What's the fastest way to earn money to ERE?

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classical_Liberal
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Re: What's the fastest way to earn money to ERE?

Post by classical_Liberal »

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TopHatFox
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Re: What's the fastest way to earn money to ERE?

Post by TopHatFox »

Hm, how about this question: which one of these lucrative jobs is best combined with the (our?) more typical corporate 9-5 grind?

I could see machining or welding being possible. Nursing, possibly, depending on whether you're staff by a hospital or on-your own or part-time. Going to Iraq probably wouldn't work (that'd be a full-time gig). IT consulting could definitely work, or any consulting, actually ( as long as you're good at it).

Thoughts?

plantingourpennies
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Re: What's the fastest way to earn money to ERE?

Post by plantingourpennies »

I feel like a broken record, but I'll repeat myself only because I wish somebody had told me this in college.

If you are in the humanities (i.e. not engineering, computer sci, etc) I believe that the quickest way to FU money for the majority of people to is through technology sales.

1. The barrier to entry is very low-any degree is fine to get started, particularly in inside sales.
2. If you can do well in the humanities you understand what drives humans. If you can understand what motivates people, you can sell to them.
3. The compensation ranges from solid to absurd-we hire frat kids from southern schools and give them target incomes of 60k with a base of 40k. Two years later they have the option of being promoted to management (120k) or field sales (150k or so). Salaries for enterprise software sales are from 250k to 500k...with outliers above that.

There are downsides (stress probably being the worst one) but the math, as they say, checks out. You can also let your freak-flag fly a little higher in the sales environment...if you are making your number, nobody can touch you. If you're not making your number, nobody can save you :twisted:

TL:DR No need to reinvent the wheel- if you have the brains to study philosophy/literature/art you have the ability to kill it in sales and achieve ERE very quickly.

TopHatFox
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Re: What's the fastest way to earn money to ERE?

Post by TopHatFox »

plantingourpennies wrote:I feel like a broken record, but I'll repeat myself only because I wish somebody had told me this in college.

If you are in the humanities (i.e. not engineering, computer sci, etc) I believe that the quickest way to FU money for the majority of people to is through technology sazles.

1. The barrier to entry is very low-any degree is fine to get started, particularly in inside sales.
2. If you can do well in the humanities you understand what drives humans. If you can understand what motivates people, you can sell to them.
3. The compensation ranges from solid to absurd-we hire frat kids from southern schools and give them target incomes of 60k with a base of 40k. Two years later they have the option of being promoted to management (120k) or field sales (150k or so). Salaries for enterprise software sales are from 250k to 500k...with outliers above that.
Soooo, are you hiring? Will apply. Any of my other potential jobs will be stressful anyway, and I can believe in selling technology more than other products (e.g. 100% anuities). Resume & CL at the ready :D

James_0011
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Re: What's the fastest way to earn money to ERE?

Post by James_0011 »

Olaz wrote:Hm, how about this question: which one of these lucrative jobs is best combined with the (our?) more typical corporate 9-5 grind?

I could see machining or welding being possible. Nursing, possibly, depending on whether you're staff by a hospital or on-your own or part-time. Going to Iraq probably wouldn't work (that'd be a full-time gig). IT consulting could definitely work, or any consulting, actually ( as long as you're good at it).

Thoughts?
I'm trying to tutor highschool kids in math after work. In a big city, I bet you could charge like 45 dollars an hour - especially for sat prep stuff.

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Sclass
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Re: What's the fastest way to earn money to ERE?

Post by Sclass »

plantingourpennies wrote:I feel like a broken record, but I'll repeat myself only because I wish somebody had told me this in college.

If you are in the humanities (i.e. not engineering, computer sci, etc) I believe that the quickest way to FU money for the majority of people to is through technology sales.
.
I recall you saying this. I agree. I've known some heavy hitting closers in semiconductor tools.

But you have to be a closer.

halfmoon
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Re: What's the fastest way to earn money to ERE?

