!["The Trades Are For Losers" [898x960 - 98KB]](https://pic8.co/sh/sfQ0Nf.jpg){kind=link}
This is the lie tradesman tell themselves to feel better about not going to college.
Initially you may make more money but in the long term you will more than likely become stagnant while people who went to college can continue to advance up the corporate ladder.
And before I get a bunch of shitty replies I'm a tradesman. I make damn good money but I'm straight hourly but I break my back every fucking day for this shit. You can't condense the pros and cons of college into a 6 sentence meme.
I make $100,000+ driving a truck and I'm home almost every night and off on weekends.
It's important to factor in opportunity cost and compare the trades to all degrees.
Most degrees are worthless and represent a massive opportunity cost (+4 years of foregone wages + debt multiplied by an average 8% ROI if someone just stuck that cash in a S&P 500 Index).
You're spot on that in the long term, high paying degrees in STEM out-perform the trades both financially and physically. However the majority of degrees are a negative ROI however you slice it.
See what I mean about not being able to condense it into a meme haha. My attitude is 100% fuck college. But the trades aren't for everyone either.
I made 170k one year as a foreman electrician, my back ain't sore but I got a gut now, grey hairs and a divorce. Yay me.
Sounds like you just failed to move up in the trades and open your own business...
It's easier than most think.
I've progressed up my trade as far as I can and I'm in one of, if not the highest paying ones out there. I can ask for more money but still that leaves me fairly stagnant. The next option I have would be to open up a business which is quite difficult for this trade especially if I want to be apart of the labor union. If I want to make more money I have to work more hours plain and simple.
It's not that hard to open your own business as a tradesmen. I'm pretty handy, but there are some things I dont want to do because I'm busy. When I contract out work its gotten to the point where if a contractor actually shows up the work's theirs no matter the price.
Can you imagine any other field with that low a bar to starting a succesful business? Just showing up and bam, you're in the top 20% of companies?
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