I should add the book is about the profile of the typical millionaire. It's the small business owner who you would never peg as being wealthy, not the guy in the 9-5 who wears fancy clothes and blows his money on fancy material crap.
You should do what makes you happy. I used my whole life savings, a whole bunch more from my brother and a little from in-laws. About 500K worth total. I used to work a "9-5". I took a huge risk and it's paying off. Just do what makes you happy.
Not working and sitting on a beach makes me happy but it won't pay the bills or put my kids through college. Doing what makes you happy works great in the land of make believe but in the real world your plan will hopefully have a little more teeth.
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I think I'm in a small group of recent graduates that hasn't gone through this. I graduated 2 years ago, and after about 2 months found a job with the company I'm currently with.
It didn't pay well and wasn't a great position, but it got me into an industry I love (real estate) and I've been able to move my way up through the company really effectively through hard work, learning, education and few good breaks.
I'm now 2 years into my career, 25 years old and I love my job most days. Sky is the limit, and I'm extremely optimistic about my career potential.
I'm in New York right now, and just checked my email to see commisions I earned yesterday while not even being in the country.
My only advice is pick an industry you like, not just a job that pays decent. Even if you start at the bottom, doing something that you enjoy which stimulates your brain will push you to work harder and move up. People notice when you have a passion for your job, and you will get ahead much faster because you'll show genuine drive. The opportunity for $$ will come, and you'll enjoy the ride getting there, not just the destination.
I had a lot more sex, I drank a lot more and I could turn up for classes the next day hung completely over with no issues raised. I seemed to have had way more money to play with during school.
Those were the golden days, and looking back far far easier and remembered more fondly in a lot of ways then the last 20 years of my life.
But would I go back to school full time, nah, the past is past and life in the real world is more of a challenge.
__________________
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Yeah OP you're in a pretty critical stage of life right now. There are some inevitable realities I see coming though given what you said about wanting to find a girl to marry. By the time you're 27 or 28 at about the latest, you'll sucumb to the personal and private pressure to marry her. Within a couple of years she'll be pregnant. You'll need a house with a few rooms in a family-type neighbourhood (read: burbs). You'll need a full-time job that kicks out a reasonable amount of cash to support all this. Boom, you're one of us LOL.
Haha... I quoted this for truth.
I was/am a Type A personality. I loved University - lots of goals to meet all the time and constant feedback (grades).
Then I got a good job, and within my hiring paperwork they told me my "early" retirement date - 2037. A little piece of my soul died right then and there.
But I'm 3 years out of school now, and after about 1.5 years, you sort of get over needing the constant accomplishments that come with the University lifestyle and just live with a crushed soul at work (I'm kind of kidding but also kind of not kidding). Find other stuff to enjoy for your evenings, weekends and vacation. Also life threw some crap at me that really made me realize family and friends are the most important and a job is just a means to an end.
- I don't really see money/savings as an issue really, I'm pretty active in knowing where my money is, where its being used and generally how it balances out.
- I don't really see getting a job as a big issue. While its definately tougher to get a job in a crappy economy, I think there is always going to be a demand for good quality workers.
- Retirement et al... the only thing that scares me more then graduation (and one other phobia, too embarrassing to name) is retirement. I could never just sit on a beach and kick back and relax. I like to be busy and involved, and the idea of not being busy and involved scares the crap out of me.
- Life outside of career... I certainly have them. Something I sort of set in stone was this idea of pillars of life, whereas I didn't want to have to sacrifice any one aspect of my life for another. A few that I mentioned above are some of them. While I'm sure some want to go out and nail as many chicks they can, I really prefer having a relationship with a great quality girl. Sports and stuff, a goal of my has been to play pro-leagues and while I'm probably not going to be any big shot, big league player, it looks like I will get a crack at some low tier pro league. I've also really committed to rock climbing the past year, and in the next half year to year, I would love to trad climb a few famous/legendary/difficult in Colorado, California, as well as a few in the Himalayas (Nepal... I probably spelled Himalayas wrong). Material goods, I have a few in mind, I'd like to buy a BMW in the next year, I'd like to own a boat in the next few years and in the next decade (while possibly a dream, but I don't think its unreasonable) I'd like to own my own jet. Other interests, I'd like to get into white water rafting as soon as this summer, I'd like to get my pilots license in the next half decade, I'd like to go sky diving (next few months) and in the next half decade, I'd like to get into base jumping. (Is it obvious yet that I set very definite and time lined goals yet? University attitude)
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"With a coach and a player, sometimes there's just so much respect there that it's boils over"
-Taylor Hall
Well if you have rich parents and you don't mind spending their money instead of earning your own, you've set some very reasonable goals for yourself.
