The Careers I Chose, the Money I Made, and What It Actually Cost Me

When I was growing up, there was one piece of career advice that seemed almost universal:

Go to college.

That was the plan.

Graduate high school. Go to college. Get a degree. Find a good job. Make good money.

College was treated almost like an insurance policy against struggling financially.

Now I'm 43, and I think we left out a pretty important question:

What exactly are you going to college for?

Because after more than two decades of working, earning money, raising kids, making good financial decisions and occasionally making some spectacularly stupid ones, I've realized something.

A degree isn't a financial plan.

A career isn't a financial plan either.

You need an actual plan.

Some of the Best Careers Never Required a Four-Year Degree

This is something I wish we'd talked about more when I was young.

Electricians.

Plumbers.

HVAC technicians.

Welders.

Heavy-equipment mechanics.

There are people in skilled trades earning excellent livings without spending four years sitting in university classrooms and potentially borrowing tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege.

They learned something the market needed.

Then people paid them to do it.

That's a remarkably simple concept that somehow got lost during the era of “everybody needs to go to college.”

College can absolutely be worth it.

If you want to become an engineer, physician, nurse, accountant or enter another profession where specialized higher education is necessary, there's an obvious reason you're there.

But borrowing $80,000 because you're 18 and everybody told you that you're supposed to attend college?

That's not a career strategy.

That's hoping you'll figure out the strategy after you've already bought it.

Education Still Matters

Here's where things get interesting.

At 43, I'm back in college.

So clearly this isn't an anti-college article.

I'm studying criminal justice with a concentration in cybercrime because I'm thinking about what comes after my current career.

That's an entirely different proposition than going to school because somebody told me successful people have degrees.

There's a purpose behind it.

I have decades of investigative experience. I'm adding education and technical knowledge that could help me transition into cybersecurity or another related field later.

The degree isn't the plan.

The degree supports the plan.

That's the distinction I wish somebody had explained to me when I was younger.

Your First Career Doesn't Have to Be Your Last

People love five-year plans.

Life apparently does not.

Industries change.

Technology changes.

Your body changes.

Your family changes.

Jobs disappear.

Opportunities appear.

Sometimes you simply wake up one morning and realize you don't want to spend the next twenty years doing what you've spent the previous twenty doing.

That's why I don't think career planning should end when you get hired.

You should always have some idea of what Career Number Two might look like.

Maybe you never need it.

Great.

But having skills, education and financial resources gives you options when life decides to throw a curveball.

And life will throw one eventually.

The Most Important Thing My Career Bought Me Wasn't Stuff

I've made good money.

And like virtually everyone who has made good money, I've managed to spend plenty of it.

Cars.

Motorcycles.

Travel.

Cameras.

Things I wanted at the time.

Some were worth every dollar.

Some probably weren't.

But eventually I started understanding that the most valuable thing money can purchase is options.

Savings means you can survive an emergency.

Investments mean today's work can potentially contribute to tomorrow's income.

Retirement accounts mean you're slowly purchasing your future freedom.

Education means you may have another door available when the current one closes.

Those things aren't particularly exciting when you're 25.

At 43, they're incredibly exciting.

Investing Changed the Way I Look at Work

There's a fundamental difference between making money and building wealth.

A paycheck is money somebody gives you for your labor.

Investing allows some of the money you've already earned to potentially begin working for you.

That sounds painfully obvious.

It took me longer than I'd like to admit to really appreciate it.

Every dollar doesn't need to become something you own.

Some dollars should become more dollars.

That could mean a 401(k), 457(b), IRA, broad-market investments or whatever combination makes sense for someone's circumstances.

The exact vehicle matters less than developing the habit.

Start early.

Be consistent.

And understand that time is one of the most valuable assets an investor has.

I wish I'd appreciated that much earlier.

Savings Are More Than an Emergency Fund

People usually talk about savings in terms of emergencies.

Your transmission dies.

The water heater explodes.

You lose your job.

And yes, that's important.

But savings do something else.

They give you negotiating power over your own life.

If you're living paycheck to paycheck, you may have to tolerate a job you hate because Friday's paycheck is already spent.

If you have savings, investments and manageable debt, suddenly you have choices.

You can change jobs.

Go back to school.

Start a business.

Move.

Take a calculated risk.

Or simply tell somebody no.

That's financial freedom long before anybody becomes a millionaire.

Don't Build a Life That Requires Everything to Go Right

This may be the biggest lesson I've learned.

People build financial lives around everything continuing exactly as planned.

Same career.

Same income.

Same health.

Same marriage.

Same economy.

Same house.

Same everything.

Except life doesn't work that way.

I've lived long enough now to know that the unexpected isn't particularly unexpected.

Something will change.

So build margin into your life.

Save money.

Invest.

Avoid unnecessary debt.

Keep learning.

Develop another skill.

Think about what you'd do if your current career disappeared tomorrow.

You don't need to spend your entire life preparing for disaster.

You just shouldn't build a life where one disaster destroys everything.

What I'll Tell My Kids

I'm not going to automatically tell my boys they need to go to college.

I'm going to ask them what they want college to accomplish.

Want to become an engineer?

Let's look at engineering programs.

Want to become an electrician?

Then why would I insist you spend four years earning an unrelated bachelor's degree instead of learning to become an electrician?

Want to start a business?

Let's talk about what skills, capital and experience that business actually requires.

I don't care whether there's a framed diploma hanging on their wall.

I care whether they can support themselves, build a future, and have enough financial independence that they aren't trapped by every decision they made at 18.

And whatever career they choose, I'll tell them the same thing:

Don't spend everything you make.

Invest some of it.

Keep learning.

Have another skill.

Have another plan.

Because someday life is going to change the plan for you.

The Evil Daddy Bottom Line

I don't think there is one perfect career.

I don't think everybody needs college.

And I don't think earning a large salary automatically means you're financially successful.

What I believe now is considerably simpler.

Learn something valuable.

Get paid for it.

Spend less than you make.

Invest the difference.

Keep educating yourself.

And always have some idea what you're going to do next.

Your career should finance your life.

Your investments should help finance your future.

And your education should create opportunities—not simply decorate a wall.

At 43, that's the career advice I wish somebody had given me at 18.

Then again, at 18 I probably wouldn't have listened anyway.

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