money!

"Money, get away.. Get a good job with good pay and you’re okay."

i'm pretty sure when Messrs. Pink Floyd wrote the song a good job with good pay was enough to get you okay, but these days it appears the taxman cometh and he taketh away.. i got my first paycheck a couple of days back. we have weekly paychecks here, which ensures that i shall never go hungry for long, but at the same time i shall never have the joy of feeling rich either.. why you ask? indeed, i shall expound! i just calculated that 28% of my gross pay goes to federal tax, state tax, social security and medical insurance. of the net, i was planning on a 10% 401k amount, and putting aside a further 10% every paycheck in a separate savings account for investments.

a quick calculation tells me that i am left with a very meager 55% of my gross salary after all that on which i am expected to cover my living expenses, student loan, credit card debt and what was that? did i hear anyone say entertainment budget? are you sure? the only entertaining i will be doing at this rate is to look at you very meanly if i am buying you a beer and you think of ordering a second one!

so anyways, with optimism in my heart and great hope creasing my brow, i walk into my bank to meet the Customer Service guy. i quite optimistically ask him about the high-dividend yielding savings accounts they have, trying to appear knowledgeable while he goes on and on about CDs and equity rates. suddenly it strikes him that i am the same guy who walked into his office to open a checking account with $100.. so he asks me what i plan my opening amount for the savings account to be.

i am not sure who was more embarrassed when i said quite sincerely that i was looking at an initial outlay of $150! i found out that didn't cover the minimum balance requirement for any account.. hehe! quite sheepishly i walked back home, opened a bottle of Bud and contemplated the grey skies outside.