Congress has finally passed a second stimulus package to combat the massive COVID-19 economic impact. The $900 billion package covers stimulus checks, unemployment boost, small business aid, school and public health funds, rental and nutrition assistance and a ban on surprise medical bills. Many Americans feel the proposed measures are not enough. Here’s what made the cut:
$600 for each adult per household
Based on 2019 income, single people with an income up to $75,000 will receive $600. Married couples earning up to $150,000 will receive $1,200. While immigrants without Social Security numbers are not eligible, the rest of their household can qualify if they meet the other eligibility requirements and hold an SSN.
$600 for dependent children
Each eligible household will receive $600 per dependent child. Only dependents under the age of 17 qualify — leaving out older high school children and college-aged dependents.
[ Read:11 States Stepping up to Supplement Unemployment Benefits]
$300 a week in unemployment aid
The stimulus bill includes an extra $300 per week as part of federal unemployment benefits. This boost for jobless workers will only run for 11 weeks, through March 14. The bill will also extend the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, which will offer benefits to the self-employed, independent contractors and gig workers for 11 weeks. The Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) will also be extended and cover additional weeks of jobless aid to people who have run out of their state unemployment benefits.
$325 billion for small businesses
As part of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), $284 billion in aid will go to forgivable loans and allow businesses with fewer than 500 employees to cover essential expenses, including rent, payroll and utilities. A total of $15 billion allocated for the Save Our Stages Act will go to movie theaters, live venues and cultural institutions.
Minority small business and businesses in low-income communities
Some of that funding will also assist even smaller businesses through lenders like the Minority Depository Institutions after the first round of PPP loans faced backlash for overlooking minority-owned businesses. Twenty billion in Economic Injury Disaster Loans will be set aside for business in low-income communities.
[ Read: Best Small Business Loans for 2020 ]
$82 billion for schools and child care
Child care providers, K-12 schools and colleges may be granted aid from this portion of the fund. Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund will receive $54.3 billion and the Higher Education Emergency relief Fund will get $22.7 billion. Money allocated to these funds from the CARES Act was mostly dedicated to technology for remote learning, supporting nutritional services and given to students through emergency financial aid grants.
$69 billion for public-health measures
Vaccine distribution, testing assistance and tracing measures will also receive funding. This portion of the bill is also for hospitals and healthcare providers to receive reimbursement for healthcare-related expenses and lost revenue related to the pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will also receive $9 billion for vaccination efforts.
In this article
$45 billion for transportation
Airline payroll support will receive $15 billion; state highways get $10 billion, airports and related businesses receive $2 billion and Amtrak is allocated $1 billion in funding. MTA is designated $4 billion as well. The funding is intended to support transportation jobs and COVID-19 financial impacts.
$ 25 billion in rental assistance
The bill will offer $25 billion in rental assistance and an extension of eviction moratoriums until January 31, 2021. The rental relief can be used for future rent and utility payments or any back owed rent.
[Read: Landlords Are Exploiting Loopholes in the Eviction Moratorium ]
$13 billion in nutrition assistance
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will be raised by 15% for six months. This program supplies food stamps to labile families. $175 million will go to nutrition services for seniors like Meals on Wheels and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program. The bill will also provide $400 million for food banks and pantries through the Emergency Food Assistance Program.
A ban on surprise medical bills
Surprise billing for out-of-network emergency care, most out-of-network care at in-network facilities and air ambulance services has been banned. Patients will instead be asked to pay in-network obligations. The goal is to protect insured patients who inadvertently received out-of-network care and a big bill.
What’s not included in the bill
Although the package is half the size of what was provided last Spring, a few key components were skipped out on this time around.
Liability protection from COVID-related lawsuits for universities, health care centers and businesses has not been extended.
State and local governments will not receive any direct aid in this stimulus package. This includes funding for Medicare, teachers and first responders.
The pause on student loan payments was not extended in this stimulus package. Beginning next month, students will be expected to resume monthly payments on their federal student loans.
We welcome your feedback on this article. Contact us at [email protected] with comments or questions.
Today we bring back the ever-popular reader case study series with an interesting twist.
First of all, our subject is a new reader, with sizable financial baggage from earlier decades, but plenty of potential for improvement. Equally notable is the fact that I have enlisted some outside help for the research and analysis.
During a recent trip, I ran into another blogger named Jacob Wade who, quite amazingly, actually likes budgets. In fact, he feels so strongly about it that he named his financial blog iheartbudgets.net. We got to talking, and he enthused about how much he likes analyzing and solving detailed financial problems for other people.
“Oh boy, do I have a job for you”, I said. “I get emails from people with detailed financial problems every day, and although I still read every one, it pains me not to have time to respond to many of them.”
Could Jacob’s enthusiasm be used to all of our advantage? I sent him a sample case study to test out his chops. I was pleasantly stunned by the results – he did a great job, and offers advice that even I would consider hard-hitting. Let’s dig into our dear reader’s story, then you’ll see the analysis with some joint recommendations by Jacob and myself.
[contents edited for length]
Dear Mr. Money Mustache,
I’m a recent reader of your blog, courtesy of your interview with Jesse at You Need A Budget, which is the budgeting software I’ve been using. I know that you’re all about retiring early, but I’m wondering what advice you’ve got for someone who wonders if they’re ever going to be able to retire at all! Much of what you recommend we can still put into place, I know, and we are in the process, but I am unsure if our advanced age changes any of those tactics and strategies.
I’m not going to bother to tell you all the mistakes we’ve made in 27+ years of marriage and raising five kids. I’m sure you know the drill, since we lived the basic “American Dream.” We are now 53 years old. My question now is “What’s the best we can do at this point?”
This is where we are:
We have a home with a mortgage/equity loan that’s about $20,000 less than the list value of the house.
Our credit scores are low, partly due to not having any credit cards for the last ten years to show a history, and partly due to having late payments due to temporary unemployment, among other things.
We are the “OMG your hair is on fire” commuters; 45 minute commute for me, 55 for husband, we live in the middle of nowhere, and real estate in our area is not selling.
4 of 5 of our kids are still in college, two live with us and commute, the (recent) graduate lives with us and has an entry-level job since he can’t find work with his degree. Our commuters travel by bus 30 minutes to the WEST of us to go to school, we travel EAST to go to our jobs. Our employed graduate also travels west to his job, in the same town where the other two go to college. This makes moving a little bit more complicated.
Retirement: We both qualify for Social Security; however, I have met only the minimum number of quarters since I took 17 years off to home school our five kids, and my estimated benefit at age 67 is $524 a month. I have now been teaching at a charter school since 2006, and contribute to Massachusetts Teachers’ Retirement. I would need to work and contribute to that fund until the spring of 2026 to be fully vested.
My husband’s estimated Social Security benefit at age 67 is about $2000 a month. He has $20,000 in a 401K with his current employer, and two smaller accounts with former employers, one with a balance of about $4000, and one with roughly $500. I contributed briefly at work to a TIAA-CREF fund, and the balance is about $1000.
I have a newly minted Master’s Degree, which I was required to get in order to keep my teaching license, leaving me with loans of about 22,000.
Commuter son and husband have a Nissan Sentra and a Toyota Yaris, both paid for. I am driving our 2005 Dodge Caravan, which is on its last legs at 180K miles with beaucoup mechanical issues.
We live in Massachusetts, so are among those few who still use oil for heat and hot water; we have electric appliances.
We own term life insurance policies, and have health insurance through my husband’s employer (a health insurance company).
We owe back taxes to the IRS and Mass DOR, and have had our paycheck withholdings changed recently to avoid this in the future.
Not necessarily in the same vein, but relevant – I am a Yankee who would love to penny-pinch, and my husband is a free spender who loves to buy things on sale and as little “rewards” for himself and others, and chafes at the yoke of a budget. He is (grudgingly) on board with me now. We rarely disagree about anything except money. 🙂
I guess that’s a grim enough picture for now; as you can see, our situation is a giant Charlie Foxtrot*. I know you get tons of email; perhaps this one will be just different enough to intrigue you – maybe you can Mr. Money Mustache even the old and desperate!
Thanks, CF in MA
Mr. Money Mustache’s Observations:
This story is a great example of what happens when you live a good, honest life, but just don’t get around to doing the math. Other than the $1200 of oil and gas that goes up in flames each month, the rest of this budget looks fairly moderate for a large household. But there is no way to cheat the numbers. Children cost money to raise, and if you want to raise a large number of them on an average income, something else has to give.
And most people don’t realize that car-commuting (even a 10-minute ride) is spectacularly expensive, so your 45-minute double commute is astonishing. A 2005 vehicle that is “on its last legs?”. I bought my 2005 car four years ago with 57,000 miles and it just cracked 80k this year. It is still brand-new and has many decades of life left! Commuting in a VAN? I use my van when I need to carry home 1200 pounds of steel beams I found on Craigslist for my house rebuilding project – not when I need to transport one lightweight human across a vast distance!
Finally, while supporting adult children and “treating” oneself are nice options to have, from a financial perspective you don’t actually have these options. This is what has caused the long-in-the-making financial emergency. The great news is that you can dig out of this hole much more quickly than you sank in.
So let’s move on to Jacob’s analysis:
Assets:
Home – $235,000 Retirement Fund Savings (401k and MTR) – $45,000 Cars – $7,000
Debts (Balances):
Mortgage – $167,000 at 3.5% HELOC – $25,000 at 4% Student Loans – $22,000 at 6.8% Dell Loan – $2,500 at 16.66% Personal Loan – $650 Staples CC – $500
Goals:
To retire ever Budget:
OLD
NEW
Comments
Total Income
$ 7,200.00
$ 7,200.00
Total Expenses
$ 7,161.00
$ 3,504.00
Projected Ending Balance
$ 39.00
$ 3,696.00
— Much better!
