43 years old going on 22...

[Arbit Trage]

I need help with direction. It's like when you look at a restaurant menu and there are too many options.

Background: Recently divorced and laid off from Consumer Credit Analyst job with small regional bank in March. I've taken the last 9 months to reflect, work out, study computer science and travel. Now it's time to make a move...

I can go anywhere. Literally. I want to stay in the US, and probably in the West. I'm from the southeast and I want to leave.

I have really only done consumer underwriting the whole time since I graduated from college with a BS in Finance. I'm willing to take courses, get certified, even grad school. But I recognize that time is of the essence and I have to pick something and do it.

My goal would be 100K within 3 years, 200K within 10 years.

I'm currently thinking of moving to Vegas or Phoenix and attempting to get a Commercial Credit Analyst job and working toward Commercial/Business Banking.

I have taken some entry level CS courses and I keep thinking about a Cybersecurity or Data Analyst boot camp. Should I just stick with the lending part of banking or hardcore study a new CS related skill?

Any suggestions? I really need to make this move by Jan 1.

[clarkfan1979]

I need help with direction. It's like when you look at a restaurant menu and there are too many options.

Background: Recently divorced and laid off from Consumer Credit Analyst job with small regional bank in March. I've taken the last 9 months to reflect, work out, study computer science and travel. Now it's time to make a move...

I can go anywhere. Literally. I want to stay in the US, and probably in the West. I'm from the southeast and I want to leave.

I have really only done consumer underwriting the whole time since I graduated from college with a BS in Finance. I'm willing to take courses, get certified, even grad school. But I recognize that time is of the essence and I have to pick something and do it.

My goal would be 100K within 3 years, 200K within 10 years.

I'm currently thinking of moving to Vegas or Phoenix and attempting to get a Commercial Credit Analyst job and working toward Commercial/Business Banking.

I have taken some entry level CS courses and I keep thinking about a Cybersecurity or Data Analyst boot camp. Should I just stick with the lending part of banking or hardcore study a new CS related skill?

Any suggestions? I really need to make this move by Jan 1.

I think this website and forum is biased toward accumulating wealth, not getting a high paying job. Accumulating wealth provides more flexibility and a higher quality of life than a high paying job. Your salary goals are great. However, I would focus more on how you will accumulate wealth and less on how you would land a high paying job.

I'm 45 years old with a wife and a 7-year old. We have averaged a W2 household income of around 85K/year for the past 13 years. Our W-2 income for 2024 will probably be the same (85K/year). Our net worth is around 1.7 million and goes up about 150K to 200K/year without doing much. We live on less than we make and invest the difference.

[Arbit Trage]

Ok so it's just me now and I don't currently have a job. I have investments but not FI. Let's just assume I need a W-2 job...which would be a good assumption considering I recognize the need to go back to work...or at least generate some sort of income to...accumulate wealth.

[LifeHappens]

There is nothing in your original post that hints at what you might actually *want* to for a job - only that it has to pay at least $100,000 in 3 years. There are lots of ways to make $100,000k per year. I know plumbers and HVAC technicians who can make that much. I know plenty of white collar workers who will never make that much.

What do you actually LIKE?

[Arbit Trage]

I like pizza and I like video games. I can definitely tolerate a W-2 job in finance or computer science.

After the divorce, my net worth is 150K. It's not enough to retire on and I'm 43. It's just me now and I'd like to focus the next 10 to 15 years on working hard at something.

Maybe this is the wrong forum...I understand about cutting expenses, working together with your spouse on moderate incomes and building a 1 million dollar portfolio and living off 40K in perpetuity. I'm not even opposed to doing that in the future. But things have changed for me now and I'm trying to pick up the pieces, as if I'm 22 years old again and move in the right direction.

[Fru-Gal]

MMM ABSOLUTELY recommended getting a high paying job as a key move. And in case studies, forumites often point out where someone is getting underpaid or not trying for something that balances good pay with health. You should definitely find something that pays more. And when you do that having already understood FIRE concepts, well you are unstoppable!

And try something new, why not? I did that and was able to FIRE thanks to the high paying job after 5 years (but I also had other assets and an IRA that had been growing for 20 years). Start now!

https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2015/06/05/success-even-after-self-destruction/

[Raenia]

I recommend reading Designing Your Life, by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. I think it would help you brainstorm and narrow down what you are looking for, especially on the job front.

[Fru-Gal]

Perhaps someone else can find it, but I distinctly remember MMM writing about 6-figure jobs with perhaps a list of them. At the time I did not have such a job but a few years later I had managed to get one. Being inside that company I saw rich people who did not know they were rich all around me. While they were buying boats and cars, I was buying VTSAX.

[Arbit Trage]

MMM ABSOLUTELY recommended getting a high paying job as a key move. And in case studies, forumites often point out where someone is getting underpaid or not trying for something that balances good pay with health. You should definitely find something that pays more. And when you do that having already understood FIRE concepts, well you are unstoppable!

And try something new, why not? I did that and was able to FIRE thanks to the high paying job after 5 years (but I also had other assets and an IRA that had been growing for 20 years). Start now!

https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2015/06/05/success-even-after-self-destruction/

Thank you, this is the approach I'm looking to take!

[Arbit Trage]

I recommend reading Designing Your Life, by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans. I think it would help you brainstorm and narrow down what you are looking for, especially on the job front.

Will do, thank you!

[Paper Chaser]

Why are you targeting the locations that you've mentioned? A huge part of saving is the ratio of income to cost of living. Seems like location is pretty open for you, have you checked any of your potential landing spots to compare salaries to cost of living?

[Arbit Trage]

Why are you targeting the locations that you've mentioned? A huge part of saving is the ratio of income to cost of living. Seems like location is pretty open for you, have you checked any of your potential landing spots to compare salaries to cost of living?

I love the desert.

Honestly I am more concerned with playing offense at this point. I could have made a lateral move at my former employer and stayed in a back office 60K job...but now that it's just me and I have the opportunity to go anywhere I want the best combination of Place I Want To Live + High Income Career. If that makes sense...or cents.

[reeshau]

Are you really on your own?  You could be a long-haul truck driver, and be paid to see a lot of the US, to figure out where you might like to go.

UPS negotiated a deal with their drivers last year that pays them $150k a year.

You're 43.  That's right about the point where ageism becomes very visible in IT.  Are you looking to be in IT *management,* or do you want a technical position?  It would not be a place for 20 more years.  Maybe not even 10, although people usually burn out because they started in it young.

[SweatingInAR]

Perhaps someone else can find it, but I distinctly remember MMM writing about 6-figure jobs with perhaps a list of them. At the time I did not have such a job but a few years later I had managed to get one. Being inside that company I saw rich people who did not know they were rich all around me. While they were buying boats and cars, I was buying VTSAX.

The one I remember and found was $50k, but the post is now ten years old. Demand in some of these fields may have pulled them above $100k!

https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/07/25/50-jobs-over-50000-without-a-degree-part-1/
https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/08/05/50-jobs-over-50000-without-a-degree-part-2/