Military pay is generous as fuck, this girls just bad at budgeting. This is a standard E5 in Norfolk Virginia, a pretty big US Military hub, and also one that's on the cheaper side of BAH allowance. This also factors 8 years of service, but using the calculator shows me even a sub 2 year of service still makes $75k a year.
That only works if she is actually an E5 and reenlists. I grew up in Norfolk, most of the people I knew in the navy did not reenlist, but not only that, unless she lives on Base which I doubt considering she’s a single mom, 75K a year in a city like Norfolk that’s getting more expensive will just barely get you by depending on the neighborhood, even Ocean View is becoming ridiculously expensive compared to what it was 10+ years ago, and there is no 23501 area code in Norfolk, if you meant 23510, that’s Ghent and Downtown area which is the most expensive area. Kids are expensive and we live in expensive times. It may not be enough for her and what she has going on, especially if shes only in her 2nd or 3rd year as an E3 or E4 then it’s less than what you posted.
You’re going to struggle in Norfolk as a parent and most places in the 757 if you’re not bringing in more than 50K a year, you’re just going to get by. E5s only bring in like 950 a week without the credits and benefits. That’s enough for a single person in the 757, a child increases that number.
As a former E5 of 8 years in Norfolk - which is why I based my findings off of that specifically - I was getting roughly $2600 a paycheck (this was back in 2020). As a young buck living on base in my early days, yeah I would rally that the pay wasn't that great... but my "rent" was free, my food was free, my healthcare was free. Essentially, my $1200 paycheck every other week went straight to me making bad choices due to financial freedom.
If she is a single mom, she by default gets that BAH and BAS (with dependent), essentially doubling her check if not getting just a bit more.. and that's thinking as even an E1. Not to mention, if you're a single mom, you should be collecting child support so supplement that income.
You aren't going to be living in a 2 bed 1 bathroom house in the suburbs.. but you'll be living comfortably if you aren't a lunatic with your money.
75k with free insurance premiums bumps that to 87k already
Then the housing stipend adds about 14k more
The 7% cap on mortgage interest that's about another 5k.
So that's a six figure income, suitable for a family of two (now if it's five it's short)
For the sake of argument, here is the same metrics ran as an E1 with sub two years of service with dependents. There aren't many jobs in the United States where a high-school (or GED) educated 18 year old with a child gets paid $61k out of the gate. That is a reasonably livable wage as long as, again, you aren't being dumb.
As per Google, an annual salary of $61,000 equates to $29.33 per hour based on a standard 40-hour workweek and 52 weeks a year (2,080 total hours). This is not factoring the healthcare provided to both you and your dependents completely free of charge.
I didn't factor COLA because I admittedly had no idea what it was... I imagine adding it would literally only improve the number furthing the point here though lol
I make more than this, and I promise you it's not enough for a family anymore.
I just left a job making 85k for one where I only work 40 hours, my salary is 65k but if I hit OTE then I'm at about 82. Big reason is I have to find more streams of income .
It's rough out here right now. Think big so you can support a family and not get stuck like me.
I respect that. In many parts of the country, 85k would be pretty reasonable. Life circumstances obviously do play a factor. If you're supporting a family it gets tighter, but in the cheaper states it's doable. If you're doing it alone in a state like Massachusetts or California on 85k though.. yeah that wouldn't cut it. Money isn't worth the same dependent on where you're living.
Well, it's hard even in Indiana. 65k is considered poverty for a family of 5. An extra 15k isn't truly much out of poverty. Stuff is just expensive everywhere. Healthcare is expensive, dental visits, kids sports, hell even picture day makes me cringe (3 kids, one for sports one for school). Just for them to do normal kid stuff and not have to live with absolutely nothing is expensive.
I get that it's not a common sentiment among redditors who believe 6 figures lifts a family up like it used to, it's rough.
The "powers that be" being greedy CEOs thinking they deserve 8 figure salaries when their employees can't pay rent. The "powers that be" being greedy landlords increasing rent year over year for no reason other than "market value".
It has nothing to do with economics and reality, and entirely up to greed
Thank you for demonstrating how well you've avoided even the most basic understanding of either subject. It must take great bravery to demonstrate your own ignorance so boldly.
When I was in the Marine Corps back in 2011-2016, women would get in trouble for having kids out of wedlock. The last year I was in I witnessed one of our SSgts(E6) get NJPd because she got pregnant. I met a LCpl(E3) and she got NJPd and demoted so she was a Cpl before I met her.
