I check out "My Homewood" from time to time, and found one of the comments that someone posted very interesting. This person said that he was tired of people who went to college complaining about not being able to find an entry level job in the Pittsburgh-metro area that paid over 25k a year. That got me to thinking just how much money is 25k a year after taxes, healthcare, 401k, etc. So being an accountant and having gone to college for both accounting and finance I decided to break down 25k year to see just how much money it really was.

To start we assumed John who graduated college has found a job that pays an annual salary of 25k. His employer, Abco Inc. offers healthcare benefits has well as a 401k retirement plan both of which are totally optional and deducted before taxes. Next we assume that John gets paid bi-weekly, which would mean that he receives 26 paychecks a year. With that being said we then conclude that John's bi-weekly salary is $961.54 rounded up to the nearest penny. In addition John decides to participate in both the healthcare plan and the 401k retirement plan. For the 401k retirement plan John chooses to put 3% of his gross income in the 401k account which is $750 a year and $28.86 bi-weekly that will be deducted out of every check before taxes. Next John chooses a healthcare plan that will cost him $40.00 bi-weekly which also will be deducted out of his check before taxes. After both the $28.86 for John's 401k and $40.00 for his healthcare plan are deducted he is left with $892.69 which he must pay taxes on. First there is the Social Security tax which is 6.2% of $892.69 which equals $55.35. Next there is the Medicare tax which is 1.45% of $892.69 which equals $12.94. Then we have the PA State tax which is 3.07% of $892.69 which equals $27.41. And finally there is the federal income tax which is 15% of $892.9 which equals $133.90. If we add up all of John's tax deduction we get a total of $229.60. Now for the final step to subtract John's taxes deductions of $229.60 from his pre-taxed total of $892.69. This will give us the amount of money that John actually brings home bi-weekly, which is $663.09. So in reality John's job that pay him an annual salary of 25k is only actually paying him $17,240.34 after taxes, investing in his company's 401k retirement plan and participating in the healthcare plan.

In addition here is what John's actual bi-weekly pay check would look like if he did not participate in either the 401k retirement plan and health care plan or if he just participated in just one. If John chooses not to participate in any of the plan then his bi-weekly pay check would be $714.24 which would mean that his actual yearly salary would be $18,570.24. If John chooses to only participate in his company's 401k retirement plan at 3% of his gross salary of 25k a year then his bi-weekly pay check would be $692.81. That would mean that John's actual salary for the year if he chooses to only participate in the 401k plan would be $18,013.06. And if John chooses to only participate in his company's health care plan then his bi-weekly pay check would be $684.52 and his actual annual salary would be $17,797.52.

Is 25k a year really a fair and decent salary for an entry level job for a college graduate? For a person who invested 4 years of their life to get an education. For a person who invested large sum of money and countless other things in themselves in the hopes of obtaining not only a career but "The American Dream". -- Barry B., Silver Spring, Md.

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Who voted for Joe Preston and why? -- Debbie H., Penn Hills

I am currently coordinating a program which will immerse 16 African American college students in the Homewood neighborhood for a week. Although the program itself will last for 10 weeks, the participants will begin their work and study in the Homewood community. The participants will engage in an intensive community study of the Homewood community and interview community leaders, professionals, educators, entrepreneurs, religious leaders and any other interested member of the Homewood area.

I have secured a few interviews for our participants but I am still in need of a few more professionals that would be willing to lend an hour of their time during the first week of June to be interviewed. We have a designated conference room in the Homewood area where you would be interviewed by the participants and if you reply to the email address below I would be happy to extend more information. At the end of the week the participants will present their findings and preliminary recommendations to all those interested at the YMCA of Homewood-Brushton on Friday June 6th, 2008 at 10am.

I read so much about how concerned members and onlookers of the Homewood community wished that there was some new method of problem solving and I assure, here sits a new method. This non-profit program is known as the Coro Community Problem Solving Fellowship and if you desire to learn more please visit www.pittsburgh.coro.org/cps. -- Ashlee D., South Side