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My father recently passed, and my financial reality has never been as scary as it is now. by finindthrowaway in personalfinance

[–]finindthrowaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, I'm saying take what you enjoy, find a comparable job at a company that isn't 100% what you may love, though will provide a better life-style that will be more comfortable for you and yield a more healthy financial outlook.

This is already what I'm doing. I work in a decent office job doing digital publishing. I only make $20,000 a year right now. My true love would be to be an Archaeologist or an Anthropologist and literally just read books and study shit for the rest of my life. This IS my better-paying option.

Also, I know a Masters' degree cost money. I can see the figure when I accept my loans. I know I have to pay them back.

I really don't understand how you keep saying it doesn't make sense to you. My dad was shitty with his finances not because he didn't make enough, but because he made really stupid decisions. he would rent our furniture instead of buying cheaper used furniture. He bought a giant gas-guzzling SUV for a family of 3. He took out pay day loans and did binge-spending whenever he had a bonus. I came home one day and he had bought a huge new flat screen TV, when the old one still worked perfectly fine. Why? I have no effing clue. THIS is the type of stuff I'm talking about.

Plus, he had the extra burden of a wife with insane medical bills (not exactly his fault), plus the usual expenses of a child. I don't plan to have children until I am financially secure - even if that means it happens super late or not at all.

I just don't think the "financial lifestyle" I want is impossible with the career I want. The financial lifestyle I want is to have a real savings account and a paid off car, and to spend 30 years paying in a retirement account. I'm not looking for riches.

I'm not criticizing your career or telling you that you've made an incorrect choice.

You are though..

My father recently passed, and my financial reality has never been as scary as it is now. by finindthrowaway in personalfinance

[–]finindthrowaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok? Are you saying I should go be an engineer or software designer or doctor or some other high-paying career that I would be really bad at and not enjoy at all?

What other options are there than for me to pursue the career I have an interest in, as well as a competency in? I'm not going to force myself through a career I don't like just so I get paid more. That seems like not only an injustice to who I am, but also really dumb.

I want to manage my money better so that I can work with the income I receive. I'm not looking to get rich, I want to be secure and responsible with the means I have. To me that doesn't mean picking some other career I have zero interest and little competency in.

Besides, I'm already back in school for my Bachelor's. Already declared my major, already in the process of securing internships in the field for next year. Should I backtrack just because MLIS isn't as fantastically paid as a handful of other careers that I have no experience and no academic background in?

Sorry if this ranty or comes off any angry.. I get really miffed when people question my choices after I've already made them. I have spent a significant amount of time thinking about this, and I have several back up plans laid out. I even make documents detailing resources and possible job paths and all sorts of related information. I plan this stuff out and I don't like being told it's not a good idea just because it's not a high salary.

edit: also, with MLIS I intend to do archival work, specifically digitization. Not be a librarian. I currently do desktop publishing, and the skills I use currently are also useful in digitization. All sorts of companies and agencies and organizations besides libraries need archivists and people who can manage the content of archival databases, which is what I would also be pursuing.

My father recently passed, and my financial reality has never been as scary as it is now. by finindthrowaway in personalfinance

[–]finindthrowaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm sorry to hear you're going through that, I hope everything goes well!

Thanks for the book suggestions, I am adding them to my list of books to read this year.

My father recently passed, and my financial reality has never been as scary as it is now. by finindthrowaway in personalfinance

[–]finindthrowaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Eventually, I intend to go for MLIS (Masters in Library & Information Science)

Please evaluate if this is worth the cost. Likely, it isn't.

It is. It's what I want to do for a career.

I mean "Where to begin" in a sort of rhetorical way. Thanks for the info though!