The 5 year plan to £50k

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TacticalFish said:
My problem is that I kind of feel like I'm too old to retrain now (27), has anyone else made such a move at this age?
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I decided just before I turned 27 that I wanted to be a lawyer. My disposable income was devoured by part-time course fees and the training contract pay was substantially less than what I had been earning in PR, but I qualified at 31 and am now earning more with much more earning potential (plus the work is a lot more interesting/challenging, which is why I switched). My course had many people in the same age range and it was a real advantage to have done something other than study when the time came for securing a contract.

It is a bit of a long road, but you will realise (if you haven't already) that four or five years isn't much in the grand scheme of things. Look at it this way - those several years will pass whether you change careers or not, so you might as well be doing something you enjoy at the end of it.
 
Free time and good health is more important than a massive salary and all the rubbish that comes with that..well for me anyway.

Having friends is also overrated. After a week in the city and around people I want to get as far away from others as possible to re-charge my batteries and have some quiet time to myself.
 
TacticalFish said:
My problem is that I kind of feel like I'm too old to retrain now (27), has anyone else made such a move at this age?
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One of my best friends was a science teacher and got made redundant from a 6th form college when he was 30. He taught himself programming for six months and then applied for a bunch of graduate schemes. He got accepted onto a couple of them. A couple of years later, he's just about to move jobs and earns as much as a lot of senior developers.

Another friend was a commodities journalist for a large organisation. She noticed that most of her friends who had a good work/life/money balance were software developers so, at the age of 31, she took some evening classes and asked a lot of questions. A year or so later, she applied for a developer job internally and was accepted.

Notice a theme here? :p

Also, wow, developers! :D
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They're everywhere.
 
FoxEye said:
I suppose that depends on what you consider a friend to be.

There are people I've known all my life and are friendly toward me/vice versa.

I don't socialise with anyone, if that's what you mean.
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If you really have such strong antisocial disorders in your personality that stop you socialising on even a basic level then your career options will stay limited for the foreseeable future. Sad but true.
 
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OP if you are unwilling to work on getting on with people, moving from under your mums wing and making some significant changes in your outlook and attitude to others and what you need to do you are never going to amount to anything work wise. That doesn't make you less of a person, just not one who will make a fortune or even relatively fair money unless you set up your own business and do something you can fully control. Reality is that won't happen either I suspect so you're pretty much just going to have to dream....or change significantly. The problem with progression is you, no one else and until you accept that and start to be more outgoing, less annoyed at people and frankly grow up, you're cooked (but spelt different).

Good luck.
 
Housey said:
OP if you are unwilling to work on getting on with people, moving from under your mums wing and making some significant changes in your outlook and attitude to others and what you need to do you are never going to amount to anything work wise. That doesn't make you less of a person, just not one who will make a fortune or even relatively fair money unless you set up your own business and do something you can fully control. Reality is that won't happen either I suspect so you're pretty much just going to have to dream....or change significantly. The problem with progression is you, no one else and until you accept that and start to be more outgoing, less annoyed at people and frankly grow up, you're cooked (but spelt different).

Good luck.
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Some very mixed messages there. "Doesn't make you less of a person"; "frankly [you should] grow up"...

I don't value conformity (at all), and if the most pressing reason to leave your parents (and put them in a home) is to conform with other people's expectations of what adult life should be - screw other people's expectations, frankly ;)
 
FoxEye said:
Some very mixed messages there. "Doesn't make you less of a person"; "frankly [you should] grow up"...

I don't value conformity (at all), and if the most pressing reason to leave your parents (and put them in a home) is to conform with other people's expectations of what adult life should be - screw other people's expectations, frankly ;)
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No mixed messages, you just misinterpret them that's all, not for the first time.

Your opening line in this thread....."OK, here goes. I want to start a career. The goal is to get to £50k p.a. in 5 years, starting with nothing"

What we then have is 17 pages of debate where you tell us why you are failing at getting to your new career and your wage goal. You can keep telling us who you are, what you value and that you won't change, but to my point the problem is you if this is your constant retort. It isn't about confirming, it's about realising that often you/we are the problem, we just don't always see it. To my other point that doesn't make you less of a person outside of your progression ambitions as it's just your personally, but you asked about your career and if you are unwilling to change you are going to really struggle and mostly likely fail to get anywhere before you retire.

