Who here sells for a living?

[Coyoteduster]

Forget sales and forget personal finance advisor. Finish college become a C.P.A. or take your L-cats in your last year of college and go to law school. Now when you get into a school you can borrow whatever you need for tuition and possibly what you need to live on. From what i know you can Clerk for a firm at some point and make some money then when you graduate, pass the bar and do whatever you desire in the law field as there so many different types of practices. Your young enough to do it all its takes is sacrifice and hard work

He seems like a nice kid Steve, why in the world would you want to turn him into a lawyer? :icon_eek:

 

[coronet340]

Forget sales and forget personal finance advisor. Finish college become a C.P.A. or take your L-cats in your last year of college and go to law school. Now when you get into a school you can borrow whatever you need for tuition and possibly what you need to live on. From what i know you can Clerk for a firm at some point and make some money then when you graduate, pass the bar and do whatever you desire in the law field as there so many different types of practices. Your young enough to do it all its takes is sacrifice and hard work

Steve, personal finance is where my heart is. I have a burning desire to show people how great compound interest is when it's on their side and not the banks. As much as I love to argue I have no desire to be a lawyer. You can either be a prosecutor and make no money or be a shitbag defense attorney defending scum to get rich. No thanks.

As far as student loans, that is for fools. I spent the last three years convincing my wife to skip our honeymoon, not eat out, not get her nails, use cloth diapers, avoid vacations and a lot of other luxuries to get out of the 75k hole that we were in. We are out and have a nice down payment for a house. All while she stayed home with our son. Even my car is sitting there waiting for work. I'm more than willing to sacrifice and work hard and hustle my *** off, but to accrue debt at this stage would be insane.

But I do appreciate you taking the time to respond to my post though.

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He seems like a nice kid Steve, why in the world would you want to turn him into a lawyer? :icon_eek:

My mother said I should be a lawyer since I can argue my way out of doing dishes. Lol

 

[steve from staten island]

Student loans are not for fools. Fools take out student loans with no idea about what they want to do and waste time and money. There are not many people who can afford the tuition of law school. My daughter went through four years of dental school, i sent her through four years of college and i could never afford dental school. I did give her about eight grand a year for those four years and she borrowed about 50 to 60 every year for four years in addition,that was about fourteen years ago and i have no idea what it costs now. She did go to one of the top schools but there still all expensive. She is board certified and a partner in a large practice. I don't think she was a fool,do you? The point is you have to spend money to make money and yes you do have to be smart in addition. If you want to make money and have a secure future you need to have direction and a plan. You need to be a professional . Unless your a gifted person,a one in a thousand and are selling the right product at the right time,the best you'll ever do is make a living in sales. Personal finance advisors are nothing more than sales people selling a product. Your intentions may be honorable but the bottom line is however your working for will want you to sell there product. I never met one personal finance person who truly cared for there client. They care about the commission they receive and I've dealt with many of them.
Not to discourage you but in personal finance you have to be managing a awful lot of money to have a good salary and thats takes a long time to happen. That time can best be put to better things. You need a marketable skill,something that is always in demand or at least something were you can always get work. To use myself as a example if i was younger and wanted to i could get a job almost anywhere in the country. I could work in a shipyard,a mill,power house almost anywhere and take note I'm not talking some factory job were id sit MIG welding some part all day,thats not a welder. I learned the trade and sticked with it,i have the licences and the test results and experience to get in the door and the thing i learned is talk is cheap. Once a employer see's what your capable of your in. its the same in the white collar field. What ever you decide you need to be a step above the other guy. BTW i finally found a finance advisor. Its a woman i knew from early grammar school and she is also a attorney. You get my point she advises people in finance and the legalities concerning this. She has her own firm and does well. Good luck

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He seems like a nice kid Steve, why in the world would you want to turn him into a lawyer? :icon_eek:

He is a nice kid but he needs to go into things with both eyes open and listen to all options and make a educated decision. When he mentioned going to college and selling new cars,i shook my head. Im not knocking people who sell cars and if thats his thing so be it but my advise was what id tell my own son. A attorney is probably one of the most important people in your life after your reverend and doctor. There are many lawyers that are only looking to soak there clients but there are more honest ones that can help you when you need one. Whatever he decides i hope it works out for him and his young family.

