[thisisastage]

I've tried to distill the below to get my points and questions across as efficiently as possible. Basically I'm a soon-to-be college grad who needs some direction from you older, wiser folk about how to set my self up for life success and happiness.

I'm a 19 yr old college student in Los Angeles studying Applied Mathematics. Spent my whole life in Southern California and can't wait to get out of here. I am on track to graduate in December 2014 without any loans or debt. My parents also are willing to pay for any additional 'official education' I pursue after undergrad.

The safe route that I have the option of taking: As far as my Asian stability-loving parents know, I am on track to becoming an actuary (person who does risk management for insurance companies). A 9-5 corporate job, decent pay, great job security, would be able to live comfortably though not lavishly in any large American city. I am set to do an internship in this field near Chicago next summer.

BUT........ The adventurous, driven side of me tells me to explore much more. Every time I read the 'Travel' sub-forum I get so inspired to travel the world and live in different places for a year or so at a time. I read posts from guys like youngmobileglobal and Mixx, and it's almost like living my dreams vicariously through them. I want to experience different cultures. I want play with girls from all around the world. I want to look back on my 20's and have many memories of all the crazy shit I pulled off.

My practical assets: my mind is well-suited for logical, analytical work like math and programming. I'd also consider myself a decent writer. I've worked at two startups so I'm somewhat familiar with the grind mentality of entrepreneurs, but never started anything of my own. I have the skills to coach pretty high-level tennis players - was ranked top 10 nationally in the past for my age group. Also, if it matters at all, I'm 6'0 155 lbs (need to bulk up...) and good looking (so I've been told anyway by girls who hooked up with me despite my mediocre game).

So I'm really at a crossroads whether to take the safe route or try to 'go big' with the mobile online entrepreneur global player route. The latter seems way sexier to me, but I'm just afraid that I won't be able to sustain that sort of lifestyle.

My questions: What would you do if you were in my position? Why? I have a year left of college to decide what direction to move toward and to start taking huge action to get there! I'm excited but also very anxious...things are finally starting to get REAL.

Thanks in advance! Looking forward to adding value to these forums in years to come.

-thisisastage

[Archer]

(01-02-2014 02:28 AM)thisisastage Wrote:  

I've tried to distill the below to get my points and questions across as efficiently as possible. Basically I'm a soon-to-be college grad who needs some direction from you older, wiser folk about how to set my self up for life success and happiness.

I'm a 19 yr old college student in Los Angeles studying Applied Mathematics. Spent my whole life in Southern California and can't wait to get out of here. I am on track to graduate in December 2014 without any loans or debt. My parents also are willing to pay for any additional 'official education' I pursue after undergrad.

The safe route that I have the option of taking: As far as my Asian stability-loving parents know, I am on track to becoming an actuary (person who does risk management for insurance companies). A 9-5 corporate job, decent pay, great job security, would be able to live comfortably though not lavishly in any large American city. I am set to do an internship in this field near Chicago next summer.

BUT........ The adventurous, driven side of me tells me to explore much more. Every time I read the 'Travel' sub-forum I get so inspired to travel the world and live in different places for a year or so at a time. I read posts from guys like youngmobileglobal and Mixx, and it's almost like living my dreams vicariously through them. I want to experience different cultures. I want play with girls from all around the world. I want to look back on my 20's and have many memories of all the crazy shit I pulled off.

My practical assets: my mind is well-suited for logical, analytical work like math and programming. I'd also consider myself a decent writer. I've worked at two startups so I'm somewhat familiar with the grind mentality of entrepreneurs, but never started anything of my own. I have the skills to coach pretty high-level tennis players - was ranked top 10 nationally in the past for my age group. Also, if it matters at all, I'm 6'0 155 lbs (need to bulk up...) and good looking (so I've been told anyway by girls who hooked up with me despite my mediocre game).

So I'm really at a crossroads whether to take the safe route or try to 'go big' with the mobile online entrepreneur global player route. The latter seems way sexier to me, but I'm just afraid that I won't be able to sustain that sort of lifestyle.

