Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is a junior in HS taking a tough load this year. He is saying he doesn’t want to go to college, it’s not worth it, etc. Says he can make $ trading stocks, going into a trade, or some other way. I fear this is a combo on burnout and TikTok influence. I would be fine with him going into a trade but he has never shown the slightest interest in any of them. Daytrading doesn’t seem like a sustainable strategy. Thoughts? Similar experiences? Clearly, a summer job is in order so he gets what it is to work.

Has he made any money trading stocks? if your family has money, I really don't see the point of going to college.

We "have money" but our kids are not getting it randomly. They still need to forge a career path in life.

Quickest way to not have money is to let your high school kid start day trading with it, lmao.

Anonymous wrote:He might be right. My god-daughter dropped out from college and became an influencer in Miami. Financially she is doing a whole
lot better than her college grad peers!

Boys can’t be camwhores though.

Anonymous wrote:Maybe visit a different kind of college? My DS wanted to go to college but he hates the AP classes and he hates living on the east coast. He is a kid that wanted a lower paced life and to live in a less urban environment. He now attends a small school in the south - slower pace, less academic, good weather. He is happy. Maybe show your kids some other options.

+1

Stop aiming for Top everything. A college degree is a college degree. I work alongside people who graduated from schools ranked 250+, yet I graduated T10. We all get paid similarly and all do a great job. I'm not special because of where I attended college, I went, worked hard, did well, graduated and so did all thse other people.

So let your kid apply to less selective universities and let them find a good fit, place that is collaborative and not Competitive. The goal is for them to graduate college and find a career path. It's not T25 or bust.

Anonymous wrote:Maybe visit a different kind of college? My DS wanted to go to college but he hates the AP classes and he hates living on the east coast. He is a kid that wanted a lower paced life and to live in a less urban environment. He now attends a small school in the south - slower pace, less academic, good weather. He is happy. Maybe show your kids some other options.

+1
What about visiting Pepperdine in southern Cal, University of Colorado in Boulder or even some of the SLACs in Maine? Maybe he just needs something completely different. You could even try Oxford or St. Andrews to be out of the US for a few years.

OP, a trade may be ideal for him and a lot of trades offer good earning opportunity. One of my BFF husband is a master plumber and they live in a $1M home, vacation a lot, and have far more $$ than DH and I do with our PhD (me) and 2 masters (DH). Plumbing, electrician, HVAC tech are in high demand and once you get out of the apprentice status the pay is good. Or he can start his own company and work to grow that into a successful business.

College is not the ticket onto the gravy train. Maybe help him explore different trades and see what resonates with him. It takes several years to work up thru the ranks so I would not just cut him off. But I agree with some of the PP's - a trade is part of a viable plan; day trading is not.

Anonymous wrote:Zuck never graduated from college.

He is worth $220 billion.

Zuck has that $220B because he went to college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tell him not going to college is even harder than going to college, and that you'll need to see incredible drive and motivation from him in order to allow that to happen. You want to see a business plan for the next 10 years, with financial estimates on how he's planning to support himself and what sector of activity he's going to work/invest in, with what incremental goals for what incremental timeframes.

That should shut him up.

I know you think you're being cute, but I took time off before I went to college and proactively created a plan for my life, printed out a copy, left it for my mom to read on the counter. There are many reasons kids don't want to go to college right away. It's mature of them to admit it, talk about it, and be willing to explore options. We're not all idiots. Life is long and thank god we're not locked into anything at 17 years old.

OP - have an open mind, don't treat him like a moron. And he absolutely needs to get a job. All high school kids should work before graduating. Sports/ECs just don't teach the same lessons.

It's OP's kid who is being cute. What you did is quite different than what he is saying. He put trades in the sane category as daytrading, and he put daytrading first. That is not someone who is serious about entering the trades.

Maybe someone who is a little burnt out with his current life. We'll time to figure out what this things coming out of his mouth really entail. My guess is that OP's kid has no idea, unlike you.

Trader, tradie, same difference.

Learning a trade is his best bet- he may be able to start his studies and earn a certification while in high school. The bit about stock trading is silly, plain and simple.

He should start working full time in the summers this year, if he hasn't already done so, at any job he can get.

Maybe visit a different kind of college? My DS wanted to go to college but he hates the AP classes and he hates living on the east coast. He is a kid that wanted a lower paced life and to live in a less urban environment. He now attends a small school in the south - slower pace, less academic, good weather. He is happy. Maybe show your kids some other options.