Donations
Other
$ 110.00
$ 110.00
Total Donations
$ 110.00
$ 110.00
Bills
Mortgage
$ 1,330.00
$ 1,000.00
The goal is to be able to actually stop working at some point, so aggressive measures need to be taken. I suggest selling the house and moving MUCH closer to work (within 5 miles of both if possible). If possible, find something for $1,000 a month (about $130,000 15-year loan) or less.
Electric
$ 200.00
$ 100.00
You can lower your electric bill if you implement the changes suggested in this MMM article. You stated that you have started hang drying clothes, now it’s time to move on and get all CFL’s bulbs and watch the A/C.
Oil Heating
$ 700.00
$ 200.00
This bill is KILLING your budget. When you re-locate to a location closer to work, look for a natural gas furnace or another home with low heating costs. Otherwise you will literally waste $86,500 over the next 10 years on this. It’s not worth delaying retirement AN ENTIRE YEAR to pay for this inefficient heating method.
Cell Phone Sprint
$ 320.00
$ –
When moving, you are going to need to drop the cell phone family plan. I didn’t see a line for reimbursement for this, and you cannot afford an extra $275 a month to pay for your family’s cell phone usage. Move everyone to Republic Wireless and only pay for the adult plans.
Cell Phone Republic Wireless
$ 23.00
$ 46.00
Looks like you got started with one line, just double it up here.
Netflix/Hulu/Other
$ 40.00
$ 40.00
MMM: Huh? Netflix is $7.99/month. Between library books, learning new skills, and this, you will have plenty of entertainment.
Car Insurance
$ 155.00
$ 90.00
Shop this around. We pay $78 for liability on our two used cars, there’s no reason you need to pay any more than $90 a month for basic coverage. Since you have a used car, all the extra insurance is not necessary to cover scratches and dings and the like. (MMM Note: mine is $30/month for two cars and two drivers)
Internet
$ 70.00
$ 70.00
Also worth shopping around – in your new area the competition might be better.
Land Line
$ 35.00
$ –
Land line is not needed. (unless there’s a business need for this)
Garbage
$ 20.00
$ 20.00
Medical
$ 182.00
$ 182.00
Student Loan 1
$ 293.00
$ 293.00
We’ll address this debt below.
Student Loan 2
$ 130.00
$ 130.00
We’ll address this debt below.
Life Insurance
$ 91.00
$ 91.00
Personal Loan
$ 90.00
$ 90.00
We’ll address this debt below.
Dell Loan
$ 160.00
$ 160.00
We’ll address this debt below.
IRS and State Taxes
$ 700.00
$ –
You stated in email that this balance is now at $0
Paypal Loan
$ 160.00
$ –
You stated in email that this balance is now at $0
ADT Security
$ 50.00
$ –
Not necessary. Here’s a direct quote from MMM: “These are a silly invention – the Timeshare Condos of the suburbs. Drop it, live free, and save $(50)”
Homeowner’s Insurance
$ 55.00
$ 55.00
Total Bills
$ 4,804.00
$ 2,567.00
Other Expenses
Food
$ 900.00
$ 400.00
Check out MMM’s advice here. You can reduce this bill to $400 a month easily and eat VERY well with a though-out meal plan and some smart shopping.
Gas
$ 575.00
$ 150.00
Since we have cut your commute down to only a few miles, your gas bill should be VERY low ($50 a month or less). I padded it a bit to drive out and visit family.
MMM Note – and remember that “Gas” should never be used as an approximation of the true cost of commuting. You need to triple this number at least, just to account for the direct car costs. Adding in life costs, the bill is much higher again.
Eating Out
$ 15.00
$ –
While you’re in debt, this is a luxury that cannot be afforded. Take care of the DEBT EMERGENCY first, and then add this back in.
Spending Cash
$ 25.00
$ –
Same as eating out.
Personal Items
$ 85.00
$ 85.00
Household Items
$ 62.00
$ 62.00
Clothing
$ 60.00
$ 15.00
You don’t need $60 of new clothing a month. $15 a month should take care of any clothing necessities with thrift shops, consignment stores and garage sales. Also leverage family and friends to organize a clothing swap (read: FREE CLOTHES) if additional garb is required.
Misc
$ 40.00
$ 40.00
Car Maintenance
$ 50.00
$ 50.00
Total Other Expenses
$ 1,812.00
$ 802.00
Savings Buckets
Christmas
$ 25.00
$ 25.00
Emergency Fund
$ 410.00
$ –
This will be addressed below.
Total Savings Buckets
$ 435.00
$ 25.00
Total Expenses
$ 7,161.00
$ 3,504.00
Jacob goes on to write,
Dear CF, Thank you for exposing your budget to all of us financial voyeurs.
There is a LOT going on here, and a lot to address below. The goal here is to make every hour of work from now until retirement count. So let’s get to it:
Housing: I won’t pull any face punches here. You need to move. Your heating bill and commute are absolutely killing your financial situation, and you will NOT retire anytime soon if you stay there. There is $980 potential savings PER MONTH or more in this transition (including commute and utilities), as well as cutting your commute time down to almost nothing, saving time and stress. This move is to help you take a sharp exit off the highway of Never Retiring Wastefulness and allow you to not work until you die.
In emails, you stated the house needs about $8,000 of updates to rent or sell. Since you have about $2,000 of other monthly savings lined up in this budget, you should be able to have this taken care of within four months, and be moved out in six or seven months. Savings on mortgage is at least $330 per month.
You also stated needing a replacement car soon. Please read this MMM post and PAY CASH for your next used-car purchase.
Food: If you are feeding a flock of adult children, they are going to have to chip in. There is no reason you two people can’t eat VERY well on $400 per month, and with proper planning, that could be $300. So many people cannot save enough to retire but are actually just eating their retirement meal by meal. For reference, the extra $500 a month spent on food would cost you over $86,000 over the next 10 years, and cause you to work an additional year for that inefficiency. Nothing tastes THAT good. Savings of at least $500 a month.
Debt: This debt is to be treated as a radioactive plutonium. You must neutralize it ASAP, and this will be your first priority. Here’s how I suggest you tackle it with your extra $3,700 a month.
Dell Loan – $2,500 at 16.66% (gone in month 1) Personal Loan – $650 (gone in month 1) Staples CC – $500 (gone in month 1) Student Loans – $22,000 at 6.8% (gone in month 7)
With all the expenses saved from the above changes, you can kill this debt COMPLETELY in 7 months. The first 3 debts will be gone in the first month! Now you have another $673 a month to invest.
Investments: Once your consumer debt is gone, you will have about $4,400 a month to invest in index funds to get you to retirement. Investing this at 7% for the next 12 years with your starting balance of $45,000 puts you at about $1,100,000 at age 66.
Your annual expenses with the above budget are about $42,000 per year, and using the rule of 4%, this money would provide you with $44,000 annually. You can retire!
This quick plan comes with a major safety margin:
the $2,000 per month of Social Security your husband can begin drawing at age 67
whatever you get from the teacher’s Retirement Fund
the fact that your new mortgage will be paid off in 15 years, dropping the future budget
Conclusion: Yes, this is a lot of change. No, moving won’t be easy, and figuring out the details of your kids housing and all that is going to be a challenge. But the status quo is what got you here, and changing the flow of money is what will get you out.
Comments: What would YOU do in CF’s position? Can she recover and earn a solid retirement in a timely manner?
MMM Note: Thanks again to my new friend Jacob for all of the help on this one, and you may see a few more case studies around here if we’re lucky.
*I think this is a witty polite way of saying “CF”, which of course means “Clusterfuck”. I thought this was a skilled use of swearwords, and it is one of the reasons I decided to take this case study.
With mortgage rates on long-term fixed-rate mortgages finally slipping into the 3% range, mind you just barely, more fence-sitters may be pondering if they should finally buy a home as opposed to rent.
From a mortgage rate perspective, it’s a no-brainer. Now could be the best time to buy a house…EVER.
Heck, homeownership is starting to look pretty darn attractive with those ultra-low monthly mortgage payments, especially coupled with depressed home prices.
But from a broader economic standpoint, not so much.
The Economy Is Ugly
Things still look bleak, with unemployment expected to remain high for the foreseeable future, and fears of a complete economic collapse still swirling.
An economic outlook released this week by mortgage financier Freddie Mac perhaps said it best:
“With monetary policy expected to keep interest rates low for a while, affordability will remain high for potential homebuyers. In the meantime, many will choose to rent.”
Huh? Affordability will remain high, but many will choose to rent? How does that make sense?
And why are they choosing? If they have a choice, how could they not possibly buy a home right now?
Current Homeowners Banking on Prospective Buyers
If they’re choosing not to buy a home, what about those who currently own a home worth half the balance of their mortgage?
You know, those with deeply underwater mortgages who aren’t quite ready to walk away, who are banking on seeing positive home equity at some point in the next decade.
Pretty scary notion that prospective homeowners who could enter the market in positions significantly better than existing homeowners aren’t willing to.
But the way they see it, it’s scarier to take the plunge and join them, given the economic uncertainty in the air.
After all, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to start a family and form a household when you’re not sure if you’ll keep earning what you’re earning, let alone keep your job.
And so that may explain why the low interest rates aren’t causing many to bite, at least not home buyers.
Refinance Share Nearing 80 Percent
Meanwhile, the refinance share of loan applications is in fact rising, and is now near 80 percent, per the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Previous estimates saw the purchase-money mortgage share rising to 50 percent by now…not even close. Just wait until the traditionally slow fall and winter home buying seasons.