Post by halfmoon »

Sclass wrote: I recall you saying this. I agree. I've known some heavy hitting closers in semiconductor tools.

But you have to be a closer.
http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-tru ... er-person/

userqname
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Re: What's the fastest way to earn money to ERE?

Post by userqname »

Nobody's mentioned real estate. Getting a bunch of income generating rentals is maybe the most common way to achieve FI.

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Sclass
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Re: What's the fastest way to earn money to ERE?

Post by Sclass »

halfmoon wrote:
Sclass wrote: I recall you saying this. I agree. I've known some heavy hitting closers in semiconductor tools.

But you have to be a closer.
http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-tru ... er-person/
Thanks for sharing the article. Funny, dark and full of truths.

Sales is awesome to make big dollars while working for somebody else (which doesn't often yield big dollars). It is one of those games where 90% of the sales are closed by 10% of the players. The rest get nothing. I've seen it up close and it isn't pretty for the losers. It's like actors, only a few get the juicy roles...the other 10,000 get nothing.

Good luck getting rich.

jacob
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Re: What's the fastest way to earn money to ERE?

Post by jacob »

Yeah, those salary curves for a given career should also come with a Gini index along with the average.

I have a family member who was infected with the enthusiasm. In the beginning, it was all "yay, benefits, and free pizza, my boss is awesome, and I got a $50 bonus this week". A couple of months later they quit because of the stress of having to be chipper/salesy on the phone for 8 hours straight. It's definitely not for everybody. It's basically up/out with tons of churn. The more evil companies also make you pay for the "training"; training which can easily be part of the business model for the company (cf. college education tuition).

classical_Liberal
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Re: What's the fastest way to earn money to ERE?

Post by classical_Liberal »

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stand@desk
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Re: What's the fastest way to earn money to ERE?

Post by stand@desk »

How about working in a Morgue? I like the part about "steady employment" and "many employment opportunities nationwide."

http://www.findhow.com/career/health/ho ... endant.php

Mortuary assistants perform vital tasks that help pathologists and morticians. As a career path, it offers steady employment and a good starting salary. Although it requires a two-year college degree, most people with a GED or high school diploma can complete the coursework in the allotted time, and find many employment opportunities nationwide. If you are comfortable in the work environment, a mortuary assistant career may be a good choice.

Campitor
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Re: What's the fastest way to earn money to ERE?

Post by Campitor »

I recommend becoming a plumber, electrician, or carpenter. You can make an incredible amount of money once you are licensed and garner a good reputation. Your skills translate directly into savings because you can do a lot of your own domestic repairs. And some landlords will give you a nice discount on rent if you fix the occasional leaky faucet, frozen or damaged water supply line, or a leaky toilet seal. I worked in the trades when I was a young man - I love working with my hands. But the technology call was too strong - I fell in love with computers and systems administration. I know many tradesman that make over 100k a year - the smart ones use their skills to buy cheap property and flip it or rent it. A hard working ERE-minded person skilled in any of the above trades would have a huge advantage in retiring early.

I can't recommend the tech field now because so much of it is being outsourced or replaced with more sophisticated GUIs that make managing complex systems easier - creative destruction at work. But USA infrastructure is falling apart and fewer people are going into the trades - they are in high demand now.

In reality, if you learn to live simply and be frugal, you can retire early with any job(s) if you develop a system for maximizing savings and minimizing expenses. It's not what you earn - it's what you save/invest.

ellipsis_has_expired
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Re: What's the fastest way to earn money to ERE?

Post by ellipsis_has_expired »

I can put in a recommendation for the Transportation industry. I ended up in this position kind of accidentally, but I immediately noticed how old everyone is in this sector. A lot of them don't know/understand technology, so there is a lot of room to come in and improve operations. My company consults to make school bus operations more efficient. There seems to be no end to school districts which are bleeding millions of dollars in inefficiencies.

A lot of older people in the sector also shows me that I have a lot of opportunities to move into Transportation Director positions. A lot of those upper positions break into the 6 figure range.

plantingourpennies
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Re: What's the fastest way to earn money to ERE?

