Right now I'm confused about where I should go with my career. I've just finished my B.A. in Psychology and will be out of debt in about 9 months.
I've already got a job that pays just enough (30K before tax) that when I get married I would be able to afford a house and have a car and eventually raise some kids. It also gives a good pension. It's a union position at my university and assuming I don't do anything to screw it up, I've got complete job security until I'm 65. The job itself pretty much sucks and I likely wouldn't move around too much here. I also likely wouldn't get any more than 45-50K by the end of my career. There is no such thing as "promotion" here. When new jobs open up, you apply for the job. So there is the possibility I stay in the same position the entire time and only get yearly raises of about 3% that the union negotiates with the university as a "cost of living increase".
On the other hand, I'm quite interested in becoming a gemologist and certified appraiser of gemstones and possibly open my own business (or at the very least I'd be working for someone else). In order to do this, I need to save some money to pay for the 2 year program to become a gemologist, then work for a couple of years in a business before I can become an appraiser. The negative side to doing this is that there is no job security and the possibility that I end up selling jewelry at a retail store for minimum wage + commission.
So my choices are stay at a ****** job for 40 years that's guaranteed to see me through to retirement and never have any satisfaction or make something of myself, or take a risk and possibly end up worse than I already am.
I'll be 25 pretty soon and I'd honestly like to move on with my life. If I choose to go the gemology route, I'll likely be living at home until I'm 30. This thought is REALLY depressing.
What would you guys do? Any advice?
I've already got a job that pays just enough (30K before tax) that when I get married I would be able to afford a house and have a car and eventually raise some kids. It also gives a good pension. It's a union position at my university and assuming I don't do anything to screw it up, I've got complete job security until I'm 65. The job itself pretty much sucks and I likely wouldn't move around too much here. I also likely wouldn't get any more than 45-50K by the end of my career. There is no such thing as "promotion" here. When new jobs open up, you apply for the job. So there is the possibility I stay in the same position the entire time and only get yearly raises of about 3% that the union negotiates with the university as a "cost of living increase".
On the other hand, I'm quite interested in becoming a gemologist and certified appraiser of gemstones and possibly open my own business (or at the very least I'd be working for someone else). In order to do this, I need to save some money to pay for the 2 year program to become a gemologist, then work for a couple of years in a business before I can become an appraiser. The negative side to doing this is that there is no job security and the possibility that I end up selling jewelry at a retail store for minimum wage + commission.
So my choices are stay at a ****** job for 40 years that's guaranteed to see me through to retirement and never have any satisfaction or make something of myself, or take a risk and possibly end up worse than I already am.
I'll be 25 pretty soon and I'd honestly like to move on with my life. If I choose to go the gemology route, I'll likely be living at home until I'm 30. This thought is REALLY depressing.
What would you guys do? Any advice?