On top of those not willing to take the plunge, there are plenty of people out there who can’t even buy a home if they wanted to, thanks to that unemployment issue, along with more stringent mortgage underwriting guidelines in place today.
And roughly 20 percent can’t buy simply because they fudged up their previous mortgage.
Imagine if the loose underwriting that was in place during the boom was still in place…everyone would own a home. But we know that’s a bad idea…
All that said, you’ve got to figure that buying a home right now can’t be all bad. As mentioned earlier, you’d be much better off than those who bought five years ago from a home price, equity and interest rate perspective.
The question is whether you need to hurry up and make the decision. Given the relatively high chance of more bad economic news, along with forecasts of lower home prices in the near future, it may pay to wait and buy next year if you’ve got time.
After all, you may find a lower home price and a similar mortgage rate in six months.
And in the meantime, you can get your finances in order to ensure you will qualify without worry when that right time comes.
As the number of peer-to-peer lending sites has grown in the past few years, the loan types being offered are also expanding.
These sites are now providing the types of peer-to-peer loans that were once available only through traditional banks and loan sharks.
Find out more information here on “how do I get a loan?”, to help you with your decision making process!
What’s more, peer-to-peer lending is quickly democratizing the whole loan process. Borrowers come to borrow money, and investors come to lend it to those borrowers, each looking for an interest rate advantage that they cannot get with the banks and other sources. This is creating a growing interest in peer-to-peer lending for both groups.
This is the major advantage to borrowers, since the types of loans available, as well as the loan terms and amounts, are growing as the industry expands.
Here are the major loan types currently available from popular peer-to-peer lending sites.
Personal Loans
Personal loans are probably the most common loans provided by peer-to-peer lending sites. Flexibility is a major reason for this. Peer-to-peer lenders have fewer restrictions on loan funds than traditional banks do.
Credit quality is another factor. While banks tend to lend within very narrow credit score ranges, peer-to-peer sites will often extend loans to people with fair credit.
If you have excellent credit, you can typically borrow up to $35,000 on an unsecured loan with a term of anywhere from two years to five years. Interest rates start in the mid-single digits, which is a lot lower than what you’ll pay on credit cards.
Unlike lines of credit that are typically offered by traditional banks, peer-to-peer sites offer fixed-rate loans that will be completely paid in full within not more than five years. This will allow you to get out of debt faster than if you work out payoff strategies with individual revolving lines of credit.
Most peer-to-peer platforms will do personal loans. Lending Club is the largest peer-to-peer lending site, and they will do personal loans for debt consolidation, credit card balances, home improvement, car loans, and even loans for swimming pools (imagine a bank making a loan on that last one!).
The second largest lender is Prosper and they are highly competitive with Lending club.
If you are looking for a lending platform that will be able to fund your loan quickly, consider Avant. Through Avant, if your loan application is approved, you could get funds into your account as soon as the next business day if approved by 4:30 pm CST Monday – Friday.
Debt consolidation is one of the most common reasons people seek peer-to-peer loans. Such loans enable people who are struggling with high-interest rate credit card debt to consolidate several credit lines into a single fixed rate loan, that will be paid off in five years or less. That offers borrowers a real opportunity to finally get out of debt completely.
Credit cards are revolving debt arrangements, where it’s possible that the borrower will never get out of debt since the monthly payments will always drop along with the lower loan balance.
If you’re looking for consolidation here, you may want to check into SoFi, as that’s one thing they’re really good at.
There’s yet another reason why peer-to-peer debt consolidation loans are beneficial to borrowers. One of the biggest factors affecting credit scores is debt utilization on credit cards.
If the utilization rate is high, which is defined as anything more than 30% of your total available credit, then paying off your credit lines can be a way to improve your credit score within a few short months.
Several credit lines, some approaching the credit limits, can be replaced with a single term loan. That seems to please the credit scoring algorithms!
Auto Loans
Auto loans are something of an unofficial loan type on peer-to-peer sites. You can borrow money to purchase or refinance a car, but the loan may not be officially a car loan.
For example, with Lending Club, you can borrow up to $35,000 on a personal loan, which you can use either to buy or refinance a car.
The rates being offered on car loans (or more specifically, on personal loans) may be higher than what you can get through your bank, but peer-to-peer sites have one advantage that bank auto loans don’t have: the loans will not actually be secured by your car.
That can be an important advantage too. As you almost certainly use your car in the production of income – either to commute to your job or to use for your business – it’s better to own the vehicle on a debt-free basis.
Still another advantage is that peer-to-peer loans generally extend to terms of not more than 60 months, or five years. Bank provided auto loans are now running as long as 84 months, or seven years.
Though the monthly payment on a five-year peer-to-peer loan will be higher than it will be for a seven bank auto loan, it will be far less likely that you will end up owing more on the loan than the car is worth at any time during the loan term.
Business Loans
Peer-to-peer lenders are rapidly filling the business loans niche. That’s a good thing too. While hundreds of banks advertise that they provide business loans, they tend to have tough lending criteria, require unimaginable amounts of documentation, and don’t make nearly as many loans as they say they do.
Peer-to-peer lenders are bringing all of the same advantages to businesses that they are bringing to other types of loans. That includes low-interest rates, a simple application process, quick turnaround time, and greater credit flexibility.
It is often possible to get business loans on peer-to-peer sites that are completely unavailable from traditional banks.
Four of the more popular peer-to-peer sites that provide business loans include Lending Club, Prosper, Upstart and Funding Circle. Each offers different parameters for the loans that they will make to your business.
For example, Upstart requires only that you have been in business for six months. Most banks will require that you are in business for a minimum of two years, and generally supported by income tax returns as proof.
Loan amounts are another advantage, in that they are often higher than the amount you can get through a bank. For example, Funding Circle provides business loans for up to $500,000.
Most peer-to-peer lenders will also make loans that require no collateral. For example, Lending Club will loan as much as $100,000, while Prosper and Upstart will go to $35,000 – all requiring that no collateral be pledged as security for the loan. And when collateral is required, it is usually in the form of either a general lien on the business or on the business invoices.
Business loans are close to impossible to get from banks if you are a small business owner. Banks typically make loans available to large business enterprises, such as well-established publicly traded companies.
If you are a small, independent business, you may not have access to business loans from banks at all. For this reason, peer-to-peer business loans figure to grow steadily in the future.
Mortgages and Refinances
Mortgage lending has always been a complicated process. Still, peer-to-peer lending is moving into this type of financing, on both purchases and refinances.
Even though it specializes in student loan refinances, SoFi also makes mortgage loans available. They currently provide mortgages in 23 states, including the District of Columbia.
They will do mortgages on owner-occupied primary residences and second homes, including single-family homes, condos, townhomes, and planned unit developments (PUDs). Financing, however, is not available for rental properties or for co-ops.
You are generally required to make a down payment of at least 10% of the purchase price, however, mortgage insurance is not required, the way it typically is anytime you purchase a home with a down payment of less than 20%.
They do not charge origination fees on their mortgages, and you can generally close the loan within 30 days of application. All loans come with no prepayment penalty, and you can borrow as much as $3 million.
Mortgage lending is extremely competitive, and peer-to-peer sites are not yet as aggressive on pricing and terms as the industry standard. However, since P2P is a relatively new enterprise, it’s all in a state of flux, and if mortgage lending progresses the way other types of loans on the web, good things are coming!
Student Loans
Peer-to-peer lenders are perhaps more important when it comes to student loan refinances then for any other loan type. While you can get student loans from hundreds of sources, including banks and the federal government, finding lenders who will do a student loan refinance is tough. You can probably count the number of lenders who do on two hands.
Two of the most prominent lenders that provide student loan refinances are SoFi and CommonBond, and they’re both peer-to-peer lenders. In fact, both platforms specialize in providing student loan refinances.
Even if you have little interest in getting a loan from a peer-to-peer site, you will almost certainly come across these two platforms in your search for a lender who does student loan refinances.
One of the complications with student loan refinances is that while getting the original loans may not have required you to qualify, you will be required to be both credit– and income-qualified in order to do a student loan refinance. That’s where peer-to-peer sites can have a big advantage over traditional banks.
Not only does SoFi specialize in student loan refinances, but the entire platform has been set up specifically for that purpose. And this is where the peer-to-peer factor becomes even bigger.
SoFi was founded by people who are closely associated with the college community and have created the site to go beyond traditional lending. This is evident with the platforms underwriting criteria.
They don’t just look at income and credit, but also consider your career experience (some fields and jobs are viewed more favorably than others) and your education (your major field of study and education history).
You can refinance up to the full balance of your qualified education loans outstanding, and often do so at rates that are lower than what is offered by the banks. The site claims that their members save an average of $14,000 by doing a student loan refinance through the site.
CommonBond also specializes in student loan refinances and claims similar savings to what you can get with SoFi. You can refinance up to $500,000 in student loans, but again you must be credit- and income-qualified.
They charge no fees in connection to your refinance, except the interest that you pay on your loan. And again, that rate is often lower than what you can get from traditional banks.
Both SoFi and CommonBond offer unemployment protection. In the event that you become unemployed, they will suspend payments for up to 12 months.
SoFi will also provide job placement assistance, but you must provide evidence that the job loss was caused by no fault of your own.
With student loans growing exponentially in recent years, peer-to-peer sources should only increase in the years ahead.
Bad Debt Loans
It’s probably an exaggeration to say that peer-to-peer lending had moved into subprime loans. However, the industry is gradually making progress into making credit available to borrowers that banks might consider as having either fair or poor credit.
