Life after University...

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by J pold

Great post I feel the exact same way, I'm going into the final year of my undergrad and a lot of people I've been in school with are terrified of "real life". Personally I can't wait, I want to embrace that life style whole heartily.

Ya know, I'm really trying to take the enthused-approach. I know she had a mini-freak-out a while ago about it, but then a week later it just rolled off her back. Something I wish I had. I guess by being so hard pressed by a heavy schedule and being somewhat of a perfectionist, I wanted everything in my life planned out and mapped out, but since classes are over, I'm just trying to take things as they come - and maybe thats the cure for the "oh crap, school is almost over, what now" syndrome.

(see: random thoughts thread about how my flight adventures back to Calgary)

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by DESS

lol total burn. I just received an infraction from the mods on this very topic this weekend.

You're not supposed to talk about infractions in the forum.

Double burn!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DESS]

Originally Posted by flameswin

You're not supposed to talk about infractions in the forum.

Double burn!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Serious? Oh man. I'm logging off. Good night.

[moon]

Originally Posted by enthused

I'm going to attempt to get back to the original point of this post, life after university.

I am going to finish my undergrad at Christmas, and personally, I could not be any more excited for post-university life. I can't wait for freedom from the structure and schedule of university. Don't get me wrong, I've had a great university experience, partied hard and learned a lot... but I am really looking forward to what life is going to offer me once I am finished.

I am in no rush to start a career or settle down. In fact, the "American dream" is more like a nightmare to me. Too boring. I want to travel, and just experience what life has to offer when I am not confined to any particular structure.

I'll probably go back to university eventually, because my ideal job does require a masters, but I am not feeling any pressure to do it right away. I kind of figure that I'll know when I am ready to go back to school and do it.

Anyways, I don't think post-university life should be scary, people should embrace the unknown and all of the possibilities that come with it.

I guess I have no idea what you are planning on doing but you think there will be less structure and schedule once you are out of university?

That was the one thing that I loved/love about university the fact that I didn't have any structure or schedule. I never had to go to class, could wake up whenever I wanted to, never had to say "can't go out tonight" etc.

I would think that most likely there will be a lot more structure and schedule to your life once you are done university.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by moon

I guess I have no idea what you are planning on doing but you think there will be less structure and schedule once you are out of university?

That was the one thing that I loved/love about university the fact that I didn't have any structure or schedule. I never had to go to class, could wake up whenever I wanted to, never had to say "can't go out tonight" etc.

I would think that most likely there will be a lot more structure and schedule to your life once you are done university.

Its funny, its a mix of both for me. I like the idea of making working when I want to work and choosing which classes to go to and which to skip, but I'm going to really miss the fact that university is all about really definite goals and timelines. Exam this day, project due this day, an dso on.

Its a good thing in the field I'm going to enter, its not 9-5 and stuff you'd see from the office. (Sidenote: I actually can't watch the office, I watched one episode of it and it depressed the hell out of me.) You sort of get to make your own hours, but typically because your work is defined by your projects, you work 60-70 hr weeks consistently (and not this Fort Mac, work 10 days, then 4 days off idea - its 60-70 hrs every week). I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I'm hoping if and when I start a family (I'm thinking this is something I consider when I'm 30+) that I won't nessasarly be tied down to this commitment.

[enthused]

Originally Posted by moon

I guess I have no idea what you are planning on doing but you think there will be less structure and schedule once you are out of university?

That was the one thing that I loved/love about university the fact that I didn't have any structure or schedule. I never had to go to class, could wake up whenever I wanted to, never had to say "can't go out tonight" etc.

I would think that most likely there will be a lot more structure and schedule to your life once you are done university.

Since I don't plan to start my career or settle down when I graduate, I definitely think there will be less structure and schedule in my life when I am done university. I've had a really good job all through university and have been able to save a fair chunk of money, so when I graduate, I can literally afford to do nothing at all if that's what I choose. I don't plan to work a serious job right away. I don't plan to settle down. I'm going to go where ever I want, whenever I want. Sounds like no structure and schedule to me!

When I decide to get my act together and go back and do my masters and actually pursue the career I want, sure there will be more structure in my life, but until then, I think my life will be a lot more free than when I was in university.

[Dion]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

As for the OP, I don't know the guy, and maybe he is special and can pull it off, but I gotta say that an unemployed guy wondering what he is going to do with his life is not a likely candidate to own a private jet within the next ten years. It doesn't matter how much he really really really wants it.

If you knew what i know about Phanuthier you wouldn't be saying that.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by moon

I am glad that you have big goals and hope they all work out for you but I am I have a hard time believing that "it is not that uncommon to see <35 year olds become wealthy." Of course depending on what you view of wealthy is it could change but I would have to think that in NA less than 1% of people 22-35 would be what I consider wealthy and for me that sure seems to fit the bill of uncommon.

