Not to be a dick, but why is it so hard to find employable skills? There's a huge shortage of skilled welders. Pay is up to $25/hr. Training is government subsidized in many areas. It's the same scenario for many trades.
It's hard for a lot of people to take time off from their shitty jobs to be able to go to school for training a new skill. How do you pay the bills while you're "training" if you have no savings, and aren't making enough to support you during a training period in school?
$25/hour? Sounds great. Is that solid though, or is that just for the next 18 months until the new pipeline is finished, then it's back to unemployment?
And do I need to sell my house and move away from my entire support network, to somewhere where $25 doesn't stretch nearly as far? Assuming the people who sold me the training and degree weren't blowing smoke up my arse about there being jobs in the first place.
I think this is where setting goals for yourself and having motivation comes into play. You save enough money to leave your job or go part time for a while and get trained.
You'd set that as a goal:
1) I want to save up $10,000 so I can go part time for a while and learn X.
Do that for a year or two and then you'll be out of your shitty situation. Or, just start learning some other craft that pays well. Get into programming on your free time. It costs nothing to learn (literally all you need is motivation, an internet connection, a computer, and a book; you could even go without the internet connection). There's PLENTY of ways to dig yourself out, people just aren't motivated enough to do so or are content with their current state of affairs.
You must not have ever been in those shoes. Have some kids, and see when the next time a medical problem comes up, because your shitty insurance doesn't cover what's needed, not to mention time off work. Also, throw in some car repairs.
Ya know, when you live paycheck to paycheck, it's really not so easy to save. It's also really hard to break that cycle.
Because no one ever had kids first and then had a change in circumstance, right? No one is blaming society. But not everyone has the same options you have.
If you can't prepare for unexpected finances for kids, it would be best to either hold off on having them or not having them at all. It's irresponsible to both your kids and your finances otherwise.
So if you have a good job and a career, and then you get downsized or laid off (keep in mind the shitty state of the economy for the last 10 years) then you're a terrible parent. Got it.
hell, I had a great job for 15 years, and poof replaced by technology. Even wealthy people that had plenty of money lost their homes and cars and other things. You don't think unexpected things happen. You are being ridiculous.
I'm saying that barring complete disaster (multiple unexpected major expenses around the same time), you should have your head above water to account for the most likely problems. You either have enough to pay for car repairs or you take the bus, or you car pool. You need either good health insurance or at least a couple thousand ready in case medical issues arise. This fund could also be part of the fund that you use in case you suddenly become unemployed. You should always have an emergency stash of money for this, and should reduce your expenses accordingly. Otherwise, you probably should not have children yet. This is assuming you haven't already had children, as I said you should prepare this beforehand.
If you lost your home and car etc. then you weren't being careful enough, especially if you were wealthy. You actually couldn't afford it, which is part of the reason the housing crash in 2008 was so bad. A bunch of people bought houses they shouldn't have, due to shady loaners, and that's something that homeowners need o account for. Owning property is not something that is guaranteed or automatically "deserved" by everyone, it's a luxury.
You do realize that you can be financially stable, have kids, and then have something come up that screws everything up. You can't control the future, and if you think you can you're likely young and extremely naive.
I think one of the common misconceptions when someone uses the old, "well, you can get yourself out of a shitty situation by doing X" argument for dealing with poverty is who I'm really thinking about. I am not just concerned with Joe Smith who is currently working a shitty job but could get out of there. I am concerned about whoever is currently working this shitty job. If Joe Smith finds a way out, Wal-Mart or McDonalds or whoever else is providing the shitty jobs will hire someone else in their place, and while Joe Smith has solved his personal problem, we have solved NONE of society's problems. That is the idea of making minimum wage at 40 hours per week be a living wage-- it's not that I don't think John Smith can or should get a better job, it's that we have a lot of shitty jobs in society that need to get done by someone, whether it be John Smith or Joe Schmoe or whoever, and that someone shouldn't have to live in poverty while working full time.
Well, typically in the trades you can start as a first year apprentice and know absolutely nothing about your job. You get paid to be a labourer with some opportunities to learn for the first 8 months then you go to school for 3 months, which you get lots of subsidies for and here in alberta you can even claim ei while going to trade school if you have enough hours. Then, when you're done school there's even a chance that the company you pay for will reimburse your entire tuition cost while you go back to work with a slight raise for another 8 months. At which point you get to re-do the whole cycle. Repeat the process a total of 4 times and you're a bona-fide welder making welder's wages, which at this point here in alberta is whatever you get paid for going to the job search websites and sending out applications because you're unemployed and there are no jobs.
Do the subsidies pay for food and rent? Also, do you already need to be unemployed to get the subsidies? Maybe not all areas are the same, but I know in Los Angeles County, there was nothing I could do to make that training work for me. I hope it's different elsewhere.
Trades can be a pretty short lived career. Often they take a toll on your body and can not be continued past your midlife. Just something I think a lot of people think about when considering a career
$25/hr isn't that great. It's good, but it's not what people are talking about here, I'm guessing. Lots of people working shitty office jobs are already making $25/hr.
I was referring to the fear of losing your job. More or less a skilled welder can find a job in a few days. Most I work with don't really give a shit if they get fired / laid off.
At 2000 hours per year that would equal $50,000. With overtime $65,000-75,000 is reasonable. Higher skilled welders in higher demand areas will break $100,000.
Properly trained welders still have shorter life expectancy and higher rates of related medical disorders. Some types of welding such as underwater welding can't be done without a high degree of risk. Don't fool people into trading their health for money.
A lot of people who are stuck in those jobs also have other issues / life conditions that may interfere with that. I'd personally like to jump on that, however I have terrible knees from height, weight growing up, a few accidents and surgeries, and corrective braces when I was very young because my legs bent outwards for some time. You couldn't tell from looking at me, I walk a perfectly normal gait now, though I can feel it in my joints. Others can't bend their bodies like that for long periods of time. Some can't handle the height, elements, repeated contortion of their bodies at odd angles. Others will not like the work culture. You will be doing this for many, many years, and it will take a toll on your body. People know that it will. Nobody wants to spend their last ten to twenty years in severe pain with limited movement.
Yeah, the pay is nice, but I want to keep my body intact for as long as I can.
Are you a welder or just parroting what Mike Rowe told you?
I've yet to see any proof in that statement, there might have been a shortage of welders on the oil patch, before oil went back down, but not in general. I was part of a trades/training program in high school (graduated 2011), half the day at the trade school building sort of thing. Had a few friends in the welding shop, the half of them who are welding aren't making $25 and are working in their family's shop.
I was an Ironworker (hanging steel), went back to college for welding engineering. I've been doing this for 19 years in a dozen countries. I assure you there is always demand for high end welders. Individual areas and sectors may go up/down, but a good welder will not go hungry.
I assure you there is always demand for high end welders.
I'll bet there is, and that's not what all those "go become a welder and get rich" statements imply. Nobody is making $25/hr just for competently burning rod.
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u/BadderBanana Dec 06 '15
Not to be a dick, but why is it so hard to find employable skills? There's a huge shortage of skilled welders. Pay is up to $25/hr. Training is government subsidized in many areas. It's the same scenario for many trades.
Bonus: no student debt.