Yup, my brother was a Travel industry and management grad. 1st job was asst manager at new 4 seasons hotel. After a year, quit and went to law school. He worked at insurance defense for several years, got fed up and quit. Worked for a bank as a lowly loan counselor. Worked his way up and is now their House counsel. He’s much happier with work/life balance now.
Completely agree! This is the crux of why we are not suggesting a major to either of ours(D21: humanities major; D23 plans Chem or Engineering or something similar). They each are following their areas of passion, and we are happy to write the checks. Instead of advising on majors, we focused/are focusing our guidance on selecting colleges that will maximize their experience and have world-class opportunities with intellectually stimulating peers.
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My BIL got a hotel and restaurant mgmt degree and now owns his own hotel company and has a library named after him at his alma mater so she might still roll in dough!
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We are middle class and probably make less money than most people on here. We are not pushing our kids to study a pre professional degree that leads to a specific job. We told S he should study what he wants and is passionate about with the understanding that he will need to be fully supporting himself after undergrad.
My S would never consider working in finance or in tech. He wants to work in public service or non-profit work.
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I majored in sociology after my mom vetoed my preferred major of community service & public affairs. Went to law school, practiced law awhile and now and running a nonprofit.
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Absolute BS. There are numerous paths to a livable income with a humanities degree. My SiL doesn’t have wealthy parents or PiL and he has a history UG degree. He went on to get a masters in a humanities field (puiblic history) and is doing well
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We let our kids pick and they are both teaching.
Will they be millionaires-- probably not.
Will they match their parents income-- probably not.
Will they make a living wage and do exactly what they want-- absolutely.
FInance and tech are not the only places to get jobs. In hindsight, my skillset could have gotten me into finance but I would have hated ever minute of it. Instead I’ve had an incredibly rewarding government career with numerous projects that have change policy and I’ve been incredibly happy. Plus 3 years from now I’m going to retire with amazing benefits and can pursue my non-financial passions
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Great to hear! You never know ….
My friends’ kids vowed never to be teachers like they’d parents because they saw hoss was hard they worked and how little they were paid. Both ended up in teaching and are/were very successful. One decided he needed to earn more, so he talked to a military recruiter who promised him he could be an air traffic controller if he enlisted as an officer. He enlisted and was trained as a pilot and flight engineer.
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The terminology you’re using is confusing. You get commissioned as an officer, not enlisted. And pilots are commissioned officers, while flight engineers are enlisted personnel. Maybe he enlisted and got trained as a flight engineer, and was later commissioned as an officer and went to pilot training?
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Sorry—he entered the military with his bachelor’s degree, with the understanding he’d be an officer. I’m fuzzy about the exact sequencing and suspect you know way way more about such things than I do. All I know is he’s now an officer and a flight engineer. He and his folks are happy, as is his wife. They like that they get housing. He has 2 young kids and a 3rd on the way.
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I told my D, that I expect her to save the world and support us in our old age, so like, no pressure 
I also encouraged her to continue with her instrument, for many reasons, but mostly because it meant she could always busk for her dinner.
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We had ongoing discussions with both our kids about financial security and what types of jobs provide that. We were also open about how much it cost to live in our city, in a house like ours, to go on a vacation every year, to send kids to private school, be a stay-at-home parent, etc. Ultimately it will be their choice how and where they want to live but they have to be able to support themselves and their future families. It doesn’t matter to us whether they can only afford to go camping vs. spending $$$$ to go to Disney - that’s up to them.
Most 18-year-olds (and graduating 22-23 year old’s) don’t have a great overall sense of reality about how much it costs to live as an independent adult in different parts of the country. They know how much rent is and can calculate a mortgage payment but don’t consider all of the extraneous costs that pop up. Most of them are also shocked at the cost of groceries - once they have to pay for those on their own. Further complicating the issue - many of the most desirable jobs are located in large cities with high costs of living and recent college grads are often shocked at how much of their salaries will go toward living expenses. They are reluctant to live too far outside the city limits, where it may be more affordable, because they don’t want to miss out on the social aspects that most big cities offer.
A friend’s son just graduated from college. He is a musician and has been passionate about that since he picked up a guitar in middle school. He formed a band as a freshman and they have been steadily performing gigs for 5 years, while going to college. His parents, while acknowledging his talent and enthusiastically attending his gigs, were resistant to paying tuition for a music-related degree, so I think he ended majoring in marketing (he limped through college because he really didn’t see the point and didn’t have a connection to his major, but eventually did finish at the urging of his parents). They have exhausted themselves over the years trying to convince him to become passionate about having a corporate job, reserving the music as a hobby- to little success. He is happy working whatever hourly job he can get during the day and concentrating his efforts on writing and playing music. They have finally (I think) made peace with the fact that he can pay rent and eat (he lives in a small, affordable college town) but he may never achieve they the level of financial freedom that they hoped he would.
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I was just reading an article about the shortage of mental health professionals. I am so thankful for the 4 young people I personally know who have recently become psychologists (yes, I know they all had to earn advanced degrees). Two are working in private practices and two are school psychologists. Another young woman I know is a social worker in a large city. None of them expects to make a ton of money.
FWIW, only one of these young people comes from a family with a lot of money.
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D1 was a musical theatre major in college and is now a teacher for the past 5 years and is finishing her masters in education. D2 was a communications major and works in website implementation. Both girls picked their majors and we supported what they wanted to study.
H and I are both first generation college graduates. H is an electrical engineer with a masters and I am an accountant. I’ll be honest and say I have never been passionate about what I do. It is a job and I have done well and I’m paid well. I am fortunate to work in a small company now with great management and wonderful people which make the daily work easy to deal with. WFH 4 days a week now is a great perk to the job.
H currently works for a large corporation headquartered in Europe. He loves the engineering, but hates the Europe centric management of the company. WFH has made the job tolerable plus the fact that he only deals with Europe in the morning. H is paid extremely well. He is working on the side trying to get one more start up company going before retirement. I guess my point is that we are both hard workers and have a life that we fully enjoy without being passionate about our daily jobs.
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The young lady who lives across the street attended a high ranking LAC and was a sociology major. She recently earned her MSW at one of our public colleges. I spoke to her father awhile ago and he told me he was upset about her career choice and thought she would do “more.” He’s a doctor, and I think he assumed that attending the school she did would somehow lead to earning a high salary or different field (doesn’t work that way).
I spoke to this young lady recently and learned that she works for a mental health organization and also has private clients who she sees for virtual therapy. Her father is now telling her (half joking) that they should go into practice together (he’s a psychiatrist).
I think he learned a few things. Your school or major won’t make you rich, poor, or happy. That’s on you…your drive…and he realizes she’s doing well.
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I am surprised that the private practice psychologists don’t expect to make much money. Around here, psychologists for teens charge $300+/hr and insatiable demand.
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Work to live or live to work!
I think both are equally good pathways.
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I posted on this thread yesterday and have enjoyed the different perspectives that have been shared. I am quoting one post that made me pause, because I have seen this myself in many young people.
While I’m unsure how this will play out for many/most of them, I understand the desire to not have to struggle financially and hoping for a life where they can pursue their interests.
We’ve all heard the sayings, “work is work” and “work to live; don’t live to work”. On the flip side there’s “love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life”. This thread has shown how people often make choices based upon these individual priorities and by the shared experiences of those around them.
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Sometimes it works out. I know a middle aged person who took the “safe” way to a steady wage without passion (one of the burnout professions listed here). She has found joy in what she does without having had the passion to start with.
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