I disagree that it is a "wealth hack". I agree it is a good option for a good amount of people to obtain a middle class lifestyle. I don't know why Reddit seems to think they are the only ones who found a golden ticket with trades, most of these jobs are well known by the general population. There are reasons why everyone doesn't just "learn a trade" and "open their own business" and become a millionaire. A lot of people are not cut-out for hard physical labor, "opening their own business" is a lot riskier than people put out to be. Trades being recession proof is also news to me, while some are more resistant to it, stuff like construction isn't.

Also Reddit likes to make trades out to be way easier to get into than it actually is. My grandpa owned an electrician business and that's the only reason my dad got into the unions. I have friends that had to wait 2 years to get into the IBEW. Majority of construction jobs pay shit starting out. Many of my classmates from my construction engineering classes, me included, have switched careers because they got burnt out by horrible companies. I'm still going to work in trades since nothing in the midwest pays as well without more school. But Reddit needs to stop misguiding those who haven't been through it yet. Some jobs just aren't worth the money

I noticed that too, when I was in school and needed a job. I managed to get a job working as an assistant to an electrician and locksmith because my dad's friend owned the business. Trades like other skilled careers or any career, also require you to be good at them. Training and apprenticeships does not mean that there are some affinities that people should have like being somewhat comfortable or exposed to physical work before even going there. Some people are better suited for this, just like some other people are suited for office work.

Yeah 100% I roofed for my uncle a contractor starting at 13 (non union state) I did it during summer and school breaks. I like working hard and frankly I am built for it. So few guys in the trades have their shot together. Sorry if that sounds rough but dope, drinking, DUIs, court, etc. took a lot of them off the job. It is pretty common.

I've had so many people advise me that "trades are always hiring". You don't just "get a trade". You need training, opportunity, and a way to stand out. Unions have waitlists in the hundreds. Everyone knows trades are a good option, and a lot of people try to get in. It's not a secret.

I didn’t know there were union waiting lists

I had a handful of friends I went to highschool with that just went to every single local union and applied/tested just to have a chance. Didn't care what the job was they just applied to 10 different ones to get a chance in

When I was very young I worked for Kaiser and another healthcare company. I was automatically given membership unless I turned it down. The more you know…

When you work for a company that has a union, that's generally how it works. The IBEW (and I'm assuming other trade unions, but I don't know for certain) works more like a job placement center. Contractors ask for electricians, the union sends them some (and some apprentices/helpers), and then when the contract is up, the union members report back to the hall when they're ready for another job. While the members are waiting for new contracts, the union makes sure you're still getting a paycheck.

That's interesting. My very limited understanding of how people around me had done it was to start working a trade like electrician and while being a helper studied to get certification as a journeyman. Once they were journeyman, then they might pursue a union but around here (Texas gulf coast) the more desired jobs seem to be in a plant, union or not.

What I’ve noticed is getting your journeyman card outside of the union and then joining is an easier option I’ve been doing electrical for 10 years now and a lot of apprentices I’ve worked with tried to join the union and gave up and went nonunion yet once I got my journeyman card the union will send guys to your house trying to get you to join

My cousin that worked for my grandpa's business was in the union but didn't have his journeyman card. After working for years he had to go through journeyman school since the business shut down. Spent 2 years in his late 30's with ok pay to get it and now that he has it there's simply no work. He's working out of state just to have a jobs since no local unions have any work. Good thing he doesn't have a family to worry about

Lol, i can relate to this. I see union reps camp out at fast food resturant near our company during lunch time. When they see us they rush over to us with their business cards. One time our company were fixing machines at a food factory, they cut us off as we were going to our cars to get food in their pick up truck, and gave us their business cards. At this other company i used to work for, union reps would camp out at the parking lot blocking the entrance, wouldn't allow us in unless we took their card.

Most jobs pay shit starting out, what's new? You can't pay someone who doesn't know what they are doing anywhere near what a journeyman's pay rate is. And yes it's low starting out, but as you progress in your career pay raises come. Some areas are very competitive for the union, but that doesn't mean everyone waits two years.

>And yes it's low starting out, but as you progress in your career pay raises come. Not really, that's the thing about construction unions. They have different classes with different rates but you don't really get "raises" as you would in a white collar job. Cost of living increases every few years, mabye, but a journeyman with 30 years of experience is getting paid the exact same as someone who's been a journeyman for 1 year. You could try to progress to be a steward or a foreman, but in my experience that only comes out to a few extra dollars and can change from project to project. The lack of raises is actually a big problem to a lot of the middle aged union guys I know

Yeah the whole idea of a union is egalitarianism and what's best for the whole. And if you knew anything about union scales, you'd know the scale is the MINIMUM, a contractor can pay you more. But let's face it, most are too cheap to do that. So then the next best move is then to go into industrial maintenance or operations. Every year your wages go up per your negotiated contract. But like I said one can also leave construction and go into maintenance. That's exactly what I did.

>Yeah the whole idea of a union is egalitarianism and what's best for the whole. So you admit that you don't get pay raises as you progress in your career. You should probably remove that from your original comment. >And if you knew anything about union scales, I have been involved the negotiation of several CBAs and PLAs across many different construction projects. >you'd know the scale is the MINIMUM Yes, that's what they negotiate. > a contractor can pay you more. But let's face it, most are too cheap to do that. Why would a contractor pay more than what the union negotiated and deemed as being a fair wage? Are unions not demanding fair wages for their members? >Every year your wages go up per your negotiated contract. That depends on the union and strength of the local hall. On my last project the laborers signed a three year agreement where they got a $1/hr wage increase every years. The teamsters, not so much.

>Trades being recession proof is also news to me, while some are more resistant to it, stuff like construction isn't. There was a thread in r/jobs asking what some recession-proof jobs were and one of the top answers was "construction worker". When I pointed out that construction workers are typically the worst hit during recessions the response I got was "if you're really good at your job you won't get laid off, so it's recession proof". Great advice. Why didn't anyone else think of that? Bear in mind that sub also had a thread asking for easy jobs that can make $100K and one of the top answers was "bar tender".