Um, I guess I should quantify that a life like the wealthy barber isn't a model of life I really see myself fitting into. It doesn't really follow my particular career path, or what I'm looking for in life. I also am under the assumption that things that I see myself working towards, I will accomplish, and those particular jobs/prospects that have held over the past decade will continue.
(Somewhat thinking out loud here) I guess living in California and seeing the disparity grow between the upper class lifestyle and lower class lifestyle really made me realize that I am partially driven to the fancy things in life, i.e. the limo ride into San Fran for a expensive dinner and a bottle of whine, and so on. I don't really see that being the big carrot at the end of the stick (which for me, is usually a career) but that sort of lifestyle (which isn't uncommon in a young professional down in California) is something I do enjoy.
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"With a coach and a player, sometimes there's just so much respect there that it's boils over"
-Taylor Hall
Okay but to clarify I didn't say read The Wealthy Barber, which is a book that purports the way to riches is through mutual funds. I said read The Millionaire Next Door, which basically rejects everything in The Wealthy Barber and goes so far as to label 9 to fivers as under achievers of wealth (UAWs).
But seriously, if you don't even have a job right now talking about buying a bimer this year a boat a couple of years later and your own private jet in ten years is nothing short of ######ed unless you come from a wealthy family, in which case why did you start a thread looking for career advice when your big plan is to play soccer for next to nothing and buy extravagant items with money that isn't yours?
Okay but to clarify I didn't say read The Wealthy Barber, which is a book that purports the way to riches is through mutual funds. I said read The Millionaire Next Door, which basically rejects everything in The Wealthy Barber and goes so far as to label 9 to fivers as under achievers of wealth (UAWs).
But seriously, if you don't even have a job right now talking about buying a bimer this year a boat a couple of years later and your own private jet in ten years is nothing short of ######ed unless you come from a wealthy family, in which case why did you start a thread looking for career advice when your big plan is to play soccer for next to nothing and buy extravagant items with money that isn't yours?
Oh oops, I guess there may be some miscommunication. I guess the thread really wasn't about career advice, and more to do with dealing with life after university and what gets (people coming out of school) out of bed in the morning, or what there is to look forward to in life after x number of years of seeing the end game as a university degree.
All the other goals and whatnot, I guess was just me thinking aloud to break up the next few years of my life into managable chunks I work towards, somewhat like university life Jiri mentioned where your goals (time/objectives) were set for you in semester chunks.
__________________
"With a coach and a player, sometimes there's just so much respect there that it's boils over"
-Taylor Hall
Last edited by Phanuthier; 06-07-2009 at 04:35 PM.
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I've had a few good jobs, but I've never liked a 9-5. I don't know why, but I always thought I could do a lot more (Nothing wrong with a good job though). Ever since I was 16, I hated working for somebody. Even as a part time job I worked for Rogers Cellular and I would never think about the good commission I made. All I thought about was how the owner was taking 90% of the sale home. I've just always had that mindset. An education is good, but I spent way too much time in university.
No freedom, etc. My last straw was missing my own stag. Was promised I could take it off and then couldn't get one of the days off. It was either call in sick and screw up my perfect record or come to work. I chose work. Lost almost $1000 on my ticket.
I just never felt any freedom whatsoever with a regular job. Now I can't wait to get up every morning and I love not having to worry about booking vacations, etc. Just so much freedom.