PeerForm is an example of such a P2P site. They will make loans of up to $25,000 available for borrowers with credit scores as low as 600. Loan APR’s range from 7.12% to as high as 28.09% for the lowest low grades.
High as that rate may be, credit may not be available for people in that situation from any other source.
What’s more, PeerForm makes its loans available on an unsecured basis. This gives you a source of credit that could conceivably replace high-interest credit cards.
In that same regard, PeerForm also makes installment loans available to replace your line of credit, making it easier and faster to get out of debt.
In addition, by using a single loan to pay off several credit cards, you can potentially increase your credit score almost immediately, which in itself will improve your situation considerably.
Medical Loans
Like student debt refinances, medical financing is becoming more important all the time. As deductibles and copayments rise, and as certain treatments and procedures are disallowed by traditional health insurance policies, the need for medical financing is growing.
Generally speaking, medical financing is available on peer-to-peer sites to cover the growing list of expenses that health insurance doesn’t cover.
Lending Club is one peer-to-peer site that is providing medical financing under their Patient Solutions program. The loan program is available to cover expenses for dental, fertility treatments, hair restoration, and weight loss surgery – procedures and treatments that are not normally covered by most health insurance policies.
Lending Club offers two plans, the Extended Plan and the True No-Interest Plan.
Under the Extended Plan, you can borrow between $2,000 and $50,000, at terms ranging from 24 months to 84 months. Loan APR’s are between 3.99% and 24.99%, based on the amount financed and your credit history.
Under the True No-Interest Plan, you can borrow between $499 and $32,000, but the loan purpose is limited to dental and hair restoration. The interest-free period ranges from six months to 24 months.
If you pay off the balance within the term, you will pay no interest. However, any balance remaining after the expiration of the promotional term will have a variable APR of 22.98%.
Peer-to-peer lending is growing in leaps and bounds, and as it does, there are more types of loans available than ever before. If you’re looking for a loan of any type, be sure to check out popular peer-to-peer lending sites to see what they have available.
Not only may you find a loan that you didn’t think was available anywhere, but you may find that you can get a lower interest rate for it than at any bank in town.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of unemployed was 15.4 million and the jobless rate was 10 percent in November. While those numbers “edged down” from previous months, there’s no doubt that job loss and unemployment are hot topics, and people are worried.
Some of those lucky enough to hang onto their jobs have experienced salary reductions, reduced hours, or withheld bonuses.
Even if your income has remained unaffected, hearing stories on the news and witnessing friends and family members experience job loss can make a person nervous. It’s why car dealerships and travel companies are offering job loss insurance, reassuring consumers that it’s okay to buy a new car or book a cruise.
But wiggling out of a major purchase means little if you still can’t afford to pay your mortgage after job loss.
Worst-case scenario planning This made me think about what my financial situation would look like if I lost my job, if my husband lost his, or if somehow we both found ourselves unemployed. What is our worst-case scenario? Could we cover the essential bills? And for how long?
This is the process I used to create a worst-case scenario snapshot of our finances. I’ll use fictional couple Michael and Kay as an example. Their combined monthly income after taxes is $5,000. Michael makes $2,000 per month, and Kay brings in $3,000 per month. They have an emergency savings fund of $10,000.
Step one: Assess current expenses First, they’ll look at their current monthly budget:
Mortgage: $1,100
Food & Dining: $500
Bills & Utilities: $325
Gas & Fuel: $300
Vacation Savings: $200
Massage Therapy: $150
Gym: $100
Property Tax: $100
Health/Prescriptions: $140
Clothing: $100
Auto Insurance: $45
Home Insurance: $30
Donations: $30
Netflix: $18
Personal Care: $25
Misc: $120
Retirement Savings: $834
Other Savings: $883
Step two: Cut expenses Next, Michael and Kay examine their fixed and discretionary expenses and determine where they could cut back, if needed. They eliminate savings and clothing from the budget right away. They decide that they could cut back on food by $100 if they quit eating out, and they could live without massage therapy and gym memberships. This lowers their monthly expenses to $2,633.
Mortgage: $1,100
Food & Dining: $500 $400
Bills & Utilities: $325
Gas & Fuel: $300
Vacation Savings: $200
Massage Therapy: $150
Gym: $100
Property Tax: $100
Health/Prescriptions: $140
Clothing: $100
Auto Insurance: $45
Home Insurance: $30
Donations: $30
Netflix: $18
Personal Care: $25
Misc: $120
Retirement Savings: $834
Other Savings: $883
Step three: Evaluate possible scenarios If Michael lost his job, their monthly income would be $3000. With monthly expenses of $2,633, they’d have $367 left at the end of the month and wouldn’t have to dip into the emergency fund except in case of emergencies.
If Kay lost her job, their monthly income would be $2000. They’d either need to cut back more, or use the emergency fund to make up the $633 difference. If they used the emergency fund, it would last for about 15 months — barring any unforeseen expenses.
If both Michael and Kay lost their jobs and had to live off of the emergency fund, their savings would last for about three months.
Other expenses and income In a real-life scenario, you’ll also need to account for health insurance. Whether you’d get coverage under your spouse’s plan, an individual policy, or through COBRA, you’ll need to add the premium into your financial game plan.
Unemployment benefits, if you qualify, are another factor in your worst-case scenario budget. Don’t forget that unemployment benefits are taxable. To avoid a ginormous tax bill on April 15, have federal income taxes withheld or pay quarterly estimated taxes on your unemployment income.
Next steps Depending on your outcome from this exercise, you might decide it’s not time for a new car or a cruise because you need a bigger emergency fund. Or maybe you can relax because you’re right on track with your savings goals.
Either way, it’s a good idea to know where you stand and what your game plan will be if you were to experience job loss.
Have you created a worst-case scenario budget? Do you feel prepared to weather a job loss (either your own job or your partner’s)?
I have been an agent and investor for almost 20 years and I have seen many market cycles. A lot of people think we are due for another housing market crash because housing prices have skyrocketed, people cannot afford homes, and there could be economic problems. Besides these factors, there are many things that drive the housing market. What really drives market prices is supply and demand, which is impacted by these factors and many more. The last crash that occurred in the United States from 2006 to 2012 was the worst in the history of the country, it was worse for housing than the great depression. It took extraordinary circumstances to create that crash and it will not easily happen again. Could it happen? yes Will it happen? Maybe. When will it happen? No one really knows. Even with Covid-19 causing chaos, there is no guarantee a crash will happen.
What caused the last housing crash?
I started my real estate career in 2002 before the last housing crash. I could see something was off in the real estate market but I was young and did not know what all the signs were indicating. It was not uncommon to see:
Loans that were 120 percent of a house’s value
Investors buying multiple properties with nothing down
People with no income buying houses with a no money down loan
People simply stated what their income was to get a loan with no proof
6-month ARMs with the payments doubling soon after buying the house
Something seemed off to me but everyone seemed to be happy! Then the bottom dropped out of the market. The banks realized that many people could not pay back their loans and there were too many houses being built for the people who could actually buy a house.
Crazy lending guidelines caused overbuilding and when the party stopped, there was a crash. Prices dropped and more foreclosures occurred because many people had no equity. Banks panicked and tried to sell all their distressed properties at once.
It was the perfect storm and the worst crash in the history of the United States housing market. The big question is can that happen again? I personally do not think so and I will tell you why below.
Are there really too few houses?
Supply is affected by foreclosures, homeowners’ willingness to move, new construction, and many other factors. Demand is driven by the economy, lending guidelines, potential homeowners’ confidence, wages, and much more. I believe the supply and demand affecting today’s housing market is much different than what drove the last housing boom. While prices could level out or decrease in some areas, I do not think we are in for a nationwide crash.
In order to have a crash, we need an oversupply of homes or the demand for homes to disappear. I do not see either scenario happening, even if the economy loses steam or crashes. Some of the stats I show in this article will show you how different the supply side is right now than it was prior to the crash.
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How many housing crashes have there been?
Many people believe that because of the huge increases in prices, a crash is imminent.
“Just look at what happened in the mid to late 2000s. Prices are so crazy now that a crash has to come soon!”
The first thing you have to realize is that the last crash was the worst crash we have ever had. It was worse than the great depression. Those crashes do not happen over and over again. An increase in prices does not mean a crash is coming. Prices can increase or decrease, but that is what happens in a healthy market. A crash is much different from a down market. Other countries have seen increasing prices for decades without a crash. Just because prices go up does not mean they go down. In fact, due to inflation prices will continuously increase over time and they have increased over time.
There are also a lot of people trying to sell books, products, and coaching based on the impending doom that is coming. Be careful buying into what people say based on their motives. Look at the data!
The chart below shows the median sales price in the United States since 1959. As you can see, prices can fluctuate but in the long run, they have always gone up.
Won’t a recession cause a housing crash?
The last crash was the biggest in recent memory and if you look at the data further back it is the same with small adjustments. A lot of people will also tell you we have a housing crash or recession every 10 years. If you average them out we have recessions every 18 years, but not always true for the housing market. The dot com recession did not affect housing much at all. Sometimes we have a recession 5 years after the last one and sometimes we have it 25 years after the last one. Even if we did have a recession every 18 years we have a long time to wait since the last recession was ten years ago.
The chart below shows unemployment in the US, which is a great indicator of recessions. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE
You can see from the chart that recessions are not every 18 years, but all over the place.
There are also a lot of people who have been predicting a crash for many years. There are people on YouTube promoting their gold and silver businesses by talking about how real estate will crash. One of the big marketing messages they use is that they predicted the last crash! Well, if you look at their predictions they have been predicting a real estate crash every year for the last three decades. They were bound to get it right one of those years! I was an REO (foreclosure) broker during and after the last crash and there were many people talking about how there was going to be a double-dip recession in 2012. We were going to have a tsunami of foreclosures and it would be much worse than the crash we just went through. Well, it never happened, in fact, the opposite happened.