Construction and truck driving seem subject to boom and bust cycles. I saw the news stories after the pandemic improved about how some people bought trucks and started their own trucking companies during the pandemic, but now they're struggling since the demand and rates went down a lot after things started to get more normalized.

Reddit doesn't consider the quality of life you get with being in the trades either, im a concrete finisher. Your body aches everyday, you don't have energy to go do stuff everyday let alone laundry and what not. You don't get a solid achedule as every workday changes based on the job site. Don't get me wrong the trades can be good. But no they are not a great option, they are an option but they aren't all they're cracked up to be, I guess nothing really is.

The kids on Reddit promoting trades as an easy sure thing are the kids who probably never really worked a HARD job ever, so they really just have no idea

I got an uncle who does contract work on the side and he has massive hand pain from constantly hammering wooden floors.

I think anyone who suggests the trades like they're an undiscovered secret has never even had a job where they had to stand for 8+ hours a day.

Thank you. Can't explain what's behind the whole reddit trade-fever, but it seems a mixture of economic pressure and wanting to post something revelatory when it's usually a mixture of being sheltered and naive about what it takes. Something along the lines of MuH OffIcE JoB Is WhaCk and so is my college degree with an optional sprinkle of class or marxist rhetoric and then being a Karen when someone points out that they feel ashamed or otherwise describe that something is incompatible with their being. "Oh, so you mean to say you're better than us!?!?!?! HEREETIC! REEE" Also the whole trope of working with your hands being somehow more honest doesn't quite make itself known here, but it's there. I mean yeah, there is a level of reward to seeing the product of your labor, but it's just incessant.

I am an engineer and sometimes I go out to the field, no amount of money can pay enough for a lifestyle of bad health, and often times the lead construction managers and/or field guys almost are always fat, and in really bad shape, do they get paid well? Sure, but at the expense of their health. I’d rather get paid less as an engineer and work at the comfort of my office and not have to worry about getting injured or lacking sleep or none of that bullshit. To each their own though. There are also fat office engineers, but those are the ones that make poor diet and exercise choices.

Internet communities are often contrarian, anti-establishment echo chambers.

Spot on. Less economic activity means less trucks rolling a which require less mechanics. It’s not a 1:1, but there is an impact. The thing people do seem to discount is apprenticeship. Those times don’t always pay well and often are abused/hazed. Trades, on average, will give you a solid middle class lifestyle. There are outliers who make serious money but people try to make the exceptions the norm.

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Like I said it is a viable career path for a lot of people. However, once again this is massively oversimplified - "blue collar job" paying more than "white collar" jobs as a blanket statement is false in a lot of cases. BigLaw lawyers, MBB consultants, BB IBs, CPAs, mid level management of mid-size firms, doctors, can make significantly more than 120k. Will everyone who goes to college fit into this group, no, but most people going into trades expecting this shouldn't expect to be in top percentile earners either. I agree that you don't need a degree to be successful. I would say a degree is a more appropriate path for a kid scoring well on the SAT/ACT with good grades who never worked with his hands in his life than trades are though. My disagreement with OP was that it is a "wealth hack" and that "trades advice" is overly simplified on reddit, not whether or not it is better than a college degree. For some kids it definitely is, for other kids maybe not.

$100k is quickly becoming less and less meaningful. It's $56k in 2000 dollars

100k ain’t much in Cali, but it’s a heck of a lot in the Midwest.

Well when you live in a state where the median HOUSEHOLD income is 65k and median income per capita is 35k, 100k isn't so bad.

The fact that so many reddit people get offended by suggesting blue collar work is evidence that it still hasn't sunk in with young people. There's still a culture of thinking a trade is a failure and it's as insulting as it is bullshit. Furthermore, your bias shows with comments like "hard physical labor". Most trades are not hard physical labor, to the point where I could find a suitable job for anyone with some intelligence who doesn't have a devastatingly debilitating health issue.

Show me a comment where someone got offended at the suggestion of blue collar work. I’ve never seen that in all my years on Reddit.

Sure, I'll just spend the next couple hours putting together an academic paper in my cellphone for you... Get real and talk like a human dude.

I'm generalizing but plumbers, electricians, mechanics, welders, diesel mechanics, HVAC professionals still have to fix things. The truckers still have to move food and medicine.

If you actually look at the people doing the trades, they aren’t actually that impressive wealth wise. There are about as many trades people who managed to ‘make it’ and get into the 100k/year as there are degree holders who managed to ‘make it’ and get well over the 100k/year mark. Also, trades jobs are very difficult relatively. I could do a business degree, get lucky, and be earning 120k/year just being a pencil pusher. My whole day would consist of writing a few reports, chatting to some work colleagues, and a meeting or two. As long as you aren’t mentally getting brainrot from this type of work, it’s literally the equivalent of those babies play houses but for adults. On the other hand, a tradesman earning the same will be working a tough job in a horribly shitty environment and risking his own health, maybe even life in some cases, and/or will be taking the horrible risk of starting your own business, and then he’d be having to start running the entire business on his own back, which gets very very hard beyond simple casual day contracts. Yes, it’d be better if less people went to uni, and the trades can be high paying alternatives, but you are reaching to say that they are equivalent, let alone the trades being a money hack.

Not all trade jobs require backbreaking labor all the time. I made 142k this year and I probably worked less than you did. Granted to get to this point I had to work my tail off, but sometimes hardwork and a bit of luck pay off.

You get paid more than most. Thank your union and even having the made-up title "millright". You're a glorified maintenance man. Nepotism brother is not "luck".

Lol I'm not a millwright. I'm a power plant operator, and I came into this position from going through the union electrical apprenticeship. This job was just right place at the right time. Power plant needed electricians, and none of the people they were trying to hire could pass their electrical tests. I was a new journeyman that had still retained all of the theory and tradecraft knowledge from my training. Unfortunately the plant I work at is not union, have been trying to organize it since I got here. But I'm still a dues paying member of my local. My plant is the only one in the company fleet that isn't union. In either case I work on a variety of stuff. Being the electrician I perform the generator inspections, rack in and out the large high voltage breakers, do troubleshooting, also do a bit of instrumentation calibrating probes, pressure switches, valves, limit switches, and troubleshoot plc issues. We also go through the control logic and dcs to troubleshoot issues. Also we all do mechanical maintenance tasks, line up valves, and we all do control room operations. Everyone here is a journeyman in some tradecraft be it I&C, Electrical, Millwright, Machinist, Fitter, etc.

