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You bet your sweet @ss I'd encourage my child to go into a trade. Know why? You can't outsource the repair of the septic tank to someone in China. You can't outsource the changing of your tires to someone in Taiwan. You can't outsource your hairstyling to someone in India. You CAN outsource even paralegal work to other countries, you can even outsource taking orders in a fast-food drive-through, and I ordered a pizza tonight online. Any job that uses technology in a way that can prevent someone from being seen in he flesh can be, and is being, outsourced. There's more job security in blue-collar jobs.
I was an e-mail security analyst, and I trained my replacements. My job was outsourced to Russia. At the beginning of the recession, I was suddenly jobless, one of tens of thousands in my area, and we were all clambering for the trade jobs, battling against those who made careers out of trade work and already had experience. Those jobs are safer. The college-degree jobs are easier to outsource.
I don't have any kids but I would absolutely encourage a blue collar job, if it is what I call an "in your neighborhood" job and not a factory job. Think about it. Jobs like electrician, roofer, plumber, brick layer, police officer, fire fighter, auto mechanic are never going to be shipped overseas.
Now, you may not believe this but it's the truth. My son in law is a steamfitter. He has every welding and fitting ticket that you can get. In the Canadian west there is a huge shortage of these tradesmen and there is work there for the next 40 years at this point. It's only going to get better because of the oil and pipelines and mines and steam plants etc. Now this is the part I find hard to believe, His take home pay is ariund $12,000 a month.
My oldest son is a Dr. and he is the only member of the family that makes more than that and it's not much more.
I would encourage both options.
Especially if you do want to get educated, but you're like me and have to repeat a specific academic class several times in order to pass and move on to the next.
A trade/tech certification would go a long way in keeping the bills and tuition for the advance degree covered long after you've burned the bridges in the financial-aid department.
Those of us that are quicker on the fly with academic subjects will breeze through quicker and work easier.
Those of us on the shorter end of the stick will just have to suck it up and work as hard we have to and give the finger to the rest.
No matter how long it takes, the rewards will pay off and peace-of-mind will settle in.
Location: The Chatterdome in La La Land, CaliFUNia
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Everyone has a different set of skills and not all people are cut out for white collar work. As an educated, white collar worker, I would naturally encourage my children to pursue a college education but some folks are more gifted with their hands in repairing or constructing things. You cannot place someone in a box that they don't fit into.
Everyone has a different set of skills and not all people are cut out for white collar work. As an educated, white collar worker, I would naturally encourage my children to pursue a college education but some folks are more gifted with their hands in repairing or constructing things. You cannot place someone in a box that they don't fit into.
Agreed. My brother is a Mensa member, he walked away from a full ride scholarship to an Ivy League during his Junior year because he hated it.
He is now a skilled craftsman with a two or three year wait list, and makes a good living. He takes the winter off from that and works at a ski resort loading people onto the lift so he can ski for free all winter. He loves his life.
Don't have kids so this is complete conjecture: I wouldn't encourage my kid to go into it, but I wouldn't be opposed to it if it's what they really wanted and if they had a solid plan for going about it.
However, what is interesting, the number one vehicle driven by millionaires in the US is the Ford F-150. Why? Because your typical millionaire isn't driving a Mercedes living in a $800K home. The typical millionaire is an electrician, plumber, small business owner who lives in a modest home in a modest neighborhood.
How much of that is including home equity though? If so, then during the heyday of the housing bubble (where a bungalow in Phoenix could fetch $600k), I'm not surprised there were many millionaires on paper.
With the housing bust, how many of those electricians and carpenters driving their F-150s are still millionaires? The construction industry was the heaviest hit in this recession.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stan4
The average doctor doesn't make $250k a year.
The two most popular specialties (with the greatest percentage of docs, by far):
In 2003 there were 111,990 family and general practice doctors in the United States earning approximately $139,640 per year. In 2009 that number has dropped to 99,000 earning an average of $168,550. That's an increase of $28910 but almost 13,000 less doctors to see patients.
There are 800,000 licensed doctors (with an MD) in America, so the 99,000 of the family doctors is not exactly representative. Also many family doctors and primary care physicians don't care about money, they are in it for altruistic reasons, because every medical student knew the pay was crap for primary care for at least two decades now. Yes there are doctors who just want to pay off their debt and live a comfortable middle class life while doing something meaningful with their lives.
Nevertheless, the average compensation for physicians is much closer to $250k than you think (it's about $220k). They also work their asses off and many of them deserve every penny they make. I'd much rather pay physicians $250k including 401k than $120k plus $80k pension to some worthless school administrator whose only qualification was sucking up to the teacher's union and being so bad at teaching that they gave the person a desk job. Doctors are the most policed profession in the country, constantly under the threat of lawsuit, and not unionized. 1 out of 57 doctors lose their medical licenses in Illinois, while 1 out of 2500 teachers lose their teaching license. It's hard for me to believe that 2499 out of 2500 teachers in Illinois are all competent and teaching to standard. How many of these teachers could have even gotten into medical school?
There are plenty of ways to make money, some are just more reliable and resilient to downturns than others.
Last edited by james011; 02-27-2011 at 05:55 PM..
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