Really depends where, which field and what, right? Wealthy I would put at somewhere in the $20M mark or so.

Lets say there are 1000 somewhat active posters on CP. Is it that out of reach to say 1 might (might) reach that goal? Not saying it should or will be me, but someone can do it.

I do have one friend that I graduated with a year ago, his parents didn't buy him everything, but he has a truck, is looking to buy one of those 60's vintage sports cars, owns his own condo (by own, I mean he has a mortgage on it) and is shopping for a plane right now. I know a few that have been involved in some entrepreneurial (did i spell that right?) are are <35 and I would say they are in that wealthy bracket. I don't think its really that uncommon, but obviously, it takes a mix of intellect, work as well as opportunity and luck.

[moon]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

Really depends where, which field and what, right? Wealthy I would put at somewhere in the $20M mark or so.

Lets say there are 1000 somewhat active posters on CP. Is it that out of reach to say 1 might (might) reach that goal? Not saying it should or will be me, but someone can do it.

I don't think it is a stretch to say that 1 out of a 1000 could make it, but to me that means that it is pretty uncommon. I also think that a CP poster has a higher than average likelyhood/ability to be that kind of person than a normal person 22-35.

And if the number is 20 million then I would definitely say that the number is less than 1%.

My issue isn't with your chances of doing it or not but your comment that it wasn't that uncommon to see <35 as wealthy. I would say that it is very uncommon to see <35's with $20 million.

I do have one friend that I graduated with a year ago, his parents didn't buy him everything, but he has a truck, is looking to buy one of those 60's vintage sports cars, owns his own condo (by own, I mean he has a mortgage on it) and is shopping for a plane right now. I know a few that have been involved in some entrepreneurial (did i spell that right?) are are <35 and I would say they are in that wealthy bracket. I don't think its really that uncommon, but obviously, it takes a mix of intellect, work as well as opportunity and luck

How many people do you know/graduate with that don't have $20 million and are shopping for a jet?

Add that to the thousands and thousands of people that everyone knows on CP that have fit there and I would guess the number is less than 1% which once again I find to be uncommon.

But I guess we have much different views of what uncommon is.

[moon]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

I do have one friend that I graduated with a year ago, his parents didn't buy him everything, but he has a truck, is looking to buy one of those 60's vintage sports cars, owns his own condo (by own, I mean he has a mortgage on it) and is shopping for a plane right now.

Why would a guy who can afford a plane own a condo and still have a mortgage on it?

Not doubting your story it just seems like he has an insane way to value things.

[KTrain]

Originally Posted by moon

Why would a guy who can afford a plane own a condo and still have a mortgage on it?

Not doubting your story it just seems like he has an insane way to value things.

You can buy used Multi Prop Planes for $50K - $100K.

I'm sure you know of people who have mortgages that also finance expensive cars/boats/toys/etc.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by moon

Why would a guy who can afford a plane own a condo and still have a mortgage on it?

Not doubting your story it just seems like he has an insane way to value things.

When I said plane, I just have just said a normal plane (at least I think he was thinking single engine, it could have been a glider) - not a jet. Not that I'm really an expert on this kind of stuff, but as I said (I guess somewhat overlooked) I would like to get my pilots license in the next half decade.

He's actually one of my three closest friends, me and him like to bounce crazy ideas off of each other. I guess we're the f@gs RougeUnderoos is talking about with the new age yuppie's and their dreams.

And yeah, he does see things a different way then most would. I think its too much of a side story to explain why he's on this shopping spree when he could be paying down a mortgage.

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by DESS

I think you've confused realism for negativity with respect to my posts.

And on goals in general (not talking about the jet here) - I think a lot of you need a refresher on what a goal is exactly. It's an end point. When you set a goal, you begin at a starting point. To achieve a goal, you need a plan. Without a plan to achieve the goal, the goal is unachievable. Therefore, when somebody has a realistic plan to achieve a goal, it is reasonable to encourage them. Without a plan to achieve their goal, their goal just becomes nonsense.

I'm aware of what a goal is. Did you ask what the plan was to achieve the OP's goal before you started bashing the goal itself? Besides that, I don't think it's unrealistic to expect that sometimes goals are just a starting point (here I am today) and an end point (this is where I want to be/what I want to have/do in X amount of time). If the path itself isn't clear, I don't think it's necessarily a big deal. As soon as you establish the goal, you'll find yourself working towards it. Perhaps more often you'll reach your goals in ways you didn't (or couldn't) expect.

[Phanuthier]

^ Its funny, I sort of used the jet comment to show a point (i.e. that I am, to an extent, somewhat materialistic - not so much that I want to have lots of random crap sitting around, but yeah, I would like boat and a jet, moreso then a nice car actually...) but as far as goals go, I said a few things that could be thought of as outrageous.