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[NJRR]

Financial advisor and the money sounds like a great gig in the bull market we're going through right now, but that won't last forever. It's not easy getting people to trust you with their money and when the market starts going down and they're losing money, it's not so easy to keep them. So, you better be prepared for some lean years in between the boom years.

Oh I know they do! But for the same reason I pay someone to do my taxes is the same reason most people let someone else manage their money. I don't have enough time to learn the 6 million tax laws just like most boomers don't have time to dig through thousands of mutual or index funds that earn 10% over the long term. Pretty feasible to pay someone 1% if they can bump one up from 5 -6% to 10-12%. Worthy it in the long run.

 

[steve from staten island]

Very true words from NJRR. When people were making money,everybody and there brother were Quote "financial advisors". As par for the course it always comes down to greed and those folks who got sucked in by some financial planners lost there savings when the market went bust. I to this day never met a financial planer who really put there clients first. They love it when you invest with them,but take out some principal and watch the long sad faces.
BTW You say you don't have time to learn the tax codes. Maybe you should reconsider and take the time to learn them. Nothing comes easy.

 

[coronet340]

I think when a nation has $1 trillion in student loan debt, it is foolish. That is debt with ZERO collateral that never goes away. I am glad it worked out for your daughter, but had it not she would be sitting on a mountain of debt that discourages most people into giving up. Again, I have NO interest in being a lawyer. That is not what I'm interested in.

Also, Steve, you have not met the right advisors. The TRUE advisor does not work off commission but of off of a standard fee. I will not make money getting people to buy and sell junk stocks. I will actually lose money because their expense ratio will go up losing capital in the long run. A TRUE advisor wants his client to become financially independent. A TRUE advisor will take on hard cases like myself three years ago to show them error in their ways when they think debt/credit is a way of a life. A TRUE advisor will help a couple that has no money to invest, but get them on a budget. I am not saying I do not plan to prosper using this business model. I am saying that if my clients make money I make money.

Anyways - this was not a thread about student loans or debt. It is about sales. I wanted to know what sales was like. I have worked in two industries in the past 12 years: a physics lab and oil. I had no idea new car sales sucked - but yet people still make a living. I am simply trying to do the responsible thing - have a Plan B incase I get a call saying don't bother coming to work tomorrow. I will NOT take unemployment or food stamps. I will go work three $7.25/hr jobs if it means keeping food on the table until I can get something better lined up. But I sure as hell ain't going to sit around and sulk or start treating student loans like an ATM for my family to live on.

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Financial advisor and the money sounds like a great gig in the bull market we're going through right now, but that won't last forever. It's not easy getting people to trust you with their money and when the market starts going down and they're losing money, it's not so easy to keep them. So, you better be prepared for some lean years in between the boom years.

I understand that. That's why I am so against debt. If my monthly bills don't include car payments, credit cars, and a mortgage, I can weather long term bear markets. That being said, there was a lot of people that abandoned ship in 2008-09. But the smart ones, that planned for the bad times, made a killing because they were able to dump money into a market that has gone from 6500 (DJIA) to 18000 (DJIA).

Real estate was the same way. All the people that planned for the bad times had cash to buy the foreclosures. Now they have a ton of equity. FYI, I plan to diversify into real estate as well.

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He is a nice kid but he needs to go into things with both eyes open and listen to all options and make a educated decision. When he mentioned going to college and selling new cars,i shook my head.

Steve, this kind of pisses me off. You have no idea my story, but I'm about to let you see a little bit. This is an unfair assumption. Do you really think I would go into something that would jeopardize my families future? Don't get me wrong, I have dug myself some pretty deep holes, but I learned from every one of them because I refused to let anybody fill them in but my.