I've had a few good jobs, but I've never liked a 9-5. I don't know why, but I always thought I could do a lot more (Nothing wrong with a good job though). Ever since I was 16, I hated working for somebody. Even as a part time job I worked for Rogers Cellular and I would never think about the good commission I made. All I thought about was how the owner was taking 90% of the sale home. I've just always had that mindset. An education is good, but I spent way too much time in university.
No freedom, etc. My last straw was missing my own stag. Was promised I could take it off and then couldn't get one of the days off. It was either call in sick and screw up my perfect record or come to work. I chose work. Lost almost $1000 on my ticket.
I just never felt any freedom whatsoever with a regular job. Now I can't wait to get up every morning and I love not having to worry about booking vacations, etc. Just so much freedom.
I don't really understand why losing a perfect work record would make you miss a stag? It's not as if you're gonna have another one in your lifetime?
If it came down to losing your job on the other hand...I could see that as a viable reason to skip it.
I don't know if my situation is helpful for you, Phanutier, but you asked how people dealt with it and such, so here we go:
I went to the University of Alberta to get my BEd with the goal of being a teacher - don't scoff - some people get them for other careers ... graduated, was going to get married that summer, and decided (very fortunately, I believe) that I was not ready mentally to enter my chosen career so I worked in a relatively mindless, no-challenge job in the private sector for about 15 months.
Got a job at my current school, and have been there now for 4 school years. I love my job. I can't even put into words exactly what it is - I like the social aspect of it, I love teaching, I love the benefits and I find it rewarding. I don't dread Mondays anymore and I set up my day so that I can spend a good amount of time with my family and am always home for dinner and some quality time.
I guess what I'd boil it down to would be make sure you're ready to get into your career so you can give it the most you can (as has been said - some people are willing to put their job over everything else - I am not, but when I am working, I give it my all).
Last edited by Antithesis; 06-07-2009 at 09:03 PM.
Become a cog in society, it is great. It takes a while but working within the system is very easy to do and remarkably fufilling. Find a nine to five job you enjoy and work hard when you go to work and measure yourself based on your small days accomplishment. You have to find value in the work that you do and work at doing it better. These small achievements replace the passing classes and writing exams. You still have project deadlines and your work may be checked by your bosses.
And for your toil you get an upper middle class lifestyle (I assume you got your degrees in a useful field) A nice house, a family, winter and summer vacations, a big screen TV. Society has conditioned us to this lifestyle and if you embrace it is pretty good. Many people talk of wanting to travel there whole lives and live life but if you look at the people who do that they sacrifice a lot to make it happen. A big thing to do is not to romanticize the various choices you have and in some ways settle. Realize what is achievable, set some goals and achieve it.
If you are a goal orienented person take a look at some of the Franklin-Covey stuff. They talk about having over reaching ultra long term goals and then breaking them down into shorter and shorter term goals until you get down to having a goal for each day. Some of their stuff is pretty interesting to read.
In summary though try out becoming a cog in society, and don't work overtime, once you start working overtime you will become the overtime guy. If you don't work overtime and once in while you put in a couple extra hours you actually look better then the guy who works for free every week
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(Antithesis) : Definitely helps. I spoke of a few reasons I continued on with further degrees after my undergrad, one of them was that there were no jobs avail, but part of it was also that I just didn't feel ready to work the jobs that were being offered. In my last semester, I was sort of going "holy crap! this life is almost over - now what?"
I certainly thought about teaching, something I think I would enjoy, but for personal/family reasons, I have to do engineering for at least a few years, otherwise I think my family might think its unacceptable. And in fairness, its not that I hate it and I am pretty content to do it in the short term, but I'm not sure I really have that passion that some of my peers do.
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"With a coach and a player, sometimes there's just so much respect there that it's boils over"
-Taylor Hall
Well not that you haven't heard it, but try to find something that will keep challenging you and allow you to move forward. Also trust your own instincts above someone elses. Take it from someone who's taken the easy way for the last 10 years and believed the crap that he was fed by others. I should have gone back to school 11 years ago. Instead I'm in my mid 30's and awaiting layoff notice in a dying industry any day now. If your goal in life is to not end up like me, you should do pretty well.
__________________ "Some guys like old balls"
Patriots QB Tom Brady