Plumbers and electrcians have a median salary of $60K, welders $47K, mechanics, welders and truck drivers between $44K and $49K and HVAC professionals $51K. Thoae salaries aren't "wealth cheat codes" and those professins are very vulnerable to recessions.

Automated self driving trucks have been talked about for years and that seems to be where trucking will trend.

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You got it man. This year alone, I had to fight with a company to use trench boxes in 6' holes, I was almost hit by traffic, just missed by a load of wood that fell off a truck, almost squished by a counter weight, and was close to falling into a live lane of interstate traffic while working on a parapet wall. Then, there's the countless times I had to pull over and nap on the way home from work because I was falling asleep at the wheel. I also got to breathe in a bunch of concrete and traffic dust this year working for a company that wouldn't provide water or masks. And I'm in a union! I can't imagine what the nonunion guys go through. The grass is always greener... because it's covered in bullshit. The trades can be a decent job, but it's hard on your body and dangerous in multiple ways. I always see posts of people in office jobs romanticizing the trades. Then, I get into the job site and 95% of us are bitching all day about the hours, the heat, the cold, the rain, the wind, the traffic, the company that's abusing us, and daydreaming on how to get *out* of the trades, just wishing it was finally winter layoff so we can catch a fucking break and spend a tiny amount of time enjoying ourselves.

What do you mean? I changed my light bulb, now I'm a master electrician making 400k a year, with only 3 months of schooling

That’s pretty good pay.

Not in socal, can’t buy an apartment with that salary 👀

100%. My boyfriend is a tradesman. We are NOT rich. Reddit acts like everyone is in a union making 100k a year and that's just not true.

That depends on the union and location though. The IBEW electricians journeyman rate is like $53/hr. last time I checked.

No but I'd be willing to bet it's close. I was a union electrician in Tampa. Made 80k/yr on the check. When you factor in my health ins, pension, vacation fund, dental, and vision paid by the contractor that 80k was well over 100k.

No one compares salary this way or else you would have office jobs making a lot more too.

Factoring in benefits when comparing total compensation should be more common when discussing career options, but yeah, no one does it that way currently.

How does adding Health insurance and retirement increase your yearly salary? Shouldn’t it be the opposite? I don’t work in trades, but I have health insurance and a pension and don’t see how factoring in the things you listed get you to 100k.

Most salaried jobs subsidize health insurance and retirement. Eg my company matches 401k contributions (up to a certain percent of salary)

The key word here is "union."

The other key is getting someone to accept you into the union. I know where I'm at getting a trade for a good employer means you're set but otherwise the trades seem to spit people out from what I've seen. Old boys making sure they don't have to compete.

He recently left his union trade job for a different blue collar job. If he wanted to stay in the union he would have had to move to another state, and non union jobs pay like $18/hr so it's just not worth it. No one goes to trade school to make $18/hr. There aren't a lot of opportunities for union work where we live. Getting into the union was hard and it took forever but it didn't end up being worth it. His base pay is $50k but he gets OT and performance related bonuses. It's solid, but it's very comparable to many office jobs in terms of pay... And it's hard work that most people wouldn't want to do.

Yea you always hear about the top earners and best paychecks, no one talks about the year they made 50k and then half the time with the high earning trades it's like "well yea I work 80-100 hrs a week and have to travel 6 months out of the year".

Correct. My intention isn’t to disprove the idea that some tradesmen legitimately make a ton of money. My intention is to make people understand that it is not at all normal and the tradies who do make the big bucks either have highly niche skills or work an unreasonable amount of OT. You can be an exceptional tradesman in the same way that you can be an exceptional doctor, engineer, lawyer, etc. The problem is that the exception for trades is held up as the norm on social media. It’s the same concept as expecting to make $300k+ as an engineer. Is it possible? Yes. Is it likely? No.

Can confirm, spent a few months living 20 hours from home in a hotel room working 14-16 hour days 6-7 days a week. In an unfinsished and unheated -10 degree factory. The paycheck was nice when I got home, but I knew it wasn't for me after that first job. Trades are hard. You will hurt. It will suck.

\-Depends what trade and what specialty in terms of "hard labor" \-Depends if you're union or non-union in terms of pay and benefits

Ah yes this is also true in the sense that I can be a niche software engineer making $750k per year with a ton of added company perks or I can be a run of the mill civil engineer making $100k per year with not so much as a pat on the back from management. You tell me which one is more common. The same logic applies to the trades. Of course there are exceptions but the fact is most people are average therefore they should expect an average job. And the average trade job blows chunks.

The opportunity to make plenty of money in the trades is there for anyone with a little bit of intelligence and foresight, and you're right most people are average in that regard. My point is the money and stability is there and will continue to be there for anyone with motivation and planning. Even in Silicon valley there are countless software engineers that make under 100k because the market is extremely saturated with average workers, and will only continue to get worse. Tradework is not a FastTrack to wealth for most people I agree with you, but it's not difficult to put yourself in a position to make 6 figs even in LCOL areas, and you can do it without breaking your body or mind.

In my area, from what I've seen, if you speak and write English, show up consistently and are willing to fill out JSA's and the like, you can be a supervisor in between 1 and 5 years. Might be a low level one but it doesn't take great qualifications to stand out. Then you are on the list of people the company looks at when they send folks to inspection schools and such. Then you are in line for more money and postilion. You likely won't be rich from it but like others have said, it can be a good middle class lifestyle with very little school or prior experience needed.

