Advice for your child to make money

[kumquat]

I'm with the "do what you love" bunch. In my youth (starting at about 16) I worked at a gravel pit, took over the family farm, worked in a medical lab and a few others.

A couple of these inspired me a bit. When I went off to the U, I enrolled in pre-med, inspired by the lab job. After 1 year, I didn't get accepted to med school and fell into computers (circa 1970). Loved it but got a degree in chemistry anyway.

Took a computer job. Lucked out as salaries where high, got a management job with mega-corp (including stock options). Lucked out again as meg-corp shares went through the roof and retired 5 years ago. The key is: I loved my job for >35 of the 40 years I worked. While I didn't hate it for the last few years, it wasn't the same. Liking what you do, wanting to go to work, makes working (and life) a lot more [-]bearable[/-] fun. If you have to work, at least enjoy it.

As for the actual advice I've given my kids? It was follow your heart, your wallet will handle it.
- DD went through all the training to join the RCMP. She could be making about $75K today. At the last minute, she decided it wasn't for her and became a probation officer for about $55K.
- DS got a CS degree and a $60 K offer from my former mega-corp. Decided he'd rather dp inbedded code for a small local company for $45K.

DD will never get a financial reward for her choice although she thinks she gets a phsycological one. DS may get a financial reward (all employees get stock options and apparently Cisco is interested in the company). Both will get some satisfaction out of wanting to go to work in the morning.

 

[l2ridehd]

I am on the board of fairly large college and get to speak to lots of college students. This is a very common question and I believe there are two correct answers.

First answer is to follow your heart, do what you love so work becomes fun.

Second answer, and if you really want to make money, learn Spanish and Mandarin and be fluent in both, and get a Master degree in International Business. As the world gets smaller, the demand for this skill set will continue to grow. The financial rewards have almost no upward limit. And you get to travel the world on an expense account.

 

[F M All]

Great responses here, I'm contemplating sharing this with our college age kids. We have done many of the things suggested, one other thing we did was to offer them aptitude testing. It can help them understand what they are good at and what jobs those skills might apply to. It costs a few hundred dollars and is only another input, but it was very helpful for two out of the three. The other one is very bright and had no particular attribute that suggested he should look for a career with a particular skill or without it.
Of course you then get successful people who are contrarians - appear to be ill-suited but excel.

 

[rescueme]

And you get to travel the world on an expense account.

Funny; that's the life I lived for many years and the primary reason I retired before "normal age" (whatever that is).

Sometimes a benefit (or too much of it) is not an advantage at all ...

 

[W2R]

Funny; that's the life I lived for many years and the primary reason I retired before "normal age" (whatever that is).

Sometimes a benefit (or too much of it) is not an advantage at all ...

I hated doing that as well, more than I can possibly articulate.

I think this is one of those "different strokes for different folks" cases, since some people seem absolutely rabid for travel. But who knows if any one individual kid wants to travel or not, or even knows yet how he/she feels about it?

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

Do whatever you want, but always have a plan that leads to success. A bonus would be having a plan that makes sense to other people, just in case you need to get a *job*.

 

[ShortInSeattle]

First answer is to follow your heart, do what you love so work becomes fun.
.

I got that advice from my father and it's served me well. I do love my job. I do think it's good to add in a conversation about lifestyle and the financial consequences of various choices.

I have a cousin who got a private college education in Creative Writing (what she loves) and ended up going back to her supermarket job with 80k in debt. She "pursued her dreams" pretty blindly IMO.
I have a sibling who quit a high paying job to live a modest lifestyle as a stay at home Mom, and she is pleased with her choice despite the big drop in household income. She made her choice with open eyes.

In short, I think there is nothing wrong with choosing a low paying career that you love, so long as you know what it means in dollar and lifestyle terms. Informed choices come from looking at all the angles. I've always wanted both - good pay and a job I love. I've done just one or the other and it didn't cut it.

"Do what you love AND be prepared to accept the income/lifestyle your choice will produce."

SIS

 

[Onward]

If he's starting early, and his main priority is financial independence, it's easy. Get a degree that gets him into a well-paying field. LBYM, and save and invest a big chunk of each check. Retire early a multi-millionaire, and flip Kyosaki the bird!

If he has an entrepeneurial bent, he can go that route too, and possibly hit it really big, though only a minority of people truly have that bent.

A couple of things about "following your passion," which is how I, somewhat regretfully, played the game: the experience of studying a subject in school has nothing to do with the real-life, day-to-day experience of w*rking in the analogous field.

Also, your passion at age 25 is almost never your passion at 40.

