What are you doing?
 

Right now I have only some general idea of travelling next year and seeing my family in eroupe which will take a years work to stash away cash. What are you doing? What have you done to get here? If you didn't attend a post secondary school, do you regret it? I really have no direction or desire to continue on to a univercity. Where I am now it would be a waste of my time and money, I don't know what I want to do. I am intrested in transportation design and It's not offered much here in Canada so I guess my only 'plan' is to take a look at some schools while I travel. Are you workin to survive or are you doing something you love? Any wisdom or advice that you would like to impart would be great.

I have a boring job that pays fairly well for my age. Being single without kids helps a lot, too. I spent a lot of time in the past learning how to invest on the stock market, and it paid off, too, but now I'm looking at real estate instead. I have 3 years before I hit 30, and by that time I plan to learn what it'll take to build some rental property. My pastor has already done this, and said he'd help me with anything he could. Basically, I plan to build a couple large duplexes on the south (nice) side of my city, live in one of the apartments, then use the income from the others to pay for the mortgages. Once they're paid off, it'll be extra income to save for my retirement and to build a real house. I doubt I'll stay at my current job for much longer, but I'll surely have another job to use as my main source of income.

What am I doing?


Well, I wish I had an answer for you. It seems that I am going to be doing nothing for a very long time.

I have no idea how I got here,
My ego pulled me along, my brain & will backed me up.

Somehow, I have become successful despite myself.
At the same time I'm questioning whether it's worth it.
I want more (no, I NEED more) on a personal level,
that is something I need to work on.

Family, friends & yourself;
don't lose yourself on your way up.
Remember you are human.

I went right into college after high school. It was what I was programmed to do from an early age. Blew my first year of college and $10000. After some time off, which was needed to apply some place cheaper, I resumed, only transferring 18 credits from that $10K.

I think that if you feel you're not ready, then you're not ready. See some stuff first, maybe, and then decide what you want to do next. Maybe I'd have saved $10000 if I'd done that. (shrug)

Now I'm working at a good job, for good money. I've gone from one job to the next based on who made me an offer first, except this job. With this job, the choice was a little more complex, as I got two offers at around the same time. :) Nice.

ugh.

lesse... uh..... almost died during my jr year of HS... came home... almost died some more.. now i'm here.

The end!

I hope you don't plan on doing the duplexe thing for "easy money" if you are you are in for a rude shock. That WILL be a full time job. And you will probably keep a another full time job at the time. Of course if you DO do that within 10-15 years you will have a nice nest egg. I am assuming you plan on keeping investing on the stocks. Good plan. Just try to keep looking at the big picture and don't give up half way through.

Good advice to learn from. I followed the beat less (more?) travelled and took a year off. My dad has freaked on several occasions. But now I am set on going to college this fall and know what I will (probably) major in.

How did you almost die? If I could be so bold as to ask...

Im in college and then on to grad school. Im pretty busy doing nothing or too much at once. There never seams to be a middle ground.

I have yet to figure out what I'm going to do. Basically I've been travelling since high school.. umm I'm 23 now so I could've been out of school by now..oh well. Who needs school anyway? :p

Planning on graduating this next year, then probably off to graduate school.

In some ways it is hard to impossible to pass on my "vast wisdom" on this subject since times are different from when I went to college. Anyway, I'll give it a try.

I went to the University of California, Berkeley straight out of high school. I lasted for a year and half before I left to go to work and get married. I never went back to college, except to take Community College classes to get a Supervisory Management certificate.

I am quite happy with my job and I will be retiring in 2 years. Frankly, I will retire much earlier than I ever thought possible. And, based on preliminary calculations, I will retire with at least the same take-home pay as from working. Plus I have a couple of retirement accounts that will give me "cost of living" increases in the future.

Most of the skills that I use at work come from things I learned in other jobs. But I know for a fact that the lack of a degree has held my back. There are many things that I would like to know more about and that would make me more effective at work.

If you choose not to go directly to university, I would suggest that you not put off going back to school for more than 2 years. Learning needs to be a life-long endeavor. There is always something more that you can learn that will be useful in your life. If you get out of the habit of studying and learning in a college environment, it becomes very hard to get back to it.

Good luck with your decision. You have great possibilities ahead of you. Enjoy the journey.

hm...what am i doing?

well, last december i moved to Germany from USA, because my bf lives here...

and now i'm going to German language class, 5 days a week, 6 hours a day, till the end of october. at that point, i should be able to get a job here, so i'll do that...

...whilst waiting for my bf to finish his 3-yr IT Specialist apprenticeship...

then we may move to the USA if job prospects for him look good..

and then at that point i hope to go back to school, for either computers or chemistry. prolly chemistry.

:)

Lady Luck always has a hand in this. Like G, I can't pass on a lot that will help but I can tell you what I did and am doing.

I tried college, dropped out, joined the Navy. Learned some skills, grew a little. Came home and found a job with an electric company doing the same Navy stuff.

I started going to college at night on the old GI bill. I took what they wanted for a while but realized that there were things I could take that enhanced my job possibilities. I had to argue with 4 different colleges but I started taking only math, physics, and other courses that had to do with electricity.

I have a little over 100 hours of credit but no degree. (My actual major was Computer Science). I still like some freshman crap or something. Anyway, I have a nice office job and can retire with 30 years in 3 years and 6 months. I'll probably stay another 10 as I will only be 54 when I retire and it's a good job.

My lack of a degree may have held me back a little but my experience seems to count for a lot now. My supervisor has a masters degree but defers to me on technical matters and emergency decisions. I also get to do pretty much as I please.

My only regret as to having a degree is that I like to finish what I start so I will probably get some kind of degree.

I have found, along with several employers, that having a degree does not make someone smart or experienced. Travel will broaden your vision and mature you a little. It matters. If you want to do something in particular with your life try to get an intern position while you study and get some real world experience.

Luck is good, but help her out any time you can. Luck won't find you, you will have to stay on her tail.

I have a Bachelors of Science in Elementary Education. I have loved working with children since I was old enough to babysit. I have my own daughter who isn't quite 3 yet. I have a home child care and currently have 7 different children at different times through the day. Thankfully not all at once. I love it though everyone has their good and bad days. I earn about 2/3rd what hubby earns but I have no child care to pay for my daughter which I would have to do if I worked outside the home. I love what I do and I would have to earn at least $9/hour to make as much elseware. To give you a comparison - When I taught school before my daughter was born I only got 15K a year at a church school. With my Elementary Education degree I can do so many different things. I have been in gun sales, secretarial, computer technician at a small college, and production control engineer at a large manufacturer in my area. Just simply having any kind of degree opens doors in many areas - not just the specific subject you studied for.Just get a bachelors or even an associates in anything that interests you and you can go so many more places.