OK, I give up, previous threads are far down on this list or have fallen out the bottom into "Older Messages" categories.

Entrepeneur Magazine, May 1999, p.122+, has article "Under the Affluence" about the "ordinary" rich (not the high profile rich).

"No one gets rich working for someone else." ... "They own their own businesses. [The businesses are probably] low tech -- scrap metal, garbage, exterminating services -- things that people who go to college never think about doing."

Dry cleaning. So many Koreans have gone into that field that the trade journal is published in English an Korean. (Just like the motel business has been gone into by [Asian] Indians.)

Other fields mentioned: hair care and funeral parlors, used truck parts.

Summary: What may be applicable (expanded) from the list, after Y2K
Scrap metal
Used car, truck, generator parts
Garbage and sanitation services
Pest and varmint control and extermination
Lodging -- motel, B&B, OLD FASHIONED ROOMING HOUSES -- ROOM & BOARD
Funeral parlor (body disposal) services.

-- A (A@AisA.com), April 16, 1999

Answers

There is a vast amount of wealth in the right job. My brother never went to college. He got a job with the Fire Department. Works 3 days a week, gets paid 67K a year (w/o overtime, 44K was his starting salary at age 19), gets full dental, medical, clothing allowance, "fat" allowance (a bonus if he meets weight requirements each year), 28 sick days TO START, 5 weeks vacation TO START, pension paid on 60% of his highest paid year after 20 years, 4 hour overtime blocks (work 4.25 hours, get paid for 8), a flat $350 fee for an "overnight", (go in at 9 pm, sleep, get up at 6am, go home), as well as a wide screen TV, work out room, and hot tub. He will retire in 2 years on a salary of $61, 200 (he made $102K his highest paid year). While at the station he spends most of his time running a lawn care business by phone, gets out of work and then does 2 days at a candy kiosk in the mall. Adds up to about 150K a year. The union benefits of some municipal departments makes me sick. I saw more guys injured as a construction worker than get injured in our town. BTW, if you are a woman, you dont have to take the physical exam to try out as a firefighter. Also, after being in the union for one year it is impossible to get fired. He had a case of a firefighter who will no longer go into buildings and our town is trying to figure out if they can subject him to discipline.

-- Paul (retro50@deamon.net), April 16, 1999.

If TSHTF, parasites like those you mentioned are gonna either be dead or selling pencils/apples, holding a tin cup -- unless they do a mental about face and actually learn to do something worthwhile.

-- A (A@AisA.com), April 16, 1999.

Barber, or be a bard, or both. Sell recipes such as:

try this

-- daddyo (b@bisb.moc), April 16, 1999.

Got one word for ya babe. The wave of the future - chickens.

Chicken farming is where it's at.

cluck cluck

-R

-- R (riversoma@aol.com), April 16, 1999.

You don't get necessarily rich working for yourself either, HOWEVER, there is a great deal of satifaction in owning your own time, not becoming a wage-slave. I am a freelance musician and my partner is a piano technician. We worry from time to time with the vagaries of people's wallets, but in general we would not give up the freedom that "self-UNemployment" brings. We're also figuring that any work we can do with acoustic instruments (repair, lessons *I teach piano, guitar and vocal music*, tuning) will still come in handy should TSHTF,...in any age people love and need to make music....and if TS doesn't we carry on.

I figure minstral work will be good post-TEOTWAWKI,...and hey gang,...The Magnificent and Colossal Yourdon Y2K Circus is still taking applications for its North American Continental Tour. Room, board, fun, excitement, and all the rice fritters on a stick you can eat. :-) Apply in person,...bring your props.

Got perspective? :-)

-- Donna Barthuley (moment@pacbell.net), April 16, 1999.

Dear Paul,

I have a 21-year-old son who might do well following a similar career path as that which you tell of. Would you be so kind as to tell me what municipality your brother works in? We are in Virginia, and I don't think the benefits packages here are as generous as the one you mentioned. Is your brother's setup the exception to the rule or is it common?

Thanks, Wallflower

-- Wallflower (shy@telling.you), April 16, 1999.

Some earlier threads from the Economy/jobs category:

jobs at http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000Sjv

What will you do for a living? at http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000Kuj

Employable skill sets in 2000 and beyond? at http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000Bvp

Making money from Y2K AFTERWARDS at http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000AuJ

-- No Spam Please (No_Spam_Please@anon_ymous.com), April 16, 1999.

The area is in New England in a major city. (I dont want to be specific). However, in some areas the benefits are even better, especially in So Cal, where it is not uncommon to have 18,000 people applying for 2 jobs. There are even proff coaches that can be hired for several thousand dollars. Problem is, in my area, one has to already be a firefighter and a resident of the town for 2 years to apply, and to be a firefighter one has to attend the academy. And attending the academy means getting a job as a firefighter first. I work as a civil engineer, been trying for 8 years to get a FF job. One guy I work with is a LAN engineer. Has an EMT, is a volunteer firefighter, AND has a degree in Fire Control Technology and still cant get in for 11 years now. I spoke to the fire chief of another town, many cities are making the exams tougher with questions on calculus, etc, they are finding many college and proff people applying. It is also impossible to get fired once hired. In a nearby state, the fire chief was found a few months ago to be spending all of his time not at his regular job but working at his wife's frame shop. Did they can him? No, but did give him 2 weeks unpaid off.

-- Paul (foo@bar.com), April 16, 1999.

"You don't get necessarily rich working for yourself either, HOWEVER, there is a great deal of satifaction in owning your own time, not becoming a wage-slave."

I've been independent for most of my business life. Haven't made much and always in trouble with the IRS, don't own much, don't want much. I refinish kitchen cabinets on the SF Peninsula. The other day a lady customer asked me what I do after I finish with a job. I told her I go to my country home, buy some wine, cheap cigars and sit on the porch and watch the grass grow. She thought that sounded like a good life and then related her story. She and her husband own a home at Lake Tahoe but because they are so busy making money they can't enjoy the place. Then she added, "You're upsetting the situation, we work hard to do what you do and because we have all this we can't afford to relax. You live simple and enjoy what we want."

Last year I decided to take more time off, 3-5 day weekends, then work a few hard days get paid for a job well done and off to sit on the porch. Funny thing, I made more money working less. Go figure. The only point I'm at here is that we don't have to be "workers" or "taxpayers" as those obscene politicians call us. We are citizens and we should be able to relax in our country, make a descent living and let the corporation slave traders go the way of the dodo bird. The aftermath of Y2K may provide that for us. If it goes that way it will be tough but what the heck. We'll survive, even if the Russian/China/Islam Confederation moves on us.

-- Mark Hillyard (foster@inreach.com), April 17, 1999.

Paul

Thanks for answering. 18,000 applicants for two postitions! Wow. My son is studying ArchEngineering using CAD. Now that I GI I have my doubts as to the viability of his studies. Hmmm. I wonder if he could learn to enjoy chicken farming?

-- Wallflower (shy@telling.you), April 17, 1999.