Good Day Yesterday
 

My wife got a promotion yesterday (starting today), and I have one coming in October.

Her promotion gave her a 20% raise.

Mine is similar in nature, and we both work for the same employer (though I make 3 times what she does).

They revamped the promotion raises last year to make them more "significant" than annual raises. Considering that my annual performance-based raise is from 3-7%, I was thinking my promotion would bring in 6-16%, but seeing that my wife got 20% with hers, I'm getting optimistic. A 20% pay increase for the both of us would be, well, pretty darn nice. We might even be able to afford children sooner than I thought.

We also pay off all three of our cars in the next 1½ years (first one paid off in November), which is effectively another 20% raise from where we are right now.

Considering how much we were freaking out about money the past few months (much of it because of expenses related to administering my father's estate--I was finally able to have the estate reimburse me for those), it feels good to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Now I just have to pay off student loans and that pesky mortgage. ;)

Congrats! Not having any myself, I have been told that no matter how much money you have, you never really are able to afford children.

I was just going to say that.

And they way my student loans are going, I'm hoping to have a month or two gap between paying off mine and saving for my (not yet existent) kids' educations. And then if they're as stupid as I was and go to private school, I'll be paying off more loans after they graduate!

Congrats to your wife, Legion. I got a 10% promotion/raise last month. Even after taxes, its sure nice to see that little bit extra every two weeks.

We lucked out with student loans. We both went to the same state college, graduated in four years, and majored in things that had direct application in the job market.

My wife's parents paid most of her education, and they only applied for aid one year when they were transitioning careers. She graduated with $1200 in student loans. I think her balance right now (6 years later) is around $400.

I got several grants as my father's business was in a steady decline and finally folded my junior year of college. They had zero or negative income most of the time I was in college. I got student loans from my sophomore year on, but managed to graduate with only $12,000 in student loans. My balance is around $4,000 right now.

I've got considerably more student debt than that. ;) I went to one a them fancy liberal arts colleges. The upsides were that I absolutely loved it, I majored in engineering, and I'm paid very well at a job I got pretty much right out of school. The downside is that I sometimes feel trapped in a field I'm not sure I like anymore because the pay is so good. But I suppose that can happen regardless of whether one has student loans to pay off.

Congratulations! I'm glad things are looking up for you!