It's also hard on the body and you get about 10 less working years than the average office job because of that. If you want to retire as a tradie you have to think ahead to when your body is going to stop working, either to be in a foreman position or higher or already retired. You have to make sure with less average working time, you can retire. Or if you choose to work well past your body's capabilities, you pay the price of not have as much mobility and typically some chronic pain or other issues Speaking as a journeyman carpenter. It's good money but even just hitting my 30's I only have another 15 years doing this before I'm out. Not dogging on your post, the trades are always going to be there for those that want a decent job. If you plan ahead and show initiative you'll get far and likely into a position that can sustain you longer, but you do have to show that initiative to move up.

Is it worth pivoting to the trades if your already in your 30’s or 40’s

I did. I started my apprenticeship at 30. 7 years later it paid off immensely.

Absolutely. Theres a ton of opportunities. I always advise something like electrical or HVAC. They make more money and in comparison to carpentry do a little less that hurts the whole body. Please feel free to dm to chat more if ya want.

I don't think having a marketable skill is a hack, it's just what you're supposed to do to make it.

When does the money start coming ? 2 years in hvac and although I enjoy it to a degree the pay sucks

You have to branch out and go self employed, 2 different people I know who’ve done this are now making 6 figures+ on their own. The other option is Union and take as much OT as you can.

Im struggling with this.. My current job, which is unskilled work, pays what a 4th yr Union employee makes, so it’s hard for me to find a justification of making a transition to Hvac. Im guessing where I’d make it up is OT, side work and the ability to start a business?

Trades pay more than an entry level white collar job, but the upside potential is higher as you become more seasoned in white collar work and its less physically demanding. The thing about trades is that they are not as cyclical as white collar jobs so there are periods, like now, where trades are more attractive. People talk in terms of annual base pay but when you look at the TOTAL comp of white collar work once you break into even mid level management it starts to pull away. You have to consider bonuses (30%+ pretty common at management level) stock options, 401k match, pto, quality of benefits etc etc. Plus WFH or hybrid options have value to them as leaving the house and commuting costs real money in the form of gas, tolls, wear and tear on vehicle, and needing to buy food

This is somewhat true but again people are not taking into account specialties within the trades and total comp package of union workers. My total comp package comes out to about 240k a year and I walk around with a laptop all day. \-Hvac tech

That’s great and all but does not factor in cost of living or the fact that union strength is not ubiquitous across the country. Consider the fact that there is a plethora of HVAC techs making $20 per hour in this country. You making a TC of $240k is just like a software engineer making $500k or more. Is it possible? Yes, but it absolutely is not the norm. The difference is an average software engineer legitimately makes a good living whereas an average HVAC tech does not.

Again partially true but there are too many variables to compare and analyze.

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Commenting cuz I wanna know too.

OT?

It's for some people not others. If you have a weak body those long shifts are going to fuck you. And my lack of an attention span makes trades unsafe for me lol

I'm in the trades. I make a little less than $50 an hour with benefits. It's seasonal work. So, i generally work 9 months a year, sometimes 10. Unless I'm willing to work sun up to sun down almost every day (which I'm not), I'm not going to see $150k. People, there's more to life than money. If you are doing 80 or more hour weeks in the trades, you are being taken advantage of. You will burn out of the industry or get hurt. You will be replaced the very next day. These companies don't care about you and they aren't doing you any favors by working you that hard. The best thing you can do as a union tradesman is give them your 40 and go home. People literally died in the streets to give you that 40 hour week. Don't be so eager to give it up. That being said, it is a good job and a good industry, but you 100% need to advocate for yourself.

Not really a wealth hack. Less startup cost, quicker to make money, but generally longer hours, greater physical toll (read: future medical bills), and lower earning potential in late-career. It's another option with its own pros and cons, but it's not a slept on wealth hack. There's a reason most people don't do it when they have better options. Using your example: a trucker can make >100k in a HCOL area after years of experience, with no debt. I graduated with 40k of debt, but started making >100k after 3 years of working in a LCOL city. I'll take that trade-off. I also have some pretty physically intensive hobbies that would be harder to keep up with if I was exhausting my body at work every day.

No one's sleeping on it. There are serious down sides to a blue collar life.

I did roofing, installing and finishing hardwood floors and carpentry. Your body has an expiration date in this field. You will always be sore and nursing some type of injury. You will at some point use duct tape and paper towels to bandage something that clearly needs be seen by a doctor just so you don’t get behind on the job. You will not only know what 0’dark thirty means, you will live most of your life while other people are still sleeping. Staying up late is not only not an option it’s almost impossible. You will stink. You will stain and tear many clothes. You will spend hundreds of dollars for boots and then tell everyone it was a good deal. You will always need one more tool to get the job done. The amount of money you spent on tools could be used for a downpayment for a new house. You will live off fast food.

That's a fact. And those injuries stop healing all the way after a point. And forget about having the energy to do things that aren't work. Fuck your laundry, fuck your dishes, fuck cleaning out your car, fuck walking your dog, fuck going to therapy, fuck hanging with your friends. You're gonna go home and be a blob in your chair because you got your ass beat all day and you have to go back and do it again tomorrow. You *will* be asked to do obviously, ludicrously dangerous things pretty frequently, and God forbid you ever point that out. And they send you all over hither and yon too. I think maybe my longest commute was 2 hours one way. Further than that, I'd blow half my check on a hotel because I'd otherwise blow the same amount on gas and be super cranky from the driving. 2 years as a union carpenter apprentice. Got tired of feeling like crap and quit. It's not bad work for some kinds of folks, but holy shit, your body takes so much damage.

We have very different views of wealth. Average plumber pay is $28hr is the US. In what world is that wealthy? Source - https://www.indeed.com/career/plumber/salaries

It's tough to look at averages though. There are a LOT of non union guys making $15 to $20 in Southern states. Then, you come up north to a union state and find union guys making $50 or more (and good benefits). Then, you've got the owner-operator types. I was working with one earlier this year. We were replacing lead water lines. His job was to connect the new line, that we brought in, to the existing meter in the house. Each house took him a half hour or less and was paid hundreds on each job. The guy was pulling in over a thousand a day and really only worked a couple hours as he had to wait for our crew to finish the next house. Those opportunities are out there, but pay is very regional. But, in the end, you're right. Very few trade people actually become wealthy.

