked 2 jobs. I remembered she'll take vacation on one job and pick up more hours at another job. She work 70 plus hours a week. She was earning $10-12/hour. Now all her kids her successful. I owe everything to her and blessed to have learned hard work ethics, persistence, tenacity, adaptability and resilience. I'm getting ready to launch a business with many investors. I'm already looking forward to buying her a brand new house a
, car and vacations when my business is thriving. I owe everything to her.

?????

Love, love, love, love, love
Question marks were supposed to be hearts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually just found this out recently... When I was around 7 years old, we were a family of 4, and my dad was making $24K as a medical resident (1989/1990). When I was 18 (family of 5) and getting ready for college, his salary was around $270K (2000). Now that I'm 34, his salary is at least double that.

Not bad for a man who came to this country with $214, a wife, a kid, and a huge dream. We may not have had it all when I was growing up, but he's worked his ass off to give us the world and he still works his ass off just to continue giving us all that he can.

(My mom has never worked outside the home. She's a SAHM and her FT job has always been our family, which is a huge undertaking.)

Bro, can we stop saying shit like this? Working moms' jobs are ALSO their families. They just have to be energetic enough to do TWO FT jobs (one for pay, and one for free).

PP here. Bro, can we stop being so insecure? What I wrote wasn't a knock against anyone. You taking it that way is on you.

+1 I am a SAHM and my family could not function at the high level they do with me working. Two income families sure have more money but they also have to spend more. I see costs for tutors, therapies, cars, drivers, camps, clothing, food, cleaning ... all adding up at two income households. But they also have money to throw at their problems. We went another route. To each their own.

Hmm. Most SAHMs are not qualified to provide therapies. And last I heard, they still eat and wear clothes. Nice try. It's the typical tactic of the self-justifying SAHM--add up all the costs of working, but neglect to account for any of the costs of staying at home, much less fully account for the salary and benefits.

Maybe the PP was trying to say that kids of non-SAHMs are messed up and therefore need therapy?

[Anonymous]

My father is a very successful entrepreneur (think he started his first company when he was 10 or something). The greatest gift he's given me and my brothers was to instill the value of saving money and working hard. A few things that I am trying to pass on to my own children:
- It was a big deal to open savings accounts in our family, and he helped us start our own summer businesses when we were children so that we were able to save a good chunk of money before we went to college.
- We were only allowed to work in the summers, and had to focus on our educations during the school year. My parents made it clear to us early on that we would be responsible for our college tuition, so we all worked hard to get academic scholarships.
- We learned to budget money very early on. Instead of giving us money for lunch, they gave us the $ in a lump sum at the beginning of the week as our allowance. If we wanted to buy lunch, great, but if we wanted to make our own lunches with food in the house, we could save the money. We helped out a ton around the house, and in the summers, had to give him an hour each day to do something (ie mow the lawn, vacuum, dishes, etc). When we got older, money for haircuts, new clothes, etc. went into the allowance pot as well so that we learned to shop around.

[Anonymous]

When I filled out the FAFSA in Feb. 2001 my mother made $14K. We lived in a blue collar rust belt suburb.

[Anonymous]

When I was born in the Midwest in the 1970s my parents had both just finished law school and were renting a 2 bedroom, one bath home. They gradually both built successful careers and we moved into a nice sfh by the time I was in elementary school. By the time I was in high school they were both law partners making a combined $1-2 million per year. They both retired in their 50s and are enjoying a comfortable retirement in their 70s now. I saw my standard of living go up dramatically as I grew up, wish I could do the same for my kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually just found this out recently... When I was around 7 years old, we were a family of 4, and my dad was making $24K as a medical resident (1989/1990). When I was 18 (family of 5) and getting ready for college, his salary was around $270K (2000). Now that I'm 34, his salary is at least double that.

Not bad for a man who came to this country with $214, a wife, a kid, and a huge dream. We may not have had it all when I was growing up, but he's worked his ass off to give us the world and he still works his ass off just to continue giving us all that he can.

(My mom has never worked outside the home. She's a SAHM and her FT job has always been our family, which is a huge undertaking.)

Bro, can we stop saying shit like this? Working moms' jobs are ALSO their families. They just have to be energetic enough to do TWO FT jobs (one for pay, and one for free).

PP here. Bro, can we stop being so insecure? What I wrote wasn't a knock against anyone. You taking it that way is on you.

+1 I am a SAHM and my family could not function at the high level they do with me working. Two income families sure have more money but they also have to spend more. I see costs for tutors, therapies, cars, drivers, camps, clothing, food, cleaning ... all adding up at two income households. But they also have money to throw at their problems. We went another route. To each their own.

Hmm. Most SAHMs are not qualified to provide therapies. And last I heard, they still eat and wear clothes. Nice try. It's the typical tactic of the self-justifying SAHM--add up all the costs of working, but neglect to account for any of the costs of staying at home, much less fully account for the salary and benefits.

Maybe the PP was trying to say that kids of non-SAHMs are messed up and therefore need therapy?

Yes, all kids of working mothers are in therapy and have higher food and clothing costs than children of working mothers. This is a fact you can learn at the ladies who lunch bridge club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually just found this out recently... When I was around 7 years old, we were a family of 4, and my dad was making $24K as a medical resident (1989/1990). When I was 18 (family of 5) and getting ready for college, his salary was around $270K (2000). Now that I'm 34, his salary is at least double that.

Not bad for a man who came to this country with $214, a wife, a kid, and a huge dream. We may not have had it all when I was growing up, but he's worked his ass off to give us the world and he still works his ass off just to continue giving us all that he can.

(My mom has never worked outside the home. She's a SAHM and her FT job has always been our family, which is a huge undertaking.)

Bro, can we stop saying shit like this? Working moms' jobs are ALSO their families. They just have to be energetic enough to do TWO FT jobs (one for pay, and one for free).

PP here. Bro, can we stop being so insecure? What I wrote wasn't a knock against anyone. You taking it that way is on you.

+1 I am a SAHM and my family could not function at the high level they do with me working. Two income families sure have more money but they also have to spend more. I see costs for tutors, therapies, cars, drivers, camps, clothing, food, cleaning ... all adding up at two income households. But they also have money to throw at their problems. We went another route. To each their own.

Hmm. Most SAHMs are not qualified to provide therapies. And last I heard, they still eat and wear clothes. Nice try. It's the typical tactic of the self-justifying SAHM--add up all the costs of working, but neglect to account for any of the costs of staying at home, much less fully account for the salary and benefits.

Maybe the PP was trying to say that kids of non-SAHMs are messed up and therefore need therapy?

Yes, all kids of working mothers are in therapy and have higher food and clothing costs than children of working mothers. This is a fact you can learn at the ladies who lunch bridge club.

No kidding, the therapies dig was totally below the belt. Why don't we go back to talking about our parents and their situation and let go of the SAHM vs WOHM insecurities?