Niels Jørgensen

Lot's of good advice here - I have a few things to add FWIW:

Before you do anything else, get a job at a factory, at the register in K-mart or something else that is paid by the hour, is boring, repetitive, and has little or no future. Keep it for 6 months, then quit. If nothing else, it puts things in perspective. This is the best motivation you'll ever get towards an education you WILL need to avoid said job in the future. It's also good to know what some people have to live with for an entire life.

Don't stop half way through your education because of a semi-perfect job opportunity, thinking you can always keep it for a couple of years, the go back to school later. I'm sure you can, but I'm also quite certain you wont. Most I know who did that got stuck in semi-perfect. Of course, if the perfect job comes along, all bets are off

Finally, once you finish your education and find a job you love doing, don't forget to love doing it! It's easy to get caught up in the few things that bother you (and there will always be some), even to an extend where you're completely blind to all the great things about the job. I know I've been guilty of that.

Someone recommended to skip jobs when there are no more ladders to climb. This is probably sound advice, but I would also recommend taking a few days off to see things in a bigger perspective - there are other ways to evolve. When these mid-job crisis occur, and they do, there is IME an above average chance that the problem is caused not by the jobs loss of perspective, but by ones own loss of focus. What do YOU really want to be doing?

CP

Neil,

Bravo.

Great insight. That's why I love threads of this nature. It's not cars per se, but one learns so much more from members who have what it takes to succeed, and we somehow forget the big picture getting bogged down with the minutia of life.

CP

mkell

CP: I just sent you an email. I await your reply anxiously!

CP

Got th e-mail. Putting together a reply.

CP

Bauer

I am enjoying this thread and all the advice in it. I am 19 and do dream of being able to have financial stability in life as well as some "play" money so I can enjoy nice cars and a possible boat.

Anyways, the above statement holds very true and struck a cord with me. Most of my work to this point has been physical. Cutting older neighbors lawns, leaf raking, shoveling snow, and working in a nursary. It is absolute hell to do any outside physical work in 90+ degree heat, and it is even worst to have to carry 300+ plants that weigh anywhere from a pound to 100 pounds each. Not only is the work hard, but at times people don't treat you right and they treat you like your second class. Sometimes the money is not worth it either. But I also realize so many more people have it 10 times as tough.

In the end, it has taught me some great lessons though. The value of a dollar hits home to me. Also, It is always important to view all people as the same no matter what type of work they are doing. I have met people in suits that lack the common courtesy and class that my co-workers have.

The value of hard work and doing a nice job will stay with me no matter what type of profession I am in. Giving the customer what they want and helping answer their questions honestly and fairly is also something I learned and is the mentality I intend to keep. And so on and so forth. Moreso then ever though, while I learned some great lessons, I would never want to do this work for a living. I don't think I could take it actually. It is just the motivation I need to get great grades in school right now and is working very well to this point. When I do finally have a nice job while wearing a suit working in a temperature controlled workplace, I will look back and realize how lucky I am. And how much I deserve it (assuming I continue to work hard in school, etc).

I hope to see some more advice in this thread....I am learning a lot.

MoneyBiz

You can make 10 million at Bear Stearns as a trader, not bad considering the fact that you are working for someone else.

CP

You are correct. Few people know that if you are the top producer in sales in you field, you make a ton of money. IBM top sales people make more than VPs. Top sales person at Coldwell Banker real estate clears $600,000+ per year. The list goes on and on. More amazing, you do not need a PHD from Stanford to make it to tops in sales.

But then sales is not for everyone. Great salesmen are a special breed.

CP

Niels Jørgensen

...Or you could win $100K in the lottery... Or you could have joined Microsoft 25 years ago...

Point probably is that none of these things are goals you can actively pursue, if it happens, good on you, if not... Like CP said, if you're not a salesperson by nature, you're unlikely to become one by trying.

Along the same line, you could probably pick quite a few self-made multi-millionaires that never took any formal education, which deserves the utmost respect, but does not qualify as great advice to someone seeking out a career path.

Just my $0.02, of course.

Woodster

I also know several people that have made 7 figures in a sales positon!! (not me, although
I sell and have always loved selling). Commercial printing and software sales guys I know
for a fact have made $1 million per year to $4 million per year!!! (not v.p. of sales, or sales
managers, salesmen. These typically will be in smaller (but large enough and profitable
enough to support this type of pay) closely held companies or private companies. Rarely is
the structure and shareholder pressure of a large corporation going to allow that kind of
commission structure. My $.02 is Sales, sales, sales...
Marty K.

jax911TT

Advice for all you young bucks, pick up a copy of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" at the local bookstore and read it from cover to cover several times. Best read for learning how to make money. Don't follow in the footsteps of many kids today and buy a depreciable asset. Buy a home or "appreciable" asset while you are young and you will be amaze what the laws of compounding will do for your net worth in a few short years.

Jamie140

What he said. I believe you Yanks have retirement savings plans called '401k' - our is called an RRSP. I believe they are similar. Try to maximise your contributions during the first ten years of your working life. You'll be glad you did for the rest of your life.

Here's another thing that is applicable to whatever you do. ALWAYS under promise and over deliver. This should be common sense but you'd be shocked by how many people do the opposite.

Blade-MD

The five A's are critical to success. I don't know if this has been said or not, but they are true in the medical profession and would extend to other fields as well:
Availability
Affability
Affordability
Ability
Accountability (Can substitute responsibility)

Andre

haha All of us young guys own porsches. At least I am assuming we do... that appreciable asset advice would have been useful when I was 16 and buying a 944, or when i was 18 and putting and turbo motor into my 944 or now when I am trying to get more power out of my engine. All this into a car thats probably worth 1000 on blue book if i'm lucky.

But jokes aside, I do know what you are saying, being 20 it was hard to dish out 3g to put into a ROTH IRA this year but its worth it. I dont get taxed much because i am a full time student so its basically free money and as hard as it is to give up 3000 that could be used on a fun trip or something its worth it for FREE MONEY. All you guys that are students and have some money saved up, and havent already, go read about ROTH IRAs

MoneyBiz

You need to make at least 400k to swing a cgt. If you can do it by 30 then good for you.

MoneyBiz

In California there are more Asian people than NY so I think that if you are Asian you can make more there than NY. California is much less racist than NY so if you aren't stuck in the office and people have to see you than Cali is much better.