Yeah the key is to not work non union. Can they make more? Sure, but on average most won't. I see no advantage to making less /hr, providing all the tools, and in many cases getting no benefits.

I agree. My union (and all it provides) is the *only* reason I still do my job.

I am living proof trades are not recession proof. I had to leave the trade union entirely in 2008 when construction came to a screeching halt. I saw many friends unemployed for a year or longer during that time frame and I decided waiting for work wasn’t in my best interest anymore. Money could be great one year, and horrible in the off season so while it was a great hourly package, what was 75k at the time turned out to be around 58k or less after sitting home in off seasons etc. Most of the guys who actually made really good money were the ones that traveled all across the countries and never had a life besides work or never saw their families.

The trades are great. Biggest problem is see though is the lack of planning for retirement. Your body takes a beating and you can’t do those jobs till you are in your 60’s in many cases. Investing is very important and too many don’t do it

>Investing is very important and too many don’t do it 100% true but this can be said about any industry.

True. But I’ll be honest, working in finance I’ve seen financials for a very wide range of backgrounds and office workers/“professionals” tend to invest more than trades people on a whole. Both paths can provide financial freedom but I find investing when in trades is very important as their body breaks down from the work long before a guy in an office.

It's only worth it if you aren't exposed to anything that will cause a chronic health condition. I personally don't want to work in the trades because they aren't air conditioned. Almost all of the paths through the trades that are accessible involve grueling labor in the elements for many many years before you actually make a decent living. Plus most of the people suck and there are very few women. You're better off working in a factory or as a server in fine dining and taking night classes. I did long haul trucking for 6 months and left because of how unhealthy it was. Look up the health outcome statistics for drivers. I don't think any of the trades fare well. I'm sure there are trades careers that are chill and have high pay but I haven't found them and I doubt they are easy to get.

Yea, because sitting on your ass all day in an office is healthy 😂

They make standing desks….

Its not a cheat. Trades are hard. Physical labor. You still need to learn to run a business which takes years. Good workers willing to do labor are near impossible to find. Contractors have a %4 chance of survival at 10 year mark - US Dept Labor statistics. I paint houses and make $250k/yr. First 5 years I made $8-16/hr. Fist 7 years in Business I reported a loss to IRS. around year 8 I started making 70ish per year. Over 200k started after 12-13 years in business. Real money comes when you dedicate your entire life to it.

Blue collar jobs are going to boom

Water heater replacements are up to $3k because plumbers are in short supply.

If u can do it yourself much cheaper

I did do it myself after getting the prices back from quotes. I was just gob smacked that it was the best price of three quotes I got... And I'm in a Mid Atlantic state FFS. Not Cali or Florida. If under 25 years old and you want to make absolute bank, now is screaming it's time to go into the trades.

I remember that costing like 1200 with the heater

People know it pays well but they don't want to dedicate their entire lifes to something as boring as plumbing or being a trucker for walmart. Even if at times we live at right now trades are more useful and in shortage of manpower pursuing higher education and something you are actually interested is more appealing for young people. And don't even come at me with "umm i'm actually super passionate about plumbing" i'm sure you are but not the majority of people.

The vast majority of people aren't passionate about their job

Okay but there’s a difference between doing a job that’s boring as hell, which you hate, and a job which has moments that you enjoy

You're making arguments against things that nobody said

Maybe cause all you hear is "just go into plumbing, it pays well" ? I'm aware that if you do same shit for 40 hours a week every week you won't retain the same kind of drive but all you hear from people who made it is "i'm so happy i chose myself and kept pushing" and shit like that. Also if you agree that vast majority of people are not passionate about their jobs maybe it's because they chose the secure option that pays well always but is boring as hell which is what people here are advising. I'm all for having something to fall back on if you slip in life but for fucks sake people don't just accept the ordinarity of life and push back a little cause you'll all become sour motherfuckers by 30. Edit: Sorry for all you plumbers in this sub i love you lmao.

Working 40 hours a week even at things you are passionate about will eventually kill your passion for that thing. Better to kill your non-existent passion for plumbing than your actual passion that’s better off as a hobby.

Yeah also there's a load of trades where you aren't working 40 hours and it's not an option to only work 40 hours. Trade work pays well because you can't do it for long without taking years off the end of your life. Some of these dudes have been doing 80 hours a week every other month for years, I can't even imagine how much neurological damage they suffer from having to ignore their fatigue and aches and then doing physical labor. It's just not fair at all what some people have to do to keep their arguably modest lifestyles.

Very true. Trades are great but it is romanticized lately. Making 100K living in a trucking compartment is not a hack……it is a tough life. Being hyper vigilant driving all day, avoiding bad drivers, high gas prices, and sedentary life is taxing. Yes the trades can provide a livable wage but the longevity of the body doing these jobs in short. Look at trades folks in their 40s and 50s and they are beat the fuck up….that is why most steer their kids into more “professional” jobs. It is all a trade off……a dearth of skilled trades people will lead to higher wages which may make more people to go into which increase supply which in turn will drive down wages in a cyclical way much like healthcare. Burn out nurses……shortage happens….wages and supply go up then wages and jobs decline until the next wave. Rinse and fucking repeat. Becoming self employed in trades or whatever is the key to an independent living. Trades or insert career of choice to where you work for others or companies is fraught with peril and never immune to market trends. In short…..working day in and day out is tough.

Bingo. I make about the same as my buddy who is a journeyman carpenter for a union, he might make a little more than me and have insane benefits, but he’s outside in 90-100 degree weather, or working in the cold 8-12 hours a day, while I get to work from home and bang on a keyboard a few hours a day. Blue collar might be better for some people, but I went back to college so I didn’t have to work hard labor, that in itself is worth more to me than just better pay.

Thanks for responding. ::) You can make the same case for accountants or mathematicians. Most people don't go into accounting saying "I love reading receipts and writing journal entries based on the income the business receives!" It's a matter of what people enjoy. If you are an introvert you may enjoy trucking. The point I'm making is there is so much money to be made. You also don't have to be a plumber all your life. You can step aside and make your own business and train new plumbers. If you work for the state you'll have a better work life balance.

