Posts Tagged ‘careers’

With five children, a house in Queens, a car of his very own and a job working for the New York Police Department, Detective Elliot Stabler of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” lives an often-stressful life. He is a senior detective who spends his days investigating sex crimes, as well as crimes against the young and the elderly. It may be a living, but does it pay the bills?

Feeding the Family

Stabler’s five children are definitely a lot to handle, though one has left the house and another is only an infant. His wife, Kathy, does not work, but she has her hands full taking care of the kids.

We learn in the first season that Stabler married his wife because she was pregnant with their first daughter. They wed shortly after he left the military. He landed a job on the force because he needed a way to support his already growing family.

Today, Stabler and his family live in a nice two-story home in Queens, which is probably worth between $400,000 and $500,000, according to Trulia.com. On a cop’s salary, that probably means a hefty mortgage each month. Additionally, his wife recently gave birth to child number five, which means medical bills and plenty of diapers to buy. Stabler is fully covered under the NYPD benefits plan, but he certainly has a number of financial responsibilities.

Stabler has gotten himself into trouble numerous times, usually because of his quick temper and his desire to put sex offenders behind bars. Suspensions and several periods of forced time off for psychological evaluation have meant interrupted income, putting him and his family further behind the eight ball.

Stable Stabler

When a stressful financial situation arises, it’s rarely about debt. Stabler is likely to benefit from rewards credit cards that feature discounts for everyday purchases. Charge cards, such as American Express cards, also include rewards for purchases made a grocery stores and gas stations.

Stabler’s Credit Situation

With a mortgage, car payment and lots of bills related to family life, Stabler has probably used credit from time to time, if not on a frequent basis. Although he often defies authority and likes to live life on his own terms, he is also devoted to his family and loathe to cause them pain.

The average salary for a New York City detective is around $48,000, according to Indeed.com, though his experience in the military and his loyalty to the NYPD might increase his salary somewhat. Living in New York, where the cost of living is quite high, Stabler would have difficulty meeting his financial obligations without relying on credit of some kind.

Steve Thompson

Good Careers in a Bad Economy, Part 5

As teens and young adults pursue good careers in a bad economy, they will be told that their quests will be difficult.

Some analysts will inform them that they can’t really get anywhere without a college degree. They will be told that the world has gone from making things and doing things to a high-tech global information society. In short, things have completely changed.

After all, this is the worst economy, with the worst career prospects, since the Great Depression. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported an unemployment rate of 8.1 percent at the end of February 2009, up from 4.8 percent a year ago, and could be heading toward 12 percent or more.

What’s a young person to do?

Career counselors Bob Rosner and Sherrie Campbell on Payscale.com encourage a back-to-basics approach. They assert first that while the economy is changing, there still is demand for traditional jobs, and that not all of them require four-year college degrees. They add that no matter what, you must “Stay positive during a recession.”

Make a Plan and Stick With it

The process of planning for a good career — both in a bad economy or a good one — starts with the basics of taking pen and paper and mapping a step-by-step plan. Or nowadays, a computer screen will work just fine.

Good Careers in a Bad Economy
Part 1: Graduating in a Recession
Part 2: According to the March 2009 Bureau of Labor Statistics
Part 3: Potential Careers Arising from the Stimulus Bill
Part 4: Career Forecast: Look for Overlapping Opportunities
Part 5: Career Planning: The More Things Change, the More they Stay the Same

First, make a list of careers that are of interest to you. Don’t concern yourself with the bad economy. You can whittle down your list later. And, as outlined in the first report of this series, you can pursue a dream career and a more realistic recession-proof career at the same time.

Dare to dream. Have your eye on star athlete or entertainer, corporate chief executive, “green” energy entrepreneur, heart surgeon, even president of the United States.

Explore more down-to-Earth careers. Think school teacher, carpenter, nurse, mechanic, insurance representative, police officer. Most jobs, in spite of all the global economy talk, are still old-school jobs. Society still needs food and shelter, public schools and public safety, health care and transportation.

