Worst job interview answers 25

[Bernoulli31]

Just wanted to share this..
We recently had a young grad in our office to interview for an entry level mechanical engineer position.

Q: What type of systems would you like to work on / are you interested in?
A: HVAC! I want to design HVAC systems. I have a passion for it and want to do pursue my career in HVAC.
Q: What does HVAC stand for?
A: Heating, Ventilation,.. and.. err.. hmmm... I forgot!

I design aqueducts in a parallel universe.

 

[wroggent]

Three pensions make you wealthy in my book.

 

[WARose]

Does this make us part of the 'new wealthy'?

It does. Would you rather not be part of it? That's my point. The code prior to the 1980's had rates exceeding the top marginal rate today hitting middle/upper middle income people. And they didn't have the shelters to get out of it like the "old" wealthy.

That's why when people start going on about the good ol' days of (supposed) income/wealth equality.....I feel I have to say something because I don't think they realize what they are advocating.

 

[JohnRBaker]

Three pensions make you wealthy in my book.

I guess that settles it. I retired almost two years ago with three defined-benefit pensions plus a well funded 401k that was converted to an IRA which has been growing like a weed ever since. With that and our Social Security checks, I guess we're in pretty good shape, eh?


John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
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The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[WARose]

By the way (back to the main topic for a moment)......I forgot to mention this one....(this may actually be a best job interview answer ever). I didn't see it first hand but everybody was talking about it for weeks: I was working somewhere where they interviewed a piping designer. This guy was just as sick as could be (had the flu). They insisted he come in anyway because they needed someone soon and they really wanted the guy.

Ok, since he was so sick they kept a trash can by his side just in case. He gets through just about the whole thing ok......but at one point, they ask him about a place he use to work at. It was the usual "how was it working there?" type question......well, right then he just yakked up everything. And as he's hurling the hiring manager brought the house down by saying: "That bad huh?" Even the designer himself started chuckling.

The guy still got the job. (I guess they figured his timing was excellent.)

 

[btrueblood]

"This millionaire next door drives a 10 year old car and has never bought a new one. I think the concept of millionaire is a bit tarnished."

There is a book that explains that most millionaires do exactly that Greg (i.e. either buy 5-7 year old used cars and sell them 5 years later to buy another, or buy new cars but drive them for 10+ years).

Wife's car is 12 years old now, passing 200k miles on the odometer.

My pickup, purchased new, is now old enough to go to bars on its own.

Hmm...maybe I should buy a Google self-driving car kit...

"This pickup drives into a bar..."

 

[CWB1]

"The Millionaire Next Door" really just describes the "poor" wealthy, or what might be the upper middle class. Most engineers can achieve that status, given sufficient discipline and frugality.

That phrase was also coined a few decades ago when being a millionaire actually meant something serious. Today it doesnt in many cases. Many advisers suggest that folks nearing senior status without a defined pension today need to be a millionaire simply to retire.

 

[WARose]

That phrase was also coined a few decades ago when being a millionaire actually meant something serious. Today it doesnt in many cases. Many advisers suggest that folks nearing senior status without a defined pension today need to be a millionaire simply to retire.

And someone who needs that much to retire has got a real spending problem. I know people who have retired on a [tiny] fraction of that.

 

[IRstuff]

"And someone who needs that much to retire has got a real spending problem."

Not necessarily. If you assume a 4% draw from your 401K, that's only $40k/yr, which is only slightly more than the maximum SSA monthly benefit. Additionally, serious expenses such as assisted living will have to come out that same pot.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

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[GregLocock]

In Oz the theory is you need about 1.6 million to actually outperform merely buying lots of toys to play with and relying on welfare the state pension, at 65.

Cheers

Greg Locock


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[WARose]

Not necessarily. If you assume a 4% draw from your 401K, that's only $40k/yr, which is only slightly more than the maximum SSA monthly benefit. Additionally, serious expenses such as assisted living will have to come out that same pot.

So if you've got a couple drawing (say) 30k in SS and 40k from their 401k....that's 70k a year. The vast majority of this country lives on less than that.

Medicare helps out with assisted living. I know people who have been living in assisted living for years with no help from relatives and they are nowhere close to being a millionaire.

Ergo it's completely silly to say anyone is going broke (or) can't retire on 1 mil. If (by chance) anyone wants to make the cost of living argument (next).....my simple answer: move. Seniors do it all the time.

 

[JohnRBaker]

I don't know. We live a modest life, albeit in SoCal. I drive my cars an average of 10-12 years (current car is nearly five years old and going strong). And while we take in nearly $77K/year from my pensions and our SS, it would be impossible to live without a monthly draw from our IRA.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[Sparweb]

WARose,
Check your math: 1,000,000 / 70,000 per year = 14 years.
People (often forced to) retire at age 65. Median age of death in USA is about 84. Longer for women.
Assuming no growth of the pension's value in those 14 years, the cash runs out at 79.
Actually it will grow, but most people's corporate pensions grow so slowly that it only extends the pension by a few more years. It's barely enough.

