My career.

[0-60IN2]

Ok well at first I wanted to be in business because of the money....and I realized now that there is a ton of stress. Long story shoet: I am getting my realtors's license and I am gettign my diloma in radiation therapy and then afetr a couple of years gettign my degree. I know for a fact there can be alot of money in that field but i know fro sure it will be a better life than a business life for the most part. There can be alot of money n business but usually it comes 10+yrs down thte road of stressfulness and ass kissing. Please guys dont reply negatively ...its 12:33am and i am extremely tired but cant sleep.

[david-b]

Good to see you know what you want to do. How old are you? Good luck.

[Thor06]

My dad was and my older half brother is in the sort of "corporate America" type job, and you are right, you can make some good money but you are also right in that it takes a lot of hard work and a little bit of ass kissing. Its definately not for everyone, I'd never be able to swing it... hell I slept an average of 2 hours a night during the work week and <7 hours a night on the weekends stressing over that damn chick, I dont even know what would happen if something important was actually on the line.

My other two cents is that you need to be less focussed on the money aspect of everything and more focussed on what you really want to do. Sure radiation therapy might be pay pretty good (not nearly as well as they say in some cases, I know two people that went into it because it was advertised as a 70k a year job, but they are making pretty much the same as a RN in actuality) but do you really want to do it? Do you have any interest in the human body? Do you want to be around that kind of radiation on a day to day basis? I know its probably safe, but one fuck up could mean a bad day for you. Reality can be a good thing too, but its more luck and reputation than anything. People arent going to trust some random ass noobie to sell their nice expensive house so you are going to be stuck doing shitty houses until you get a good rep, but with the housing market like it is now and probably will be for a few years, its going to take a while before you can really make any real money. The other thing is that you dont want your primary source of income to be reality because you dont have a paycheck unless you sell something and selling something is completely out of your control.

I'd suggest sitting down and writing a list of the top 5-6 things you might want to do with the rest of your working life rather than the top paying things and go from there. Its cliche as hell, but money cant buy happiness and I know I would wayyy rather make a solid 50 grand a year out of school at something I like and that intrigues me (mechanical engineering) than making more at a job I will dread having to go to everyday. Remember man, you are going to start your 'career' when you are between like 20 and 24 and retiring age is 62-65... that means you'll be at a job for right around 40 years. Think about it this way, 40 years x 40 hours a week x 50 weeks a year = about 80,000 working hours in your life. End on end thats about 9 years and two months you will spend at work. Pick carefully, thats a long ass time to spend watching the clock.

[Sleepr awd]

he's right. If you don't do something you actually want to do you won't do well and you won't be happy.

[david-b]

Or you can "pull a Dave" and work at a job that's ok... not exactly what you want to do but can put up with it. And then have a bunch of freelance jobs on the side. So then you're annual input doubles. And eve if they're smaller jobs, can get paid under the table.

[Thor06]

Thats a Thor as well... mechanical engineering is like 3rd on the list, I'd really like to open speed shop or play in a rock band. When it comes down to it though, I can work on cars and play music for the rest of my life for fun (the way it should be) whereas engineering isnt exactly something I can do as a hobby. I think it would really suck to lose my love of cars or music because it came to a point where I had to do it rather than wanted to. The other thing is engineering is much more stable and my chances of failure are nothing compared tomtrying to make it big in a rock band or make a shop happen, though as a successful engineer I will be making less than a successful shop or a successful band.

The other thing is make good investments. For example, my friends parents are renting the land their brand new trailer house is on and they've got three brand new leased pickups in the driveway (one for my friend and one for each of his parents). Sure they are living pretty good now, but as far as assets go they havent got jack shit... the rented land is like throwing money into a hole in the ground as is the leased vehicles and the house wont be worth 1/4 what they paid for it when they are done. Buying a 2 year old used car is many thousands cheaper (in most cases) than one off the lot and it will still work just as well as long as you own it. Real estate is a great investment too, theres a lot of luck involved but property value almost never depreciates.

Just get yourself a good job that you enjoy, invest well, find a good wife, and make good friends and let the rest fall where it wants to... even if you wont be making millions of dollars a year, you'll be happy and thats more than I am sure most of the millionaires around can say.

[david-b]

Originally Posted by Thor06

Just get yourself a good job that you enjoy, invest well, find a good RICH wife, and make good friends and let the rest fall where it wants to... even if you wont be making millions of dollars a year, you'll be happy and thats more than I am sure most of the millionaires around can say.

Fixed it for you Thor.

But I agree with the investments and everything. Ya I wanted to own but for my situation it's ok to rent. Leasing vehicles is stupid, although my rich uncle does, but he buys them for really cheap after his years of leases are up on them. And then he sells them for more.

[Sleepr awd]

leasing is fleecing your money. I don't know what numbers your uncle is running, but in most cases doing it that way costs you far more even if you can sell them at the end.
If you want financial advice I recommend dave ramsey and the guide to financial peace. Lots of great advice and number crunching to back up the philosophy. Also I might add that if you save 2 grand a year at a set interest rate save for ten years and leave it alone for 30 years. If someone else were to take that 2 grand a year and start the day you stopped until that 30 years was up at the same interest rate then you would still have more money. Crunch the numbers. When investing time is your biggest factor putting money away.

[Thor06]

Originally Posted by david-b

Fixed it for you Thor.

But I agree with the investments and everything. Ya I wanted to own but for my situation it's ok to rent. Leasing vehicles is stupid, although my rich uncle does, but he buys them for really cheap after his years of leases are up on them. And then he sells them for more.

Oh yeah, theres no problem with renting when you are young or whatever, especially since you might need to move but once you get older and settled down there is no sense not buying a house. A 3 bedroom house here in Minneapolis rents for $1250 a month, you could buy a pretty nice house with that kind of a monthly payment. I thought of buying a house down here and renting the other rooms to cover the mortgage, but thats more BS than I need.

[cantgo2fast]

Thor I wouldnt say that a succesful shop would make more money than being an ME. I think its realistic to say that by the time ur 30 100k a year is very doable being an ME but owning a shop puts you into tons of debt and i think unless its very succesful u wont take home more than 50k net. One of my friends brothers owns a shop that i would consider to be succesful but the amount of debt he had to go into to start it hes looking at paying off for the next 7-10 yrs unless the shop starts making substantially more money. Just a thought. But ur right a bug time rock band thats not a fair comparison lol In the end i still say theres no replacement for a degree especially one like ME

[JoeShmoe]

Originally Posted by david-b

Or you can "pull a Dave" and work at a job that's ok... not exactly what you want to do but can put up with it. And then have a bunch of freelance jobs on the side. So then you're annual input doubles. And eve if they're smaller jobs, can get paid under the table.

I am in the same boat, minus the side jobs. I hate my job, but I don't think of anything else I would want to be doing.

[david-b]

Hey I don't hate my job... except for yesterday, but I put up with it. I get internet today! Back to freelance again. I just picked up a freelance as a photo editor for my buddy who is a freelance photographer. Doing his website too. I like the side jobs to pay for all the "fun" whether it be booze or going out, and the actual salary job to pay for rent, groceries, bills and so on.