My Son is a City Fire Fighter… Youngest in the City at 23… He works 1 on 1 off for a four day cycle then gets four days off, does it again and gets six days off.
If you can stomach the beheadings and children who get killed in auto accidents I guess it is a great job.
Good Luck
PS My regular job is a Real Estate Investor
If you like the 4 days off. I work 3 12 hr. shifts and I’m done for the week. Nursing has a program that you can work every weekend and get highly paid for it. Then you have Mon - Fri. off. How 'bout them apples!!! Confused yet?? :biggrin
Ohh jeez.
The Firefighting apples, and the nursing apples, are both very nice. :cool
In a few years you’ll be able to conduct a striking experiment. Tell a hottie your a male nurse, then have your friend come in and tell the same chick he’s a firefighter.
See who wins!!![
“If you can stomach the beheadings and children who get killed in auto accidents I guess it is a great job.”
Yea, nurses NEVER see that stuff.
Jake … GO figure that Stephens older brother in in the Nursing program… Sister in going to college to become a high school teacher and two more applied to go through CHP training… Looks like all five are going to work for Uncle Sam somehow…
Seriously…those are ALL great jobs.
Here’s a little more info for comparison…
The Department I work for hired a kid (20 years old) about 2 years ago. Very sharp for his age…He works out of my Station so he was ALWAYS asking me about real estate. This is the advice I gave HIM and what he did with it.
First off…I asked him if he still lived with his parents??? He said YES.
PERFECT, I said…STAY THERE…your 20 years old, if you decide to, you could EASILY save EVERY PENNY you make from the Fire Department for 2 - 3 years and use a part time job for your FU money. To my surprise that is EXACTLY what he did. Within 2 years he has saved $60,000 in CASH. He got a part time job working with a couple of guys from the department who are Framers. So not only did he save $60K he ALSO learned more about BUILDING in 2 years than most people learn in a lifetime.
This kid is now 22 years old. At a time when most people his age are Graduating from college and are facing tens of thousands of dollars in STUDENT LOANS he instead, has a FULL TIME JOB that pays over $50K/year AND he has $60K in cash!!!
Once he had saved his money we started looking at houses. He intially made ALL the rookie mistakes. He thought a “friend of the family” who was a realtor would get him a great deal. I picked apart every house she sent him NUMBER by NUMBER. THEN after 8 months of looking HE SCORED. By letting people know he was LOOKING TO BUY he got a call from a man who’s mother had just died, her house needed a lot of COSMETIC work but over-all was built like a tank. The home was worth $230K. I went with him to look at it and the owner just happened to pull into the driveway while we were there. He invited us in, and we worked him over a little. “WOW, this house is nice but it needs a LOT of work…new kitchen, new furnace, new roof, ect.”
I asked him what he’d take for it AS IS, NO WARRANTIES, NO INSPECTIONS close in 20 days???
He said $140K!!!
DONE…The Probie gets a 3 bedroom 1 and 1/2 bath Colonial with a 1 car garage for A steal… He’s into it for $160,000 and STILL has $20K in the BANK!!!
Now for the best part… he sold it last month for $225,000!!!
Not bad for 22 years old.
It can be done, and you don’t have to do it the way EVERYONE thinks you do. If this kid went to College he’d be BURIED in debt right now. Instead, he has a PILE of CASH IN THE BANK, and he’s looking for his NEXT house!!!
How many of us would like to go back to our early 20’s with about $100K in a bank account???
Can you say FUTURE MILLIONAIRE!!!
My mother’s a nurse, my father was a Firefighter, I’m a Firefighter and my Brother is also a Firefighter. I know of what I speak.
Great career if you want to have a second business,have to agree with fdjake on that…But if you are a firefighter like my brother in law (FDNY), he refuses to work a second job or start a second business…Probably the best conditioned guy I have ever met but a genuinely unmotivated guy (outside of the FDNY)…The salary FDNY pays is ok at best and most of firefighters I know ALL have side businesses or own real estate…
I won’t lie,I was quite surprised at how many firefighters are business minded…The frat boy reputation is unwarranted…Its a great career with great benefits and incredible comraderie…
The only thing I’ve seen that’s better is what YOU do Rookie.
I think you said it better than I ever could. “I know I can go anywhere in the world, and as long as I have access to a computer I can make money.”
That’s… As good as it get’s my friend!!!
Nurses in my area hospitals all work 3-on, 4-off the first week then 4-on, 3-off the second week and they don’t have to change shifts.