Think of overlaps to broaden your prospects. For school teacher, write “educator” because who knows, you may become the superintendent of schools. For carpenter, put “contractor” because you just might start your own company.

Think of career cousins. Career counselors Rosner and Campbell describe “career cousins” as careers that are similar. If you have dreamed of being a teacher, for example, you might also find an interest in social work.

Once you have made your big list, pick two or three options for careers. Explore the book studies and/or training programs that are required. You’re not alone, because virtually all schools and training programs have career counselors. Find a good one and keep in regular contact.

Cope With the Cost of Education and Training

The pursuit of a good career in a bad economy, or any economy, requires more than good intentions. A young person also needs resources.

Members of today’s up-and-coming generation face a challenge. According to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, 47 percent of households say their children can’t afford to go to college.

Policymakers are aiming for reforms. Some state governments are rewarding publicly-funded universities that hold tuition in check. The new American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, otherwise known as the $787 billion economic stimulus package, includes $2,500 college-cost tax credits for this year and next year.

Community colleges are a lower-cost option for getting started. Many professions, ranging from building trades to nursing, do not require four-year degrees. Furthermore, most students who achieve those so-called four-year degrees actually invest more than four years; six years is the average, with breaks taken to save money for the next round of tuition.

Students this year will receive a combined $143 billion in grants and loans, according to the College Board. Some 38 percent of full-time students will pay less than $6,000 a year, but super-elite schools drive up the overall average. The College Board is among many scholarship search sites.

Pursuit of a good career requires hard work. Pursuit of tuition for college or training is the same.

Remember that at some point in society’s chain, there is a link to fill that is essential. Try to find a career link that you will enjoy.

Michael Thompson

Good Careers in a Bad Economy, Part 4

Much is said of the “green” environmental movement providing good jobs in a bad economy. Therefore, a young person might perceive that working in the energy field is an either-or proposition. Either you ride the wave of the future by studying solar or wind power or fuel cells, or you concentrate in the traditional fields of oil and gas.

Not necessarily. A great deal of overlap exists. Besides, alternative energy will take years to develop. Even the most optimistic plans call for utilities to generate only 20 percent or 25 percent of their energy from alternative sources, often with a target year of 2015 or 2020. There still will be plenty of oil, natural gas and coal to burn until at least the middle of the century.

More Career Overlap Potential

Consider small business, which is regarded with gloom and doom in many circles because of the bad economy. What if an entrepreneur were to overlap a small business into an international business? According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, small companies provide 96 percent of export volume. As noted on www.myownbusiness.org, America offers 300 million potential customers; the planet, 6.5 billion.

Or how about law enforcement? In the age of terrorism, law enforcement no longer stops at America’s shorelines. There is so much international overlap, creating so many job opportunities, that even the FBI and the CIA have taken the unusual steps of recruiting applicants with ad campaigns. The CIA pitch states, “Consider the global employment opportunities at the CIA. We’re looking for a diversity of people for the important job of keeping America safe. This includes Clandestine Service Officers to be on the front line of human intelligence. Plus, individuals skilled in science, engineering, technology, analysis, foreign languages and administration for positions in the United States and overseas.”

In science and technology, analysts often assert that America must gear up for global competition. This is true, but again there is a career overlap because America also is part of a move toward international cooperation. Just one prominent example is the International Space Station.

As young adults focus both on dream careers and recession-proof careers, they should look for these types of overlaps as paths toward opportunity.

Energy Careers Show Overlap Potential

Good Careers in a Bad Economy
Part 1: Graduating in a Recession
Part 2: According to the March 2009 Bureau of Labor Statistics
Part 3: Potential Careers Arising from the Stimulus Bill
Part 4: Career Forecast: Look for Overlapping Opportunities
Part 5: Career Planning: The More Things Change, the More they Stay the Same

A report for the Mother Nature Network Web site demonstrates how careers in the energy field need not be typecast into the traditional or alternative fields.