My questions: What would you do if you were in my position? Why? I have a year left of college to decide what direction to move toward and to start taking huge action to get there! I'm excited but also very anxious...things are finally starting to get REAL.

Thanks in advance! Looking forward to adding value to these forums in years to come.

-thisisastage

how are you finishing already? By the time I get my masters I'm going to be like 25...

[Beyond Borders]

There's a lot of money to be made writing about insurance. $100/hour money and plenty of demand. A very good niche to work in as a freelancer.

I've worked for a lot of the bigger companies out there and I know jack shit about it.

[The Beast1]

Stick with the actuarial work for now. It may seem lame, but you can easily leverage it to find yourself in some nice markets.

Bankroll a decent amount of money up. Live with some room mates and make sure you set your 401k to gobble up as much of your income as legally possible (tax free bitches!).

Learn a new language and some other hobbies in the boring 20s downtime. Then when you're ready with enough cash and a new language under your belt move to the third world or find another actuarial job in a foreign country of your choice.

The possibilities are endless. Look at your job as a means to an end. You will be where most of us wish we were professionally. Leverage your soon to be player lifestyle with the ability to move where ever in the world you want! Your skills are highly in demand and the money will be gold!

[polymath]

Don't waste time on shit that does't enrich you somehow.

More importantly....When you fail, recover quickly.

[Frost]

You're in a very strong position right now. The 21st century job market is going to be very kind to people who understand big data and its applications.

Most people here will tell you that you'll be happier and more successful if you ditch the 9-5 option and focus on entrepreneurial ventures - and they're right, in the long term.

But if you can find a job that pays well, gives you opportunities to learn, and lets you live in a great city, don't rule out working for a year right out of school. You'll learn a lot about the corporate world which will help you interact with those people later on in life. You'll also learn if you hate it or not. If you're actually working 9-5 you'll still have a ton of time to focus on other ventures and areas of your life. After a year in a cube, you'll have 20-30k in savings, a bit more wisdom and maturity, valuable connections, and maybe a few big ideas for products that could disrupt the insurance/risk mgmt industries. This is more or less what I did right out of school and it worked out well for me.

Still, even though you shouldn't completely rule out the 9-5 option - if I could do it over again, I would take the other path and find a job with a big tech company or data-driven startup. That's the future, that's where the money is, and that's where the interesting work will be. The path that you take should come down to the individual opportunities that present themselves to you, and which of your options offers you the best opportunity to learn, do important work, and be around great people.

Throw out another post when you're close to graduation and are weighing the concrete options.

[OSL]

You have time and no burden of debt. The world is your oyster right now.

You are very young right now. You can take a gap year post-graduation and not skip a beat.

If I were in your shoes I'd do something like this:

STEP 1 - GRADUATE

Obvious - finish your degree. Work part time and save up a cushion of cash, preferably 10K+ USD.

20K+ would be better because then you would have some cash to throw into your own projects.

STEP 2 - THAILAND [6 months]

Get TEFL/TESOL certified and spend 6 months teaching English in Bangkok while partying and getting all of the shagging out of your system. If you are a tall Asian guy with game and good looks then you can hook up with non-Asian tourist chicks in Phuket and Koh Samui if you are into Euro girls.

Use this time to knock game/PUA flags and notches off your belt. This will give you more confidence in the future.

-Thai
-Japanese
-Swedish
-Norwegian
-Russian
-African

These demographics of women exist in high quantities in Thailand. If your game is pretty tight I think that you can score all of those flags.


Also use this period of time to travel SE Asia:

-Domestically within Thailand
-Singapore
-Laos
-Cambodia
-Vietnam
-Malaysia
-Indonesia
-Philippines
-Myanmar

In addition to touristy stuff, build networks and business connections. Use Linkedin as a tool. I don't think you specified which school you are going to currently. If it's UCLA or USC then you are in pretty good hands as there are a lot of alums living out in Asia. I would look up the alumni clubs on Linkedin, Facebook, and on the school's official directory. Get in touch with the president of each local chapter, tell them that you're coming into town, and would love to grab lunch/dinner.

