Why is Your House So Expensive? You’ll Be Surprised

Even though in many areas the cost of a house has plummeted over the last 12 months or so, it is still a huge stretch to afford a decent house, especially for first time homebuyers in many major metro areas. Why are houses so very expensive? Are the developers overcharging? Are the homebuilders all sending their children to Harvard and driving Porsches? Are homes now, filled with expensive standard features that used to be options a decade ago? Perhaps, but in some areas that’s not the largest reason for the increase. What is the single largest reason that a house costs so much in these locations?

In these areas, the single largest component in the increased cost of housing is the cost of government regulation. You read that right. The more “progressive” an area, such as Seattle, or San Francisco, the more expensive these government regulations seem to be for the average citizen looking for a home. Does your friendly state and local government respond to their constituency’s concern by reducing the level of government regulation, restriction and red tape?
Hardly, they’d get little credit for that. They wouldn’t want to reduce the cost of regulation and compliance for the guy just trying to get the house built. There would be nothing concrete local pols could point their finger at and say “See how I reduced the cost of housing for the little guy/gal”. Obviously most politicians are concerned with things they can point to during their next campaign. Now, if they can come up with some money to help Joe/sephine homebuyer in their quest for affordable housing, that’s something that can help them get elected next time around.

Are you having trouble believing me about all this? Well, I can understand that. After all houses are so very expensive, it’s hard to imagine that the cost of government is higher than the cost of wood, labor, or windows. Well, sad to say, it is. It’s not only me saying this either, although decades of involvement in the building industry has provided me with ample anecdotal evidence that it’s true. No, greater minds than mine have actually done real research on the problem of expensive housing, and gotten concrete data to back these theories up.

Government regulations, from land use regulations and environmental laws, to extremely complex and expensive building permit processes have piled on a huge amount of additional costs. They reduce the supply of buildable land, and economic law dictates that when you reduce the supply of something that is demanded, its price will increase. They have also increased the cost of compliance through such regulations as restricting the times of the year when work can be done on building projects. In addition some areas are notorious for the cost of building permits and the lengthy and complicated process one must go through to obtain them and keep them open.

I said that greater minds than mine have concluded that all this is true, and one such mind is University of Washington professor Theo Eicher, founding director of the University’s Economic Policy Research Center. He has released the results of a study, itself derived in part from the Wharton Residential Land Use Index, a detailed analysis of the cost of regulation and its contribution to the cost of housing in MSIs (Mean Statistical Areas) throughout the country. Professor Eicher’s study has concluded that in Seattle, fully $200,000 is of the average home price is attributable directly to the effects of government regulation. When you stop and consider that the average home price in Seattle is $447,800, and that $200,000 of that is due to government regulation, it’s amazing that the citizens of Seattle and King County (Seattle’s county) haven’t risen in revolt. The ironic thing is that it is these very same citizens lamenting the increased housing costs that voted in the politicians that enacted the laws, and in a few notable cases, the laws themselves.

The United States Economy - The Ferrari Effect

07 F430F1 Spider, Russo Corsa, Beige Lthr, 721 mi, $339,995’07 F430F1 Spider, Russo Corsa, Beige Lthr, 1,321mi, $324,995’06 F430F1 Spider, Nero, Cuoioe Lthr, 4,545mi, $314,995’05 F430F1 Spider, Grigio Silverstone, Girgio Lthr, 3,444mi, $289,995

These Ferrari ads are straight from yesterday’s business section. What can be gleaned from this, vis-à-vis the U.S. economy? Well, when you consider the base price of a 2007 Ferrari F430F1 Spider is $211,000 before any (extremely high priced) options are added, it means that there is tremendous demand for a car that costs upwards of a quarter of a million dollars. Now the price of admission to enjoy the wonderful shriek of a Ferrari power plant at full boil has never been cheap, but this makes that $1,995 2nd sticker your local Mitsubishi dealer has on a new Evo X look positively tame.

This indicates that certain segments of the U.S. economy are humming along nicely indeed. I call this the “Ferrari effect”. When there is such pent-up demand for extremely expensive goods, it indicates that there is an extreme amount of wealth floating around, and those that hold it aren’t afraid to spend it. That propensity for the wealthy to continue their unabashed spending on luxury goods is a great thing for the rest of the economy.