Being a Certified Financial Planner is something I feel deep down in my heart I am suppose to do. I almost went bankrupt, not once but twice. The last time was in January 2012. I was literally six days away from losing everything, including a sweet girl had just met. It was devastating. All my accounts were locked, my car was being looked for by repo men, my phone was shut off, I was sleeping on my dad's couch 180 miles away from the girl I wanted to be with. I spent weeks working a **** job that had good hours 6-3, this left me 2 hours a day to bug people in the oil field to give me a job. I worked my way in and then started reading every book I could get my hands on about getting out of debt or finance.
Since then my wife and I payed off 75k, had an awesome wedding that we paid cash for, had a baby and paid for it all cash, have a great start to my retirement, and I have already completed my freshman year in college (24 credits, all paid for in cash). All this and my wife hasn't worked since she got pregnant in 2012. I won't give out my annual salary, but I do not make 6 figures. But we budget every single paycheck before it gets spent. We skip a lot of stuff we'd like to do but is not in the budget at this time.
I have learned my informal lesson in finance. Now I am going to school to learn my formal lessons in finance. As stated before, I plan to stay in oil until I graduate, not run off on a whim to sell new cars. Selling new cars would be a Plan B. Yes, sales would be tough but it would help me in my career in finance.

Sorry rant over.

 

[MoparMitch]

Start studying for your series 6 and series 63 securities licences now. While you are still at your job and working, search out a Primerica Financial Services office in your area . But find one that is really into the investment side. You will learn a lot. I am a retired Auto Parts Store owner, and I have my 6 and 63 and do investing on more or less a part time basis. PM me if want more info.

 

[steve from staten island]

Im not saying be a lawyer so much as I'm saying be a professional in what you decide. If personal finance is your thing then go for it but and this is a big but id talk to as many of them first. Your ideas might not be reality is all I'm saying. You have to sell a mutual fund as part of what you want to do and as far as advising people for a flat fee,i don't know anything about doing that. Unless there is someone reading this and knows what there talking about,well id like to hear that. What your telling me is you want to advise people with there finances. So when someone comes to you and wants to invest toward there retirement,then what? When they ask you about what funds,what degree of risk,what do you do? Do you advise them and send them to a broker and just take a flat fee? Again my point is what sounds like a noble idea and what is real is two different things. You can surely advise people and do so honestly but you still will be selling a product and you need those commissions. Have you actually talked to someone who does exactly what you want to do? Is there firms that employ people to do this and pay them a straight salary? Id like to know so keep us informed
As far as student loans go. We agree that its kind of senseless to burden yourself with a large student loan and graduate with no clear vision and wind up with a low paying job. When you could have gotten that same job with a degree from much less expensive school. But and this is from my actual experience. When you have a kid that is smart and pointed in the right direction. The kind of kid who knows what they want,its always a best choice to send them to good schools and good schools open doors when you apply to grad schools. When my kid went to grad school there were some that dropped out. I will tell you that in her entire class i don't recall her telling me anybody dropped out after the first year. So hopefully a person doesn't get to far in debt. Not many doctors or dentists did not take out loans. Its impossible to work and go to med school. Lending institutions give money to med students because they know what the earning potential is when they start to practice. Remember were not talking kids going to college. Im trying to tell you that making a blanket statement that student loans are foolish after i explained myself is telling me your dismissing what I'm saying----------BTW the military is a great option for these graduating doctors. My daughter told me some graduates joined various branch's. One young man who was invited to her wedding came in his uniform. He was about to get deployed on a air craft carrier as there ship dentist. There was a four or five year obligation and what Uncle Sam did was while these young professionals served he paid there student loans in full! Nice deal for sure.

 

[coronet340]

Start studying for your series 6 and series 63 securities licences now. While you are still at your job and working, search out a Primerica Financial Services office in your area . But find one that is really into the investment side. You will learn a lot. I am a retired Auto Parts Store owner, and I have my 6 and 63 and do investing on more or less a part time basis. PM me if want more info.

Thank you for the advice. I have been browsing for study materials for my series 7 & 65, as well as my life insurance license. I'll definitely look into Primerica, I'll need a sponsor to take my exams.

