job market is grim, particularly if u r 50+

[dwpeters]

My wife is an experienced accountant. She started looking for an accounting position almost 2 years ago and still hasn't landed one. All the while Yahoo! has listed Accountant as one of the jobs currently in demand. I know I'm biased but that the many companies she's applied to and the few companies that interviewed her haven't hired her just reinforces my view that so many people haven't a clue. Rather than put my fate and livelihood in the hands of such people I'm taking control of it myself on my own terms thru trading.

To QQQBall, all good advice. I am not quitting my job (yet), just expecting my company to lay me off soon enough. And I trade overnight but small position size, many positions, and multiple strategies, including long and short. Successful trading is all about controlling risk - it is a key focus for me.

 

[hippie]

Quote from denner:

I think QQQBall gave some very sound advice. Namely, that your best bet and MANY people's best bet is to leave this country and find a reasonably affordable "third world lite" type of place to call home. Once there, you'd probably have quite a few options as far as setting up business advising your fellow baby boomer, soon to be ex-pats on how to move to wherever you are.

I see that as a very big business in the coming years because the cost of living aint going down in the USA and more people will be unable to afford the health care racket in this country and will move abroad.

You should front run it as much as possible (and I do realize that it's not a novel concept, but it has not become even remotely mainstream yet).

Several friends had suggested that to me in my traveling days. I had done some investigations too, about long-term visas, business that expats can get involved in w/o too much hassle. For now, I like to focus on trading and learning how to hedge currency risk if USD indeed loses its value in my retirement years. I have good contacts overseas too. For now I like to focus on trading better. It has taken a lot of learning time and attention to see some small regular profits. I do not want to be distracted now.

 

[dandxg]

I believe what you are going to see, is an even greater backlash against this "free trade" scam. When the likes of PTJ, one of the greatest capitalists of all time, call it a scam that says something to me.

I recall when the spin was the service sector was going to replace all the lost mfg jobs. Now those jobs are going to Chindia too. I guess we can all work and Wallmart and live in trailer park right?

 

[zedDoubleNaught]

Today, you have to learn new skills every 5-10 years or so. That time span has been shrinking over the past few decades, and probably will continue to shrink going forward. As I get older, it gets harder and harder to do that relearning, especially to compete with younger sharper minds that are learning it too.

Anyways, here's my 2-cents for an entrepreneur: refurbish monitors with 1200 vertical resolution, or get new ones and hold on to them for a few years. Nowadays, they're all 900 or 1080 vertical resolution. I read one forum, said it's cheaper for the manufacturer to double up with wide screen TVs. But, they are not tall enough to do any real work, just watch videos. Don't take my word for it; do a search for it, I found many people posting comments that they are unhappy with the current trend. Maybe there is an opportunity there someone could use.

 

[the1]

I can respect that and I wish you luck and prosperity!!

Quote from hippie:

I know of an accountant worked as a supervisor at KFC for $11/hr. A friend is working on outsourcing accounting to India the last few years.

I rather learn to trade well than waste my time learning accounting. It is not my thing. I have severe ADHD, not suited for accounting.

Trading is what I want to do now. I need to stay focus on it than being distracted by "possibilities" that may or may not be there.

 

[the1]

Agree. Becoming a CPA doesn't guarantee you of anything. All it does is open some doors. It's a question of whether you want to walk through them or not. Here's a brief video to illustrate my point.

http://www.pinkbatmovie.com/?cm_mmc...Mail&utm_medium=01.07.11&utm_campaign=PBATmov

Quote from dwpeters:

My wife is an experienced accountant. She started looking for an accounting position almost 2 years ago and still hasn't landed one. All the while Yahoo! has listed Accountant as one of the jobs currently in demand. I know I'm biased but that the many companies she's applied to and the few companies that interviewed her haven't hired her just reinforces my view that so many people haven't a clue. Rather than put my fate and livelihood in the hands of such people I'm taking control of it myself on my own terms thru trading.

To QQQBall, all good advice. I am not quitting my job (yet), just expecting my company to lay me off soon enough. And I trade overnight but small position size, many positions, and multiple strategies, including long and short. Successful trading is all about controlling risk - it is a key focus for me.

 

[hippie]

Quote from dwpeters:

My wife is an experienced accountant. She started looking for an accounting position almost 2 years ago and still hasn't landed one. All the while Yahoo! has listed Accountant as one of the jobs currently in demand. I know I'm biased but that the many companies she's applied to and the few companies that interviewed her haven't hired her just reinforces my view that so many people haven't a clue. Rather than put my fate and livelihood in the hands of such people I'm taking control of it myself on my own terms thru trading.

To QQQBall, all good advice. I am not quitting my job (yet), just expecting my company to lay me off soon enough. And I trade overnight but small position size, many positions, and multiple strategies, including long and short. Successful trading is all about controlling risk - it is a key focus for me.

Thanks for stating this. It is bad enough that my non-trader friends trying to push me off my efforts to trade better by suggesting "go back to school" and all kinds of almost non-existent "opportunities" for over 55 folks. What I am surprised is that very few on this board actually encourage me to stay focus on learning to trade better.

Trading odds is not good. However, for folks my age, the odds may be better than landing a job that pay enough for one to live half-way decently.

 

[ugz]

hippie, not everyone is telling you to "go back to school" and do not make assumption there are no "opportunities" for over 55 folks".
i'm still waiting for those over 55 folks to retire early so they must still be employed at their high salaries.

 

[hippie]

Quote from ugz:

hippie, not everyone is telling you to "go back to school" and do not make assumption there are no "opportunities" for over 55 folks".
i'm still waiting for those over 55 folks to retire early so they must still be employed at their high salaries.

If u are over 55 and employed in some exec or government position, good for u.

I am not saying opportunities don't exist at all, but if u had been out a year or two, getting a decent job is like winning a lottery at my age. If u have not been job hunting, u don't know what it is like out there. many employers would not consider anyone who is not currently working or was working the last 6 months.

I don't want to waste my time chasing jobs in the hope of winning a job lottery. I really need to stay focus on trading. To do it right, job hunting is a full time job. I cannot learn to trade well and job hunt at the same time. It is that simple.

 

[jprad]

Quote from blackjack007:

oh cry me a river!!

if you're over 50 now, that means your working career spanned the 80s and 90s -- great times for the stock market and economy. you should have been saving during that time and investing wisely. you should not be in a position now where you're totally screwed if you can't find a 125k/yr job like you had before.

how many of the penniless 50-somethings spent all their money on toys or gambled it away in tech stocks in 1999? or, like hippie, fucked around instead of working when times were good (by his own admission).

for every sob story out there, there's a long history of personal mistakes. you and the foreclosure crowd can save your excuses for someone who cares to hear excuses

What a narrow-minded, asinine perspective...

Yeah, there are idiots who squandered their chance. But, not everyone of them did. There are plenty of rational, prudent 50-somethings that got absolutely screwed by companies the likes of Enron, MCI, Lehman, Bear Stearns, and on and on.

And, there are going to be plenty more, some already retired who are sweating bullets every time they get an envelope from their retirement plan administrator.

I've personally seen people ruined by plans changing, if not outright dropping spouse coverage for medical benefits. And, these are people who have a limited backstop because they did the absolutely unthinkable, lived on one paycheck while mom raised the kids.

Like I said, yeah, there are idiots who squandered their chance. But, the sad reality is that Corporate America sold out the middle class by getting Washington to change the rules in midstream.

The worst part? We're still in the early innings of this mess. The government confiscated gold once. Don't be surprised if and when they go and confiscate some of your hard-earned wealth simply because you still have it.