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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Congrats to your kid, OP!

And by all means go ahead and be proud.

But…

Denigrating your siblings and their children…or most kids, really…sigh…not nice.

Moreover, let me share some observations as a very successful DC professional in my 50s with a handful of kids and many dozens of relatives spanning from tweens to early 30s:

1. Tons of us landed amazing jobs and have fabulous lives despite going to state schools or no name colleges.

2. I know far too many kids who never did much with their fancy degrees. I think most people are either motivated or not. The fact that you forced your kid to do so much could mean they will fizzle out once you aren’t pushing them.

3. Anyone who struggles with anxiety and/or depression tends to struggle during their college years—especially the first year. I hope you will be nearby and frequently checking in. I know kids who quietly left top schools after the first year because they couldn’t live independently while managing their issues. And that’s okay.

4. Most of the financially successful people I know in their 30s own a business—and some didn’t bother with college. Some started in the trades and opened their own company. These people own the fanciest homes plus vacation homes and quickly became millionaires. It’s not for everyone, but it’s shocking how quickly they amassed wealth as Ivy educated kids are working harder for far less.

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Your #4 seems completely made up.  Only a very small percentage of people in the trades who own their own companies become millionaires…and that requires building a fairly large company of like 50+ employees (with lots of trucks and other assets which aren’t free).

All of the trade folks who do work on my house own their own companies and they would all laugh that they are raking it in.  None encouraged their children to follow in their footsteps…which doesn’t mean not learning a trade, but rather go work for a large company as an electrician, don’t do it on your own.

On the other hand…every day we read about 25 year olds becoming billionaires by starting an AI company or similar tech company.  This is DC, and we all know 30-something BigLaw partners that are pulling down big $$$s.
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I know some people with a huge company involving multiple trades and spanning different industries. OT, but it is not easy to start, grow, and own your own company, regardless of industry.  It requires dealing with hiring and retaining employees, financing assets, marketing, ensuring payment, taxes, insurance, workers comp, and on and on.  The same is true for the law firm or tech conpany. Big law started as small[er] law at one point, and once you buy in, you're responsible for keeping the business running. The difference is that the infrastructure is already in place at that point, but it wasn't always. [/quote]

So the men I know in the dc metro area who personally net $1M+ through their own blue collar companies are not running huge businesses in terms of the number of employees. They have relatively small crews who work FT for them. If you’ve renovated a house in the dc metro area, you can easily wrap your head around this. [/quote]

Again…contractors have bankruptcy rates similar to restaurants (meaning a lot).  The ones with small crews rarely have enough to handle all jobs and need to manage subcontractors which many do badly.  Also, most contractors are terrible at pricing the materials, pricing in contingencies (permits delayed or other delays), etc.

The contractor down the street who bought and is trying to renovate a house in DC has already told me he will now be lucky to break-even…the intial turnaround time of 6 months has already come and gone and only the demo permits were granted…so, it’s at least another 6 months.  We just hope the guy doesn’t abandon it and leave an eyesore that needs to be sold at a foreclosure auction or something.[/quote]

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