For A Change, Some Good Stories About Young Adults Today!

In this "maybe getting better economy" it has been fairly rare for me to run into good stories, that is, someone I hear who has GOOD things happen to them!  Actually today I will discuss four young people who have done well, even while graduating from college since the financial crisis hit in 2007 (people may argue the year, but 2007 was when the Bear Stearns hedge funds failed, the first of the dominoes to fall...).

First up is the case of our own daughter!  She graduated in 2009, that infamous "Class of 2009", so full of new graduates who had a very hard time finding work with the economy in full blown recession.  She did have a hard time finding work, but got a crappy job in the wine business (she loves fine wine).  It was essentially an outside sales job that paid poorly.  After a while she quit that to land work as a paralegal, it paid more.  But, the office atmosphere was not good, the attorney who owned the firm was a real martinette, a real cocky SOB who made it a point to tell his paralegals that they had no decent future there...  So, she moved to another city, and in in a couple of weeks found a MUCH better paralegal job for more money and better benefits (and lots of vacation for a young person).

The second case is my niece, our daughter's first cousin and just one year older.  She is the one who got married not long ago.  After she graduated from college, she went to law school, and before she finished she already had an offer from the Comptroller of the Currency...  She's all set...

In a similar way, the daughter of my friend John landed a job with .gov as well (as an accountant).  She also graduated at a difficult time, but now is working to as a forensic accountant to root out fraud in government contracts.  She is one for the few government employees who is ACTIVELY WORKING to SAVE taxpayer money.  If I understand my friend correctly, she makes good money too...  Congratulations John!

Finally, the Good Story I heard just an hour ago comes from Harvey, the service consultant here at the Dealer where I have brought my vehicle in for service.  We were chatting, and he told me the wonderful story (and hence sparking THIS blog piece) of his brother-in-law, who will be graduating from U. of Florida this spring.  He is double majoring in International Finance and Economics, and is fluent in Spanish.  His grades are VERY GOOD, he even got a "free ride" as a Florida resident -- our state offers very bright kids a free ride if they go to a state university (as opposed to going to Harvard, Yale or Princeton, in that order, as they used to say at my prep school).  Harvey told me that this kid grew up POOR in Miami, his dad ran off and he could have gotten into trouble very easily...  (Miami is not really a good place to grow up)  But, the kid studied his butt off, and now will be going to work for a BIG bank here in Miami with a starting salary of $90,000 / year.  This is a success story if I have ever heard one.  Growing up poor and in a broken family in America's poorest city, and yet going on to have tremendous success at 22 years old.  Amazing.  Congratulations Harvey!  Harvey played a major role in keeping his brother-in-law on the straight and narrow.

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The above four stories should give young people with energy, brains and the will to work some hope that they too can be successful even in this dubious economy.

On the other hand, while talking just now with my friend John, three of the above four success stories got jobs with the GOVERNMENT or a BANK!  Hmm......