What is considered a good graduate salary?

I've got friends earning 80k a year and they're only 22.

An example is where i live. I bought a house in 1971. I had a 1/3 acre lot, so i had to cut grass. Shortly after i moved in, i went to a 'yard sale' on a Saturday, looked around, and found a used lawnmower. I tried it, it ran, so i bought it for $5. The blade was dull & it needed a 'clean up'. I took care of that, and mowed my lawn myself every 2 weeks. It cost me about half a gallon of petrol to do so. The next housing area over, decided to form a 'homeowner's association'. They started passing 'edicts' (as those things do), requiring homeowners to mow their lawn weekly (which was not really needed - the grass doesn't grow that fast here). This didn't 'suit' the egotists in the association, because most of the homeowners correctly decided they would mow the lawn when it needed it - not according to some bureaucrat's schedule. This so displeased the bureaucrats, that they hired a lawn mowing service, and required their members to participate. It then cost each homeowner $45 a week to have their lawn mowed - whether it needed it or not. Since i live in the 'primitive' "non-homeowner association" controlled area, i still mow my lawn for about one quid every 2 weeks. Cheers.

That's not bad. All western governments have been scamming their taxpayers since about 1980. In reality NOBODY has gotten a raise since the early '80s. Any slight numeric increase that they might have gained, has been more than eaten up by the decrease in the value of "fiat" currency, as the governments run the printing presses 24/7 in an attempt to 'inflate' their way out of bankruptcy. The prob is, this doesn't work long term, and just results in a bigger crash when the inevitable finally occurs. As proof - witness Greece, Venezuela, Puerto Rico... the list goes on. Nearly all of these places are heavily indoctrinated with "Socialismo".. "The government will do absolutely EVERYTHING for me (if i just wait long enough), and pay enough in taxes for them to do it.

An example is where i live. I bought a house in 1971. I had a 1/3 acre lot, so i had to cut grass. Shortly after i moved in, i went to a 'yard sale' on a Saturday, looked around, and found a used lawnmower. I tried it, it ran, so i bought it for $5. The blade was dull & it needed a 'clean up'. I took care of that, and mowed my lawn myself every 2 weeks. It cost me about half a gallon of petrol to do so. The next housing area over, decided to form a 'homeowner's association'. They started passing 'edicts' (as those things do), requiring homeowners to mow their lawn weekly (which was not really needed - the grass doesn't grow that fast here). This didn't 'suit' the egotists in the association, because most of the homeowners correctly decided they would mow the lawn when it needed it - not according to some bureaucrat's schedule. This so displeased the bureaucrats, that they hired a lawn mowing service, and required their members to participate. It then cost each homeowner $45 a week to have their lawn mowed - whether it needed it or not. Since i live in the 'primitive' "non-homeowner association" controlled area, i still mow my lawn for about one quid every 2 weeks. Cheers.

What are you working as now with your MSEE?

I currently am "semi-retired", as i became old enough to draw on my social security and 2 company pensions a few years ago. [I'm currently over 73]. I still keep my hand in, as i consult for a couple of government customers in Puerto Rico in satellite communications. As my masters is in communications engineering, i got into SATCOM about 8 yrs before i left full time employment, and designed several "medium sized" satellite terminals for gov/military use. These are the 20 ft to 60 ft earth terminals that run about $1 mill to $5 mill, depending upon how they are equipped. Right now Puerto Rico is NOT in good shape, basically they are broke. While i like to 'help out' - i cannot afford to work for free - so i'm going to have to limit myself to what advise i can ship to my clients over the internet, until they get a budget again. As i'm normally an 'independently engaged employee' - i don't get 'per-diem', vacation, sick leave, or any of the rest. I don't need health care, as i'm on Medicare, and with my $2000 a month from Social Security, and about half that from my two private pensions, i can manage to live ok. The 'cut rate' hotel i stay in in San Juan is only $80 per night - as opposed to the Hilton one block up the street, which is $280/night, but it is adequate. I'm not desperate enough for SATCOM work to pay my own airfare and hotel bills, just to work on someone elses terminal. I periodically get 'teaser' offers from headhunters [like monster.com], advertising SATCOM jobs for about $120 to $150k/pa, but i'm not really interested in a full time job - where i have to fight commuter traffic and such. I did that for years & it's not attractive any more. Cheers.

Impressive, you invested well. Did you get to travel much during your working years?

Are you based in Puerto Rico or in the US? Eventually I would like to do consulting work like you, I'm actually just about to embark on an MS in Subsea Engineering but my background is mechanical engineeering. Cheers.