No one knows for sure what will happen to the housing market. It could go up, it could go down, it could crash. But just because it crashed before when prices were high, does not mean it will crash again.
The video below goes over the possibility of a housing crash as well:
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Will Covid-19 cause a housing market crash?
Many people are now saying that coronavirus and its impacts will cause a housing market crash. The interesting thing is that since the coronavirus started, housing prices have increased in many areas! The supply of homes has decreased because many sellers took their homes off the market. This caused prices to increase because the demand for homes has stayed relatively stable. There are the same amount of buyers fighting for fewer homes.
It is true that many people let their mortgages go into forbearance or are behind on rent. The CDC halted most foreclosures for the rest of the year. There has to be a crash right! There will be so many foreclosures being dumped on the market and that will cause prices to drop.
Foreclosures do not cause a housing market crash. Every healthy market has foreclosures. The last crash was caused by millions of foreclosures coupled with too many houses being built. Foreclosures by themselves can cause a downturn but not a crash.
It is also important to remember that Covid-19 will not automatically cause a flood of foreclosures. The government will do everything they can to stop foreclosures and in some states, it takes years to foreclose. Many people also have equity in their homes which means they can sell them instead of letting them default back to the bank.
Home mortgages are harder to get than ever
One of the main reasons people say there will be another crash is that loans are easier to get again!
In 2005, subprime loans were rampant and as a result, the country over-leveraged itself. Subprime loans, the riskiest loan type given to borrowers with low credit scores, totaled more than $620 billion. Now, subprime originations are only 5 percent of the mortgage market and add up to $56 billion. Compare that to 2005 when subprime origination made up 20 percent of the market. This represents a 91 percent decline from the height of bad loans that set up the economic crash.
Source: Inside Mortgage Finance; Equifax
Not only has subprime lending seen a major decline, but mortgages have also become much harder to attain due to stringent lending standards. Loans are still very hard to get compared to before the last crash. This is greatly due to the type of borrowers able to qualify for loans. The current average credit score for borrowers being granted mortgages is 739. In October 2009, the average FICO score was 686, according to Fair Isaac. The lowest one percent of mortgages issued have credit scores averaging 622-624. Compared to the average range in 2001 of 490-510, the standard to get financing has risen substantially, and as a result, the likelihood of default has dropped. Lenders have done this to ensure the economy doesn’t again become propped on bad loans like it was leading up to the Great Recession.
The chart below shows that loans are even harder to get than right after the housing crash. https://www.urban.org/policy-centers/housing-finance-policy-center/projects/housing-credit-availability-index
As you can see, it is not easier to get a loan, in fact, it is harder!
Investors have even stricter lending guidelines and must put 20% down. There are stricter debt-to-income levels for investors and some banks even limit the number of loans investors can have. It is much tougher to get a loan now than almost any other period in the last century.
Is the United States housing market unaffordable?
Another reason people say the market will crash is that housing is not affordable for most people and it has to crash.
It is true that the affordability index continues to be stacked against potential home buyers. As housing and rental prices steadily increase, wages continue to stay relatively stagnant. Historically, the average income-to-housing cost ratio in the U.S. has hovered near 30 percent, but in some metro areas, that number is currently closer to 40 and even 50 percent! This strips away the opportunity to save money as a significant portion of a person’s monthly income is going to keep a roof over their head.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
However, the United States is still much more affordable than in many other countries. Many of those countries have not seen a huge crash. People tend to find ways to buy homes, even when they are very expensive. Affordability in itself will not cause a crash. Although, it could cause a slowdown.
Some of these charts are a few years older, but it’s tough to find updated information. As you can see there are many other markets that have higher prices than the US (even after our last rise) and did not have a housing crash, or they recovered very quickly after a smaller crash. Simply having high prices does not mean a crash is coming.
Why is supply so low?
The biggest factor causing the housing market to increase today is low inventory. The last crash was caused by horrible lending guidelines and overbuilding. We will continue to have low inventory until building picks up, and it simply has not happened. I cannot see another crash occurring until we see more new starts.
The graph below shows new building starts in the United States and as you can see there was a record low building for many years after the crash. We just got back up to the average number of new builds when Covid-19 hit and it dropped again.
There simply are not enough houses for people.
This is why prices continue to increase in the United States. The population is growing and there are not enough houses to meet the demand for everyone who wants to buy a house.
We could absorb a lot of foreclosures and still have a healthy market, a more healthy market than we have now. Having an increase in foreclosures will not crash the market. We would also need an increase in new builds which is not happening at the pace of market demand.
Will migration and population cause a crash?
Another popular theory is that baby boomers will die off and there will be too many houses for those still alive. This idea was pushed back in the early 2000’s by Robert Kiyosaki. While there were a lot of baby boomers born, there are currently more millennials than baby boomers. The millennial generation is actually increasing thanks to immigration. There are fewer people being born now, but those people will not be of house buying age for decades. It is predicted the US population will keep increasing for decades. Other countries have had decreasing populations and have not seen decreasing prices.
This article goes into more detail on baby boomers and a housing crash.
Will interest rates cause a housing crash?
Another prediction is that interest rates could rise and cause a crash. This theory is based on nothing but a guess as rising rates have never caused a crash in the past. Interest rates were 18% in the early 1980s and there was not a crash. While it seems logical that prices decrease when rates increase because houses get less affordable it does not happen. The mortgage rates on a house are typically locked in for many years. If interest rates go up it will cause fewer people to move which will decrease inventory even more! The video below has more details on this.
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Why are others predicting a crash?
A lot of people are predicting a crash, but why? If the data shows that a crash is most likely not going to happen why would they predict one?
Here are some of the people who are predicting a crash:
Gold and silver sellers who want people to invest with them and not in real estate
Stockbrokers who want people to buy stocks and not real estate
Real estate investors who are selling coaching programs about how to survive a crash
Anyone who is trying to get their name in the news or create a catchy headline to sell something
People who want cheap housing prices so it is easier to invest.
Not everyone who is predicting a crash has an ulterior motive but many do. Some very smart people are predicting a crash who may not know exactly how real estate works either. You have to be very careful who you listen to when it comes to real estate and predictions.
What can we predict?
I buy a lot of house flips and rental properties. One of the most important rules of thumb I work by is to never base my purchases on what housing prices might do. If I am flipping houses or buying rentals, I never assume prices will go up. I base my investment strategies on today’s prices. I also have a plan in place if the market decreases. Yes, we have seen huge price increases, but that does not mean prices will keep going up or that they could not go down. One of the easiest ways to get yourself in trouble is to invest in real estate because you think prices will increase.
I do not try to predict the market and most economists will not predict it either. There are too many variables to know what will happen and predicting when it will happen is even harder. If someone says they know exactly when a crash or downturn will happen, they are probably trying to get attention or sell something!
The market could go up or it could go down. The great thing about real estate is you can make money in every market if you know what you are doing.
Conclusion
The factors that caused the last crash do not exist in today’s market.
There is not overbuilding, in fact, there is too little building.
There are not loser lending guidelines, in fact, there are more strict lending guidelines.
While foreclosures may increase, there are much fewer than before.
Rising prices and unaffordable housing do not cause a crash. They could cause a downturn or cause prices to level out, but a crash is much different than a downturn. If you are waiting for a crash to invest or buy, you may be waiting a very long time!
Save more, spend smarter, and make your money go further
Is your debt stressing you out? If so, we promise you’re not alone. Especially if you are financing a home. According to the Center for Microeconomic Data, mortgage balances—the largest component of household debt—rose by $60 billion during the second quarter of 2018.
If you’re committed to getting out of debt, we’ve got you covered on how to set up a debt repayment plan to make sure you stay on track and reach debt freedom as soon as you can.
Here are five simple steps on how to jump-start your debt repayment journey:
#1 Assess The Amount of Debt You Owe
Of course, that’s what Mint is here to help you do — easily and automatically track where every last penny goes. Tracking your expenses will help you see where you can cut down, thus helping you reduce outstanding debt, as well as your debt/income ratio (outstanding debt divided by annual net income). Having a clear view of the numbers will empower you to make a plan that actually works based on where you are now.
#2 Sleuthing For Savings
Don’t think you have any extra money to create a debt destroyer? Once you start tracking your expenses, you might be surprised. For example, can you can cut your cable bill (average of $75 a month) and switching to a streaming service (about $10.99 a month)? Or is there a subscription you’re paying for that you don’t actually use? The smallest things here and there can really add up, so make sure you understand what you don’t actually need to be paying for in order to find some extra cash to put toward your debt goals.
#3 Pick A Debt To Tackle First
Some people choose the smallest debt first because getting a few wins on the board helps motivate them to keep working toward bigger goals. Others choose to go after debt with the highest interest rate first because it’s costing the most money right now. Once you choose which debt to work on first, pay the minimums on all other outstanding debts, and put every leftover dime toward the debt you’re targeting.
#4 Start Snowballing
After you pay off the first debt, move on immediately to the next one on your list, instead of taking a break and using that extra money elsewhere. As your number of debts decrease, the amount of money you have to attack the ones that remain increases. This means you can snowball your payments until all of your debt is pummeled
#5 Enjoy Life After Debt
Once you’ve started paying down debt, now you’re ready to establish a commitment to saving. First, determine what you are you saving for! The first goal you should set is an emergency fund. This will help protect you in case of sudden unemployment, a medical emergency or other unexpected expenses. If you want to be consistent with your savings contributions, try automated savings. Start small and then increase the deposit amount when you feel confident that you can set aside more.