Post by plantingourpennies »

jacob wrote:
Wed Jan 04, 2017 7:32 pm
Yeah, those salary curves for a given career should also come with a Gini index along with the average.
Sclass wrote:
Wed Jan 04, 2017 7:21 pm
Sales is awesome to make big dollars while working for somebody else (which doesn't often yield big dollars). It is one of those games where 90% of the sales are closed by 10% of the players.
Good luck getting rich.
Sorry for necroposting, but I'd like to push back on the idea that only the top 10% close 90% of the sales. I work for a ~3B IT consulting firm and have access to the data for a entry-level salesforce of about 200 new college grads. About 1/2 of them over-achieve their quota (i.e. hit their number), and the average pay for the entire salesforce is around 70k. Because the salesforce is remote, it is in a LCOL area with an average household income of 44k.Sales people have a "base pay" of 40k that they receive regardless of how much they sell.

There are sales jobs where the success/failure ratio is more extreme, but professional salesforces are incentivized to make the playing field level so they can continue to attract the level of talent they need! Top talent can do the math, and will avoid sales jobs that have something like a 90% failure rate.

In this type of sales environment you make maybe 12 sales a year, average sale is around 50k, you're interacting with executives who can sign a check for that amount of money (typically CxO or board level), and you are customer-facing maybe 10-15 hours a week. The rest of the time you are creating proposals, researching the client's problems, designing a prospecting campaign, or in internal team meetings.

I'm taking the time to write this out because these types of sales jobs are numerous, are available to somebody with a non-technical degree (english, philosophy, sports medicine, psychology, etc...), or occasionally with no degree at all. They are also very good at giving introverts some life skills that they wouldn't have otherwise had.

SavingWithBabies
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Re: What's the fastest way to earn money to ERE?

Post by SavingWithBabies »

The crane operators at big shipping ports supposedly pull down $200k+/year. That was what I heard at least for the port in Oakland, California.

It's overplayed maybe but software development can be lucrative. There is a wide range of employment opportunities. Like a lot of jobs, a lot of them are horrible but there are some diamonds out there. With a solid amount of experience, it's not hard to pull down $150k/year particularly if you do a stint in a major tech area (SF Bay Area, Seattle, maybe NYC, ?). I'm getting that working remote for a SF Bay Area company with midwest cost of living. My experience is the outsourcing thing was way overblown and if you have aptitude and can grind away, it's a pretty cushy job.

7Wannabe5
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Re: What's the fastest way to earn money to ERE?

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

The general rule of thumb would be any position/location combining low enforcement of standard of living with high investment in revenue/profit creating infrastructure. Factory workers in China are much less productive than factory workers in the U.S. because often producing cheaper goods. They are also much more poorly paid, but cost of "enforced standard of living" is also very low, so savings rate can be as high or higher.

IOW, job which either requires high-tech skills or uses very large expensive equipment/tools combined with a very low tech lifestyle. In the U.S., on average, more than 50% of lifestyle infrastructure, such as roads and schools and farm subsidies, is provided for citizen/worker subsequent to any personal decision regarding spending options. So, you have to look for loopholes or inefficiencies, especially in regions where provided infrastructure is even greater than average.

OTOH, when you are attempting to maximize quality of life while not earning money, you might often benefit from opposite matrix. Simple example would be taking a bike ride to a lovely public park, located in a more expensive neighborhood than you are choosing to afford, on a day you are not working. You can also enact both rules-of-thumb intermittently within overall life-style plan.

EdithKeeler
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Re: What's the fastest way to earn money to ERE?

Post by EdithKeeler »

Insurance claims adjuster. Not glamorous, and does usually require a 4 year degree though right now you might be able with a 2 year degreee--shortage of adjusters right now. Average starting salary is around 40k, and big companies offer excellent benefits. Not a path to super riches, but if you keep your costs low.... Glassdoor shows average salary around $50k regardless of years experience, but if you do specialized claims (I do), you can eventually earn $100k or so.

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