Basejumping? If you talk about the 1% that is wealthy, there are few less people that would go basejumping. I honestly don't know if I'll ever get the courage to do it, but its on the list. It honestly scares the crap out of me, but lead climbing also scares the crap out of me and I'm taking a class to get my lead certificate this Friday.

Engineer, photography, politics, philanthropy (sp?), MBA... very wide range. Something like photography sticks out. That comment by JohnnyFlame about coaching soccer really has me thinking, it is the 3rd time I've been told that in the past week and the first time I didn't give it a lot of thought. Something thats actually been stuck in my mind all day.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

He's actually one of my three closest friends, me and him like to bounce crazy ideas off of each other. I guess we're the f@gs RougeUnderoos is talking about with the new age yuppie's and their dreams.

I didn't call anyone a f@g or a yuppie. I don't think there is anything wrong with having dreams either, but you have basically told us that you are finishing school, don't know what you are going to do and expect to have 20 million dollars in 2019.

It sounds a little far-fetched. If you are the one-in-a-million (literally) who can pull off a Bill Gates style career trajectory, good luck to you.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

I didn't call anyone a f@g or a yuppie. I don't think there is anything wrong with having dreams either, but you have basically told us that you are finishing school, don't know what you are going to do and expect to have 20 million dollars in 2019.

It sounds a little far-fetched. If you are the one-in-a-million (literally) who can pull off a Bill Gates style career trajectory, good luck to you.

Yeah, I didn't take it personally or anything.

As for dreams... you know when a entrepreneur is doing a startup, venture capitalists often look for a exit strategy within 10 years? (Not that I'm necessarily looking to start my own business from seed funding or anything) As far as looking at these sort of things, a decade is more or less the timeline you are looking at (experiance aside)

I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) Google has a secret algorithm that parses through data at a high rate, but what made Google what they are today is just a simple interface. Google is less then a decade old. Facebook is incredibly easy to hack, young, yet is worth a few hundread million. For a young entrepreneur, these two companies are excellent examples of how one would cross the chasm from a startup in the seed round to capturing large market share. I mentioned a few times, the "A" quality worker - I don't think I'm quite there yet, but I'd like to get there. I believe if you want to be a Googler or a Facebooker, you need to be "A" quality.

I don't know if what I'm going to do will work out in the end, and it encompasses a few ideas, but we'll see where it goes. I think for my initial launchpad, competition dominates the market through economies or scale, but that doesn't mean that I won't be able to leverage my ideas to extract dollar figures value out of it.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by moon

And if the number is 20 million then I would definitely say that the number is less than 1%.

My issue isn't with your chances of doing it or not but your comment that it wasn't that uncommon to see <35 as wealthy. I would say that it is very uncommon to see <35's with $20 million.

I found this write up from 2006 which is the height of this last phoney money creation boom that just happened.

http://www.painkillerz.ca/magazine.php?id=204

At the end it claims 7000 Canadians out of about 32 million people as having 20 million or more. That actually surprised me as being a fair bit higher than I would have thought. Although today, I'd guess that number has shrunk a bit as real estate prices and stock prices have fallen. Still lets say it's accurate, that would be like 1 in every 4571 Canadians or 0.02% of Canadians being that wealthy.

But on the other hand...7000 people in this country did eventually get to that level one way or another, so it's not completely impossible either. Uncommon, but not impossible.

[moon]

Originally Posted by KTrain

You can buy used Multi Prop Planes for $50K - $100K.

I'm sure you know of people who have mortgages that also finance expensive cars/boats/toys/etc.

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

When I said plane, I just have just said a normal plane (at least I think he was thinking single engine, it could have been a glider) - not a jet. Not that I'm really an expert on this kind of stuff, but as I said (I guess somewhat overlooked) I would like to get my pilots license in the next half decade.

He's actually one of my three closest friends, me and him like to bounce crazy ideas off of each other. I guess we're the f@gs RougeUnderoos is talking about with the new age yuppie's and their dreams.

And yeah, he does see things a different way then most would. I think its too much of a side story to explain why he's on this shopping spree when he could be paying down a mortgage.

Okay. With all the jet talk earlier when I saw plane I assumed private jet and that seemed a little crazy to me.

If it is the plane idea in the range of what K-Town is talking about then it is not as odd as I had previously thought.

[Cowperson]

I know guys in this city who've made millions, lost it all, then made millions AGAIN . . . . that's just who they are and, frankly, without the support of any particular educational background.

If someone dreams they'll have a private jet by the time they're 40 I'd say go for it. Let me know how it works out.

Still, you gotta get a job/occupation first and see if you can keep it second. You gotta start somewhere. We can all talk but there comes a time for "the doin.'

For amusement, positive thinking is dangerous in this analysis:

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/b...-whatever.aspx

Cowperson

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by Cowperson

I know guys in this city who've made millions, lost it all, then made millions AGAIN . . . . that's just who they are and, frankly, without the support of any particular educational background.

Hey Cow, they wouldn't happen to be in the petroleum industry, would they?