Careers and retirement

[[La...]]

Ive been thinking a lot lately about the future and what types of jobs I could get when this is all over. I'm 26, have had some college, I got a certificate in retail management. I worked at a target store doing cashiering, sales floor, service desk for almost 5 years. I have no other experience really. I am kind of afraid I will be limited to lower paying jobs because I dont have a degree. I hear a lot of people dont use their degree, but doesnt it look better if you have one even if you are applying for a job in a different field? Has anyone here without a degree been able to find good jobs? How do people who earn 20-30,000 per year save for a house plus save for retirement? It seems like too much

[[Da...]]

Hi Laura2015, this is a good topic and I had a similar one myself recently where I asked what people did for a living. I have always been in the IT industry my whole life and previously made a lot of money, started my own business and ran it successfully and then this came along. I was a serious bad addict to both opiates and Xanax. I decided around October 2015 I really needed to clean up my act I was messed up everyday but somehow I managed to work. I had a five day detox from both Xanax and opiates and got released after ten days on November 26, 2015. I already realized that there was something different with me from the other ppl who were mainly alcoholics and opiate abuses. There was this one lady I met there that I still talk to today and she was a klonepin abuses and me and here would be awake all night and talk at rehab and while we saw all the others start eating and sleeping in we knew we were different. So I went to my counselor and asked him why I was not healing as fast and he said it will take a few weeks since I was benzos but I would be fine no problem.

 

So I'm sorry I'm writing a novel here. So after getting released I quickly knew something was terribly wrong with me. A month two months later I tried to go onsite for a customer that I had worked with for a while and it was futile. I knew I should not have gone before because just thinking about it barely slept for four days before I went because I was so nervous about going. I decided that I day that I need more time. It went bad and wrong.

 

So here I sit and I'm a 52 y/o man. I really would like a career in something new but for now I just am not able to do. I worry terribly about the future and I know you do too. Of course if anyone comes around they remind me of that almost immediately. I don't know what to do. I'm selling stock I had built up as retirement savings to live off of and it makes me almost cry everytime I have to sell more. I know I'm fortunate to have it while I'm sure others don't and they are faced with a worse hardship then me. My biggest fear is having to spend all my retirement savings and end up destitute. That is a long way off and I just don't why I beat myself up over it.

 

Sorry such a long answer. We are all one big unhappy dysfunctional family here.

 

 

[[su...]]

Laura,

 

You are young and you have time to pursue a degree if that's what you choose. I don't know where you live and if you plan on staying put, as that will impact your earning potential and prospects.

 

What are your passions?  What are your natural talents?  I WISH I had the business smarts, or IT smarts or marketing skills.  They are always valuable.  You could get an associates degree or certification.  You could also complete a 4 year degree and then do more.  You have more time than you think, and if you can make some movement in the direction you think you will be headed (taking care of basic requirements at community college), it could soothe you and help you as you move through this and when it's over. 

 

Davis:  You have the skills and the ability. I believe you are going to feel better and you can jump back in to the industry.  Have you seen a doctor about your condition?  If you are unwell after essentially a CT from Klonopin, maybe there's something you can do to get yourself feeling better. 

[[Da...]]

Hi Sunday, I appreciate your response. My brain is seriously damaged and I cannot get myself into the problem solver mentality that I used to have. I have a great psychiatrist/doctor. he was a heroine addict who got clean and went to med school. He is great and says he treats lots of benzo addicted people and it takes time. I cannot concentrate on anything my anxiety is just killing me. I have never in my life how so little faith in myself. Hopefully it is from your mouth to gods ears.

[[be...]]

Hi:

 

My brother does not have a degree and started out in retail just punching the cash register. Then he got a job at a private country club as a bartender which paid little but he is very socialable and good with people so they kept moving him up and later named manager of the entire club. He must have made good money because he is 53 and just bought a $1 million home. And he spends his time chasing girls, not working. It is always better to get paid less but be able to move up in an organization rather then get paid a fair amount but you are stuck with the same job forever.

 

I myself took an early retirement after busting my you know what for 30 years. And got paid a lot for the hassle, which is too bad, as this is what got me here.

 

Betsy 

[[Fl...]]

The best advice I can give is to start thinking outside the box. Society wants to put you into an easily defined slot but the people who make the real money usually do so by defying convention.

 

What do I mean by this? Well, first of all, I would highly recommend looking into business and investing. Start small and DO NOT BE AFRAID TO FAIL. People pay tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for college degrees and business is no different, you have to pay your dues if you want to be successful.

 

Most people will come up with every excuse in the world to avoid striking out on their own but most of it boils down to ignorance and unfounded fear. You don't have to go to college, get a job, buy a house and stick some extra money in mutual funds. Most very successful people follow a different path.

[[ho...]]

I'm currently working in a position that has nothing at all to do with what I went to college for. I'm settling in an easier role that I can handle while getting well. Later, hopefully I will be well enough to get back to what I did before...hopefully....

[[be...]]

I'm currently working in a position that has nothing at all to do with what I went to college for. I'm settling in an easier role that I can handle while getting well. Later, hopefully I will be well enough to get back to what I did before...hopefully....

 

Hi:

 

I have to do the same, as there are no longer jobs in my profession. But I don't want to be a secretary or flip burgers. So I really know no clue.....