I've had particularly good results with the following cities for my own alumni chapters abroad:

-Singapore
-Hong Kong
-Seoul
-Beijing
-Manila
-Indonesia (although we hung out in Singapore, not Jakarta)

Of these cities, the Filipino chapter was by far the most welcoming and also locally most influential. This will probably vary by university, though.

Each time you visit one of these cities, set deep roots with local contacts. Make yourself useful to them in some way if possible. If you make promises, make sure you deliver on them.

Dress impeccably and keep in touch with the children of Asian tycoons.

STEP 3 - LAUNCH BUSINESS/CAREER

This part is tricky. There are two types of businesses I would launch at this phase if I were to start all over again, a kickstarter product business based out of China's pearl river delta region or a San Francisco bay area startup.

Kickstarter Physical Product Business:

http://lexellwatches.com/

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1624...ss-steel-w

https://www.facebook.com/LexellWatches

http://www.originalgrain.com/

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/orig...nless-stee

You can be scrappy and teach English in Shenzhen while attempting to get a Kickstarter project off the ground for some niche product line. Look at the above examples for inspiration. Take something that exists, put a neat little tweak on it for your target demographic, then do an aggressive marketing campaign to build your venture up. Even if you fail you will have learned a ton and by this point probably will only be 21 years old. You will have lived more by this point in your life than most guys do by 30.

*CAVEAT* - don't get seduced or distracted by opportunities once you decide and commit to something. Lack of focus has been my single biggest flaw in the past 7 or so years of my life.

San Francisco Bay Area Tech Startup

Beeline it to SFBA and work for someone like Linkedin, Airbnb, Dropbox, Uber, Lyft - see what it's like to work in that environment on the ground level. Make connections in that space.

Then launch your own venture once you've gotten a few years of experience and sourced a good technical cofounder.

The problem with this plan is that you won't stand out as much as a young guy without hardcore hacking talent in San Francisco if you wanna get in the tech world.

As such, I think that it's worth attempting to launch a kickstarter campaign first.

---

SUMMARY OF OUTLINE

1. Graduate / Save $$$

2. Thailand - teach, party, travel cheaply, build networks, brainstorm kickstarter product ideas

3. Shenzhen - create prototype and promotional video, implement other marketing strategies to get the world out and raise capital for your product - Hacking Kickstarter

4. ???

If your kickstarter campaign works then you have officially become a successful international entrepreneur from a products, manufacturing, fundraising, and ecommerce perspective. Run that in China/Asia for a while with occasional trips to the US to promote your wares (assuming that the US is your target market).

With this strategy you can make a name for yourself, make some money, and then, if you want to later, come to SF Bay Area and silicon valley with a success under your belt. Even if it's not a huge success, you will have a track record to speak of instead of being some SoCal actuarial kid with no chops.


---

The story you tell your conservative and risk-averse Asian parents is that once you start working 70 hour white-collar workweeks in NYC/CHI/LA/SF you will never get the chance to travel like this again. You need to show them that you've put some thought into this and that there is a purpose to the trip. It has to be framed as, at worst, a good learning experience and life lesson. Thus, you tell them that you plan to first spend some time teaching in Thailand and traveling in SE Asia and then launching a business idea in Shenzhen/HongKong about six months in.

The oldest you'll be at the end of this gap year will be 21, assuming you start in about 5 months, which is when I assume you are graduating.

Most people don't graduate until 22. You will be way ahead of the curve if you try this out.

The worst thing that will happen is that you will hook up with dozens of beautiful girls, experience world class beaches and parties, and gain priceless business experience.

---

This is the plan I would do if I was 20 years old in 2014 and about to graduate with zero debt, knowing what I know now.

---

[OSL]

-

Oh and while you're at it (and also since you mentioned it), learn how to code.

http://www.onemonthrails.com

http://www.teamtreehouse.com

Make this one of your goals during that critical year - become proficient enough in Ruby on Rails that you don't NEED a technical cofounder unless you really want one.

