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The low wage worker does represent a large chunk of society. So really, you guys need to care for yourselves and therefore each other. You are actually more valuable than your employers want you to believe. Your employers have to keep paying you less if they want to make more for themselves.
But It does not have to be that way. You have to ban together and bargain as a collective group to get what you want. I believe it is something called unions. Now there will be people on here who will spout out all the evils and how unions have hurt the economy. That may as well be true, but in beginning, Unions did have a purpose.
Then again there are some people making decent money, only to find out they have God knows what nasty disease and they only have so many more months or weeks to live (I'm a good candidate for that list, i see a doc this week, but I have HCV and very likely to end up with cirrhosis or liver cancer and go the way Steve Jobs went) Treatment is in the 100K range/year, insurance sucks (wife and kids don't even have any), wife only works pt, kids..etc. Not to mention having Menieres for the last 15 yrs and having lost most of my hearing. Try interviewing when you can't hear. Sometimes life just sucks, and right now it really sucks for a LOT of people.
So we make the best of it and be thankful for what we do have. At your age I was not making much either. With the way things are going economically and politically we ought to be glad we're still alive and WW3 hasn't broken out quite yet. Things could be so much worse.
I will tell you something about the spoiled rich. If they could get away with having you work for nothing and sleep in a cardboard box most of them would. Corporations that re-locate and abandon their nation of origin and it's people in the search of more and more profit are traitors. Why pay a domestic servant (common American) a living wage when they can hire some skinny desperate person else where who will work for cigarettes...a bowl of fish head soup and 10 bucks a day?
Here is the great sin. These companies were built up through the brains and labor of simple hard working Americans...in the most disloyal manner they dump them like a worn out shovel...and disregard the children of the common mass that made them rich. THEN they have the nerve to point at the adult children of their former employees and rant about them being lazy and on welfare.
Manufacturing was the life blood of the middle class...It reminds me of a young student in medical school who shacks up with a hard working waitress...who helps him with her money and loyalty...Then once the student graduates...he jettisons the hard working woman once he is a doctor and making the big bucks....Loyalty to a nation is imperative - No multi-national company should have special rights in their nation of origin...once they abandon that place for greener pastures.
That sounds incredibly fantastic for you! In all regards, I'm washed away and my mind is a race. I would not make it through a four year college.
Semper Fidelis
I was unemployed for 1 year, even drove all the way down to Texas for an interview only to be laughed at
I suppose I'm being selfish, but what do I make of all these investment institutes and gurus?
Social Anxiety Disorder... don't even look it up, trust me, 99% of the population simply will not understand even if they try.
I'm worried about retirement, I'm not sure if I will ever make a decent income and SS looks like a goner.
Never smoked (doesn't kill you fast enough), don't drink, probably will never get married because I haven't even had a girlfriend
The trades seem shattered during these economic times; its hard to get into the electrician apprenticeship in my area, resumes just don't cut it (they throw them away); after knocking on some doors and passing a couple of tests I did have a panel interview, but I didn't make it. In fact, it was a complete disaster. Even if I did, half of those guys are laid off right now.
baloney the trades are not shattered.
electrician is a little high for u right now. bring your ambition down .
a series of small successes is the key. my first giant leap out of the hole was pte security guard graveyard shift. a small but great success that i could build on and did.
think small. its not about being a big shot its about being a success.
now i will say some strange stuff.
stop the negative talk machine , its a terminator, its not u. its a killer & the voice is not coming from u . its nothing but poisonous suggestions. its what they used to call the devil. dont listen.
stop listening. the voice is saying all the doors are closed. w/o pushing on the door u dont know that. not all doors are closed, people get careless and leave them open
all the time. .
the voice that whispers in your ear is not u. here is what it wants. its wants u to crawl up in a ball and die, whether that happens will depend if you listen or ignore that voice.
Last edited by Huckleberry3911948; 04-23-2012 at 11:25 AM..
