$30,000 Note Pad

I had attended this little college back in the early 1980's and could not get a job in my field upon graduation, or even so much as a job interview. It really is who you know and not what you know when looking for that first opportunity, but I did not know anybody, at least anybody in corporate America. I eventually went to work for my Father's company, but he was not of the philosophy that I should be paid very much, and that position eventually petered out, after my surviving five years or so. Three-plus decades later my first college is sending me little gifts, asking for donations to the school, which I am, unfortunately, unable to provide.

Here is their latest gift, a little note pad. Since I blew about $30,000 on that education, I figure this is a $30,000 note pad. Here it is:

$30,000 Note Pad

Graduating Class Wealth

I received my yearly request for donations from the little college I had attended for two years, before transferring to a Mega-University on an athletic scholarship, back in the early 1980's and, naturally, I still couldn't make any meaningful monetary contribution, due to various bad career decisions and countless other economic obstacles through the years.

I did find it interesting however, to compare the top five contributing classes and their rank, assuming this was a reflection on their relative financial success since graduation, as compared to other graduating years in the continuum.

Here are the current rankings:

First place was class of '68. No surprise here. They've had a lot of time to earn the big bucks and saw great benefits from the industrial boom era.

Second place was the class of '78. 1978 was the best year ever actually, according to this article: 

Why 1978 was the best year ever

Third place was the class of '73. Very good.

In fourth was the class of 1988, just in time for the economic recovery from the recession of the early 1980's.

Fifth place was my class, 1983, which does not surprise me. I know of very few in my class who went anywhere, really. We came after the industrial and baby booms and before the tech boom. A lost generation.