The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: The Money Monk on October 19, 2015, 10:38:57 PM
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After reading several articles lamenting about education, job prospects, millenials, etc I started sort of an involuntary thought experiment where I was wondering what would be the quickest guaranteed paths to making $100K within 5 years for a fairly generic millenial candidate (or anyone really). I would love to hear everybody's thoughts. Emphasis is on the time frame, and on 'guaranteed'. So obviously nothing is guaranteed, but for this particular thought experiment likelihood should be favored over higher earnings (so while an actor could hit it big and make $1 million within a year, an engineer is likely to have a much higher salary within 5 years).
Assumptions for the thought experiment:
Assume Intelligence / academic capability is not a limiting factor, but money might be
Assume candidate already has a generic worthless bachelors degree
So based on those assumptions, what do you think are the best most likely paths to get a $100k income within 5 years?
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Kick serious ass in a sales job. Harder than it sounds, unfortunately.
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Get as high a paying day job as you can. Get a relatively profitable side gig, waiting tables at night might work as you'd get free food. Then buy a stealth van to live in, and either shower at the office, or get a cheap gym/club membership that includes access to a shower.
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Mining / offshore drilling / border control / military? A fly-in-fly-out job that people burn out of quickly?
Plus, reducing expenses as much as humanly possible. Living with parents/in a van/in a tent.
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Learn to code
Go and work in the Middle East (tricky due to current oil/gas prices but this won't last forever, more challenging for women)
Teach at an international school that will give you board
Do something that other people don't want to do. Do it well. Live cheaply.
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From high school (not exactly your original question I know) it would probably be a military academy. Free education, guaranteed job when you finish. Comes with physical, mental, and moral risks but that wasn't an aspect of the question.
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Assuming a high school education, there is lots of money in the fracking/oil/gas industry in North Dakota. Not as much today as pre-oil crash a year or two ago, but still plenty to be made. I did some business in North Dakota and spoke with a guy who was hiring welders for $100/h and billing them out at $150. Most of the guys in these roles were coming out of Army Engineer training, or SeaBee training, but there were so many jobs open and not enough trained people that there were spots for younger welders who were willing to learn on the job.
Tough life, and hazardous working conditions, but some of these guys were working 100-120 hours a week for months at a time, living in work camps. After taxes and expenses, probably looking at 15-20 weeks to net 100k.
Very much a gold rush economy, with lots of entrepreneurial activity and high wages going to trucking, food service, and housing.
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Clean bank robbery - flee to Croatia/Kazakhstan/Dubai (no extradition treaty) - invest your money sensibly and live quietly.
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Kick serious ass in a sales job. Harder than it sounds, unfortunately.
Not as hard as it sounds, just have to get into the right vertical.
Median on target earnings for SaaS inside sales reps (entry level sales position) across 300+ companies in 2014 was $118,000/yr.
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Ice road trucker :)
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Graduate with bachelor's in any engineering. Be recruited by oil company in Texas for a petroleum engineering job. Attend 2 year Master's program in petroleum engineering on their dime in exchange for a few year contract starting at $95k/yr. Even including the time for the master's degree, you'd easily be over $100k by the 4th or 5th year.
A friend of mine from undergrad is doing this right now.
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Get as high a paying day job as you can. Get a relatively profitable side gig,
This is sort of a recipe for elephant soup, no?
(step 1 find an elephant) Where you take for granted the most difficult part of the whole process?
Also, I was asking about the quickest sure way to getting 100k per year in income, not 100k in net worth. So your path is decent for the latter, but for this thought experiment expenses (like van living ) are irrelevant.
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So based on those assumptions, what do you think are the best most likely paths to get a $100k income within 5 years?
- Get a Federal government job.
- Take every training available.
- Approach every assignment as one that can enhance your skill set
- Kick ass in said job
- Apply for every promotion available (must be willing to move around)
- Rinse/repeat until you hit your goal
That's based off of my own personal experience. I went from ~$40k/yr to just over $100k/yr in 5 years. With a "generic worthless bachelor's degree" (read: non-STEM).
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I would say learn Coding, but I hardly see 100k jobs right away for that.
The big one is Sales!!! In a place like Ben E. Keith. They offer great benefits and very good pay. One guy started working at the facility I was interning and he was making 150k a year after three months, but he landed huge contracts with big restaurants. Now he only checks into work about 3 hours a day, but he is on call all the time if any of his contracts have concerns or need anything supplied.
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With highest probability I'd say an engineering/STEM degree and take a job with terrible schedule and/or location that few want do to. That might get you to $100k salary quickly, maybe even right away. I have a few friends who did this.
The right job in finance (or law) will easily get you a $100k starting salary too, but that might require being the top student in one of the top schools in the world, in addition to being the best interviewee among thousands. So maybe not achievable for many. Bay area tech company starting salaries are something like $150k now. But again Google hire a handful out of thousands of candidates so not a high probability.
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You can make$ 5,000 with two solar panel System installs. It's absolutely free and owned by the customer and as an ambassador the pay is $500-$1,200 per home( more kWh more pay)
Sent from my LG-V495 using Tapatalk
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Assumptions for the thought experiment:
Assume Intelligence / academic capability is not a limiting factor, but money might be
Assume candidate already has a generic worthless bachelors degree
So based on those assumptions, what do you think are the best most likely paths to get a $100k income within 5 years?