Ferrari must agree that those that have money will continue to spend it, as they just announced that carbon ceramic brakes, formerly a (are you firmly seated) $16,800 option on the F430, will be made standard equipment for 2008. Rest assured, they will not just give those beautiful discs of carbon away, a large portion of the $16,800 will be rolled into the base price of this year’s cars.
It is really quite astounding the level of demand of such an expensive vehicle. A client of mine recently took a journey to the local Ferrari dealer to buy Ferrari’s latest masterpiece, the 12 cylinder 599. The 599 lists for over $250,000, but that hasn’t discouraged a lengthy queue of buyers from forming. My client actually returned from the dealership with a 2005 F430F1 that he paid who knows how much for, after putting down the requisite deposit to secure his place in line for the 599. Sometime in the next 24 – 30 months, he’ll actually take deliver of it.
Something else that indicates the propensity of those that have money to spend it when they really want something
(As an aside, many of the very wealthy people I’ve known, and I've known quite a few (never been one of them, though), are extremely cheap. They won’t spend one extra penny if they don’t see the value in it. It’s an extremely common trait in those that have generated their own wealth. From that you can draw your own conclusions. Consider this, however; the major cause of the massive level of credit card debt exhibited by Americans today is a pattern of consistently spending beyond one’s means. Anecdotal evidence from those people I’ve seen that have accumulated a large amount of wealth do not have that trait.)
is the price structure of luxury vehicles, such as Porsches and Ferraris. Many would expect cars in this price stratum to have a very high level of standard equipment. Actually quite the opposite is true. Many things you’d expect to be standard are actually options, and very expensive options at that. For example, consider the Bose sound system (including 3-way component front door speakers with 10-inch subwoofers) on a new Infiniti G35, by all accounts a very nice car, is a $2,500. For good measure, Infiniti has also thrown in a power sliding tinted glass moonroof, heated front seats, a power tilt and telescoping steering column, automatic anti-glare rearview mirror with HomeLink® Universal Transceiver and compass, heated mirrors and a Bluetooth phone interface.
On the Ferrari F430, the Bose sound system option, all by itself, never mind such niceties as a Bluetooth interface, is a robust $7,250. Ouch! So, maybe you really don’t care all that much about a better sound system. You’d rather listen to the engine anyway. Well, you’d think a car that retails for as much as a house in Cleveland would at least include power seats, but no. In the Ferrari they will set you back an additional $2,653. The ones in my Jeep were only ¼ that much.
The point is that the Ferrari effect is still alive and well in many areas, although the economy looks like it’s poised for a slowdown. When the Ferrari effect goes away, we’re in for some rough sailing ahead. So, take a look at the business section. When the ads for overpriced Ferrari’s disappear, you’ll know we’re really in a lot of trouble.
Have a great, Debt Free weekend.

- Debt to Income Ratio – How to Calculate Your Debt to Income and Why

Your debt to income ratio is one your most important financial statistics. If you've ever bought a home you'll remember that was one of the pieces of financial information your lender wanted. If they were concerned about getting you the best mortgage, they showed you how you could improve it.