“Today’s most sought after solar positions are in installation, engineering system design, and sales and maintenance,” it states. “Lucky for you, lots of skills that are useful in the solar industry don’t require a background in solar power, or even renewable energy.”

On the labor level, individuals with blue-collar experience installing gas-fed furnaces might don green collars to install solar panels.

For professional positions, consider a major corporation’s recent job posting for “director of solar engineering.” The listed educational requirement is a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering “or other relevant engineering degree.” In other words, the corporation was not looking for somebody with a specific degree in solar power.

Still, today’s young adults will find greater opportunities to tailor their education and training toward specific fields of energy industry employment. This is where a college student should establish a strong relationship with a trusted guidance counselor.

As MyGreenScene.com puts it, “University degree programs focused on renewable energy are starting to see the same growth that computer science programs did in the early eighties, and that means the new Energy Age is here.”

But the old Energy Age will still be here for a long time, too.

Michael Thompson

Good Careers in a Bad Economy, Part 3

A career in environmental “green” technology? Scientific research? Health care? Education? Transportation? Construction?

America’s deep economic recession is making an impact on career plans for teenagers and young adults. So is the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the economic stimulus package, that President Barack Obama signed in February.

The recession, with official unemployment at 8.1 percent at the end of February 2009, is causing many young people to pursue recession-proof careers. They don’t want to fruitlessly study or train for jobs that will scarcely exist in what is shaping up to be a new economy. They want to go where the action is.

As a result, many young people are looking at the priorities established in the economic stimulus package as laid out on Recovery.gov, the Web site that Obama’s team established as part of its promise for an open and public process.

Stimulus Plan is Temporary and Limited

Young people should exercise caution in placing too much stock in the stimulus package for guidance. Some of the stimulus priorities, such as green energy investment, indeed reflect long-term priorities — Obama has pledged $150 billion beyond the initial stimulus over a 10-year span. But other stimulus money, such as for roads and bridges and housing, may represent short-term fixes that will not endure.

Those who are building Recovery.com acknowledge on the site that they are engaged in a work in progress. There really are not a whole lot of specifics.

For example, the primary Obama pledge is to “create or save” 3.5 million jobs during the next few years, a number that gradually has risen from 2.5 million without much explanation. There is no breakdown to indicate how many jobs will be created, as opposed to how many will be saved.

Furthermore, the Web site does not count the numbers of jobs to be created or saved in specific career areas such as how many jobs in energy, how many in housing, etc. The lone breakdown is a map that shows the total number of jobs estimated for each state.

Not all Stimulus Money Goes for Jobs

Good Careers in a Bad Economy
Part 1: Graduating in a Recession
Part 2: According to the March 2009 Bureau of Labor Statistics
Part 3: Potential Careers Arising from the Stimulus Bill
Part 4: Career Forecast: Look for Overlapping Opportunities
Part 5: Career Planning: The More Things Change, the More they Stay the Same

A young person considering a job in health care will enter a field that is generally considered recession-proof. After all, people aren’t going to stop being sick and injured, and shortages are reported, especially a shortage of nurses.

Someone considering the health professions may feel encouraged to note that the stimulus plan contains $147.2 billion for health care. However, little of that money will go toward creating new health care jobs. A chunk of $86.6 billion alone is targeted to helping cash-strapped states catch up with their Medicaid reimbursements.

A career in education often is described as recession-proof, but there still is cause for doubt. The New York Times recently reported that Education Secretary Arne Duncan will use the lion’s share of $100 billion from the stimulus bill to prevent “hundreds of thousands of job losses in schools that had been projected for the fall because of growing state budget deficits caused by a steep drop in tax revenues.” Therefore, a young person considering career plans in education may ask what’s in store for the years ahead, when stimulus payments may not be available.

In the same vein, a project to modernize the nation’s electrical grid may be finished before today’s students and trainees enter the job market. The same goes for road and bridge projects, and for housing improvements.

On the other hand, good jobs could arrive in unexpected places. Financial services may seem a dead horse at this point, but at the point when recovery may occur, financial services could return to high demand.