Getting to 100K is not that difficult if you understand one simple philosophy:
- People pay you for the value that you create.
If you want to earn $100K in 5 years, then you need to find something the world values that pays a high amount or that you can scale to make a lot of money.
Here are some quick examples
- You could earn six figures in about five years being an actuary or computer programmer. These are valuable skills because very few people can do them, but they also create massive value in our economy and our world.
- Create value by selling a skill that you are really good in. One of my friend's is brilliant at Piano and he opened up his own music shop doing Piano lessons. After being in business for 10 years, his business grosses $300,000 in revenue and he takes home well over $100,000. Not too bad if you ask me.
If you want to know a guaranteed way then that is it. You can play up or down this scale and figure out different ways to create more value.
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Learn to code
Go and work in the Middle East (tricky due to current oil/gas prices but this won't last forever, more challenging for women)
Some countries are natural gas, not oil rich.
That, and you've sold your soul to a Gulf state who treats non-whites and non-(most) Arabs as slave labor:
http://bkpk.me/why-i-left-dubai-and-wont-come-back-part-12/ (<--- this is a very pro-MMM blog about traveling the world, def read the comments section for more honest opinions)
and
god help you if you make homemade wine: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/10/13/a-74-year-old-british-man-faces-350-lashes-for-having-wine-in-saudi-arabia/
There is more to "go to a Gulf state and make money" than meets the eye.
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Go to an affordable lawschool (BYU for example). Get a part time job while there and then get a big firm job when you graduate making $160,000. Also, graduate a semester early. If your intelligence isn't lacking you can do this. However, unless you are really bright this won't happen to you.
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Get a masters degree in accounting and pass the CPA exam (possibly doable in 2 years since you already have a bachelors...not sure what it's in though). Work in public accounting in auditor or tax for three years and leave for a manager level industry job. With stock options, etc. it would be pretty easy to get your compensation package over $100k.
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...
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Is the goal to accumulate a total of $100K, or to reach a salary of $100K per year?
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Most professional and or masters degrees that you might be able to pair with your bachelors will open up a range of high paying jobs. Just do your research on market viability of the skills you will be paying for. And talk to people who have recently entered the job market to see if the investment is likely to pay off. There is nothing worse than taking on the debt if its hard to find your first job.
Also take into account the cost. I have a couple friends who finally got jobs with their graduate and professional credentials and while all of them are breaching $100k they also have over $100k in debt which essentially negates your first 10-20 years of a higher salary.
I had a Physics BA I wasn't making great use of, went back and got a 2 year Comp Sci Masters and am much happier in the software market. The masters only cost me $15k and the jobs are all mostly at or above $100k a year, in Cali at least.
Granted the friend with the law degree, even though he has more debt, is much more likely to reach a higher salary than me. Software guys can make a lot but we have to do independent contracting, or be the worlds best individual contributor. I don't count turning into a manager because that path is open to all office workers not just engineers.
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Go to an affordable lawschool (BYU for example). Get a part time job while there and then get a big firm job when you graduate making $160,000. Also, graduate a semester early. If your intelligence isn't lacking you can do this. However, unless you are really bright this won't happen to you.
That takes a bit of luck to land the fat cat $160k job right out of the gates. More lawyers these days are getting more engineering like starting salaries of closer to $100k, if they don't land the big firm job.
Still $100k is a great start and lawyers always have awesome growth potential for earnings. Most of my lawyer friends and corporate lawyers I have met really enjoy their jobs too. There are a lot of law school drop outs though, so not a road for the feint of heart. Law and medical are still the most painful and expensive schools to complete if your heart isn't in it.
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Mining / offshore drilling
Definitely this. Get a technical certificate as a welder/mechanic/mill wright and look for the highest value oil/mineral reserve in the remotest place with the harshest conditions. Underground mines employ mechanics at $100k /year, with no college education and just a couple years experience. If you fail to show up drunk you might get $150k within a few years. Granted you will be in BFE working 12 hour days/nights on a crazy 7/7/4/3/5/2/??? day schedule, with an extra two hour "commute" each way, may not see the sun for months at a time, and work in a black hole 3,000 feet below ground in 140F and 100% humidity. But you can earn a large fortune quickly. Similar even above ground if you go to sea, or a remote part of Alaska/ Canada/Western Australia/somewhere. Not surprising that many people prefer to be poor...
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Two ideas..
1. Start with $200k
2. Bernie Madoff
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Learn to code
Go and work in the Middle East (tricky due to current oil/gas prices but this won't last forever, more challenging for women)
There is more to "go to a Gulf state and make money" than meets the eye.
Yep, totally agree that it is a grim place politically, I've worked in the UAE for months at a time and enjoyed the tax free income (slightly different for US citizens?) but not the environment. I considered it a premium for working in a hostile environment, like working offshore. But there is no way I would work in Saudi (even if they would let me).
Not suggesting that this is for everyone, nor that it is easy.
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Kick serious ass in a sales job. Harder than it sounds, unfortunately.
A decent Final Needs sales person can take home 150K a year. It is a no brainer, no degree, low bar for entry deal. You just have to work hard and steady.
So yeah, you make your 100K in one year instead of 5 and in 5 years you are FIRED with 35K in investment income and 25K in residuals. But most people won't do this and most people are too lazy to be successful at it.