REal biz opp!

necessity to have your own business/stream(s) of income on the side these days (at least in the US.)

I sometimes read the discussions on the big job boards and I consistantly see people with many years of experience (20+) that are out of work for months or even years. It seems many companies will not hire folks in their late 40's or 50's because they have too much experience and would require too high of a salary, affraid of the person getting ill, or having existing medical conditions, and having to flip the bill due to the rising costs of healthcare. To add insult to injury, companies are offshoring jobs to many other contries and making it very difficult for people to make a living. Companies that do not offshore positions end up hiring younger workers that are not able to handle the tasks due to lack of training and experience. Age discrimination is alive and well in the States!

It always seems the suggestions from the "experts" is to always keep your skills up to date and going back to school. I'm all for constantly learning and keeping one's skills up to date, but I'm not sure that going back to school is always the answer to the problem. When a person has bills to pay bills, mouths to feed along with having to finance an education and not working, I don't see how that truly helps the situation. I have seen people go as far as going back to school, spending years on getting that additional degree and still being no better off and, if anything, in a worse spot than before.

Most of the folks having a hard time finding jobs are in IT, Engineering, Accounting/Finance, Middle Management, Medical etc. But, the fields I rarely see any of these concerns are in Sales and Marketing. In these fields experience is what companies want and pay for. These skills are very important because it affects the bottom line.

So, I must agree with what Don states in his post. One NEEDS to take responsiblity for their own financial matters/future and needs to learn the skills necessary to survive and not become a "fallout" and run the risk of loosing it all.

Recently there was a discussion about how having a job is the much easier path to pursue due to the risks involved in starting a bizz and failing, but the risks still exist with a job in the long run. Those risks are the inability to produce an income because someone else says you can't, or being stuck in a position where you can't move out of and are misrable till your retirement days are upon you. Those are some pretty significant risks in my eyes.

I'm not in my 40's or 50's, yet so having seen this trend, I can't imagine things changing for the better when I reach that age group.

I really believe it's become a necessity to build income streams, aside from a job, in today's business climate. I just can't see any other way, but if someone can show a different way, be my guest.

Tony