^ The OP would have to take all his yearly income and achieve a 720% return in order to reach 30%+ in short term capital gains. The OP has a higher chance of winning a lottery than achieving that kind of return.
Hummm...
I have a different view on investing. I think long term. It is my belief that you can make a lot of money investing and at some point in the future be in the 30% bracket. So therefore it is a good idea to plan for that now.
Or to put it a different way, is there anyone out there who is currently in the 30% bracket who started out with little or nothing?
So far as stocks go, they have stock picking contests (on paper only). I've seen one person turn $100K into $1M in one month's time.
Here is a weekly contest (paper trading only). Look at the last post for the results. Note that 6 people LOST money, and 5 people made money. And one made 26% in one week, another 11% in one week. Weekly Stock Challenge - 1/27/12 - OnlineTradersForum.com
So it *is* possible to make a lot of money. (Also possible to lose a lot of money.) For less risky investments, learn about the word "compounding"...
Then again there are some people making decent money, only to find out they have God knows what nasty disease and they only have so many more months or weeks to live (I'm a good candidate for that list, i see a doc this week, but I have HCV and very likely to end up with cirrhosis or liver cancer and go the way Steve Jobs went) Treatment is in the 100K range/year, insurance sucks (wife and kids don't even have any), wife only works pt, kids..etc. Not to mention having Menieres for the last 15 yrs and having lost most of my hearing. Try interviewing when you can't hear. Sometimes life just sucks, and right now it really sucks for a LOT of people.
So we make the best of it and be thankful for what we do have. At your age I was not making much either. With the way things are going economically and politically we ought to be glad we're still alive and WW3 hasn't broken out quite yet. Things could be so much worse.
I like your post, your right he has his health and honestly that is so much more valuable than money. My sister is blind and needs a kidney, she is dying and at a young age, she would gladly trade to be in his shoes with eyesight!!
Hummm...
So far as stocks go, they have stock picking contests (on paper only). I've seen one person turn $100K into $1M in one month's time.
Here is a weekly contest (paper trading only). Look at the last post for the results. Note that 6 people LOST money, and 5 people made money. And one made 26% in one week, another 11% in one week. Weekly Stock Challenge - 1/27/12 - OnlineTradersForum.com
So it *is* possible to make a lot of money. (Also possible to lose a lot of money.) For less risky investments, learn about the word "compounding"...
In a finance class in college, we did a stock pick game. Now, keep in mind, this class was filled with mostly people who were going in to a career in finance.
Out of 30 people, just 10 had a positive return over the semester. Of those 10, 5 had under a 5% return, and 2 of them figured out how to cheat the program (basically it was done by taking advantage of premarket and after market trading and the fact that the program didnt handle it correctly), and correspondingly had over 50% returns. The lowest person in the class lost 50%.
I ended up with a 15% return, and was the highest non cheater in the class, additionally, I figured out the loophole the cheats were using and reported them.
By the way, thats not even addressing the biggest problem with "paper trading", and that is that your "paper shares" do not affect market conditions of the stock, and are not affected by market conditions of the stock . So, in effect, you could make a "fortune" from a thinly traded penny stock, by "buying" millions of shares that wouldnt be available in normal market conditions, and "selling" them regardless of the market for them.
This guy I knew years back started his own little trust company...that grew in to a 35 billion dollar deal...I asked him if he ever played the stock market...He said no. Slow and steady is the way to go..there is no such thing as get rich quick..like gambling...the house always wins..If you are going to invest..invest early is a stable venture...and wait...it might take 30 years but you will be comfortable in your old age.
I agree with some of the posts here. The two points of avoiding the bar and avoiding debt are the best ideas ever. Two jobs are a good idea, if you can find one. Why not do reserves and the warehouse thing while going to trade school for free?
I hate the push to make everyone a doctor or scientist, some people like working hard and with their hands. Skilled techs aren't going anywhere. There is a huge demand for skilled miners in AU right now.
I wish you the best because I am in the same fog right now, but I missed the tip about debt. doh!
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