Son wants to start working after undergraduate

[Anonymous]

Have a 20 year old son who is in college. He would finish his degree this year. He is not enrolled in anything technical to be able to earn a reasonably comfortable salary. He is quite a smart kid and is doing fine in college. He could go into higher studies and earn a decent salary. But he is planning to take a a low paying job and not go for higher studies. He does not want to spend more years in studying and does not want a high paying/high stress job.

We are regular working professional family with a HHI little over $300K. We live a comfortable (yet not extravagant) life with enough savings. He has never experienced financial hardship. He says he is prepared to move to a low COLA area to cut down cost.

I am worried that he is shortsighted and throwing opportunities while he is young. I am worried that he would regret his decisions when he is older, faces financial hardship and sees his friends and siblings settled in high paying jobs with many alternatives. How do I help him?

[Anonymous]

It's a great idea for him to work for a couple years and then evaluate whether he needs additional education to achieve his goals. Too many young people rush into advanced degrees.

[Anonymous]

By backing off. He might go for more degrees later once he finds his niche. Forcing him to get an expensive degree he doesn’t want won’t end well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a great idea for him to work for a couple years and then evaluate whether he needs additional education to achieve his goals. Too many young people rush into advanced degrees.

+1

[Anonymous]

Better to work for a couple years first.

[Anonymous]

Better that he figure out what he wants to do, than to spend time and money on a graduate program that doesn’t suit him.

[Anonymous]

You can’t force him to go to grad shook. Let him discover for himself that being poor sucks and he may become motivated to further educate himself.

[Anonymous]

Some degrees, like MBAs, require work experience. Even law schools now prefer kids to take a year or two off.

Nothing wrong with working for a few years before pursuing an advanced degree. I worked in a pretty low paying job before getting an MBA. My DC graduated with a liberal arts degree last year and makes over $100k in consulting. This is a strong job market so no reason he shouldn't be able to find a decent job.

[Anonymous]

Are you paying for graduate school and college? If not, it makes sense.

[Anonymous]

I worked for four years before going to graduate school. I think working and figuring out what you really want to do is so valuable. No point in going to graduate school if you don’t know what to study/why you’re going.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By backing off. He might go for more degrees later once he finds his niche. Forcing him to get an expensive degree he doesn’t want won’t end well.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you paying for graduate school and college? If not, it makes sense.

Paying for education does not confer rights to control the student's choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's a great idea for him to work for a couple years and then evaluate whether he needs additional education to achieve his goals. Too many young people rush into advanced degrees.

+1

+2. He will also learn about the limits of career and salary mobility with an undergraduate. He may find that he's perfectly suited for something that will make him happy or decide there is a profession that calls to him. A break is the right call.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Better that he figure out what he wants to do, than to spend time and money on a graduate program that doesn’t suit him.

Yup. Spend some time working and then go back to school if it makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some degrees, like MBAs, require work experience. Even law schools now prefer kids to take a year or two off.

Nothing wrong with working for a few years before pursuing an advanced degree. I worked in a pretty low paying job before getting an MBA. My DC graduated with a liberal arts degree last year and makes over $100k in consulting. This is a strong job market so no reason he shouldn't be able to find a decent job.

What kind of job your DC does, if you do not mind sharing.