Just how do you calculate debt to income ratios anyway? For that matter, after you calculated it, what is an acceptable debt to income ratio? Calculating your debt to income ratio is fairly simple, You merely divide your monthly gross income by your outstanding debt. To calculate the ratio, you have to take your annual gross income and divide by twelve. I know, you were told there would be no math, but it's pretty darn simple, really. This calculation gives you your average monthly gross income. Here's where you wish you'd claimed all those tips and side jobs you've been gloating about. If you haven't reported them, you'll have a harder time getting your lender to believe you really have that level of income.
After you figure out your average monthly income, you'll need to look at two different percentages. If you are going to get a conventional mortgage, you'll use 28% and 36%. If you are getting an FHA or VA mortgage, you'll use slightly higher percentages; 29% and 41%. What do those percentages mean? The first is the percentage of your gross income you can use for housing expenses. That will include your house payment, all your housing associated insurance, and interest. These expenses are abbreviated PITI, for Principle, Interest, Taxes, and Insurance.
If, for example, your W-2 income was $55,291 last year, you'd divide that by 12. The result of that calculation is your average monthly income: $4,607.58. Depending upon the type of mortgage you'll be getting, that will give you the amount of house payment you can be approved for, all else being equal. In this example, you'd be able to afford a house payment of $4,607.58 x .28 for a conforming mortgage. $4,607.58 x .28 = $1,290.12. As you can see, that's not too much house in many metro areas. For example that house payment will allow you to technically afford, at this week's average 30 year fixed mortgage rate of 5.52%, a mortgage with a balance after your down payment of $227,000. You might want to avoid the mistake made by too many people leading up to our recent credit problems, and finance less than that.
Wait a minute, what about that second percentage? What does it mean? That 36% or 41% is the amount of house you can afford according to the standard debt to income calculation, after you include all your other recurring debt. This is where you include your credit card bills, car payments and store charge card payments. This is why your loan officer is telling you to pay down some of this type of debt. You can qualify for a larger mortgage if your recurring debt is lower.
Let's look at the above example, but assume you have only one car, a 2005 Honda Accord LX. That's a nice, sensible, family sedan with a price when it was new of about $22,000, depending upon the option level. Say out the door, with taxes an license, you're into it for $24,000. If you financed this car when it was new, and got 4.9% financing, your monthly payments would be about $450 per month. Let's also assume that you have the national average credit card debt of about $8,500, depending on whose statistics you look at. If you are also paying the national average gold card interest rate of 11.73%, your monthly minimum credit card payment amounts to somewhere around $260. (You can take heart in knowing that if you make only the minimum monthly payment on your cards that it will take only about 15 years to pay off the $8,500 and you'll pay about $4,000 in interest on the $8,500 principle amount!).
If you include your car payment of $450, and your credit card payment of $260, your recurring monthly expenses are $710. $710 added to $1,290.12 gives you a nice, round $2,000. Your mortgage lender will let you have 36% of your monthly gross income be consumed by PITI and recurring monthly expenses. Your current gross monthly income in this example is $4,607.58. 36% of your monthly gross is only $1,658. In this example, you're way too high after adding in your monthly expenses, to qualify for your house. Now you see why you see so many used car ads that read “Must sell, buying house”. With this level of monthly recurring expenses, you can only qualify for a house that's $948/ month. You'll be staying above the garage.

Your Other Largest Household Expense

A few days a go I did a couple of posts on lowering household expenses and how you can attack some of the largest expense to save yourself some money. In case you missed it, here are the largest expense categories of the typical American family from 2005, courtesy of US Department of Labor statistics.

1 - Shelter and associated expenses $15,167 (32.7%)

2 – Transportation $ 8,344 (18.0%)

3 – Food $ 5,931 (12.8%)

4 – Pensions and Social Security $ 4,823 (10.4%)

5 – Health care $ 2,664 ( 5.7%)

6 – Entertainment $ 2,388 ( 5.1%)

7 – Clothing $ 1,886 ( 4.1%)

Something's missing. What is it? Give up. Well for many people it is the largest expense category, for most of the rest, its in the top 3, yet for many people it gets completely overlooked much of the time. What is this major expense? Well, of course, it is taxes. You may just look at you paycheck to see what is taken out every month, but you'd be woefully underestimating how much the “Average American” pays in taxes every year.
Many taxes are hidden. Think about how much is really paid. There is employer matching of Social Security. You think the employer just takes that straight out of their bottom line? Guess again; they pass it on to their customers (you and me). There are gas, fuel and utility taxes, at the local, state and federal levels. Property taxes, which are borne by both renter and property owners. Sales taxes, B&O taxes on businesses, state income taxes, and capital gains taxes; it boggles the mind! There are just so many taxes. All the taxes paid by business are passed on to the consumer in some way or another, so don't be fooled into thinking that this tax or that doesn't, in some way, affect you. They affect all of us to some extent.
The upshot of all this is that there a about a million different tax reform organization, foundations and groups out there. Together they give some kind of picture about how much is paid by the “Average American” in taxes every year. The Tax Foundation has their Tax Freedom Day, the day when you stop working for the government and begin to line your own pocket. In 2007, it was April 30th. That works out to 32.8%. Hey, that's expense number1! Even if you give our taxing authorities the benefit of the doubt and this number is 20% too high, it would still come in at 26%, and fall neatly into slot number 2.
That's why I tend to rail a bit about taxes. The other expenses you can do something about. You can control taxes too, albeit to a lesser extent. but it requires much more effort and planning, in addition to a trip to your local polling place (or post office for a growing number of communities, where absentee is the new voting method of choice). I wouldn't care so much. After all the government provides many essential services that we desperately need, and should pay for. The problem is that they also provide many that we don't and shouldn't, in addition to being the model of inefficiency in many of the things they do.
Have a great, Debt Free weekend.

