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Background: I worked ~20 hours a week at a restaurant/grocery/greenhouse from age 15 to age 18, in addition to school, sports, and research. When I have kids,

by tmh79 9y ago

Background: I worked ~20 hours a week at a restaurant/grocery/greenhouse from age 15 to age 18, in addition to school, sports, and research. When I have kids, they will not work jobs like bussing tables, or bagging groceries. I would support them taking on entrepreneurial activities like starting their own mowing/leaning/whatever business, but bagging groceries is a waste of time if you don't need the resources. If I was able to do it over again, I would do more to specialize in a skill set early on at the expense of less menial labor at 6.50/hr. Time is the most expensive resource we have, and the ROI on the current level of minimum wage jobs is little to none.

mistermann 9y ago
Personally, I look back on my minimum wage jobs with a great deal of fondness, those were some of the best times of my life. That said, depending upon your geographical location, mathematically you pretty much have to start working and saving/compounding at 15 to even hope to have a chance at what would historically be considered a middle class standard of living, so your advice is probably sound. Plus, self-employment offers a far better opportunity for tax evasion, which is something I intend to teach my children as soon as they're old enough to keep their mouth shut and ready to start learning how the world really works.
Declanomous 9y ago
I think it is important to have one 'menial' job at one point in your life, just to get some perspective. I think it staves off a lot of the attitudes that make someone a poor employee (or employer). There's a time and a place to tell someone that the work they want you to do is not your job, but if you've worked in a true-entry level job you are far more likely to have some perspective on the matter. Plus you have to communicate with a wide variety of people in most of these jobs, which is a really important skill that I think a lot of my well-off friends who never worked before graduating college are missing. Time is definitely our most important asset, but I think it's also possible to try optimizing a bit too much. Not that I want my kids working in a steel mill or a slaughterhouse as a janitor like my dad did when he was a kid. But I think a menial job is pretty important for development.

by tmh79 9y ago

mistermann 9y ago

Personally, I look back on my minimum wage jobs with a great deal of fondness, those were some of the best times of my life. That said, depending upon your geographical location, mathematically you pretty much have to start working and saving/compounding at 15 to even hope to have a chance at what would historically be considered a middle class standard of living, so your advice is probably sound. Plus, self-employment offers a far better opportunity for tax evasion, which is something I intend to teach my children as soon as they're old enough to keep their mouth shut and ready to start learning how the world really works.

Declanomous 9y ago

I think it is important to have one 'menial' job at one point in your life, just to get some perspective. I think it staves off a lot of the attitudes that make someone a poor employee (or employer). There's a time and a place to tell someone that the work they want you to do is not your job, but if you've worked in a true-entry level job you are far more likely to have some perspective on the matter. Plus you have to communicate with a wide variety of people in most of these jobs, which is a really important skill that I think a lot of my well-off friends who never worked before graduating college are missing. Time is definitely our most important asset, but I think it's also possible to try optimizing a bit too much. Not that I want my kids working in a steel mill or a slaughterhouse as a janitor like my dad did when he was a kid. But I think a menial job is pretty important for development.