To B4Ranch: I would like you to read my post #27.
Although I am better off than my dad was in terms of “toys”, I am much worse off than he in other ways. My standing in society is so much lower that I cannot even approach a suitable mate for courtship. By now my age is such that it’s pointless anyway. I would probably not be accepted by any of the clubs that he was/is a member of...rotary, shriners, etc. I have no investments or savings. He never went to college. I have a master’s degree in engineering. In his day, a person like me would’ve had it made...without the college education. I love to work. I like manual labor. I am mechanically enclined. I know how to fix stuff. I inherited these attributes from him and he prospered from them. I am cursed by them, and by a changing economy. My personality is such that I cannot work at a desk all day 6 days a week...just as my father could not. I never should have been in college for as long as I was. It’s just not my thing. But I did it because I started it and I don’t quit, I finish what I start. The work I am doing today payed in 1970 more than a college professor made in 1970. Today it pays about the same as a garbage man makes, I think.
I never did join a union. Mostly on principal. But if I had, I probably would be in a much better situation right now. My dad was never in a union either. But it was different then.
You remind me of an uncle of mine. Educated above and beyond. He knew the answer to darn near every question I ever asked him but when it came to actual investing, the average waitress knew more than he did.
Yet, he fully understood finances and how the various aspects of our economy worked. He knew which companies were financially secure, ie good investments but he hadn’t invested a miserable 10 grand in his lifetime. If he had, I am sure that he would have taken an interest in making more money than he was paid at the university and become a multimillionaire.
Maybe because his brother was wealthy he knew that he would never be wanting. I don’t know.
What branch of engineering is your degree in? I am surprised you are having such difficulty finding suitable employment. If your degree is mechanical, civil, or electrical you should investigate the mining industry.