American Fortune

Americans are unbelievably fortunate. That point was driven home while in the car, listening to Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN Radio this morning. They were interviewing basketball coach Ron Hunter of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Coach Hunter is working with a charity called Samaritan's Feet, which is dedicated to providing shoes for children around the world who have never owned a pair of shoes. Stop and think about for just a second, please. We are so fortunate, and take so many things for granted, while there are kids who have never known the comfort of walking in a pair of shoes, something Americans (and citizens of just about every other developed country) take for granted.
The coach is dedicating his game tonight, which he'll coach sans footwear, to raise awareness for the charity, with the goal of getting 40,000 pairs of shoes, which he will personally deliver to the kids. Coach Hunter definitely has a knack for publicity, because his campaign appears to be an unqualified success. A Converse executive even appeared on the show to donate 15,000 pairs. LA Gear had earlier donated over 5,000 pairs. If you'd like to help out the kids on this one

Where the Real Superbowl Action Is - It's Not on the Field

$9.07 Billion. That's a positively huge amount of money. What's it for? Well, you could buy 2 Nimitz class nuclear aircraft carriers and have enough left over for 4,250 new Cessna 172 Skyhawks, complete with Garmin GPS, to fly off of them. I don't think you could fit 2,100 Cessnas on each one, but you get the point. In any case, that's about 10% of all such aircraft produced since production began in 1955.
According to cost figures from a University of Kentucky study, you could build your own, private 67 mile long Interstate Highway. Maybe you'd like to do something a bit more charitable. You could buy 30 nice, new, 250 bed, suburban hospital facilities, and locate them in the communities of your choice. You like cars? Well, you could have one hell of a car collection with that much money. In fact you could pick up a couple of motorcycles too. That $9.07 billion would buy just about every vehicle produced by the Honda Motor Corp. for the first 3 quarters of 2007.
What are people spending so much money on? Well, betting on the Superbowl, of course. About $90.7 million was spent on legal betting on last year's Superbowl in Nevada sports books alone. By some estimates, this accounts for roughly 1% of all action seen on the game. Simple math reveals that people drop about $9.07 billion betting on the big game. Wow! How much of that is illegal gambling? The majority of it, although much of this illegal money changes hands in office pools throughout America, and is wagered by people who seldom bet on much else. Gambling has been legalized in many communities throughout the country. The benefit, or lack thereof, of such gaming is a subject for another discussion, however only Nevada has legalized sports betting.
Since Nevada's sports books raked in only $90.7 million, the remainder is illegal. I never knew there were so many crooks in this country. The FBI estimates there may be as much as (are you firmly seated?) $380 Billion bet on sports every year in this country alone. A 10% tax on that would take care of a few things, you can be sure. Cure for cancer anyone? Mars mission? Give it all away to cure poverty? Hold on, are you insane? Giving money away on a regular basis never cures poverty, it only makes people dependent, and in most cases, less likely to ever become self sufficient. Sadly, that huge amount of money would probably only swell state and federal coffers, get the government beneficiaries of such largess accustomed to sucking at yet one more teat, and eventually be frittered away, leaving precious little benefit for you and me.
Have a great weekend, and keep trying to get Debt Free.

