Surviving A Shrinking Workforce
Go to any city bar or restaurant and you will likely find people with college degrees working there. In the past, a college degree was like a golden ticket to any job you wanted. These days, university graduates seem to be a dime a dozen with millions of students pushed through with only so many jobs waiting for them.In a limited job market, it’s important to do your research before spending thousands of dollars on a degree. There could be a decline in jobs that want degrees in liberal arts or sociology, so you might want to head in a different direction. Since there will be plenty of old people needing healthcare, why not look into being a doctor, nurse or some other type of health related professional. Those millions of baby boomers will be needing dentures or hearing aids in the near future, and that means there’s lots of money to be made.
If you’re good with your hands, why not try your luck in the trades. There’s nothing better than getting paid to learn with an apprenticeship. After four years, they give you a ticket to print money and there should always be work for trades people. It’s inevitable that robots will take over the world, so why not be useful and have the skills to repair our metallic automaton overlords. Being handy might just spare you from the slavery pits of gamma district 14! All hail Galaxis the Conqueror….*ahem*… moving on.
Banking On CPP
The whole concept of the Canadian pension plan started off as a great idea. As you were working throughout your life you paid into the CPP and were able to collect a small pension in the form of a government check when you turned 65. Government programs were designed to look after its people when they need it, but without enough people paying into the system, there is no way to keep this system afloat. We have already seen the government increase the benefit age limit to 67, hoping that a few un-lucky workers buy the farm before they can collect. I can totally see this age limit increasing in the very near future in part to Canadian living longer and the inefficiency of any government. Ottawa will probably hire someone to do an independent study on the matter and pay them millions to figure this all out.I for one don’t want to wait till I’m 75 to retire so I decided to take my future into my own hands. I started investing on my own after learning how from books , videos and online media and I haven’t looked back since. I cut out the middle men of mutual funds and have saved thousands of dollars on management fees that I re-invested myself for maximum profit. I invest in companies that pay growing dividends, then re-invest those dividends to create a compounding wealth machine that will one day fund my retirement. That way when I do start to collect CPP at whatever age the government lets me, I can just blow it all on fishing hats and trips to Tim Hortons for $20 coffees.
Become “Generation Ready For Anything”
Instead of just sitting around and complaining about being born at the wrong time, you’ve got to be proactive and make the most of the hand you’ve been dealt. Work harder than everyone else, whether it’s at the office or the classroom. Stand out from the herd and take on new challenges like tackling your own finances and investing. Instead of not working after high school or college and traveling around the world, why not focus on getting a job with a multinational company and have them pay YOU to travel all over the world?We know there will be a surge in older folks coming down the pipe, so why not use this to your advantage when planning your future. I know if I was just finishing high school, I’d be planning on heading into the field of dentures and hearing aids. Sure it would be disgusting looking in all those mouths and hairy ears, but there would be loads of money to be made catering to the baby boomers. I could use that extra money to take part in my interests outside of work and still be happy with a job I disliked.
In life you either evolve or get left behind. We can either embrace the bus loads of baby boomers and stay ahead of the game, or you can lay down and let those buses run you over. The choice is up to you!
This article was written by The Loonie Bin. If you enjoyed this article, please consider subscribing to his feed.