It’s important you enjoy everything you do. Selecting a career for the time off is the wrong approach. Time off is a benefit, not a career goal. Your many working hours as a nurse, or firefighter, or whatever, should be enjoyable. I suggest you consider your passions.
Your many working hours as a nurse, or firefighter, or whatever, should be enjoyable. I suggest you consider your passions.
I was going to type out a very shallow greed based response to the line above…Karma struck…I’m crawling back into my cave off wall street…
at 16, he shouldn’t be thinking of anything other than college degree. Everything else can be done on the side. On average, americans change their career 3 times in their life time. Matter as well have a solid foundation to begin with.
The Fire Department will PAY for his college, instead of him BORROWING the money. He can STILL get a degree.
A guy I worked with became a MEDICAL DOCTOR while working as a Firefighter. He retired from the Department after 22 years and now has a thriving private practice. He LOVES it!!!
Who was smarter??? The kid who went to medical school and now has $250,000 in students loans and an $500,000 MORTGAGE, or this guy with a pension and NO LOANS at all?
The point is… people think YOU HAVE TO DO IT ONE WAY! Go right into college, rack up a pile of debt, and HOPE you majored in SOMETHING that can actually GET YOU A JOB. DO NOT put yourself in that box.
Look at ALL the options.
As far as the time off comments your right, you don’t take a job for the time off. The reason I even mentioned that was because THIS KID WANTS TO GET INTO REAL ESTATE INVESTING!!! The fact of the matter is…it’s a whole lot HARDER if you work 5 or 6 days a week at a regular job to rehab homes on your 1 or 2 days off, than it is for me with 4 days off and access to every sub-contractor under the sun right in my station. He also stated that he was considering Nursing. I would STRONGLY recommend that he look into the PENSION benefits of the Fire Department VS Nursing.
Both careers are Health care related, both are very satisfiying. In the end it’s his decision…but this is an INVESTMENT he’s making. It’s an investment in HIMSELF and his FUTURE. He BETTER study it.
As far as options go??? There is no greater grantor of OPTIONS than WEALTH. I’ll take my real estate investments along with the KNOWLEDGE of how to ADD to them, over any college degree in the world. (I do have a degree)
The bottom line is this…COLLEGE DOES NOT TEACH YOU HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH MONEY. COLLEGE teaches you HOW TO GET A JOB from someone who knows how to MAKE MONEY WITH MONEY!!! I am NOT saying don’t go to College, I’m saying don’t do it like the MASSES DO. think of it like this…
Do successful real estate investors buy homes the way the MASSES do??? NO they don’t. The MASSES buy “Their dream home” and spend the rest of their life PAYING FOR IT and DUMPING money INTO IT!! Sort of like how kids go to COLLEGE in this country. They DO IT that way because that’s the advice they are given!!! How many INVESTORS here were told they were CRAZY to do THIS or do THAT??? … DON’T DO IT, you’ll lose everything!!
A little ironic isn’t it???
BE A CONTRARIAN…it’s MUCH more profitable!!!
I think the mods here should have a “Hall of Fame” for posts, and that one by fdjake should be right there at the top!!
If being an airline pilot is interesting enough for you, and you have the $$ for the schooling, I would suggest that. With todays airlines, they are hiring people straight out of flight school. Sure wish I would have been that lucky.
I work less than half the month and the pay is better than a fire fighter. And the view from my office is defiantly better. The only downside when you combine it with being a landlord, is the maintenance calls while your away. I screen my calls and unless it is really bad, I pretend like I didn’t get the message until I am back into town. Seems to work most of the time.
John
NO MORE PHONE CALLS…WE HAVE A WINNER!!!
AIRLINE PILOT!!
Man, now THAT is a SWEET job!!!
Just curious …How much does flight school cost now a days if Uncle Sam’s not paying??
You can also get al Qaeda to finance it but then you have to do a suicide mission for them - but just one!
Keith
I’m Navy trained, so luckily I didn’t have to pay for flight school. By the time I got my license (commercial single & multi-engine with instrument rating), I was told by my FAA instructor that my education was worth somewhere around $100,000. I only had to pay $160 and pass a computer test. Pretty nice deal. Maybe John_in_NC can help get me a job when I get out.
I just added up what all of my kids will make on their jobs of choice… WOW
50,000 Firefighter salary
55,000 Nursing Salary
36,000 High school Teachers…
44,000 Highway Patrol
44,000 Highway Patrol
229,000.00
Real Estate Investing MORE a LOT MORE
Crap it looks like I am still going to have to pay for the vacations…
Well, that’s a good dad…
Keith