Home Buyer's Down Payment Assistance - How to Get It

For many of us, especially first time home buyers, the most difficult part of buying a home was scraping together the money for the down payment. With house prices a bit lower now than they've been for the last few years, it is a great time to buy a house, if you're currently a renter. But that old down payment issue keeps rearing it's ugly noggin. There are, however, some ways you can get down payment assistance that will pay all or part of the down payment on your new house for you.
If you are looking to make the leap into home ownership, and are a bit savings challenged, here are a few down payment assistance solutions you can look into. It might be just what you need to finally get a house of your own.
For all you home sellers out there, just dying on the vine because your house hasn't sold, especially if you bought a new house before you sold your old one, these could be a tool you can use to help market your house. It might be the one thing that helps you get out from under that old house and all its expenses.
Get Downpayment Assistance From a Charity No, I don't mean call up the Red Cross or the American Cancer Society and ask them for a handout. It works more like this; a 501(c)(3) non profit organization or charity gets a contribution for the amount of the down payment, which they then transfer to the seller. The contributor gets a tax deduction for the contribution and the charity pockets a service fee. You get your down payment. What a deal! No doubt.
As with anything that seems too good to be true, there are some problems with the arrangement, namely for the IRS, who hates to let some good tax dollars go to waste. In 2006 they published a notice with the intent of removing the tax exempt status of 501 (3)(c)s who's primary activity was to move money from sellers to buyers in order to facilitate real estate transactions. Shortly thereafter HUD followed suit, releasing a proposed rule that would forbid the use of this process for the purchase of FHA properties.
Ah, but not so fast! The HUD rule only states that if you use an FHA loan, you cannot use down payment assistance if seller financed organizations are the source of the money. You can still use this method if you are not using a FHA financing or if you use a non profit, or charity organization who's chief function does not entail financing down payments using money from sellers.
In addition, in October of last year, the DC U.S. District Court denied HUD from prohibiting the seller financed transactions until such time as they can further review HUD's rationale for their decision. The Court basically said they felt HUD didn't do their due diligence before issuing they made the ruling. One important note here. One of the reasons HUD made their ruling in the first place is that in their opinion, such financial sorcery artificially inflates the selling price of the home, costing the buyers money. This is due to the seller passing along the service fee charged by the charity for the transaction.
That may be true, but numerous organizations in the home buying process pass along fees to one or more of the parties involved. At least it allows people to actually buy a house when they could have otherwise not done so. The problems arise when people buy a house they can not afford, because they have no down payment requirement and they get a mortgage based upon shaky financials (probably not going to happen so much anymore).
The National Association of Realtors is pushing for a 0 down FHA program to be implemented. Their reasoning is that eliminating the down payment requirement will remove the incentive for these assistance organizations. That may be true for homes bought using FHA loans, but what about all the rest? As house prices rise, the problem of obtaining sufficient funds for a down payment is only going to be exacerbated. Thankfully for buyers, they are experiencing a temporary reprieve, as real estate values have declined in many markets. In the long term however, this pricing trend will inevitably reverse itself. Even so, the prospect of a recent college graduate, new to the workforce, plunking down the down payment for a new home can be a bit laughable, when you consider the price of homes in many major cities.
Even at 3%, this can add up, depending on where you land your first job. For example, the average home price (preliminary Q3, 2007) in Indianapolis, Houston, and Omaha was between $125K and $155K. The average college graduate or young family may be able to come up with the $6,000 they'd need to get into a home after all was figured in. However, if you find yourself in Seattle, Boston or Washington DC, you'll find the going a bit tougher, with homes fetching around $415K.
If you've come to the sun of SO Cal, forget it. To get the average priced home in Orange County you'll need $700K, one in L.A. will cost an average of $588K(that factors in the many really bad L.A. neighborhoods, so a nice house will cost more than you'd think), and San Diego brings $589K. Not only can you not even get an FHA loan that big, if you could, you'd need to have almost $20Gs stuffed in a bag, an amount few recent college graduates, or any other workers with young families have a prayer of getting.
Get Downpayment Assistance From the GovernmentSpeaking of Southern California, the Golden State is one of the states that has an Austrian born Governor...wait, wrong post, I mean a state guaranteed, no down payment program for home buyers. California's is known appropriately enough, as the California Homebuyer's Downpayment Assistance Program (CHDAP). As with many such assistance programs, they work by combining an FHA loan and a “silent” second mortgage. Given the state's relative dearth of homes that could possibly qualify for FHA financing, especially in the major metro areas, one might ask about the relevance of such a program, but something is better than nothing. If you live in California, or may be relocating there soon, you can find out more about their program at the California Housing Financing Agency's website.
Washington State has a similar program fro down payment assistance if you are disabled or have a disabled person living with you. It is termed the HomeChoice Second Mortgage Program. One wonders how much money states might save if they stopped hiring marketing consultants to come up with catchy names for state programs. In any case, to learn more about Washington states program, visit the Washington State Housing Finance Commission's website.
Arkansas, a state who's had 2 of the current Presidential candidates reside in it's Governor's Mansion (triple-wide) has such a program too. Theirs is targeted at first time home buyers and is offered by the Arkansas State Development Finance Authority in cooperation with a Federal program, the American Dream Downpayment Initiative (In this case, the Feds hired the marketing consultants), which was originally signed into law by President Bush in 2003. Arkansas' down payment assistance program provides downpayment and closing cost assistance for low income families making 80% or less of the area's median income. See it at the Arkansas Development Finance Authority's web page.
To find out more about the Federal DPA program, check out the American Dream Initiative website.
There you'll find about each state's program that ties in with the ADI. However, many other states have other programs that are not affiliated with the federal program, so take the time to visit your state's housing, and/or finance authority or agency website to find out how to qualify.