[AntiTrace]

First off - save over the next year. after college go travel for a month or two partying your ass off.

then:


1. Get job in decent sized city.
2. Get apartment in decent sized city. Preferable a single bedroom by yourself.
3. Put a tv and decent couch in the living room. Put a small table/bfast bar in the kitchen. Put a mattress in the bedroom. Buy nothing else besides bachelor essential player equipment (small home bar, decent music setup, etc). You want to keep your apartment spartan style, nothing more than you need to sleep in and bang in.
4. Gym membership. Not a place like planet shitness. Start a solid workout routine. Buy protein, a pre-workout, and a good set of vitamins.
5. Stock your fridge to ensure a nutrient rich diet. Lots of chicken and vegetables.
6. Save money every month, an actuarial job pays decent money correct? Keep your costs of living down and save money. Make that extra money work for you. Start with investing into the major indexes every month. When you get some experience you can go into individual stocks. You can save enough for a 30% downpayment on an investment property. Research and make your money work for you.
7. Budget. It seems boring. It is boring. But budget your money.

ok let me collect my thoughts...now you have your own apartment (possible roomates, depending on location and expenses), its equipped with nothing more than basic essentials, your saving money and making it work for you, you got a solid gym routine down and are serious about it, your budgeting your money (including entertainment money so your not a hermit)......

ok...

8. Work on game. Focus on daygame as it is cheaper and I'm a firm believer that if you can pull sober, you can pull drinking (albeit with some night game modifications)
9. Break your year down into quarters. Start with identifying objectives you want to achieve in the next three months. Every 3 months review what happened over the past 3 months. Are you still on track? If not fix it. Then plan out your next three months.
10. Travel. All work and no play sucks. If your cash flow allows not sacrificing your budgeted savings to do it, great. If your cash flows doesn't, invest your cash for 9 months and then save for travel for three months.
11. Turn the tv off. Read books.
12. Work on improving your career. Figure out what the next step is, what role you need to be promoted to next. Go to your supervisor and ask for a one and one counseling. Ask him to lay out your strengths and weaknesses. Ask him to identify what he needs to see in you for that promotion to take place. Figure how to make that happen. Follow up at a later date (do you everytime your do your own personal quarterly review.

In only two or three years you will be in an amazing position. You will be in shape, well read, well experienced, have a cushion of cash in the bank, probably have a few chicks in the rotation. Then you can think about getting into the location independt lifestyles. Run a few low cost experiments, crash and burn a bit, learn from your mistakes, continue on and work at becoming an entrepreneur if you like the lifestyle. If not, continue the corporate grind while saving, working out, and improving yourself. Both paths are completely respectable.


Or you could sit around, drink beer, play video games, and eat pizza like most of your friends will do.

heres the thing: there are many paths you can take in life. You can start when your 18, 21, 25, 30, 40, whatever. You can always start improving yourself. Your life is like a building. You can't build a strong tall building without a solid foundation. The sooner you build the foundation the sooner you the building can be completed. Start with a shitty foundation and your going to have a shitty building until you fix the foundation.



edit - YMG has some solid advice as well. YMG's route is more adventure and more risk with the possibly of a higher payoff. My advice is less adventurous, less risk, but with the possibly of lower payout. Both routes will accomplish your goal.

[scorpion]

With Actuarial work (especially if you supplement with some programming knowledge) you would be well-positioned to work remotely. Personally I would advise something like what AntiTrace suggested. Hit the ground running out of school and focus on self-improvement in all aspects of your life for the next three years. Bulk up. Improve your game. Save money. Read a lot of books. Develop your life philosophy. Set some goals. And make yourself valuable at work.

After a few years of this kind of focused living, you should have a much better idea of what direction you want to go, and more importantly, you would be capable of taking action. If you wanted to travel, you could probably do actuarial work remotely, and even in the worst case you couldn't, you should have enough cash saved up to bankroll a 6-12 month trip around the world. All this, and you'll still be only 22, which is extremely young.

[samsamsam]

Your 19, there is still some time for you to do whatever you want.

Despite all the griping about corporate jobs, getting a job that gives you solid experience and pedigree is going to be helpful down the road in life. You can fall back on it, you can make an excuse why you took a 2 year break after 3 years at a corporate job. You can get consulting work by showing people that you worked at a big/name company. Get a foundation. If you ever choose to go back to school, schools are going to look at work experience for some programs. Hell just do 2 years at a corporate gig - 2 years won't kill you.

