Lost in so many ways. See ths light but don't know how to reach it. help?!

[resy]

Hello Everyone!

Thanks in advance for any responses posted, they are so appreciated and needed!
So i have been reading mmm for about a year now and in that time the philosophy has really grown in me however, I am FOMPLETELY lost about implementing it.
I am a newly married 28 year old female with a 9 year old kid. For the past 10 years i spent my time "surviving"; i had to drop out of community college when i got pregnant and later went on to be a single mother. I supported my kid and i through a trade in the service industry all this time and while the  money was enough as I have always worked for myself i made A LOT of bad decisions you'd expect a young financially uneducated person might make. Now after 10 years in the trade I am tired (literally),and bored. I consider myself smart and am ready for a job that uses my intellect instead of wearing down my body slowly (and no benefits! Ha!)
My husband is very loving and supportive so I have cut back at work to part time to dedicate myself to school (half of my income goes to help him with liging expenses for all of us and half goes to my tuition/books). The problem is i dont know what to study. Im good at learning, curious and a hard worker so i am confident but I worry I'll be too old by the time I graduate (?)

Would anyone like to give experiences/ perspectives on how it os with their field?(cons, pros,etc at this point anything is useful)

Also, where do I start investing? My husband and I both come from low income families  so I dont know much. My DH has an operations management degree but spent a year looking for work after graduating only to go into the trade he  already knew to make some money (not doing so great as he made a family small business and its proving problematic) he is now less than 2 yrs away from a computer related degree for which we have better hopes for and is his true passion.

Lots of learning experiences for sure!

We are low key people and are already on having our expenses down, I need help on building UP!!

[This_Is_My_Username]

Also, where do I start investing?

I’m probably not from your country, so I can’t provide specific details. 

You want to get the best return (increase in asset price + also income), with the minimum risk. 

Bank accounts are shit, because they give you 1% or something equally terrible. 

With a small amount of dollars, you should find a cheap online stockbroker, and buy an ETF “Exchange-Traded-Fund”, with a very low MER “Management-expense-ratio”.  The manager of the fund takes a percentage of your total investment every year.  So, with $10k invested, and an 0.2% MER, the manager will take 20 of your dollars every year. 

Vanguard is a popular fund manager on the MMM forum. 

But the ETF will give you dividends every year, and that will be your first non-salary income !

[SDREMNGR]

Not knowing what to do as a career is a real and difficult problem.  There are just too many options and they may all seem good or all seem bad.

I recommend that you Google "Ted talk hard choices".  There is a good lecture about what hard choices are and what they mean for us individually.  I hope it helps you figure out what you want to do.  There is no right or wrong answer.  You just have to learn about the different options that are out there and pick a path for yourself.  Good luck to your husband too.

[resy]

Also, where do I start investing?

I’m probably not from your country, so I can’t provide specific details. 


Vanguard is a popular fund manager on the MMM forum. 

Thank you for responding! I am in the USA and i will most defenately check vanguard out as I have heard of it before. I hate how intimidating it can all be, sometimes I feel so small and like I shouldn't even be on this website since my husband's and my income total about 50k in all for both of us. We are working on it though!

[resy]

Thank you so much for responding to me, i was feeling silly about my post (first ever on mmm!) Seeing that there were views but no responses.
You TOTALLY nailed it! Everything seems great and everything seems bad, ots a minefield.
Love ted talks, will listen in :)
The things i feel attracted to (nutrition, psychology) seems to require a huge investment for miserly returns. I dont want to invest and perhaps go into debt for a career that wont be lucrative enough to pay the loans(!)
Civil engeneering is also an option I would like to explore but I wonder if Im too old to start with it now

[resy]

Ha! Sorry for my mess... first time posting and responding in a forum(!)

[pom]

How about something health related like nursing? I would assume that the return on investment is pretty good in that field plus unemployment is really low.

My advice is to keep your finances simple by, as This_Is_My_Username said, buying ETFs or index mutual funds. At this point the focus should be to get an education while keeping expenses low.

Best of luck!

[former player]

Congratulations on everything you've done in life so far, and on your ambitions to keep improving things.

Are there any free careers advice services available to you?  Try asking at your local public library: I bet the librarians would know (also, see what books they have which could help).  Alternatively, what about careers advice from the community college you attended?