How Long to Double Your Money?

How can you find out how long it will take to double your money when you invest it at a certain interest rate? It's simple, really, thanks to what investment types call the 72 rule. The 72 rule simply states that, to find out how long in years it takes to double a nest egg, just divide the interest rate by 72. For instance, if you have money invested at 10% it will double in 7.2 years (10/72). If it was earning 8%, it would take 9 years to double.

Top Ten Careers - Are You Ready for a Change?

One of the things you may be contemplating as the New Year rolls around is a career change. After all, if you need to make more money (and really, who couldn’t use more money?) changing to one of the top paid careers is a great strategy. There a several strategies you can use when you’re deciding how to choose a career. How you proceed will depend on your situation. Just don’t forget to include your opportunity cost, and the cost of anything you have to spend chasing this new way of making ends meet, when making your decision.
You can just look to a list of the top ten careers. Lord knows there are many of those around. Here’s one for the top careers of 2007 from FastCompany.com, and another, the 2008 Hiring Outlook, from Monster.com. The problem with that strategy is that you can’t just grab a list, look at the top paying career on it, and think, “Hey, that’s for me!” Well, if money is all that matters to you, I guess that approach may work fine, but for the rest of us….
There are so many other factors that enter into the equation. Are you looking for a career in a completely new area, or do you want to stay in the same industry or type of work? Are you happy where you live, or would this be a great opportunity to pick up and move? Are there specific things you’re looking for, besides the career’s pay? Many studies have been done that suggest that career pay does not correlate directly to job satisfaction. A 2000 study by the employer research organization The Conference Board found that job satisfaction dropped more rapidly in those earning over $50,000/yr than those making less than that. While you may want to maximize your income, your overall satisfaction is definitely worth considering too.
Something else to consider is what you’ll be willing to undergo to change careers. Would you mind going back to college? Just imagine it; whiling away your days playing Halo3 and online poker, downloading porn, and beer bonging. Could it get any more exciting?? But seriously, entertaining the thought of going to college, or returning to it, is not a trivial matter, and may be more than you’re willing (or able) to consider at this point in your life. If a full time degree program isn’t in the cards, you have a few choices, if your new career demands further education.
There are many advanced degree programs that are aimed at those already working. They are usually a combination of on-line and evening curricula, and are offered by both traditional universities and some of the more working-adult oriented facilities, such as the University of Phoenix and DeVry University. Such programs will allow you to keep your life more or less as is while you strive for an advanced degree like a frenzied fan pushing through the line for a beer at an Islander’s game.
Maybe you’d like something that requires a bit less time in pursuit of a degree. You can shoot for an associate degree. These take about half the time of a bachelor’s and are offered at community colleges throughout the nation. You’ll save substantial money and be able to take advantage of a local facility. If that’s not up your alley either, there are a plethora of certificate and technical training programs at technical schools throughout the country. You can get into new careers as diverse as law enforcement, custom electronics installation, HVAC technician, ultrasound technician and dental hygiene.
You can actually make a nice income in a career that needs no 4 year college degree. According to the Farr and Shatkin book "The 300 Best Jobs That Don't Require a Four-Year Degree", here are some of the top paid jobs available to those without 4-year college degrees and their average annual salaries:
Air Traffic Controllers - $102,000
Transportation Manager - $66,000
Real Estate Broker - $58,720
Elevator Installation and Repair Tech - $58,710
Dental Hygienist - $58,350
Nuclear Medicine Tech - $56,450
Immigration and Customs Inspector - $53,990
Commercial Pilot - $53,870
(note: many airline pilots with seniority make far more than this)
RN $46,782 (minority nurse.com)
So, where in the job market should be looking if you want to be in demand for the foreseeable future? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the most in-demand career paths for the next 10 years are:
1 – Network Systems and Data Communications Analysts
2 – Personal Care Aides
3 – Home Health Aides
4 – Computer Software and Applications Engineers
5 – Veterinary Techs
6 – Personal Financial Advisors
7 – Makeup Artists (Why???)
8 – Medical Assistants
9 – Veterinarians
10 – Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors
There you have it. You’ll note it’s a pretty varied field, but that the medical and veterinary fields are well represented.
This should give you some food for thought if you are thinking of making a career change. Have a great, Debt Free weekend.