It is a 9 to 5 job - you will have at least 5 hours (well 4 considering commute times in LA) to be productive everyday.

You will probably get good pay. Stack cash - make investments. Take a couple of months and scout the world a bit so you can plan your big moves - if moving abroad is one of them.

If you run off now and do your own thing, it is going to be hard to go to a corporate gig without any corporate gig experience. You will be competing against students who are going through on campus recruiting which you cannot do any more when you have graduated.

And it doesn't need to be a perfect plan, there will be missteps, it happens. Trust me, I always try to strategize perfectly and still have my set backs.

But get some actuary/business skills that you can fall back on. You will get one chance at it (I shouldn't be that hard about it - but explain to me how you will get corporate experience if you go straight to doing your own thing?) Unless you know you never want to do it and are willing to own that choice, and not bitch about it with any regrets?

You will also make contacts that can be helpful in life. Having been doing business on my own for a while, I don't meet as many people as I used to when I was in a corporate environment.

[BlurredLines]

Man i'm jealous. I wish i was 19 again, and i definitely wish i had access/awareness of the sorts of knowledge here and elsewhere on the manosphere...

All the advice above is great. But you have to filter it down to what applies to you. Be honest and be brutal with yourself.
Some of the stuff above i acted on in my 20's and some i didn't. I'm sure i got some wrong and some right. Thats not the point though, what matters is you are aware of the options and you take informed decisions.

You've got time to learn what works for you and what doesn't. Aim to always be improving yourself and improving at everything you do. If you do that, you will be in the best possible position you can be to take advantage of any opportunities that come your way. And they will.

Best of luck. Get at it!

[rudebwoy]

If your folks are willing to pay for further education, then do that. Maybe there is a Masters program you can take overseas in a country you like.
Your young, enjoy life and worry about work when the time comes. If when you graduate you can get a good paying job with a recognized company then go for it. As a "old" guy I can tell you the corporate world sucks.
Seems like you have a good degree and skills that will take you in the right direction.
Get money when you can, stay away from debt and wasting money on flashy cars.
There is a big world out there and pussy waiting for you, don't forget your California drivers license.

[Tigre]

I think you can break this down into two separate questions.

- You want to travel, how to make that possible.
- You want to decide whether to be an entrepreneur or look for regular employment.

It seems like you're kind of conflating the two questions. Plenty of guys have salaried or contract jobs that allow them to travel like crazy. Don't be taken in by the hype of internet bloggers that it's impossible to get ahead working a regular job. At least qualify the internet blogger by establishing what his net worth is and exactly how he earned it.

To use a case study, Mixx alluded to making his money as an IT specialist, more precisely as a SAP contractor. He's probably earning between $80 to $120+ per hour and can negotiate a location-independent contract, at least for part of the year.

To get that kind of marketability as a professional, you need to put in a couple of years at entry level. Don't worry too much about the starting salary. Focus on getting professional experience and learning your trade inside and out. You're now drawing a regular paycheck each month and not spending money to be trained like you would be in college.

Is there any way you can travel this year? Do a couple of short trips to gain travel skills, meet traveling friends and see if you like it. Go to Baja California for 10 days. Or take a cheap flight somewhere in Asia and travel independently.

If you want the entrepreneurial lifestyle, is there anything preventing you from starting right now? Grade-wise, phone it in during your last year of college and dedicate more free time to see if you like the hustle and have a talent for it. Instead of wondering whether you'd like this lifestyle, do a proof of concept and actually live it to find out.

I'd say stick with the summer internship and it will give you a good picture of office work with low commitment. Post-graduation, if you can get hired through campus interviews or personal contacts, see if you can negotiate a later start date so you can have a month or two off to travel.

Finance wise, I recommend reading "The Richest Man in Babylon". . Also, enjoy your 20's and don't worry so much about building wealth until you hit at least 26, maybe later. By that, I mean increase your earning potential but be comfortable with spending all you earn on good times.