What I think you MIGHT actually mean is that people are too spendy for their means, even when retired. There, I would agree with you (my folks get by just fine, on half that.)
But put yourself in the financial adviser's seat, and picture the reaction you get if you told a happy couple of baby boomers that when they retire, they should cut their spending to 40k per year. I think that would cut the meeting short.

STF

 

[WARose]

We live a modest life, albeit in [red]SoCal[/red].

There's your problem right there (in red).

Although I'll be the first to say: I love dry, warm weather.

 

[wroggent]

Without income you can't retire on a million. You can survive till you die. IMO

 

[WARose]

Assuming no growth of the pension's value in those 14 years, the cash runs out at 79.

And that's presupposing something [in the case of a 401k] that's not likely to happen.

It's barely enough.

Sorry but that's garbage: my grandmother hasn't worked for 30 years now. (She's 97.) She has no pension and a modest investment income. (The total of which (combined with her SS) doesn't even clear 50k.) Her assets put her nowhere near being a millionaire .....and she gets by just fine.

Either someone needs to move or they spend way too much. That simple.

 

[IRstuff]

Sure, my dad lived and retired in San Francisco until he passed this year at 97. BUT, his house was paid for, his property tax was only $1000/yr, because he bought the house in 1971 for $30k, and California and San Francisco provided an aide that came for 2 hrs a day to cook his meals and do some light housework, and all he had was SS. BUT, he didn't travel and didn't go out. So, yeah, he "got by just fine."

If that's the "retired life" you aspire to, that's great, but I think there are many of us that expect substantially more than to simply exist. Building a warchest for retirement will allow us to travel and do things that we passed up during our careers.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKorP55Aqvg

faq731-376 forum1529 Entire Forum list

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[JohnRBaker]

Granted, SoCal can be expensive to live, but in 30 years the value of our house has gone UP better than a factor of FOUR, and due to Prop 13, our taxes are based on what we originally paid for the house, and while the taxes do go up a bit each year, I'm paying on an evaluation based as if the house was valued at about 45% of what it is. Our cost of utilities are reasonable (our cable/internet bill is more than I pay a month for electric/gas/water) and while we do live in a gated community with an HOA and hefty monthly dues, we do get privacy and security as well as a pool, Jacuzzi, clubhouse and tennis courts. Granted, income and sales taxes are high and annual auto registration is pretty steep, but the weather does make up for a lot ;-)

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without

 

[WARose]

Sure, my dad lived and retired in San Francisco until he passed this year at 97. BUT, his house was paid for, his property tax was only $1000/yr, because he bought the house in 1971 for $30k, and California and San Francisco provided an aide that came for 2 hrs a day to cook his meals and do some light housework, and all he had was SS. BUT, he didn't travel and didn't go out. So, yeah, he "got by just fine."

If that's the "retired life" you aspire to, that's great, but I think there are many of us that expect substantially more than to simply exist. Building a warchest for retirement will allow us to travel and do things that we passed up during our careers.

By "got by just fine" I don't mean never travel or "go out"....the person I am referring to has done both.

 

[CWB1]

Most advisers recommend not planning for investment growth beyond the couple percent necessary to offset inflation. That matches pretty closely with the experience of my parents and many of their friends who've been retired 20+ years. The folks who retired assuming they could get 5%+ annually to offset only a few hundred thousand invested either lost everything or nearly did so during the dot-com and housing bubbles. When your investment drops 50% for a few years and you're actively drawing from it to live, the balance depletes quickly.

Counting on medicare to pick up the tab for assisted living or final expenses is a similarly bad idea unless you have nothing relatives or friends might want to inherit. Unlike SS your heirs must pay it back in full shortly after your death or your estate forfeits assets at the govt valuation (roughly half of their worth) until its paid. My brother got a steal on his neighbor's farm in this manner, and its also the reason my folks put everything in our names years ago.

My shop and home have enough things acquired at living estate auctions the past 20 years that personally I wouldn't risk retiring early until I was positive my wife and I could live comfortably and were taken care of long-term without gambling, planning for large unexpected losses over time bc they will happen. Retirement has a parabolic expense curve, getting far more expensive over time.

 

[JohnRBaker]

Talk about good timing, my wife and I met with our "wealth manager" yesterday and even taking into consideration the monthly draw which we've been taking from our IRA, the value of our IRA has gone-up over 10% year-to-date. And with the markets hitting new highs yesterday, we also had him go ahead with several transactions, which will be completed before close-of-business today, including moving money from our investment account into our 'cash' account that will cover our expected withdrawals for 2018. And looking right now at what the market indexes are doing, the DOW down 200+ points, NASDAQ down 130+ points and the S&P 500 down 25+ point, I guess we picked a good day for our meeting ;-)

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without