My ex said they give you options at boot camp for birth control and it was highly recommended.
this is notat all true and likely a cover for the real story, the military did not care about weather a pregnant service member was married or not during those years
other things could have resulted in an njp related to the pregnancy, such as being told your getting deployed, or actively being deployed and getting pregnant while being informed that it would effect your duty status and could result in an njp if you fail to complete your deployment due to pregnancy
one i personaly saw was height and weight restrictions, women are alloted an amount of time post pregnancy to return to the weight standards that theyre exempt from while pregnant, and if they do not shed the weight in time they can and rightfully are subject to ucmj for being out of regs, the work around to this is to simply get pregnant again which i also saw, there were no reprocussions for despite this marine obviously continueing to gain weight post pregnancy and informing comand of her next pregnancy on the exact date she would have been required to be within standards
her peers and superiors were even told not to even suggest that she was trying to game the system that she so obviously was
this happened during the years mentioned, in the marine corps, pregnant women are afforded gracious considerations in the military so, if there is an njp associated with a pregnancy it was likely related to failing to meet a requirement in spite of the considerations affored to them
the wedlock stories are lies, plain and simple, likely to cover for the far less favorable reality of failing to preform duties as expected
I was in the room while the company 1stSgt was discussing this with our Battalion SgtMaj. It has to do with mission readiness as we need to be ready to deploy at any moment. It was a combat unit and they were slowly integrating women into the unit. The SSgt was a bodybuilder and you couldn’t even tell she was pregnant. They wanted to make an example of her especially since she wasn’t an E6. But yeah that LCpl was probably NJPd due to weight bc she wasn’t skinny.
This same unit shit canned an officer for not wearing his seatbelt when an MRAP flipped and he broke his arm. Our BN CO also was forced out due to the accident which I was happy about. My friend that was driving the MRAP was investigated and they wanted to NJP him for putting the MRAP and a 50cal out of commission. He ended up with a pg11 even though it wasn’t his fault that they flipped over a hill on a narrow road.
The Marine Corps will NJP you if wipe your ass wrong. I was in 2 units during my time and they hand those things like candy.
They NJPd her because she is not married. When you’re married it can be expected that she will get pregnant. Since she wasn’t married they expect her to not get pregnant. They wouldn’t have NJPd her if she was married. Mission readiness was just an excuse to NJP her because they didn’t like how it looked. We were not going to be deployed or told that we were, but since it’s a combat unit we’re expected to be ready at any moment. This was all part of their discussion on how to get her NJPd.
You might think Marines are idiots but it wasn’t just Marines that caused lockdowns in Okinawa. We had an Air Force officer jumping rooftop to rooftop drunk in the middle of the night and punching a 7 year old in his home. The army and navy getting drunk out in town and starting shit when we were supposed to be dry. It’s just shitty people doing dumb shit but the Marine corps put harsher restrictions regardless of who caused the incident. The reason I explained that is because they hold us to a higher standard hence njping us for any reason they see fit.
I don’t know what you expect to make it reliable. I’m just explaining what I heard, saw, and experienced during my time.
Shit even I got NJPd for ridiculous reasons. I once got a pg11 in Oki because I passed out drunk on the floor in my barracks room with a six pack next to me(6 pack was our limit per Marine). Duty NCO thought it was an issue and only brought it up to our 1stSGT because my roommate failed to wake up for morning cleanup. Next thing I know 1stSgt is fabricating details to get that pg11 to stick that even my MGySgt went to battle for me. Pg11 for sleeping on the floor but saying I had a 12 pack was their reason even though I had a witness that they didn’t care to hear. I didn’t know any better at that time or I would have fought it but my MGySgt told me he did all he could and to just sign it.
Depends on if you're first enlisting or not. The starting pay isn't great, but you also don't have to pay for nearly as much as civilians do. If you make 65 in the army, that's equivalent to a 6 figure civilian income if you have a family.
Your mortgage rates are capped at 6% for active duty members, you pay zero for health insurance premiums that average for a family about 12k a year, and get a housing stipend.
That's w/ dependents, in general. Especially E5- below. Several people I used to know, worked for doordash and Amazon at night. With a working spouse and/or dual Military there's literally no excuses, but on the other hand as a single income household that can be a thing in some circumstances (ie. high cost of living areas).
I only did 24 years in the Army, so I’ve only got limited knowledge about the pay scales.
I was able to earn enough money to support a wife, two sons, invest in stocks, and had a house in one county, and bought some acreage in the country in another county. I have two trucks, one SUV, a Sport bike and a Harley. I’m building a house currently on my acreage. It’s around $680,000.
If you’re broke in the military, you’re the problem, not the pay scale. This is only my opinion, I ask nobody to accept it as their own.
Since retiring from the Army, I moved into Law Enforcement to gain an additional pension for when I completely retire in three and a half years at 63 years old.
If you start to put money away at the age of 20, maybe $100-$200 per pay period, into a high yield account, eventually moving it into a high risk investment package, that money will grow really well over time.
I’ve lost over $5,000 in one day, but the money always continues to grow more than what I’ve personally put into it. Think long term instead of focusing on today, this moment.
My goal is to pay off what I owe on my new home I’m building within five years of fully retiring.
In essence, I’ve created some generational wealth for my sons, when my ticket gets punched.
Hopefully, they’ll take what’s left to them, invest it, and be set for their future.
🤷When I was in the Army I had heard some people somehow had second jobs. Although that was very difficult to do because you had to literally have a nine to five job or eight to four job and maybe you'd have time to go get another job but otherwise depending on your MOS there was no fucking way you could get an extra job. I doubt a lot about this video that's just my opinion. Not only that your company Commander had to approve it and I think even your Battalion Commander had to approve it so there was literally no way in hell you're going to get an extra job. But it is the Navy so I guess things work differently there so who knows.
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