Sound confusing? The Web site HRworld.com recommends “multifaceted” career plans: “If you don’t put all of your eggs in one basket … numerous failures have to happen before you’re really in trouble.”

Michael Thompson

Good Careers in a Bad Economy, Part 2

Young adults who pursue good careers in a bad economy will encounter not only skeptics, but also cynical humorists.

U.S. News & World Report, for example, placed “federal judge” at the end of a list of the best recession-proof careers. The joke is that federal judges, unlike their state and local peers, are appointed for life.

Then there’s the occasionally morbid “Top 25 Careers to Pursue in a Recession” on HRworld.com. These include careers in casino management, because desperate people will gamble more often, and in distribution and sales of alcohol, because unhappy people will drink more often. Also listed are debt collection and bankruptcy law, for obvious reasons.

For young adults facing the tightest job market since the Great Depression, these wisecracks may not seem so funny.

But chin up. Teens and young adults still should pursue their ideal dream career. If that dream career is also a recession-proof career, all the better. If not, a recession-proof career can offer security in case a dream career becomes a dream deferred.

Bureau of Labor Statistics Tells the Story

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a grim official unemployment rate of 8.1 percent at the close of February 2009, up from 4.8 percent a year ago. Even the most optimistic economists predict a continued rise to at least 9 percent, while the glass-half-empty analysts are forecasting 12 percent or higher.

More insight is gleaned by perusing the Labor Bureau’s specific breakdowns. To get the bad news out of the way, here are some of the dimmer prospects, comparing February 2009 unemployment with February 2008 unemployment (in parentheses):

• Manufacturing: 11.5 percent (5.0 percent)
• Leisure and hospitality: 11.4 percent (8.5 percent)
• Professional and business services: 10.8 percent (6.2 percent)
• Hourly: 9.6 percent (5.5 percent)
• Transportation and utilities: 9.1 percent (4.6 percent)
• Financial services: 6.7 percent (3.4 percent)

On the brighter side, consider education and health services unemployment at 4.1 percent today, compared with 2.9 percent a year ago, and government jobs at 2.6 percent versus 1.7 percent in 2008. These figures still reflect unemployment increases, but the outlook still is more optimistic.

Information technology is a mixed bag, with unemployment in February 2009 at 7.1 percent compared with 5.8 percent last year. This is a case where you may need to be more specific. A report on Examiner.com notes that a number of entry-level information technology jobs are shipped overseas, but computer security still is generally managed by career American employees.

Government Careers? Focus on the Feds

Good Careers in a Bad Economy
Part 1: Graduating in a Recession
Part 2: According to the March 2009 Bureau of Labor Statistics
Part 3: Potential Careers Arising from the Stimulus Bill
Part 4: Career Forecast: Look for Overlapping Opportunities
Part 5: Career Planning: The More Things Change, the More they Stay the Same

For the government employment outlook, the most recession-proof careers are at the federal level. The reason is simple: The federal government can (and does) run up debt, while states and localities are forbidden to do so. Compare the federal response to the recession under President Barack Obama with job creation under legally allowed deficit spending, to the California response under Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, with job losses required to balance the books.

Another good reason for choosing the federal government is that opportunities are so vast. The quest for alternative “green” energy during the next decade will match the NASA buildup of the 1960s. Even the FBI and CIA have opened their doors with ad campaigns for career employment applicants.

In education, the career outlook is good. However, to truly have a recession-proof position, a specialty in math and/or science is best. This is where the shortages and pay incentives exist.

Payscale.com suggests that the best way to pursue your career dream, and to remain recession-proof at the same time, is to be versatile. This can be compared to an athlete in a team sport who is capable of playing at multiple positions. The more irons in the fire, the better.

Michael Thompson

Today’s college and high school students listen to adults discuss “the worst recession since the Great Depression.” They hear their elders air concerns about what type of world their children and grandchildren will inherit down the road.

Guess what, elders: The next generation already has inherited its first hardship from the economic crisis: career uncertainty.