Accounting? Yes. Mathematicians? Absolutely not. If you're academia for math you absolutely love it since there are so, so many more lucrative opportunities in other fields for people who have the skills to decide which 8-dimensional knots we can untie. Even jumping to more applied academia like physics or economics you can make significantly more because there's more funding while jumping to hardcore math jobs in private sector like AI research, data science, or quant trading you should be making mid-six figures by your late 20s, low seven-figures by early 30s if you're really good. tl;dr most mathematicians really, really love math bc they could definitely make $$$$ instead if they exited research

I find plumbing way more interesting than typing some random code into a computer, but to each their own.

When your on your second knee/hip/shoulder replacement, check back in

Agree completely. I’m a millionaire from siding and roofing and I started on a crew not knowing anything. No one ever listens because I’ve found most people really don’t want to work that hard. A Sider or roofer needs no certification to install, merely motivation to learn and create a good name for yourself. Making money can be that easy

My friend who does HVAC makes $120k a year but a 32 he is an old man he has so many health problems already and he is constantly on call or working. At 32 he looks like a 50 year old.

I've worked the trades(factory electrical maintenance). Decent living, but not for me. I've transitioned laterally unto a related position testing high grade equipment instead of repairing it. Pays better, less stress.

Idk about wealth hacks but it is good money. I'm in the electrical field, I started doing substation maintenance and my first year I made 75k. After a couple years I would've averaged 120k/yr. I moved to a project manager position for new customers. No OT & it's more of an office job so it's pretty chill, I can even work from home half the time. I make 83k right now. Only 4 years in the field!

I graduated from a small private university. I had better paying jobs with my carpenter experience as a kid working for my dad than my degree ever provided.

I didn't go to college. I have a G.E.D. and multiple felony convictions, but I can build out a floor in a NYC high-rise with my eyes closed. I make F you money. Like more than twice more than anyone I know with a college degree. This is NOT an easy life however, and not everybody is built for it.

Absolutely. I agree 100% with you. It totally depends on people and their mindset. Much respect to trades because they give felons another chance to be able to make money. Many other jobs will not give you that chance. I am thankfully not a felon but I certainly believe people deserve a chance to return to society and make money and live so they hopefully don't go back to jail. It's not easy.

You can make a lot of money (eventually) but it can also fucking suck and destroy your body by the time you can retire and spend it.

Totally agree. As stated in some other replies; it's not perfect (neither is anything else), but it has pretty great potential. The key for MANY is making the jump from being a good (plumber, electrician) to a good business owner. It's the gap between the skillset and the business side- but if you can bridge the gap, it is a powerful cheat code

A big thing is that it depends on where you're located in the US if it's a viable career option or not. It's really only a decent option if you're in a place with good unions. If you're in the southeast, where unions barely exist, most trade work pays pennies and is mainly done by undocumented people. Not mention even in places with strong unions, sometimes you need to wait years or use nepotism to get into the union. (Would rather deal with that than go non union tbh but still) The work takes a massive toll on your body. You easily could be too beat up to even enjoy retirement if you can't get into a less physically demanding trade.

I think what’s missing here is that you have to be good at it. Doing a trade well takes someone who has the ability for it. It takes a special kind of thinking about things, how they function, how to problem solve, etc. Not everybody can do it, but like so many other jobs, people who shouldn’t be doing them are.

Engineers may start at 70k but the ceiling is much higher even if you continue working for other people. Ultimately there are far fewer people that can be engineers vs technicians(trades) and pay reflects that. You will not see many plumbers making 100k+ unless they own a business or work a lot of overtime.

Or work in the union or work for the state in NJ it's PSEG or Con Ed.

Most don’t make over 100k in the union.

Trades are not a career hack, but they can be viable careers. However, most people do not want to do the type of work involved in trades or in the type of environments you work in the trades. It's an inherently dangerous job, but if you play your cards right, it can be a well paying job. However, at the end of the day the ones who make the most money in the trades are the business owners.

I don't think it is a wealth hack I think tradespeople need to work insanely hard. Also it's really hard on your body depending on the position. Often you're working away from home a lot and sacrificing time with your family. I think there are trade offs. Also so many tradespeople in my area are not financially literate and literally blow all their money and don't save.

Yea They probably offer a good amount in the short term For those who don't want or can't get later education But higher education will accrue more wealth over the long term And won't destroy your body

Absolutely not. If all trades jobs were government unions like police officers then I would agree. Private companies suck usually. Poor management and wages are not high enough.

Yup. Aviation mechanic - retired at 37. Trades plus FIRE mindset.

This. Everyone ignores this. You can make 6 figs and never retire if you aren’t saving/investing/living within your means.

The major benefit of a trade is the time value of your money through investing. If we look at it from a pragmatic perspective of - Trade worker: starts at 19, Goes in making 60k, ends up at 80k for the rest of their career (these are pretty conservative estimates, but depends on the field) College degree: Start working at 22 with 40k in debt, goes into career making 50k, but ends up at 150k. The time value of the trade worker will be higher than the college degree worker and if both sides are live frugally and invest heavily. Odds are, the trade worker can probably retire much sooner. If you plan to retire at 65, your dollar value is 97x at 19 but it’s only 66x at 22. Then add on the fact that you will have to pay loans, likely have a lower salary at 22 than the trade worker at 22, etc. Obviously there’s a ton of nuance in that the type of degree you get, where you get your degree, what trade it is, where you live, etc. all factor in but my point is that people really don’t get that time is the most important factor in creating wealth. Losing 4 years in the most valuable investing years of your life is massively detrimental if you can’t make up for it with a much higher salary.

Disagree that it is a hack to “wealth” but it is a good path to a decent living. In my experience, most of these folks cap out are a certain income level (which can be fine) but it can also be grueling work. The path to wealth is hanging your own shingle and going into business for yourself, but that’s true regardless of whether you do it in the trades or elsewhere.