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Im not saying be a lawyer so much as I'm saying be a professional in what you decide. If personal finance is your thing then go for it but and this is a big but id talk to as many of them first. Your ideas might not be reality is all I'm saying. You have to sell a mutual fund as part of what you want to do and as far as advising people for a flat fee,i don't know anything about doing that. Unless there is someone reading this and knows what there talking about,well id like to hear that. What your telling me is you want to advise people with there finances. So when someone comes to you and wants to invest toward there retirement,then what? When they ask you about what funds,what degree of risk,what do you do? Do you advise them and send them to a broker and just take a flat fee? Again my point is what sounds like a noble idea and what is real is two different things. You can surely advise people and do so honestly but you still will be selling a product and you need those commissions. Have you actually talked to someone who does exactly what you want to do? Is there firms that employ people to do this and pay them a straight salary? Id like to know so keep us informed
As far as student loans go. We agree that its kind of senseless to burden yourself with a large student loan and graduate with no clear vision and wind up with a low paying job. When you could have gotten that same job with a degree from much less expensive school. But and this is from my actual experience. When you have a kid that is smart and pointed in the right direction. The kind of kid who knows what they want,its always a best choice to send them to good schools and good schools open doors when you apply to grad schools. When my kid went to grad school there were some that dropped out. I will tell you that in her entire class i don't recall her telling me anybody dropped out after the first year. So hopefully a person doesn't get to far in debt. Not many doctors or dentists did not take out loans. Its impossible to work and go to med school. Lending institutions give money to med students because they know what the earning potential is when they start to practice. Remember were not talking kids going to college. Im trying to tell you that making a blanket statement that student loans are foolish after i explained myself is telling me your dismissing what I'm saying----------BTW the military is a great option for these graduating doctors. My daughter told me some graduates joined various branch's. One young man who was invited to her wedding came in his uniform. He was about to get deployed on a air craft carrier as there ship dentist. There was a four or five year obligation and what Uncle Sam did was while these young professionals served he paid there student loans in full! Nice deal for sure.

I try to be a professional in everything I do, even when I was assembling tacos at a fast food joint. I have talked to quite a few of them. Like I said, I am not one to just do things anymore. I am responsible for more than just me. I spent almost a year researching the profession before I even started looking for business schools. I looked at all the stories, good and bad. I've talked to more then just a handful of people and asked their advice. Asked them where they went wrong, where they went right, what they would do differently.

Risk is a part of life, the successful people calculate the risk and then make their move accordingly. I do my very best to act in this manner.

The bottom line is how much one is willing to hustle, the time they are willing to put in, and how many times they will get up after being knocked down.

I am willing to bet that more than one person told your daughter she wouldn't make it through law school, let alone become a partner. I'm sure she didn't ace every test and probably had some times where she thought about quitting, but she didn't.
I'm sure 68Chicken had people tell him he couldn't own his own parts store or be his own boss, yet he did it.
My uncle started as a fast food employee and now is a part owner in a business that owns over 400 fast food joints over the nation. Trust me, I saw the people that said he couldn't make a living flipping burgers.
Hell, ask Dick how many times people scoffed at him thinking he could make a living selling metal boxes that can go anywhere but up and down.
There is a lot of people that fail because they let the doubters tell them they can't. Or they make a mistake and rather not deal with overcoming it. People can be successful in anything, including picking up dog ****. It's the person, not the job or career.

Me, I'll make the career not the other way around. That's the reality. I am diligent in everything I do. I pour over minuscule details looking for trip hazards. I decided a long time ago that I was going to be a successful person. Nobody can tell me different.

 

[steve from staten island]

She is not a lawyer,she is a pediatric dentist. She never as far as i know thought of quitting grad school. In college she was a 4.0 student in the sciences with a overall average of 3.9. So i knew or had a good idea i was not wasting my money paying for her education and damm did i burn a lot of welding wire paying for it LOL. Your a bright guy with a good work ethic and best of luck to you