[samsamsam]

Tigre has uttered genius by mentioning "The Richest Man in Babylon." Highly recommended - simple easy book, finance doesn't need to be complicated. Also, read The Millionaire Fastlane.

[The Lizard of Oz]

First, don't be anxious. You'll probably do fine whatever you decide to do, so why worry about it too much? In this context there can be wrong decisions -- like marrying a 35 year old feminist breast cancer survivor at 19 would be a wrong decision -- but there isn't such a thing as the right decision, so just choose one thing or another that seems promising and enjoy the ride.

Second, and this is an advice I would give only to someone who is in a serious STEM field and has some talent in that direction, consider grad school. In a field like math, there is really a lot more to learn than what you get from an undergrad degree, and getting an advanced degree will let you expand your opportunities down the line. And if you have the knack for it, it's one of the most enjoyable and productive skills to have that you can use for pretty much your whole life. Finally, if you stay in a college environment, are athletic and physically attractive and have even rudimentary game, you'll have your pick of young pussy. So it's something to consider.

[thisisastage]

Wow - I didn't expect so many thoughtful responses.

"Life is what happens to you when you're too busy making other plans" - John Lennon

My blessing and curse as a somewhat OCD INTJ...

Some ideas in this thread that caught my attention in particular:

World travel for several months right after I graduate

If I get a full-time job offer, I'll ask for a mid-year start date so I have ~6 months to travel the world. Thailand, SE Asia and Latin America sound like great affordable options. I attend USC, and from what I've heard our alumni network is pretty strong so this should help in getting set up wherever I go. I have ~25k in personal savings so money shouldn't be an issue especially if I can convince my parents of the educational merit of world travel!

I've only traveled abroad with family before, so this period should be an incredible learning experience and a litmus test for how much I enjoy being a nomad of the world. I've spent my entire life in a privileged upper middle class conservative upbringing, so I'm sure my eyes will be opened in many ways. I would probably try to set up some sort of business, and of course meet as many pretty birds as possible along the way

Perspective on the corporate world as a viable option

Several people mentioned it might be a good idea to take a corporate job for at least a few years to build up a bankroll and gain business skills, life wisdom and credibility. The actuarial field is pretty niche, but the nice thing is that once I'm fully certified (~5 years or so of credential exams) I probably won't have any trouble finding a job. 40-50 hr workweeks so I should have plenty of time to develop my health, mind, hobbies, game and solidify my identity. I still feel like a leaf in the wind in many respects.

Once I'm fully certified and have a nice bankroll to fall back on (hopefully by 25-26), that might be an opportune time to take indefinite leave from the corporate world, travel and pursue with full vigor something like the businesses that youngmobileglobal recommended.

I will add "The Richest Man in Babylon" to my reading stack. Thanks everyone for the input! With all this knowledge and support at my disposal, only laziness or dire misfortune could be the cause of a squandered next decade. I'm going to strive to take each baby step toward making my dreams a blissful reality

[samsamsam]

(01-02-2014 10:31 PM)thisisastage Wrote:  

If I get a full-time job offer, I'll ask for a mid-year start date so I have ~6 months to travel the world.

Just one small piece of advice, if I may. I am not familiar with the recruiting process for actuaries. Meaning are there large start groups like in consulting and banking? Or is it generally a one or two person hire. What I have noticed with younger people (not saying you) is that they expect work to revolve around them. When I started my first job, we put our heads down and worked knowing vacation would come at some point. Now these days, I hear (just little stories - maybe not even true) - is that people ask about vacation right when they start working.

If you will be working with older people who might have started like I did, they might not appreciate that. I am sure a 2 or 3 month summer vacation is not unusual. Most jobs seem to start in Sep/Oct.

But if they have a normal process, you don't want to mess with it. Those who network earlier than you may have an advantage for the rest of your time there. Sure you don't want to be there forever, but best to make it a pleasant experience versus a shitty one.

For the record, I started my 1st job out of undergrad before my start group and started my job out of B school after the rest of my peers because I wanted to fuck off. I think it is better just to start normally. Some of your work peers make become good friends for the rest of your life. Meeting them during the normal start stuff helps.