 

[soupcxan]

This "do what you love" nonsense is way overplayed. I blame it on the baby boomer zeitgeist. Maybe your kid will be in the small % of people that actually make a living from something they love, but most people I know do not "love" what they do, so I think the odds are against that. Personally, I would rather keep the things that I love as hobbies, and not work, because even fun things can become tiresome if you have to do them all the time.

More realistic advice is to tell your kid to find the intersection of these elements:

1. What are you good at?
2. What do you like to do?
3. What will people pay you to do?

For me, this process involved part-time work in HS, part-time work in college, and internships every summer until I graduated.

 

[brewer12345]

This "do what you love" nonsense is way overplayed. I blame it on the baby boomer zeitgeist. Maybe your kid will be in the small % of people that actually make a living from something they love, but most people I know do not "love" what they do, so I think the odds are against that. Personally, I would rather keep the things that I love as hobbies, and not work, because even fun things can become tiresome if you have to do them all the time.

More realistic advice is to tell your kid to find the intersection of these elements:

1. What are you good at?
2. What do you like to do?
3. What will people pay you to do?

For me, this process involved part-time work in HS, part-time work in college, and internships every summer until I graduated.

I like the three questions approach. But i would add:

If you choose a path that involves sitting in a cube all day, have a plan for escape after a decade.

 

[Bestwifeever]

...
2. What do you like to do?....

Sometimes getting paid to do what you like to do (or majoring in it in college) turns it into an obligation/responsibility/deadline-oriented task, and it becomes something you won't like to do anymore.

 

[Retch The Grate]

I definitely went the do what I love route, rather than revenue maximizing route in my career. Seems perfectly viable to me, I'm not rich, but I love going to work each day, my challenges are interesting, I get to dress how I like, dye my hair the colors I enjoy, and I'm on track to be FI nice and early.

Anecdotal, sure, but in general in my industry people are here because they love making games, not because it was the revenue maximizing career choice for them.

 

[Gumby]

It is intimidating trying to pick just one course for your life when you are still a teenager. I think one of the key messages you can give your son is that he doesn't have to do that -- life is long and he can try many different things. I have been a naval officer, a nuclear engineer and a lawyer. I've enjoyed all of them and found things to hate about all of them. Mostly, I'm glad I tried to follow my bliss where it seemed to lead.

In order to do something like this, however, he'll need to LBYM from the very start, so that he won't be locked into any job and can afford to make a change when it seems right, go back to school, etc. He should make educational choices that keep the most number of options open (as, for instance, when a music performance major is also advised to get a teaching certificate). But most importantly, whatever he does, he should throw himself into it and do it as well as he possibly can. A half-hearted attempt will not provide him with clear feedback as to whether he should stick with it or try something new.

As far as money goes, it has been my experience that there is a tipping point. If you make less than that, you are unhappy because you can't really afford your life. Once you cross that line, however, making more doesn't make you any happier.

 

[Gatordoc50]

My son asked me for my advice on how he should make money during his life. Do I tell him to be a doctor, lawyer, etc? Or, do I advise him to take a chance and start a business?

I know it's ultimately something he has to decide for himself and enjoy, but as his most trusted advisor, what should I recommend?

I think the easy way out for me would be to direct him toward the path of least risk and highest benefit such as becoming an MD. Yet part of me wants him to take a calculated risk and start a business or find a way of making money without having to depend on getting paid an hourly rate, thus limiting his earning capacity.

Most of the successful people I know have become rich from their own business or investing on real estate. Yet I also know many people that have tried this and failed miserably.

I think the goal is to find something to earn money that does not depend on your own work hours. In a way I'm thinking of what I would do if I could be a teen again knowing what I know now.

Typically, about a third of all incoming freshmen are premed. A classmate of mine is dean of admissions at the University of Florida College of Dentistry. She received 15 thousand applications for 85 spots last year. Medical, Dental, and Vet schools are extremely competitive. If your son is bright enough and motivated enough to get into med school, I wouldn't worry about him.

 

[Walt34]

It is intimidating trying to pick just one course for your life when you are still a teenager. I think one of the key messages you can give your son is that he doesn't have to do that -- life is long and he can try many different things.

It is hard. I still remember graduating from HS and not having clear direction to go in. I was thinking about law enforcement, but not sure about that, and thinking about enlisting in either Navy or Air Force but thought perhaps college would be better.

So I unloaded trucks for the first fall after HS while I thought about it, and decided to go to the community college first and if I didn't like it I could enlist but that didn't work the other way around.

One of the neat things about law enforcement careers is the wide variety of jobs within it. I know some guys who kept the same employer and had a half a dozen different jobs.

I was a patrol officer, financial fraud investigator, and computer forensic examiner. Other possibilities are media relations (the one you see on TV after some event) school liaisons, aircraft pilots, evidence technicians, grant researchers and statistical analysis.

