You Need an Exit Strategy
If I could give just one piece of advice to high school students and those looking to enter the workforce for the first time, it would be this: You need an exit strategy. If I could give just one piece of advice to those in the middle of a career, it would be this: You need an exit strategy. If I could give just one piece of advice to prospective retirees, it would be this: You need an exit strategy.
This post is addressed to Milennials entering the real world, but the advice remains the same regardless of demographic.
What is an Exit Strategy?
The decisions you make at a young age stick with you, whether you like it or not. We get thrown into making huge life decisions straight out of high school, and the wrong ones will make it extremely difficult to formulate an exit strategy.
An exit strategy is the ability to easily hit the reset button when it’s time for a life change. If you want to take time off of work and travel the world or quit your job altogether to pursue something else, you need to design your life in such a way that it’s both possible and easy.
Every Decision Affects Your Exit Strategy
Every life decision you make, ask yourself how it affects your exit strategy. Will it complicate matters or simplify them?
If you buy a house, it complicates your exit strategy. If you proceed to fill that house with junk, it complicates your exit strategy. If you saddle yourself with debt, you wind up a wage slave and complicate your exit strategy.
An Exit Strategy for Young Adults
If you’re a junior or senior in high school and figuring out what to do with your life, you’re at a huge advantage. You have the rest of your life to screw up, but you’ll make things a lot easier on yourself by making the right choices today. In a nutshell that means you must stay out of debt and you must maximize your earnings out of the gate.
College is a Waste of Time and Money
With skyrocketing tuition costs, the burden of a four-year degree has become too much to justify college. It puts you years behind on earning a paycheck compared to your peers who enter a skilled trade or go for an associate’s degree. It puts you even further behind when you wind up $35,000 in debt.
Seek Out High-Paying Jobs that Require an Associate’s Degree or Less
Bachelor’s and graduate degrees seem to get handed out like candy these days, which has increased education requirements in many career fields. Luckily, you can still find high paying, in demand jobs that don’t require four years or more of higher education. These are the jobs you want.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is an invaluable resource for researching job outlooks and education requirements in every single industry. Use this free resource to your advantage to see if your career aspirations will easily land you a job. If you need years and years of education (i.e. years and years of debt) to get anywhere in your field, you might want to reconsider.
Look for jobs in high demand that pay well and only require a two-year degree or less. There are many that pay $60,000 or more. Consider healthcare jobs, where demand continues to rise.
Get In, Make Your Money, Get Out
I got a four-year degree, then wound up averaging a salary of about $50,000 over the next 6 years. I could have made more getting an associate’s degree and becoming a medical sonographer or union lineman. Luckily, I didn’t have debt after college. If I did, I would barely be above water right now. Instead, I engineered my mini retirement by getting in, making money, and getting out.
I lived frugally, avoided debt, and invested the difference. As a result, I was able to implement my exit strategy after 6 years of full-time work. And I have no plans to reenter any time soon.
Originally published at projectfreemind.com on April 23, 2016.