Public "Education"

Driving home the other day, the thought started sitting heavily in my mind.
"What has happened to education, public education specifically. Why is it so bad? Why does it make us so unprepared for life? At the age of 22, I saw myself and many of my peers lacking the basic skills needed to simply survive. Basic technical skills, cooking, survival, money management, etc.

Immediately I became obsessed watching as many youtube videos, reading endless articles on how to build/repair things. While I admit I'm far from a master builder, I've come a long way in 2 years. It just amazes me that our school system taught us nothing. Growing up my parents would tell me how school would prepare them for certain skills, giving them a variety of classes that taught valuable skills needed to work everyday jobs. Nowadays school isn't like that. Instead they tell you what you need to become in the future and after cutting everything possible within the budget, supply the students with things they want them to learn. Not what the students want to learn.

Being a millennial myself, I fully admit I see our shortcomings at times. But I truly think a lot of it has to do with the public school system. It prepared us to do nothing but be a slave, working a 9-5 who needs material things we can't afford. They wont teach you how to manage your money but they'll damn sure tell a 16 year old to get a credit card as soon as possible and build their credit. As if they'll do so the right way without basic money managing skills..

In other words, they taught us to be debt ridden, 9-5 office job zombies. And I must admit, so far they're doing a pretty damn good job at it. Even though some can be entrepreneurs, I see a lot of my peers in debt, and if any of them have a job worth a damn it's an office job. Very few are good with their money, many of the guys can't do basic technical things and many of the women can't cook anything that doesn't go in a microwave. But hey, when we're grown up we'll just hire a cook and a repair man! Throw another charge on the monthly bill!

They truly have turned us into a dependant society. It's sad when a good amount of young people lack the basic skills to work because they weren't taught how to do so. Until we fix this issue, we'll continue falling behind as a country.

The American Dream isn't dead, it's just changed

 
Ever since we have all grown up one of the things we heard the most was how it "isn't easy out there" or "times are tough"
You hear these phrases more then ever today. You heard people saying that since the day America was built to present day. So why are so many on the outside looking in? Because to accomplish the American Dream you need to be ambitious, daring, and intelligent (in some form) or literally just lucky like being born rich. If you want to  move up the ladder from the bottom you'll eventually learn America is a system, a game, call it whatever you want, But how ever you play it will determine your success.


 Building wealth in this country  through any kind of business or income venture requires knowing how to buy low and sell high, managing money and playing the tax game. Even if you're providing a service you need to be able to provide better services than the competition without too much cost while still making a good profit. Doing this by finding the right source for the products you need to sell or do your job will take some time unless you know the right people. This is one half of what you need to do. So now we'll go over those Terrific Taxes.

 Tax deductions come in many forms, research is your friend here. Find out what you can deduct and what you cannot. Capital Gains are a great way and can be done through anything like real estate, stocks, etc. these investments must be held for at least one year. Right now if you don't know how to get the most from your tax return or deductions you're pretty much giving the Government free money and in Business giving  the competition the edge. Lets say your competition is paying  25% while you're paying 35% every April come Tax time. They will pull away before you know it. That extra amount can be used in so many ways and if done correctly year after year this is a great advantage for your Business or just keeping Uncle Sam from taking all you're Taxes period. I strongly suggest learning about Taxes..And hire a damn accountant. So many small Business Owners don't do this thinking it is worth the savings. Assuming you find a reasonable accountant, the right one can easily save you thousands every year and once you start making 6 digits or more managing your life and expenses is too much, as I said save yourself some stress and hire that Accountant.

  Education is a big factor that many people don't take seriously enough. Some Entrepreneurs are lucky enough to find the right setup that nets them more then enough to make a living without the need for an education. However this is truly rare because unless you think you're truly capable of making 20+ mill. there is no true financial security in this country. So if you want to provide that for yourself you need to be able to know the right people and right things. Unless you have the right group of friends this is done by going with the right education. I'm not talking about going to some well known over priced/hyped University. Find the right place with the right program for you. You will learn what you need to know and meet the people you need to know. This is big for the present and future and can be done without being dropped into debt.  These three things could almost be called the big 3 when it comes down to it.

  

 America has no jobs. You hear this all the time. Well that's bullshit and I know from experience. How many times when you went to look were there truly no jobs, or did you not have the qualifications? You don't always need a college education, some jobs that pay decent can be had with a simple high school diploma or GED. But if you think that's gonna be done on rail road tracks, mines and factories crafting toys you're living in the old times or simply misguided. When seriously searching for a career you need to find out what the thriving industry is at the time.  You need a career that has a future, working at a dead end job does not provide you that. Find something you enjoy doing, learn it, and make a living doing it.

 Times are changing due to technology more than ever and I think a lot of Americans are left in the dust not knowing how true this really is. If you think simple building  or crafting jobs are coming back you're dreaming. You need to learn the times and get with them. In my opinion, the American Dream is the same as it's always been and those who are uninformed with how to play it will be left in the dust just as they've always been.