As well as looking for formal careers advice, I would suggest treating each encounter you have with a working person as a chance to talk to them and find out about their field of work and how to get into it.  Just in the last week I've talked to a policeman, a builder, a dog trainer, a veterinary nurse, a retired teacher, a foster carer, an accountant, an insurance agent and a psychoanalyst, and I bet you meet a similar variety of people.  Mostly people like to talk about what they do and how they got started (if they don't want to talk, they are probably either very busy or very unhappy, neither of which is much of a recommendation for the career they are in!).  So, just start talking to people about what they do, and see what interests you.

I would suggest having a look at careers which you might think are mainly for men - plumbing, policing, engineering, fighter pilot, etc.  They generally pay a lot better than the sorts of careers women are steered into, and as a woman you will have a degree of novelty value which might be of help.

Good luck.

[morjax]

Also, where do I start investing?

I honestly think that jlcollinsnh's stock series at http://jlcollinsnh.com/stock-series/ is all the foundation you need. You can make changes and additions to it that suit you, but if you

1) Spend Less than you earn

2) Invest the difference as described in his series, and

3)  Avoid debt

as a mustachian addition, you could include step 2b) maximize your saving to spending ratio by improving your badassity daily!

Do these and you'll be ahead of the pack, and well on your way to a bigger, better stache. Some people get really into investing and make little tweaks here and there, but I think the stock series is strong enough to stand alone if you never read anything else on investing (though you should).

Best of luck to you! the fact that you're asking these questions and thinking about how to get from where you are to where you want to be (with a large stache) is a very good sign.

[Doomspark]

While it may not be terribly mustachian advice,  here's my $0.02.

First, 28 is not too old. I didn't figure out what I wanted to do with my life until I was in my 30's.

You might want to think about a hitch in the armed services.  You'll have a steady income,  free medical care for yourself & family, and a chance to learn / practice a new skill.  You'll also get a lifetime of benefits. And there are lots of employers who give preference to veterans when hiring, especially in government jobs.  Also, depending on what branch of the military you go into, you might be able to continue your college education while on active duty.

[annann]

I received excellent advice when I was 19 to study accounting.  Some folks think it is boring but you can make it interesting if you want and there are always job anywhere you go.  And the potential for increased earnings are excellent.  I started out in community college taking accounting 101 plus basic business classes and ended with a master's and a CPA.  The best thing was getting a bookkeeping job after just one semester of accounting.

[CestMoi]

I second morjax's advice to check out the jlcollinsnh series on investing.

Also, you're not too old to train for a new career! My brother went back to school in his late forties after years of being a physicist to become an oncologist. Don't let age stop you from doing something you feel is right for you.

And there's no need to be intimidated by investing. Knowledge is power. Read up, educate yourself, and take it slow and steady.

[Mrs. Frugalwoods]

Just want to add encouragement that you're not too old at all! Time is going to pass, you're going to age, and in that time, you could either become a _____ (nurse, engineer, etc) or still be wondering about it. Sounds like you've got the right attitude and determination to go for it--good luck!

[jubilantjill]

I'm an RN and as far as bang for your buck it's hard to beat. I got a2 year degree from a community colleg in NC- $5000 tuition total. You might qualify for pell grants. My first job was for $27/hr in Arizona and now I'm in Cali 6 years later and making $40/hr.  If I'd stayed in NC I'd probably be making half that- which is still decent. Nursing is stressful but rewarding. You need to be moderately intelligent and not squeamish. You can get a job nearly anywhere once you have experience. New grad nurses are having a harder time these days getting a job, but if you're willing to move it should be no problem. California generally has the best pay and best nurse patient ratios- thank you unions. Being a nurse is strangely similar to waiting tables except instead of providing food you're providing medical care. Best of luck to you in whatever you decide.

[scrubbyfish]

...sometimes I feel so small and like I shouldn't even be on this website since my husband's and my income total about 50k in all for both of us.

You belong here.
My income (for 9 year old and I) fluctuates, but is currently about $30,000/yr.
Those of us who come from low-income childhoods and, far more impactfully, low-income adulthoods all face the intimidation, confusion, etc, that you speak of, yes. Making decisions for wealth from that position is a huge learning curve for sure, but you very much belong!