The earlier you get started with a strategic debt repayment plan, the better. Remember, take things step by step and first get organized to figure out what you owe. We know debt can feel overwhelming at times, but it’s important to remember it doesn’t have to last forever if you’re committed to creating a better financial future!
Save more, spend smarter, and make your money go further
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Your net worth is based not only on how much moolah you have in the bank, but also on your human capital — that is, your ability to earn income. “We can think of human capital as assets specific to each person, such as intelligence, education, specialized skills, work ethic, and social skills in the workplace,” wrote Motley Fool contributor Doug Short (who has turned his own human capital into an investing website that’s popped up as far away as an Australian business TV show — it’s amazing what smart, retired people can do in their spare time).
These days, jobs are few and far between — and unemployment is poised to rise and stay high for a very long time. At a town hall meeting last year, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said gross domestic product growth would have to exceed 2.5% for the unemployment rate to fall. Unfortunately, consulting firm McKinsey says that newly-thrifty baby boomers, who are now saving at rates not seen in decades, will reduce GDP growth to just 2.4% annually for the next 30 years.
So to survive in a world of long-term high unemployment, we can’t take our jobs — or our human capital — for granted. Ask yourself these ten questions to make sure you’re investing in your most important money-making asset: You!
What’s going on in your industry and location? Employment and wage trends aren’t the same across the country. The unemployment rate is in the mid-single digits for business and financial managers, but almost 20% for those in the construction industry. North Dakotans have the lowest unemployment rate, while Michiganders have the highest. Stay up on the news to know who’s being hired, fired, promoted, and downsized in your area. It could help you land a job — or know when it’s time to leave one.
How does your company make most of its money? Most companies have more than one source of income, but not all of those revenue streams are of equal importance. Determine your company’s essential sources of income, and become an integral player in those parts of the business.
What can you do to protect your job and salary? Pretend you’re your boss and you have to decide who gets a raise and who gets a pink slip. What qualities would you look for? What makes someone indispensable at your company?
If you own a business, how can you make yourself essential to your customers? Even if you’re self-employed, you have bosses. They’re your customers, and they can fire you as easily as Donald Trump can. What can you do to make that hard for them?
Which skills could you acquire that would make you more valuable or diversify your human capital? Your value in the workplace depends on your abilities. How many things can you do, and how well do you do them? Consider working toward a degree or starting a late-night self-study regimen that expands your human capital. Keep it focused on efforts that will really pay off. Simply getting an extra degree in the sociology of Star Trek could be a waste of money.
What would you do if you were fired today? You’d probably: (1) apply at a few other places, or (2) change careers. If you’d apply elsewhere, ask yourself, “What can I add to my résumé to make them want to hire me?” If you want to begin a new career, ask yourself, “What should I be doing in my spare time to prepare?”
What can you do that you’re currently paying someone else for? Expanding your human capital includes learning how to do things so you don’t have to pay someone else to do them. This pays off even for retirees. Think about doing your own home repairs, taxes, or (ahem) financial planning (though not until you know what you’re doing).
Can you pick up side jobs to earn extra income? In our Rule Your Retirement service, we pay a team of retired financial professionals to answer subscribers’ questions. The previously mentioned Doug Short makes a tidy little income from advertisements on his website. Dabbling in extracurricular part-time work can pad your cash flow, expand your skill set, and could lead to a whole new career.
Can you sharpen your people skills? I believe it was columnist Ben Stein who said your career depends on your affability as well as your ability. (Unfortunately for Stein, that didn’t spare him from being dropped by The New York Times after showing up in commercials for a credit-score company, violating a corporate policy.) Your career depends at least partially on how pleasant, cooperative, collegial, and fun you are. So play nice!
What do you want to do with the rest of your life? You’ll probably do your best work if you’re doing what you enjoy most. This economy might not provide the greatest opportunities for you to pursue your dream job, but you can start preparing now so you’re ready when the market is.
Factoring in the slowing economy, Fannie Mae said unemployment will likely rise to 4.4% by year-end and increase to 5.4% by the end of 2024. The group expects the headline and core consumer price indices close 2023 at around 3.3% and 3.9% annually. As such, Fannie Mae now anticipates the Federal Reserve to start easing … [Read more…]
That was a phrase that my father continually beat into my head harder than Lars Ulrich could pound on his bass drum (in case there is a generation gap, Lars is the drummer from the rock band Metallica).
Even though on average college graduates do earn more in the long-run and online colleges are bringing down costs, the current job market is saturated with sustainable careers that don’t necessarily require a degree.
Taking a closer look, it seems a major shift in employer priorities is occurring in certain fields, such as manufacturing and information technology (IT), where soft skills and on-the-job training are deemed more beneficial than a formal educational background.
Individuals bringing these resources to the table are now in high demand, especially since many companies now offer assistantship programs or even paid training for high-achieving candidates.
In this day and age, it just might be more about the right skills than the right schooling.
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25 Highest Paying Jobs Without A College Degree
Margin Department Supervisor
Air Traffic Controller
Automobile Service Station Manager
Real Estate Broker
Landscape Architect
Lead Carpenter
Director of Security
Elevator Mechanic
Cable Supervisor
Flight Services Manager
Freelance Photographer
Personal Trainer
Funeral Director
Commercial Pilot
Truck Driver
Nuclear Power Reactor Operator
Firefighter
Emergency Medical Technician
Railroad Jobs
Medical Coder
Information Technology Technician
Criminal Investigator
Brick Mason
Postal Service Worker
Pharmacy Technician
If you have decided to not attend a four-year college right out of high school, or are looking for a fresh start at a new career path, 25 of the highest paying careers with virtually no degree are featured below.
Looking for a fun job that pays well? Scared that the cause of unemployment may be growing? Sign up for free and see who’s hiring in 2023 at www.FlexJobs.com.
Disclaimer: While there are definitely some good paying trade jobs on this list, I still think having a college degree is worth it. Yes, tuition is high and will continue to rise, but the experience, connections, and mindset that college offers are invaluable. Now on to the jobs…
1. Margin Department Supervisor
Average Salary: $74,799
Prior Education: A finance or accounting degree is not required, but knowledge of all basic processes is needed.
On-the-Job Training: Moderate to high training and/or shadowing.
Job Description: A Margin Department Supervisor oversees a company’s credit department, which manages customer credit accounts and approves or denies credit to customers.
As would be expected, approving or denying credit sometimes involves unhappy customers, so you’ll need strong communication and negotiation skills for this role.
Since the scope of the job requires mathematical calculations as well as debt analysis and recognition of accounting principles, make sure you are confident with these basic processes. Some companies may increase pay if you have a degree under your belt.
You’ll also primarily be in charge of ensuring all department employees adhere to federal policies and regulations.
2. Air Traffic Controller (ATC)
Average Salary: $124,540
Prior Education: A college degree is not required, but the nature of the field is very competitive where experience is highly valued. A combination of progressive work experience and formal education is generally preferred.
On-the-Job Training: Rigorous training and testing is required.
Job Description: An Air Traffic Controller is required to pass rigorous testing by the FAA, which includes health checks, as well as mental stability tests. You must initiate the testing process before age 31.
Being an Air Traffic Controller has been voted the most stressful job in the United States for many years because of what the job entails on a daily basis. Air traffic controllers also often work night shifts, weekends, and even holidays.
A typical work day may include monitoring and directing in-air traffic, including routine take off/landing. Sometimes in-air emergencies must be handled, hence the high stress associated with the position.
Strong organizational and problem-solving abilities along with excellent communication skills are highly valued in this role. It does help to know someone already in the business to land a job in this field.
3. Automobile Service Station Manager
Average Salary: $45,204
Prior Education: High school diploma or equivalent. Some employers may prefer a Bachelor’s degree in management or similar field and/or several years of experience in automotive service management.
On-the-Job Training: Most can obtain this type of position by working one’s way up the ladder through on-the-job experience. Obtaining certification may also be required.
Job Description: Essentially, the role of the Service Station Manager is to run the day-to-day operations of a gas station.
The scope of the work includes setting the gas prices for the day, scheduling and training the rest of the employees who work at the station, ordering new merchandise to keep the shelves stocked, ensuring service station safety, as well as being the direct manager for the other employees.
Some skills that would be helpful in obtaining this job would be good personal skills as well as some managerial and accounting experience.
4. Real Estate Broker
Average Salary: $56,730
Prior Education: High school diploma or equivalent. However, a college degree in finance or related field may prove beneficial.
On-the-Job Training: Even though you must take a couple of classes to obtain your certification, these courses are much less of an expense compared to financing a college degree. Licensure requirements typically vary from state to state.
Job Description: To become a real estate broker you will still need to take a couple of classes to become certified. But still, these courses are still much less of an expense to you compared to financing a college degree.
You will be trying to sell houses as well as filing the paperwork for the transactions. In addition, you will help customers with their loan agreements.
However, if you are considering this career, you should be very friendly and have flexible hours since you will most likely be working on your customers’ schedules.
You typically are self-employed setting your own hours and working on a commission basis. Good negotiation skills along with market research experience will prove helpful in this role.
5. Landscape Architect
Average Salary: $65,760
Prior Education: Typically a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in Landscape Architecture is preferred. An internship experience is highly encouraged. This job may require you to take some classes at a community college on horticulture as well as landscape design, but these types of courses are not required.
On-the-Job Training: With this career, you will have the option of whether you would like to be becoming certified or not. However, if you are certified, you will have access to larger contracts and a wider scope of work. Most states do mandate licensure, though, and the requirements vary from state to state.