Today’s teens and young adults are receiving guidance to pursue “recession-proof careers.” This is in contrast to their baby boomer parents, who did not face such a rocky career road.

Will the next generation be the first to inherit a lower standard of living compared with their parents?

Geared to young adults and teens, this five-part series will outline both the best career prospects and the potential dead-ends in today’s job market. And yes, there will be advice on recession-proof careers. But the main intent is to demonstrate how members of the next generation still can pursue career dreams, while remaining realistic at the same time.

Employment Statistics Are Scary

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports more than 4 million job losses since January 2008, including 2.6 million from November 2008 through February 2009. The official unemployment rate was 8.1 percent at the end of February, up from 4.8 percent a year ago, and this doesn’t count an estimated 2 million people who are long-term unemployed.

Consider the Labor Bureau’s unemployment figures based on education compared with a year ago. The official count for high school dropouts is 12.6 percent, up from 10.4 percent. For high school graduates, 8.3 percent, up from 4.7 percent. For people with “some college,” 7.0 percent, up from 3.8 percent. For people with bachelor’s degrees and other advanced degrees, 4.1 percent, up from 3.1 percent.

Good Careers in a Bad Economy
Part 1: Graduating in a Recession
Part 2: According to the March 2009 Bureau of Labor Statistics
Part 3: Potential Careers Arising from the Stimulus Bill
Part 4: Career Forecast: Look for Overlapping Opportunities
Part 5: Career Planning: The More Things Change, the More they Stay the Same

These Labor Bureau stats reinforce that it’s still in a young person’s best interests to pursue higher education, in spite of the increasing challenges involved in meeting tuition costs. A typical college graduate now takes about six years to attain a so-called four-year degree, according to the nonprofit College Board, because they take breaks or reduced credit hours to work.

Still, the question lingers: Pursue a dream career or a recession-proof career? Payscale.com suggests that college students can do both. The recession-proof career is described as a “parachute,” just in case the dream career doesn’t work out.

The Department of Labor’s “Dictionary of Occupational Titles” contains 28,800 listings. Among those, there should be room for both a dream career and a recession-proof parachute career.

Michael Thompson

Living on a mall cop’s salary can be hard, but Paul Blart, from the movie Mall Cop, seems to make it work. While his salary might be considered high in many areas, in the tri-state area, $43,000 is not a lot of money.

Paul Blart is a mall cop in New Jersey. He is a single dad, living with his mom and ‘tween daughter, Maya. They live in a modest brownstone owned by Paul Blart’s mother. The Blarts lead a down-to-earth life, without exorbitant expenditures. Paul does tend to wolf down the food a bit with encouragement from his mom, who piles his plate with comfort food.

The low cost of security

Blart makes a salary of about $43,000. This might be a mere drop in the bucket in the state of New Jersey, where the average salary is $49,000. New Jersey has the highest cost of living, the highest property taxes and the highest automobile insurance in the nation. Blart can at least take comfort in the fact that New Jersey also boasts the most malls in the nation, giving him good job security.

Getting around

Blart avoids the high cost of vehicle insurance and maintenance by driving a Segway to work. Segways are personal transportation devices used by many police departments and security patrols. The Segway used by Blart is the same one provided by his job. It’s a win-win situation: Blart saves on insurance and has free transportation to and from work.

Does Blart use credit
There is no evidence that Blart has or uses credit cards. He buys nothing expensive or frivolous, and he satisfies his guilty pleasure—playing Rock Band—with his mall connections. Since he has no auto costs and shares his mother’s house, Blart is likely to qualify for credit cards for good credit, provided his credit history isn’t tarnished with bankruptcy or delinquencies.

Plans for the future

Blart’s longtime dream is to become a state trooper in the Garden State. The current salary for a New Jersey state trooper starts at $58,748.29 and caps at $97,188.48. Blart has tried and failed to pass the physical exam required for the job on numerous occasions.

Should Blart acheive his dream, it would be a financial boon for this single dad. New Jersey state troopers have a wonderful benefits package in addition to the ample salary.