But once again, I don't know how big your start groups are. So everything I said could just be a steaming pile of shit

Good luck with everything.

[Saladin]

You have 25k saved up....

That's a massive help.

Here's what I recommend-

This year in school start learning Pay Per Click marketing or another form of paid traffic outside of class. You will lose some money but after losing 1-2k you'll start making a profit. When you get done with school do that full time and you should really get the hang of it.

However, once you get the hang of it you'll be making location independent income. Combine that with your actuarial degree you'll be well set.

IMO that's what I recommend for anyone who has cash saved up. Guys who stick at that make bank(I know multiple guys who are doing very well with it). In fact that is one of the business goals of this year, for me to learn paid traffic and get good at it.

[Jack Of All Trades]

Pass P/1 and interest theory and then see if you want to continue into the actuarial field. If you do want to go into you can set yourself up nicely, fellows with 13/13 exams done can clear upwards of 250k/yr. If you really want to do long term travel and want to go to south america get your associate's and position yourself to transfer to the Caribbean. There's a lot of reinsurance done in the tax havens, not only that but they tend to pay a lot better. Main issue on those islands is that the extra pay balances out the increased cost of living, but that doesn't matter when south america is on your doorstep, especially places like colombia and northern brazil.

You need a lot of discipline to crush those exams they're no joke

[OSL]

-

In an effort to not expend emotional energy getting into arguments, I rarely counter or argue with anyone on RVF - despite how much I might vociferously disagree with the opinion stated.

This is one of those rare occasions in which I think it would be idiotic to not take the simultaneously most hedonistic and riskiest option right out of the gates.

Party and travel for 6 months to get the wanderlust out of your system. If you don't do it, it will plague you while you work and ask yourself "what if????" Also, the stories and life experience you get from this will be fuel for creating a strong foundation and frame for you to pick up a lot of hot chicks in the future. Huge DHV to say that you traveled all over Asia and launched a business in China. Are you kidding me?

A lot of guys seem to be suggesting that you get yourself into a nice rhythm and create structure in your life. I counter by saying that structure is overrated and that having a nice stable 9-6 job that pays the bills will suck you further and further into complacency.

In contrast, if you go do a crazy gap year for travel and business, you always have the option of failing and then going back on the corporate path. That will never disappear as an option. At worst, you will have an interesting story to talk about in interviews and recruiters will respect your balls for attempting to strike out on your own. You'll also have better ways to justify your leadership abilities than the other kid being considered for the position, who is trying to play up his time as the treasurer for his fraternity - which amounted to doing keg runs every weekend.

Every month that you spend not pursuing your own ventures and opportunities, the riskier it gets to take the solo path.

I vociferously disagree with everyone who suggested that you take the safe/stable/corporate route.

In 2014, the "safe route" is actually a dangerous route. There is no such thing as career stability anymore, just an irreversible slide into mediocrity.

Also, you should read Torontokid's posts about entrepreneurship. He is in somewhat of a similar boat as you and he helped me with some projects I have going on.

---

Failing nonstop in business for a year's time will give you experience and skill sets that are useful in the context of both entrepreneurship and careers.

Having a steady corporate job will institutionalize you and give you zero useful skills in the context of entrepreneurship - unless you are working in a startup or you are shadowing some veteran entrepreneur who does international trade, something like that.

This is a no brainer to me.

I've worked in the corporate world, spent a ton of time in academia, and have been an entrepreneur for the last three years.

I'm still getting job offers to return to corporate.

I can safely say that there isn't much I learned in the corporate world that prepared me to make things happen on my own.

Opportunities multiply as they are seized.

-

*Edit* and *Caveat*

I took this sort of risky route right out of a masters program and it ended up working out for me.

High risk High reward. You might end up failing.

Simultaneously, if you failed, you'd be 21-22 years old with a lot of very good stories to tell and a lot more life experience.

[Frost]

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Wow - I didn't expect so many thoughtful responses.

Welcome to the RVF.

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I have ~25k in personal savings

In that case, the argument for working the corporate job right out of school is very weak. I would say non-existent.