Job Description: If you do not mind getting a little dirty and working hard for a living, then this might be a good career for you. Typical job duties include designing functional yet attractive outdoor spaces and parks for a variety of clients.
Landscape architects spend a large portion of their time creating blueprints and preparing cost analysis reports. You would also analyze environmental conditions for projects and even participate in restoration initiatives.
Make sure you have a good eye for design and a strong work ethic to consider this career. Understanding GIS technologies and project management is a must.
Here’s a how-to guide for starting your own lawn company and making some serious money (in turn being able to and saving some serious money, too!).
6. Lead Carpenter
Average Salary: $51,150
Prior Education: High school diploma or equivalent. Most Lead Carpenters begin their careers as skilled apprentices.
This job requires a high amount of experience in the field either through attending a trade school to master technical skills or by being an apprentice to a lead carpenter.
On-the-Job Training: By going to trade school you will actually have to obtain some type of certification, possibly making you more marketable in the field.
Often training includes learning how to expertly handle a variety of power tools, such as power drills or saws.
Job Description: Serving as an apprentice would most likely land you in a job replacing your teacher. Either way, you can be very successful in this type of career if you enjoy working with your hands.
Although highly dependent on the type of industry, job duties may include analyzing construction plans, creating project timelines, and managing and overseeing team production activities.
Carpenters often work in both indoor and outdoor settings and may need to eventually join a union.
7. Director of Security
Average Salary: $78,608
Prior Education: Typically a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field is preferred along with years of experience in related positions.
In reality, this job will involve starting off in an entry level security position before working your way through the ranks to become the Director of Security.
On-the-Job Training: You might also be required to pass a security guard training program, but this will most likely be paid in full by the employer so the actual educational cost to you would be zero.
Depending on the company you will work for, you might also be required to pass a background check as well as some minor health inspections.
Job Description: A typical work day would include reviewing and implementing security department policies along with ensuring relevant local, state, and federal laws and regulations are adhered to. This role may also involve actively participating in training programs with the security staff.
Some good skills to have for this type of job would be some above average physical characteristics, as well as integrity to always choose what is right.
This position often involves being on-call for any emergencies after-hours, so make sure you can fulfill this requirement.
You can also try going the Police Officer route. If you decide to pursue this career, make sure you study with the Police Exam Guide.
8. Elevator Mechanic
Average Salary: $77,806
Prior Education: High school diploma or equivalent.
Just like the Lead Carpenter job, this job will most likely be acquired through a trade school degree, assistantship, or lots of years of experience. Being an elevator mechanic does have a couple more stipulations, though.
On-the-Job Training: Moderate to high training; may need to attend trade school to contract with large corporations.
Job Description: Lots of major corporations will require you to have a license and work for an insured company, which in this case would then force you to go the trade school route so that you could work on these large corporate jobs.
A typical work day would include repairing elevators and fulfilling routine preventative maintenance when needed. Installing and repairing control systems or adjusting and inspecting safety controls are other common work tasks.
Elevator mechanics should be able to identify and troubleshoot issues quickly and efficiently, and having a working knowledge of elevator mechanics is needed. Most of this industry is unionized, so make sure you are willing to join a union before entering this line of work.
9. Cable Supervisor
Average Salary: $51,112
Prior Education: High school diploma or equivalent. However, technical school education or an internship/assistantship may prove beneficial.
On-the-Job Training: A good way to acquire this type of a position is to either apply for the job with some type of managing/scheduling background or to apply for an entry-level position and work your way up by knowing the business.
Job Description: This career would be in a managerial-type setting. You would be responsible for overseeing the maintenance as well as installation workers setting up cable boxes and internet connections.
Typical work duties would also include interpreting cable specifications, troubleshooting issues with cable equipment, and also hiring and training any new cable technicians.
You would be responsible for the scheduling aspect as well as holding the workers accountable to be where they need to be.
10. Flight Service Manager
Average Salary: $64,042
Prior Education: Typically a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in aviation management or related field is preferred. Completing an internship program is highly suggested.
On-the-Job Training: This career would most likely be obtained through lots of on-the-job experience along with obtaining certification if required.
Job Description: You would be responsible for helping schedule flight crews as well as taking care of customer complaints and filing any necessary paperwork.
This job would require great personal skills as well as lots of patience with unhappy customers. Making sure all passengers have the best onboard experience possible is of top priority for Flight Services Managers.
Airlines can be a stressful arena to work in, so if you are considering this line of work make sure you can keep your cool in the toughest of situations.
11. Freelance Photographer
Average Salary: $36,630
Prior Education: No educational experience required.
On-the-Job Training: This career typically involves both self-education and hands-on training through practice. Natural talent and creativity are highly valued in this field.
Job Description: Being a Freelance Photographer takes dedication to one’s tasks, as well as a great eye for artistic detail. This type of career may also require traveling long distances to be able to acquire the right “shot” for the right story.
In a sense, being a Freelance Photographer can take many forms, such as snapping pictures of nature for magazines, or taking pictures of stories for newspapers, or even being a paparazzi-type photographer and searching for the next big celebrity scandal.
To really make a sustainable living in this field, it may prove helpful to complete some basic business management courses, or to attend training sessions on editing or even lighting techniques.
It’s best that Freelance Photographers have good personal skills and can identify and fulfill client needs and/or requests. If you become a really good photographer, you could even sell your photos on Shutterstock to make some extra cash.
12. Personal Trainer
Average Salary: $38,222
Prior Education: High school diploma or equivalent.
This career will most likely require that you are qualified to teach proper physical fitness techniques to clients. Many Personal Trainers have strong backgrounds in nutrition, exercise science, or other related fields.
This certificate is not very difficult to obtain; however, it is relatively cheaper compared to any other type of trade school mentioned above.
On-the-Job Training: Continual through updating or expanding one’s professional certifications.
Job Description: To be successful in this line of work you will most likely want to be a very physically active person yourself, as well as have a passion for this line of work.
A typical work day would include meeting one-on-one with clients to assess their physical fitness needs with the intent of designing an individualized training program.
Personal Trainers also motivate and encourage their clients to reach and even surpass their fitness goals. As a result, good personal and communication skills are a must.
Most Personal Trainers work at gyms, private workout facilities, or provide at-home or virtual coaching services. Some decide to work both inside and outside the home to help facilitate a higher income.
Also, you can try getting your Yoga certification.
13. Funeral Director
Average Salary: $56,850
Prior Education: Educational requirements range from a high school diploma or equivalent to an Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree in Funeral Service Education or related field. Internships are also encouraged.
On-the-Job Training: Licensure is required in the U.S. before taking on a Funeral Director position, and some states may require a certain level of education or the completion of an apprenticeship.
Job Description: You do need some training to become a Funeral Director and possibly certification, but you can eventually make as much as $80,000 a year.
A typical work day would include helping families organize funeral details and complete any corresponding paperwork, such as a death certificate.
Offering counseling to grieving family members and helping to prepare the deceased body for the funeral service are other common duties.
It is important that you be able to handle the macabre, and you do need to have tact and a warm personality since you are dealing with people in difficult situations. Make sure you can accommodate a flexible schedule since visitations and funerals are often on weekdays and weekends.
14. Commercial Pilot
Average Salary: $78,740
Prior Education: High school diploma or equivalent, but most airlines now require a Bachelor’s degree as a prerequisite for employment.
On-the-Job Training: Moderate to high training is involved. Often the first step is to get your private pilot’s license. You’ll get your flight hours up and be more comfortable in the cockpit.
Job Description: Commercial Pilots fly planes for very specific reasons, such as for rescue operations, aerial photography, aerial tours, or charter flights.
Pilots generally evaluate overall conditions of aircraft, communicate with air traffic control, and monitor engines and fuel consumption, among other routine tasks. Being a team player with strong communication and observational skills is also a plus.
You’ll be spending a considerable amount of time away from home, so make sure you aren’t too much of a homebody. Fatigue and jet lag may also be experienced often.
Excellent observational and communication skills prove quite beneficial in this field of work. You can easily make more than $50,000 if you get on as a commercial pilot at the right airline.
15. Truck Driving
Average Salary: $53,199
Prior Education: Typically a Commercial Drivers License (CDL) and/or high school diploma or equivalent is preferred.
On-the-Job Training: Drivers must complete several weeks of on-the-job training.
Job Description: After completing six to eight weeks of training and obtaining your commercial driver’s license, you can make $45,000. Work your way up to becoming a trainer, and you can clear more than $70,000 a year.
Maintaining a clean driving record is crucial. Truck Drivers must adhere to all traffic laws, ensure cargo is secure for transport, and keep all trucks and equipment in good working condition.
Hand-eye coordination, visual stamina, and mental focus are important qualities to have for this type of position.
To become a Truck Driver you need a Commercial Drivers License or CDL. I recommend using both a CDL Practice Test and CDL Test Answers to help you study up so you can pass.
16. Nuclear Power Reactor Operator
Average Salary: $72,384
Prior Education: A degree in a field like engineering is required by some nuclear power plants, but you do not need a college degree to land a lower level operator job. In some cases, all you need to do in some cases is to simply pass the certification test.
On-the-Job Training: Moderate to high training is required along with possible certification.
Job Description: Nuclear power reactor operators manage nuclear reactors, monitoring them and making adjustments as necessary to ensure the safety of the nuclear power production process.
They also have to perform routine maintenance on the reactors and shutdown on very specific systems. Because the job is quite risky and requires very careful attention to detail, it pays quite well.
It also helps to become efficient in the required computer technologies involved in nuclear power plants. Make sure you can handle shift work and long hours.
17. Fire Fighting
Average Salary: $49,080.
Prior Education: High school diploma or equivalent. Any prior training in emergency medical services is a plus.