Jaipi Sixbear

A look at the finances of Chloe O’Brian, counterterrorism expert from the hit Fox drama.

Chloe O’Brian has been a staple of the hit Fox show 24 since the Day 3 episode. She’s a no-nonsense spitfire, an anti-social technical genius who proved to be an invaluable asset to Jack Bauer, Tony Almeida and the late Bill Buchanan. Not one for trendy fashion, flashy cars or even splurges on beauty regimens, Chloe’s spending habits appear to be a bit of a mystery for most. With Day 7 in high gear, figuring out Chloe’s spending habits may not be that much of a mystery after all.

Life at CTU

For most of Chloe’s career, she worked in Los Angeles for a fictional division of Homeland Security called the Counter Terrorism Unit in an IT/intelligence-related capacity. An equivalent position within Homeland Security in Los Angeles would pay Chloe up to $91,801 a year. Chloe is not one to spend frivolously, and because she spends most of her time at work, it’s likely a lot of her pay goes into a savings account.

Capital Living

Immediate Access
While working with Bill and Tony, Chloe was sure to rack up expenses. A credit card seems a plausible way to pay for all those costs. Considering the line of work she is doing covertly, a platinum credit card would be ideal.

Now living in the Washington, D.C., area, Chloe and her husband Morris are likely to own a home to raise their toddler son Prescott. A new single-family home in Washington, D.C. costs an average of $434,540, although foreclosed homes — and there are lots of them in the nation’s capital — cost significantly less. Being the frugal types, Chloe and Morris more than likely came up with about half of the asking price for a new home, leaving them with a mortgage of about $220,000. Sensible Chloe would want the family home paid off as quickly as possible by opting for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage at 4.737 percent, with a monthly payment of $1,709.75 per month.

Family Finances

Raising a child is not cheap and with Prescott in his toddler years, the O’Brians can expect to shell out at least $10,000 a year until he reaches school age. Chloe and Morris have opted for a family-friendly SUV to tote Prescott around. But Chloe’s employment situation is sketchy; she has been working covertly with Buchanan and Almeida for the past three to six months uncovering government corruption at the highest levels. There’s no sign she was paid for this work. It seems Morris must be the breadwinner of the family for the moment to keep the family afloat.

With her covert ops work coming to an end, Chloe may be sought after by the FBI for possible employment. With two incomes possibly coming back to the O’Brian household, Chloe, Morris and Prescott could be sitting pretty financially. Until Day 8 arrives.

ShawnTe Pierce

Fictional Finances: Alexandra Rover from “Nim’s Island”

In the movie Nim’s Island, Jodie Foster plays Alexandra Rover. This agoraphobic author spends her life in a townhome writing best-selling novels. She never leaves her home and has only the company of the Internet and her fictional alter ego, Alex, the main character from her books. In the midst of her Internet life, Alexandra is contacted by a girl named Nim, who lives on an island with her father. This girl is expecting her hero, Alex Rover, to come to her rescue because it seems her father is lost at sea.

Is Agoraphobia Good for the Budget?

According to SimplyHired.com, a typical best-selling author makes an average of $49,000 per year. Since Alexandra lives in a townhome, she most likely pays less per month for rent or a mortgage than if she owned a home. Monthly heating and lighting costs will also be lower. Since she doesn’t go anywhere, Alexandra has no gas or other transportation expenses. However, her household supplies and food may be slightly more expensive than the average person because everything has to be delivered.

Credit Cards and the Internet

Living Online
Since Alexandra buys everything online, she would be best served having a cash back credit card card. The Discover More card is one of the few remaining cards that offers 5% cash back. For bulk delivery of common items, the TrueEarnings card from Costco is a wise choice. At the very least, a prepaid debit card can be used anywhere credit cards are accepted, and most can be reloaded online or through direct deposit.

Because Alexandra is agoraphobic, she must rely on the Internet for her needs. If she hasn’t come out of her house in years, she must have credit cards to pay for all her supplies. Factor in the costs of shipping and doorstep deliveries and she may have some hefty balances on those cards. She might actually do all right, considering she only has to support herself. She’d be wise to have a savings account handy for emergencies.