Actually, i did make a number of investments, both common stock and municipal bonds. I didn't include any income from those in what i previously said, as i have not had to draw upon them. My private company pensions are from two companies i previously worked for, and elected to put in the maximum i could in the company's private pension plan. These were run "properly" - the company made monthly payments to a SEC monitored 'management' firm not connected to my employer. We had options as to what we wanted to invest in (offered by the outside management firm). Once the contribution was made, my employer could not touch the funds. I could make withdrawals in emergencies, but they discouraged it. When i left the company, and after i exceeded 65, i was given choices as to what sort of distribution i wanted. With one of them, i opted for $500/month for life. So far, it's paid off )

I am based in the US. Puerto Rico is too hot for me. Right now, it's about 34 centigrade, and about 80% humidity. When i go, i REALLY try to schedule my visits for mid to late November [when it's cooler]. That period is also 'off season' - so the hotel rates are less, and there are fewer touristas. Restaurants have 40 or 50 tables, with about 5 customers at peak meal time, and about 4 wait staff. Your food is REALLY quick out of the kitchen - as they are waiting for business! The buses are no more than half full - never a problem finding a seat. I called one of my clients right after the storm. I got some satellite overhead photos, but the tree cover was so heavy, i couldn't see if there were roofs on the buildings. Finally i 'went basic' and called them on the phone. I got the fellow i usually work with. He said that their power was off (at their offices - not at the SATCOM facility), and that the only way he could talk to me, was they had run an extension cord next door to a bodega, so they could run a computer. Other than that, he said that they had no lights, no air conditioning, and no water. He added: "It's good you're not here right now - you wouldn't like it". I asked why. He said it's 35C and over 90% humidity, and there is NO air conditioning anywhere. I agreed i would defer any thoughts of a trip - but wished him well.

I spent nearly 3 years in the near east [working for the US Federal government]. After that, i worked for them around D.C. for about another 12 yrs, and then found that i was being taken advantage of. I 'shopped my file' around the beltway, and got a 'best offer' that was a 37.5% salary rise from my government pay, as well as considerably less BS than i had to put up with in the government. I left the government, and did the rest of my career 'privately'. I've worked in nearly every US state & Canada [Saskatoon], as well as working & living in 14 countries doing engineering. I enjoyed them all whilst i was doing it, but some of them i don't think i'd go back to - due to the current risks with jihadists. As i lived in that part of the world for nearly 3 years, i can assure you that things are MUCH worse than you would think - restricting your reading and information to what you read in your (or my) local press. I'm glad i took the trouble to get a CCP. I may well need it before this is over. Take care. Cheers.

Hello fellow members of TSR, I was wondering what you would consider to be a good graduate salary.

I’ve read that the average graduate salary is 21k. So what would you consider to be good. 25k ? 28k ? 30k? 40k?

My total comp is close to £70K (including shares).

Actual salary + bonus + on call = £58K

Working full time and doing a degree too, in my 4th year now. I'm 22.

From my experience, and from what my friends earn, I'd say that anything above £30K is pretty decent for a graduate.

Depends on where you live, if you're in London, you can scrape on 25k a year but you'll be living pretty dirty vs. Birmingham where 25k is liveable (but still not great) but a 25k salary is a bit harder to find. There are more opportunities for progression in London however, and the finance sector is miles ahead along with "techie" jobs. I'm hoping to move to London after a few years of experience as a non-junior programmer - you make so much more - which should also give me some time to save some insurance money and sort my life out.

I've got friends earning 80k a year and they're only 22.

Nobody is more delusional about money than a University student who is about to graduate.

Go on Glassdoor.com and see how much big corporations pay people. £40k is what senior managers, with a university degree, get!

Companies literally don't need to pay university grads much, to hire them. Even if they advertise a job at £21k a year they will get 200 graduates applying for it...............

In my years working as a recruiter, I'd say the vast majority of University graduates will start on about £20k a year (outside of London).

If you have a degree in maths/physics you might get a £24-25k a year starting salary.

I'm excluding engineers, and medics, because they obviously operate in a very different economy.

But, a good grad salary is basically getting an entry level job at a good company - because there will be hundreds of other grads competing for the same £21k a year job.

And please, forget about starting on £30k+ lol

lol - the delusional student mind, talking about money.

£25k is "liveable"................So how would you spend £1600 a month exactly? You must buy a lot of champagne

Alright let's factor in some stuff shall we?

Let's take into account rent prices in a decent part of Birmingham near to the city centre:
Rent - £420pcm
Then we'll put £150 aside for bills (TV/Broadband/Phone, Electricity and Water)
And move along to food, let's assume 3 square meals a day and eating out once a week with friends:
((£2 / meal x (3 x 6 + 2 meals on eating out day)) + £50 / fancy meal inc. drinks and dessert) x 4.4 weeks on average per month = £396 / month
Let's say we're going to use the train to get to work and back and also for general travel so let's get a trainpass for £70.80
So we save the rest of the money which leaves... £546 per month to save (let's assume luxury purchases of roughly £200 / month)
Leaving around £350 per month being saved with a decent quality of life .

'Decent' is not the same as 'liveable'.