On-the-Job Training: Completing a physically demanding training program is mandatory along with other certifications.
Job Description: The starting salary for a Firefighter is often just a little more than $30,000, but you can make more than $50,000 a year depending on where you work and whether you reach a supervisory position.
Firefighters must know how to use standard field equipment, such as hoses and ladders, become proficient at providing medical attention to injured victims, and properly handle coming in contact with hazardous materials or wildfires.
Depending on which state you work in, you may need to complete specific training programs, such as high-rise building rescues.
Being a firefighter is a very strenuous and dangerous occupation, and you often must work long shifts and over 40 hours per week. To help you get physically ready for firefighting duty, I recommend you check out Pass the Beep Test, a guide to help you prepare your body for firefighting.
18. Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)
Average Salary: $33,380
Prior Education: Typically a high school diploma or equivalent and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) certification is required. Completing a postsecondary educational program is common.
On-the-Job Training: Generally there is little to no on-the-job training, but completing levels of certification are more than likely required for most states.
Job Description: If you are about to take your EMT classes to become an EMT, you will be happy to learn that the job outlooks in this field are very promising. However, chances of having a good job in the EMS are given to those who have more EMT certifications (like paramedics).
EMTs are first responders in a medical emergency, assessing victims’ conditions and possibly transporting them to the hospital by ambulance. Often people’s lives are on the line when EMTs arrive on the scene.
The hourly wages can vary from $12.08 (10% of the workforce earns less than this) to $24.77 (10% earn more than this bracket). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of 2023 the median hourly wages of EMTs was at $17.76 per hour.
19. Railroad Jobs
Average Salary: $59,780
Prior Education: Typically a high school diploma or equivalent is required.
On-the-Job Training: Several months of moderate-level training is standard. Obtaining certifications may also be required.
Job Description: Do you like trains? Do you enjoy traveling? If so, a railroad job might be just for you.
A variety of positions are available, ranging from engineers and conductors to switch operators and management positions. Railroad jobs give you a chance to see new parts of the country while getting paid very well in the process.
Since trains operate every day of the week, expect to work nights, weekends, and holidays in all kinds of weather conditions.
Hand-eye coordination, visual acuity, and communication skills are valuable assets in this industry. If you’re looking at getting a railroad job, here’s a comprehensive guide that shares how to get a job in the railroad industry.
20. Medical Coder
Average Salary: $45,035
Prior Education: Typically a high school diploma or equivalent is required, while an Associate’s Degree is sometimes preferred.
On-the-Job Training: There is little to no on-the-job-training since specific training programs are generally completed as a prerequisite for employment. Completing certifications may also be required.
Job Description: The healthcare industry is currently booming, and you can expect it to continue to rise with the Baby Boomer generation getting older. There aren’t enough doctors and nurses available.
Behind all of the doctors is a team of medical coders typing up detailed reports on what procedures you had done and billing you or your insurance company the amount owed.
According to The American Academy of Professional Coders (AAPC)’s 2022 salary survey, on average medical coders without certification bring home approximately $47,200 per year. However, becoming certified as a Certified Professional Coder (CPC) is highly sought after to seek higher pay.
21. Information Technology (IT) Technician
Average Salary: $41,305
Prior Education: Associate’s degree, Bachelor’s degree, or certificate program in computer science or related field is typically preferred. A degree is usually not required to land an entry-level position.
On-the-Job Training: Little to no on-the-job training expected since some employers require that candidates complete some level of formal training as a prerequisite for employment.
Job Description: There are a number of career paths within information technology that do not require a college degree.
Starting out you’ll probably conduct support calls on a helpdesk and only make $11-13 per hour. As your skills and experience progress and you get more experience you can easily make $50,000 to $70,000 per year as you get into systems administration and network engineering.
Typically IT technicians diagnose and repair computer malfunctions and install and maintain network systems. Get started on your IT career path by getting some online computer training and certification.
22. Criminal Investigator
Average Salary: $58,582
Prior Education: High school diploma or equivalent.
Several years of prior experience in law enforcement is encouraged. Some employers do require a minimum of an Associate’s degree in Criminal Justice or related field.
On-the-Job Training: Moderate on-the-job training is expected. Most states do require standard licensure for criminal investigators, along with a license to carry an armed weapon.
Training typically involves learning how to properly gather information and conduct remote surveillance, among other routine tasks. Reconstructing accident scenes is also a field-specific skill learned.
Job Description: Criminal investigators are the individuals tasked with interviewing and collecting evidence for specific cases.
Depending on the case at hand, you may be performing background checks, verifying facts and statements, conducting surveillance, searching online records, or gathering information on persons of interest.
You may even need to testify in court or make a physical arrest. This job is fast-paced and often involves working odd hours, weekends, and holidays.
Important skills to have include resourcefulness, inquisitiveness, and integrity. Being able to stay cool, calm, and collected during criminal investigations is integral to performing well in this role.
23. Brick Mason
Average Salary: $42,900
Prior Education: High school diploma or equivalent. Many masons also complete extensive apprenticeship programs or specific coursework before employment.
Any previous experience as a construction laborer is acceptable.
On-the-Job Training: Learning the trade is often accomplished through completing apprenticeships and/or on-the-job training shadowing experienced masons.
In these apprenticeship programs, promising candidates learn standard masonry practices, such as construction basics, measurement calculations, and safety procedures.
Job Description: Generally a brick mason uses bricks to construct walls, fences, and other structures.
A typical work day would include reading blueprints, gathering required materials, cleaning surfaces with power tools, and lifting heavy materials for proper alignment.
Brick masons often work long hours in a fast-paced and strenuous environment where becoming injured on the job is common. Protective gear, such as safety glasses, should be worn at all times.
Construction deadlines must be met, so brick masons often work indoors and outdoors in all kinds of weather. Important skills to have for this role include hand-eye coordination, physical strength, and attention to detail.
24. Postal Service Worker
Average Salary: $57,260
Prior Education: High school diploma or equivalent. An excellent driving record is a must along with a clean track record.
On-the-Job Training: There is some short-term on-the-job training involved, including passing a written exam, road test, and other standard background checks.
Job Description: Postal service workers generally collect, sort, process, and distribute mail in a timely manner. It’s their responsibility to make sure mail is delivered seamlessly.
They also sell common postal products, such as stamps, and obtain any customer signatures for certified mail.
Important skills to have for this role include a strong focus on customer service and attention to detail.
25. Pharmacy Technician
Average Salary: $31,750
Prior Education: High school diploma or equivalent. Complete a postsecondary program in pharmacy technology before employment is acceptable.
On-the-Job Training: Moderate on-the-job training is required, which typically involves passing an exam or specialized program.
You may also need to learn how to operate automated dispensing equipment, and some states may require certification.
Job Description: Pharmacy technicians are responsible for correctly filling, packaging, and labeling customers’ or health professionals’ prescriptions.
You would also be involved in organizing inventory, processing insurance claims, and accurately entering patient information into a computer database.
Having excellent organizational, listening, and customer-service skills is highly valued for this role.
Pharmacy technicians may be required to work nights and some weekends. Make sure you are physically fit enough to spend most of the day on your feet fulfilling orders.
Is Attending College Overrated?
There’s one thing I know for sure – college is extremely expensive! As the College Board highlights in a recent survey outlining changes in college tuition between 2012-2013 and 2022-2023, tuition is on a steady upward climb that shows no signs of letting up.
In 2023, public four-year in-state tuition is $10,950 for full-time students. This was a 1.8% increase from the previous college year.
There are a vast amount of careers that you can obtain without an actual college degree, but most require either a trade school certification or just time on the job and working your way up through the ranks.
“Formal education will make you a living. Self education will make you a fortune.” – Jim Rohn
Looking for a job? Scared that the cause of unemployment may be growing? Sign up for free at www.FlexJobs.com and see who’s hiring today!
FAQs on High Paying Jobs with No Degree
Are there high paying jobs with no degree?
Yes, there are several types of jobs that do not require a college degree but can still offer competitive salaries. Some examples include web developers, software engineers, medical coders, sales professionals and IT support staff.
What qualifications do I need for these jobs?
What qualifications do I need for these jobs? The requirements for these types of positions vary depending on the job and company, but often include certifications or specialized training in the field you are interested in pursuing.
In addition to technical skills, employers are looking for individuals who demonstrate strong problem solving abilities, excellent communication skills and an understanding of customer service principles.
Q: What are some high paying jobs that don’t require a college degree?
Here are some examples of high paying jobs that don’t require a college degree:
-Commercial pilots: median salary of $121,430 per year -Detectives and criminal investigators: median salary of $81,920 per year -Nuclear power reactor operators: median salary of $94,350 per year -Power distributors and dispatchers: median salary of $83,020 per year -Real estate brokers: median salary of $61,720 per year -Elevator installers and repairers: median salary of $80,180 per year -Web developers: median salary of $73,760 per year -Petroleum engineers: median salary of $137,170 per year -Computer network architects: median salary of $112,690 per year -Medical and health services managers: median salary of $100,980 per year
Are there any high paying jobs that don’t require a college degree, but do require experience?
Yes, there are many high paying jobs that don’t require a college degree but do require experience. Some examples include:
-Commercial pilots: typically require several years of flight experience as a co-pilot before being considered for a pilot position. -Detectives and criminal investigators: typically require several years of experience in a related field, such as a police officer or federal agent. -Nuclear power reactor operators: require extensive on-the-job training and experience. -Real estate brokers: typically require several years of experience as a real estate agent before becoming a broker. -Petroleum engineers: typically require several years of experience in the oil and gas industry before being considered for a position as a petroleum engineer.