I disagree. If you’re not in a state with unions it’s not great, $15-20 per hour, buying tools, driving to job sites until you can move up to a better position. All while working outside (usually) and beating on your body. I tried going into electrical work and residential carpentry (remodels). With no standards for advancement or benefits it’s dependent on the company and state or local laws.

Trades are AWESOME, problem is that your body won't consider it a long term occupation.

I disagree but mostly because of where I live and my experience with the trades. I live in a mid size city in the Canadian prairies and the culture here is very rural, working class and trades oriented despite being a city of close to 1m people. I have to laugh every time I see posts like “end the stigma against trades! Teach your kids it’s ok to be a plumber! etc etc” because here it is the exact opposite. People with “honest” jobs are celebrated and Lawyers, Doctors, Accountants get a lot of distrust and are seen as elites trying to swindle the Everyman out of his hard earned money. Then there’s the “trades are in demand and you’ll make great money!” Side of it. Again that seems very different here based on my (admittedly anecdotal) experience. The common ticketed trades (electrician, hvac, etc) are almost impossible to get into because everyone and their dog wants to be an electrician and the entry level job market is saturated with apprentice hopefuls. You need an in. Also the level 1 and level 2 rates are embarrassingly low - barely more than minimum wage. You can make more money bartending or waiting tables and I think many young people avoid the trades because they can’t afford to make so little money while pursuing their journeyman. The real money is in being a business owner / self employed but it’s such a stressful and hard life, people work themselves into an early grave trying to compete as self employed tradespeople. Thirdly the culture is a problem imo. The older experienced guys whose job it is to train the next generation are often miserable jaded pricks. Toxic work culture is the name of the game. Also right wing politics are dominant and if you have left of centre views on just about anything you won’t succeed on certain crews. This isn’t a hard rule obviously but there’s a lot of it where I’m from. So that’s my take. I went to college for welding as a young adult and despite enjoying the work and being pretty good at it I couldn’t find a job that was a good fit for me. Interviewed and got offers for a couple jobs but didn’t have a good feeling about either and they both paid significantly less than I was making as a middle manager at my service industry job.

New Wealth Hack: Get a physically demanding, possibly dangerous job and show up to it every day for decades.

Actually schooling is necessary. You aren't a journeyman if you haven't completed an apprenticeship which includes on the job training and classroom hours.

Owning your own company is the way to make the top money in trades. It's also the way to make top money in most industries.

It's physical labor which means higher healthcare costs the longer you're in it. It is not recession proof. Living in a truck means time away from family and reduces your prospects of a stable relationship.

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I'm a nurse. By millionaire I mean you have a NW of 1M whether it's in real estate or stocks is totally up to the investor. It's not a million to spend. If you have assets of 1M it's not difficult to work less or go work somewhere in the field that's less dangerous.

My good friend works for a family owned plumbing and hvac company outside of Denver Colorado. He’s been there maybe 5-6 years as a plumber and he has been making $200k the last couple years. He really boosts his income because the plumbers also act as the salesman as well. So he gets commission on every job that he works on. He was never mechanically inclined growing up, we all tinkered with cars in our late teens/early 20’s and got some experience working on stuff that way but other than that, we couldn’t fix anything lol. But he joined the union, did all of the training and eventually got licensed. Started off at a small local plumbing place and hated it. Saw a posting for a place out in Colorado (were from the Midwest) and applied, got the job, and he moved the entire family out there and has been killing it. Definitely great money and he said he never works more than 50 hours a week unless he chooses to work more.

I wouldn’t call it a wealth hack unless you own a construction business. But I’ll certainly say that many tradesman do better on average than people with useless degrees who never achieve gainful employment. Further, they do essential work for our society to function. They also do the jobs most other people do not want to do or cannot do because they’re so physically demanding. I tried the trades and couldn’t hack it. Worked for my dad at his tax office in the offseason and went back to school for accounting. Many tradesman earn 60-80k so they aren’t poor. But they risk their lives for that money. I’ve done many tradesman’s taxes so I’ve seen what they make. IMO they are massively underpaid. Further, I got offered a position as an accountant out of school and I will start at what a journeyman bricklayer/mason tops out at. Here’s my honest opinion on the trades, they are a better path financially for many people. Especially for people who prefer to work with their hands compared to working on a computer. You don’t need to worry about getting arrested because it won’t ruin your career, and if you come to America and have few options, the trades will afford you a middle class lifestyle. Tradesman deserve the utmost respect and I get disgusted when I hear people who’ve never been on a construction site shit on them.

I personally haven't seen it as a "wealth hack". I've seen it as a source of consistent income that isn't going to have a lot of layoffs during bad times. I also think this is wrong though. I know plenty of people who lost their businesses and their jobs during down turns. It happens same as everything else. It's also not great as far as the cost goes. You save on tuition but you also need to do a pretty hard apprenticeship and pay some tuition to get certifications or go to trade school which can cost a lot depending on where you are. It's also just way more dangerous than an office job and harder on your body. So you'd need to include that as part of the calculation. Also the "good ol boy" culture that basically just amounts to abuse of new people and poor safety culture. All of this is contingent on your specific path, but so is college. You should take whichever is best that's available to you.

Wouldn't necessarily call them a wealth hack but ya, it's a stable way to make and save/invest money. They can be pretty hard on your body which (IMO) is the turn off for most people

It’s not easy at all to get into it, or to be good at the trades. People seem to treat it like dishwashing or something, it’s really not. In my area too, you can’t get into trades programs here at the only college offering them unless you have someone already accept you as an intern (like it’s part of the application process itself), and likewise no one really accepts you as an intern unless you’re in a trades school. Plus again, not just ANYONE can do these jobs, they are actually very difficult jobs that certain skill sets can be successful at, but many people won’t be. It’s like saying, “anyone who can learn to drive a car should just become a race car driver and make tons of money that way, life hack!!!”

You really can rake it in if you are self employed in HVAC or Electrical but you can also really be screwed. Source: I have watched my father-in-law do spectacularly well with it and also crash and burn.

It's not a wealth hack, it's a career path with high potential for lasting bodily harm. It requires a lot of work to be successful. Also, i it was such a great "wealth hack", as you say, you wouldn't need to supplement it with stocks or real estate.