Daring Budgeting Moves?

Spoiler Alert: Alexandra makes the daring move to leave her home and dash off to Nim’s Island to rescue the girl. This decision made in haste implies that she’s either got some cash to spare or she’s running on credit. By the end of the movie, Alexandra makes an even bolder decision than her first and ends up staying on the island with Nim and her father, with whom she has fallen in love. Nim’s father is a research scientist.

SimplyHired.com figures that a research scientist makes an average yearly salary of $76,000. Combine the two incomes and that would be a decent annual salary for a family of three. Living the island life can be cheaper than the city life, as food could be gathered from the island. There already is a nice solar-powered home that Nim’s father has built himself, so there are virtually no heating and electrical costs. Some things would still need to be ordered from the Internet or picked up in a nearby town, but for the most part, the family could live pretty comfortably and have money left over to send Nim off to college and still allow the adults a comfortable retirement.

Momie Tullottes

When Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs of NCIS isn’t arresting arms dealers or chasing serial killers, he’s working on a boat in his basement. Although he lives in Washington, D.C., he doesn’t seem to avail himself of the local nightlife or enjoy much of a social inclination. Obviously, he saves on many luxuries, but can Gibbs really afford his lifestyle?

Sniper to Special Agent

Gibbs is a former marine sniper, having served in Desert Storm, and he joined the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) after he was wounded in combat and discharged, presumably in response to the murder of his wife and daughter. When the NCIS series began in 2003, Gibbs was already a supervisory special agent.

Moving Up in the World

In the third season of NCIS, Gibbs was awarded a Meritorious Service Medal for his work leading the investigative unit, and it is later revealed in the same episode that he has received many commendations, including a Silver Star for his efforts in Desert Storm. This indicates that Gibbs is successful in his career and is therefore awarded regular raises in pay.

According to the Department of Defense Pay Table, NCIS investigative agents can make anywhere from $26,461 to $133, 985. Assuming that the top of the pay scale is reserved for the brass, such as the NCIS director, Gibbs doesn’t take home the maximum.

Paying the Exes

The bottom of the third pay band is the high 70s, which is a healthy income for a single investigator whose only hobby involves woodworking. However, it is revealed throughout the show that Gibbs has been married four times, three of which ended in divorce.

Knowing that divorces are almost always messy, and since Gibbs mentions many times that he suffers under the burden of alimony, we can assume that Gibbs gives at least a portion of his income to his ex-wives.

Caffeine and Caf-Pow

Easy Does It
Not being a big-spender, and because he’s an all-around cautious guy, Gibbs doesn’t likely carry a lot of debt—or the cards that contribute to it. Look for a carefully-selected low interest credit card in his wallet, but don’t expect it to get abused.

Gibbs’ drink of choice is coffee, and he is rarely seen in an NCIS episode without a cup in his hand. He mentions a few times that the coffee served in the NCIS building isn’t worth the cup it’s poured in, so he leaves the naval yard to purchase his own java. Whether he’s drinking Starbucks or McDonald’s Premium Blend, he’s shelling out his own cash for caffeine.

Additionally, he rewards his forensic scientist, Abby Sciuto, with a fictional beverage called Caf-Pow, which is also purchased off-site, whenever he wants to motivate her. Other than a few indulgences in fine scotch, Gibbs doesn’t seem to have extravagant tastes.

The Bottom Line

Working for the government is considered by many to be a thankless job, but men like Leroy Jethro Gibbs focus on serving their country. Even if he only makes $50,000 a year, he does because he feels strongly about his purpose.

In real life, an NCIS special agent with three ex-wives and a mortgage would need to save every penny he earns. Countless trips to a coffee shop every day combined with eating out nearly every meal might bankrupt such an agent in just a couple of years.

The high cost of living in Washington, D.C., such as the median home price of $450,900, would also stretch an NCIS agent’s bank account.

Steve Thompson