It isn't about conformity, so far you have shown nothing to suggest you are special or having anything special to offer, to my point about you being the problem as your attitude will make it really hard to uncover that I suspect. You have to change your outlook as right now your attitude is something most companies will not bother taking a risk with, certainly at your age. I have employed all sorts of people over the years, including people with the same outlook as you and the most challenging and usually the ones that keep moving from job to job until they fall off the radar are people who see change as conformity only rather than just getting on with people better and appreciating they need to change.

Steve Jobs was an ass but he had something you don't. Self belief, huge focus and passion. I am not saying people who don't work well with others can't get on or become very wealthy, but they have a lot more about them than so far you have demonstrated on this thread, or they make a change. You asked, and I am and others have taken time sharing their view and you can ignore it or take it onboard. Choice is yours, I don't care other than trying to help out a fellow forum member with some advice as I love to see people make a success of their lives, whatever success looks like to them.

I remind you, all I know of what you deem success to be for you is "OK, here goes. I want to start a career. The goal is to get to £50k p.a. in 5 years, starting with nothing"
 
Housey said:
I don't care other than trying to help out a fellow forum member with some advice as I love to see people make a success of their lives, whatever success looks like to them.
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Fair enough. I'm afraid I often assume the worst, and that everybody is out to get me :p You might say I'm a tad paranoid.
 
builder22 said:
I don't think the £50k is too important to you Foxeye....
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That figure was something I made up based on the price of housing... what's important to be is not being somebody else's slave.

I could live quite comfortably on less I'm sure. I just really, really don't want to end up like people I know, on low wages and paying off someone else's mortgage for them.

Frankly, if that's living, then I honestly don't see the point. I don't see the point in existing purely to struggle, purely to enrich someone else. I'd rather simply cease to exist. Perhaps I'm odd.

e: In a nutshell - life is pointless. I don't want it to be onerous and miserable as well.
 
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Perhaps the struggle is what you need, it could push you on and give you a better perspective. It also feels good to challenge yourself and overcome adversity.

Regardless of income life is a constant struggle for many, it comes down to far more than just what's going in the bank every month.

What you seem to want is some kind of utopia and with humans that'll never exist, you've got very deep seated negative thought patterns towards pretty much any kind of advice. If you're worried about paying someone else's mortgage you may as well not work at all as your taxes go towards far worse individuals than landlords.
 
MichaelAwkward said:
Are property prices that bad in Cornwall?!? I'd love to earn £27k.
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In some areas, 70% are 2nd homes. Due to rise to 90% in coming decade. This pushes up prices massively.

For a house not in an old mining village miles away from any employer, and not in a drug den (Redruth), you're looking at 300k starting price. Like, for a two bedroom smallish house.

But a really big problem here is the staggering growth of BTL. I kid you not, most new build houses never get the chance to be sold to a FTB or other home owner. They go straight into a BTL portfolio.

There is wealth down here, but it's super concentrated, and mostly it's in the hands of those with (lots of) property. I think home ownership in Cornwall is lower than the rest of the country.
 
FoxEye said:
In some areas, 70% are 2nd homes. Due to rise to 90% in coming decade. This pushes up prices massively.

For a house not in an old mining village miles away from any employer, and not in a drug den (Redruth), you're looking at 300k starting price. Like, for a two bedroom smallish house.

But a really big problem here is the staggering growth of BTL. I kid you not, most new build houses never get the chance to be sold to a FTB or other home owner. They go straight into a BTL portfolio.

There is wealth down here, but it's super concentrated, and mostly it's in the hands of those with (lots of) property. I think home ownership in Cornwall is lower than the rest of the country.
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Tell me about it, I am trying to buy somewhere at the moment down there and all these people who are buying all the good places as holiday homes are disgraceful as it stops me buying a holiday home :D
 
I foresee your future involving staying at home forever, and inheriting the house eventually,along with a low paid job that pays the bills. Be happy with your lot, you will be a lot better off than most.
 
Housey said:
Tell me about it, I am trying to buy somewhere at the moment down there and all these people who are buying all the good places as holiday homes are disgraceful as it stops me buying a holiday home :D
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We're fighting back tho. St Ives and other places are now clamping down on 2nd home ownership. It's unpopular and councils are now starting to see what happens when you let so much of your housing stock sit empty for long periods.

Uther said:
I foresee your future involving staying at home forever, and inheriting the house eventually,along with a low paid job that pays the bills. Be happy with your lot, you will be a lot better off than most.
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Won't inherit the house. I have four siblings who don't live with us.
 
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