I also think you should rule out teaching English. It's not a bad gig for guys that need the money, but with your skills and financial cushion, it's not the highest-value use of your time.

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Several people mentioned it might be a good idea to take a corporate job for at least a few years to build up a bankroll and gain business skills, life wisdom and credibility.

You already have the bankroll. Skills/wisdom/credibility, you'll build more by creating or joining a startup.

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The actuarial field is pretty niche, but the nice thing is that once I'm fully certified (~5 years or so of credential exams) I probably won't have any trouble finding a job. 40-50 hr workweeks so I should have plenty of time to develop my health, mind, hobbies, game and solidify my identity. I still feel like a leaf in the wind in many respects.

Five years is a hell of a long time. I don't think many people on this board would recommend you put in five years at the corporate job. I suggested (maybe) doing a year or two, and that was before I knew you had 25k in the bank!

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Once I'm fully certified and have a nice bankroll to fall back on (hopefully by 25-26), that might be an opportune time to take indefinite leave from the corporate world, travel and pursue with full vigor something like the businesses that youngmobileglobal recommended.

You could do that, but again... five years is very long time. What are you going to have in five years that you don't have now?

- You can already afford to spend a year traveling and starting businesses.

- You can get back into the actuarial career track any time you want.

- You aren't going to get more energetic, hungry, and malleable as time goes on.

The one possible drawback to taking the travel/startup route right away is that you might miss out on the recruitment stream for actuaries. I don't know much about that industry, but in a lot of fields there is a very clear path for students to get entry level jobs right out of school. Outsiders trying to break in can have a harder time.

If this is the case in your field, you may want to consider delaying graduation. Would you be able to do summer internship > 4 months in China > final semester of undergrad?

Then you would be able to get a leg in to an actuarial firm, ideally with a business or two to manage in your evenings and weekends. If you can swing a late start date and spend another few months traveling, even better.

Your goal right now should be maximizing your exposure to the big payoffs (non-corporate) while keeping your options open in the corporate world.

As an aside, the most important thing you can do to keep options open is to build relationships. If you network laterally, you'll be able to take years off of your career... and come back without missing a beat, at the same level as you would be at if you stuck around. Your friends will have done the job of advancing your career for you.

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only laziness or dire misfortune could be the cause of a squandered next decade. I'm going to strive to take each baby step toward making my dreams a blissful reality

You are smart, you communicate well, and you are driven enough that there is no chance you will truly fail. The risk in your case is that you wind up doing 'OK,' i.e. earning a decent living as an actuary, without ever trying your hand at something bigger.

[samsamsam]

As long as the OP is ok with the results of his choices, he should just go with his heart. But the OP just needs to have the strength to follow his path if it is the non-normal. If he doesn't go into the profession that he has been training for right after school, the only way would be to get another degree down the road and then transition into the profession. I am not saying it is impossible to do his thing for a while and then get a real job (you know what I mean) if it doesn't work out.

During the dotcom boom every asshole could get a job. I had friends jump into I Banking from consulting. They needed bodies badly.

But in this economy, if I was an employer and I was choosing from someone who looks like they will be a good corporate employee and someone who has wanderlust, I would choose the good corporate employee. Of course, I was never a good corporate employee and am now doing my thing.

I still think a couple of years (maybe not 5 ouch) to get a track record is going to give the OP something to fall back on.

Sure he can just drop all he has worked on and do what he wants - just be ok with the choices.

[lowbudgetballer]

thisisastage,

I'm old, so consider this advice. Take an actuary job in a Tier 1 city. Game and do self-development in that city, continue playing and coaching tennis, meeting new people. Take interesting vacations. Invest.

Develop heavy credibility in your field to the point where you can become a young freelancer/consultant. At that point, the world will be your oyster. Imagine getting paid $500/hour in, say, while living in the Philippines or Cambodia.

lowbudgetballer

[rudebwoy]

I agree with lowbudgetballer, you can stack serious money five years in a good actuary job. Your only 19, in the meantime you can travel to places like Dom Republic, Colombia etc. Perhaps learn a language or working on your business on the side.

$25k is good money but not a great sum of money.