And of course almost any large organization is going to have the same variety of opportunities.

 

[eytonxav]

Has he taken any of those tests that help point to careers that would correlate with his personality/answers or read What Color is My Parachutte? While I wouldn't let that influence my direction too much, it is another data point to consider.

That said, I agree with the concept of doing something you like doing and that there is demand for in the marketplace, with not too many chasing the same.

 

[rodi]

This "do what you love" nonsense is way overplayed. I blame it on the baby boomer zeitgeist. Maybe your kid will be in the small % of people that actually make a living from something they love, but most people I know do not "love" what they do, so I think the odds are against that. Personally, I would rather keep the things that I love as hobbies, and not work, because even fun things can become tiresome if you have to do them all the time.

More realistic advice is to tell your kid to find the intersection of these elements:

1. What are you good at?
2. What do you like to do?
3. What will people pay you to do?

For me, this process involved part-time work in HS, part-time work in college, and internships every summer until I graduated.

This is good advice.
I'd also suggest if your child hasn't made up their mind yet, when they're graduating high school, that it's not the end of the world to take a year or two before going to college. Get a job, and find out what's available if you don't go to college. For me, that meant working as a file clerk for an insurance company... I swear the movie 9 to 5 was based on my workplace... I realized pretty darn quick that being smart and able wasn't going to get me a living wage in a non-menial job. That I needed that piece of paper... I was much more motivated in college knowing that the alternative was crappy jobs. It also made me consider engineering - something I had discounted when I was first considering majors in High School.

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

This "do what you love" nonsense is way overplayed. I blame it on the baby boomer zeitgeist. Maybe your kid will be in the small % of people that actually make a living from something they love, but most people I know do not "love" what they do, so I think the odds are against that. Personally, I would rather keep the things that I love as hobbies, and not work, because even fun things can become tiresome if you have to do them all the time.

More realistic advice is to tell your kid to find the intersection of these elements:

1. What are you good at?
2. What do you like to do?
3. What will people pay you to do?

For me, this process involved part-time work in HS, part-time work in college, and internships every summer until I graduated.

These are very good questions to ask, but difficult to answer by a near-adult with very little life experience. Most adults can't even answer such questions. The process is actually one of elimination. Over time (decades?), most people learn what they're not good at, what they don't like to do, and what people won't pay them to do. The key is finding a shortcut to these answers without wasting so much time (and earning potential?).

 

[Onward]

On the subject of "career guidance" tests: the daughter of a friend of mine just took one in a California high school. The restults came back and recommended she become ... a party clown. True story. The girl was devastated.

 

[Jay_Gatsby]

On the subject of "career guidance" tests: the daughter of a friend of mine just took one in a California high school. The restults came back and recommended she become ... a party clown. True story. The girl was devastated.

You would think the parents would be even more devastated.

 

[Mulligan]

On the subject of "career guidance" tests: the daughter of a friend of mine just took one in a California high school. The restults came back and recommended she become ... a party clown. True story. The girl was devastated.

For some people, anything that gets you thinking about a career could be potentially helpful, but in reality for me anyways, I hold those tests in as much regard as the tests where the kids would pay a dollar to take a test to find the most suitable person in school to be your " date match".

 

[Nords]

On the subject of "career guidance" tests: the daughter of a friend of mine just took one in a California high school. The restults came back and recommended she become ... a party clown. True story. The girl was devastated.

After nearly 20 years in the submarine force, my "career guidance" tests came back for "nuclear engineer" and "mid-level manager".

I decided that I'd rather be a party clown.

 

[Walt34]

On the subject of "career guidance" tests: the daughter of a friend of mine just took one in a California high school. The restults came back and recommended she become ... a party clown. True story. The girl was devastated.

One has to use some interpretation on those results. I remember one test that said I should become a farmer. Huh? I had absolutely no interest in that!

In hindsight I think the result was based on the other characteristics that I like to work alone, that I liked being outside, and I loathed the idea of working in an office. (That last one changed when I got closer to 40 and after 18 years of rotating shift work.)

So a career as a police officer also met those criteria.

 

[Free To Canoe]

After nearly 20 years in the submarine force, my "career guidance" tests came back for "nuclear engineer" and "mid-level manager".

I decided that I'd rather be a party clown.

Lot's of good advice on this thread. I am about to email my Niece about career planning (if she wants a sounding board) so this is timely. She finished her 1st year of Astronomy but got a D in calc.

I was on the swim team in highschool with a guy that became a career clown for the circus after completing college.

 

[FUEGO]

After nearly 20 years in the submarine force, my "career guidance" tests came back for "nuclear engineer" and "mid-level manager".

I decided that I'd rather be a party clown.

My career test came back with "party animal", but somehow I ended up as an engineer and mid level manager.