[Peony]

What scrubbyfish said. ^^

[rujancified]

Im good at learning, curious and a hard worker so i am confident but I worry I'll be too old by the time I graduate (?)

Would anyone like to give experiences/ perspectives on how it os with their field?(cons, pros,etc at this point anything is useful)

You are NOT too old! My mom started back at school at about age ~33 or 34 taking 1 class at a time. She graduated with a 4.0 right before her 43rd birthday and got her masters after her 50th. She loves her job (teacher) and doesn't see herself retiring anytime soon. She's super inspiring and I am so very lucky to be her kid.

I work in technology at a large corporation. It's boring sometimes, but stable and well-paying. I studied "information systems," but I'm not sure that exists anymore as a major - it's a combo of a teensy bit of computer science and a lot of business/management courses.

What interested you most in HS and CC? What subjects were you drawn to? Figure out what sorts of careers there are and work from there.

[Thegoblinchief]

Lots of great advice already. When it comes to investments, at your income levels, ROTH IRA accounts should be your first priority, since your current tax rate probably isn't very high. This way, your investment grows tax free forever.

You can only put in $5,500 each year, so it's to your benefit to fund this before anything.

Forget your age. A lot of the forum goers would kill to be a new Mustachian at 28. Hell, I'm almost 30, currently have negative net worth, but should be able to retire in 10 years on not much more income than you have right now.

The big thing is to not spend lots of tuition for a degree that doesn't give earning potential and, worse, you end up not liking.

[frugalnacho]

Depending on their plan a tIRA might make more sense.  At 50k/yr they are still playing plenty in taxes.  They could pipeline that tIRA into a roth in the future and get the best of both worlds.

[La Bibliotecaria Feroz]

My sister was about your age when she went to nursing school. Now she makes, I dunno, maybe $60K a year? I know she owns her own home and is the sole breadwinner for a middle-class family of five! Only downside is the working nights. Something to consider if you are not easily grossed out.

[mxt0133]

Like others have said you are not too old to switch careers.  My mom went back to school for nursing when she was in her mid 50's, two years for an associates and got a job as soon as she graduated. Then another 4 years part-time to get a BA while working full-time.  In one of her first classes she walks in and the students thought she was the professor, ha ha.

Same with my dad after 30 years in sales and management he quit and trained to be a dog groomer.  Turns out he's not a people person!  He works for a pet store chain and is the oldest groomer they have at 63!

I'm about to start taking classes for another career as wells.  I know I will not have a problem getting a job even if I do have to take a pay cut.  It must run in the family.

[neighbor]

no advice, but just wanted to chime in that I hope you'll feel welcome here. I'm new here too and with my own "perceived as non-mmm-worthy" qualities. Others making you feel welcome here helps me too :-)

If it's any consolation, we're a moderate income family, nowhere near able to retire and when if we do, it won't be early. But at least we had no debt (until a mortgage entered the picture) and decades of experience being frugal. I've already had the house-purchase decision questioned here (1st post, actually, after which I fretted and felt ashamed)… but we're looking at the house as our retirement - or at least treating it as such for now.  Anyway, like I said, I don't have any advice - just good on you for being brave and posting.

[resy]

THANK YOU GUYS!  Every.single.one of your replies has been of great help. Today saturday I will be checking out all those cool recommendations :) the whole thread has put a smile on my face and I feel like I'm gaining new friends as well!

[Cassie]

Many 2 & 4 year colleges have career counselors. You will take interest & aptitude tests and discuss the results with a counselor. A good counselor can really help you find not only your passion but what jobs will make $ in your local area.  It is important that you like your job & that there will be jobs when you get done with school.  Do not take the school's word for it as they will lie to obtain students.  Most states have a online Career Information System that will give you the job outlook for your local area.  Many states also have local agencies that will  help you-find your local unemployment office & see if they offer these services in your area.  If you have a disability you can obtain free services from your local state Vocational Rehabilitation agency. As you can probably tell by my post this is what I do for a living.  Good luck!

[Chrissy]

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

With your interest in psychology & nutrition, you might try getting your Yoga/Pilates/Spin certification.  A Physiology degree is helpful/sometimes required for becoming a personal trainer.  What does it take to start a Weight Watchers franchise (in which case, maybe a business degree)?  I would only suggest these options if you live in an area with a thriving market for these services.