These are good jobs at good pay, not hacks or cheats at all. Going union will give you a lifestyle well above average when you figure in pension and benefits. How many careers have pensions anymore? And yes can also become a millionaire by starting your own business.

I work in a non-trade non-degree occupation and I make about what I would make in my teaching position. Definitely not what I expected, but there's SO much money in the business world.

I don't disagree. I know people who went to college and ended up in trades instead. Biology degrees make a great master plumber ( my uncle). Learn a trade, work with your hands and you'll always have a job. You're always going to be needed. Plumbers, electrician, truckers, masonry, cabinetry, machinists, mechanics. Become a master in your profession and you can name your price and make your schedule. Especially masonry. I waited 2 years for a real mason, not a roofer claiming to be a mason.

I did a apprenticeship for 1/2 year as a plumber… seen people get hurt on job sites… tough work… i went to school to become an accountant instead… i work in my underwear and drink mountain dews

>recession proof 2008 would like a word

I was taught this as a teenager and tried to follow this advice. From my experience: It won't make you rich, but if everything breaks your way, it can make you comfortable. In many people's cases, especially the most poor of us, it rarely works out. My experience: so in high school I went to a program dedicated to getting kids into the trades. It was literally called "Construction Trades" and it taught you all about the apprenticeship standards in my state and gave you introductions to a variety of basic trades, like carpentry and welding. I did well in the program, enjoyed it greatly, star student, ect ect. Then came time to actually get into a trade. The top three I was interested in automatically rejected me because I would either have to move to where the jobs/apprenticeships were (I had no way to do that) or I had to have reliable transportation to get to job sites when they wanted me to (I didn't get a car until I was 19, and I was the first in my immediate family to have one in over a decade). Pretty much every other option either had physical demands I couldn't meet, I hated the work, or you had to know someone to get in. Nepotism is strong in the trades and many don't realize it. So after inadvertently taking a gap year trying to find something, I decided to attend a college program that was essentially an apprenticeship to get you into being a CNC machinist. You know those 3d printers? Those, but cutting materials instead of printing them, and often much bigger. This actually panned out somewhat; between finally getting a car with fast food job money, my previous carpentry training in high school and my new CNC training, I ended up working in a custom cabinetry business, cutting out the pieces to be built into the cabinets from huge sheets of material. Mostly various flavors of MDF, particle board and plywood, but occasionally actual wood. The hours were brutal, the work was physically difficult and mind numbing, the pay was not good, no benefits. I was eventually fired because my "work quality was decreasing". My entire family had been evicted and I was sleeping on a hardwood floor in an uninsulated room in winter. What I learned: trades are largely still run by boomers and rife with nepotism. If you can "tough it out" and "earn it" or are born into a trade family, then yeah it can pan out. Being a master in any skill, trade or non, is always lucrative. For the rest of us, you basically just spend several years doing rediculous amounts of physical damage to your body for a pittance and hoping someday your ship will come in. Today I've washed up working for my state government doing workers compensation claims. It sucks but it's an ok paycheck and a pension with enough years left to build it up ok, so whatever. So yeah. Trades aren't a magic bullet.

It’s not exactly a wealth hack. For the most part it’s back breaking work to actually make good money. Most the people I know making 6 figures in the trades work 60+ hours a week. Two of my friends dads made bank only to be forced into retirement due to health reasons stemming from their trade not to mention the toll the hours took on their personal lives.

I'm in the milwrighting trade. I don't know man. Its feast or famine out here. some years we are swamped with work, other years we are completely dead for months at a time. I personally had a really bad time getting my training. From my experience you have to be a relative of a existing trades person to get signed up in your early 20s. I had to bust my ass working as a helper for a long time before anyone indentured me as a apprentice since i didn't know anybody and even when i became a apprentice they were under ulitizing me. I don't know about other trades, mine is definatly not recession proof. My company is completely dead right now, Boss man cannot find work, so many of our guys are staying home. Some quit.

"Wealth hack" makes it sound like it's a piece of piss get-rich-quick scheme.

trades are hard work and needs hours invested to be good at the skilled trade you chose. there was a documentary some years back by discovery called dirty jobs. it was an eye opener for me.

Have you seen the state of a lot of tradesmen mid life? Bodies falling apart. Elbows, knees, backs. I was quite old when I was an apprentice and my boss (28) was already having major problems. The guy who we bought stock from was a plumber who also ran a plumbing shop and sometimes he was on crutches at 41 years old. I did an apprenticeship at around 33. In 7 years I had my LV 3 plumbing and heating, gas certificates, moved on to get experience in a national plumbing and drainage company. Set up my own business in plumbing and drainage. Lasted all of a year self employed and my back went forcing me to close my company. 7 years down the shitter, was 40 years old and back to square one. My back has not been right since, so getting back on it isn't an option. Makes no difference now anyway cos Covid has done me major damage since.

its a decent pay check but not good. nor is the schedule or the benefits. most people in those fields will never earn 6 figures. just fyi. theres outliers that work every day.

It's not slept on. People just don't want to do back breaking labor. I come from a blue collar family and there are some people I know who will never be able to hold their grandchildren, because of how banged up their bodies are. Shit is not a hack, it is your last ditch effort at a good life.

I'm not a tradesman, but I can tell you just because you invest money or start a business....doesn't mean you're guaranteed a profit.

If paper money suddenly meant nothing to people, trades would be the only way people would barter with each other. I do believe it’s one of the most valuable things you can know.

The education/indoctrination complex has convinced too many people that college is the key to success, and in far too many cases saddling young people with enormous debt and basically useless degrees. Unless you’re going STEM or planning on law school or med school, most people are better off learning a trade.

You can make pretty decent money in the trades. A lot of people just don’t want to dedicate 40 hours a week to hvac

I worked the trades for a few years until an accident, made good money as an electrician. Am currently in community college about to get an associates which will get me a work-from-home desk job for WAY more than electricians make. No more 7am job sites in the middle of freezing January pulling fiber optic for my aging butt either. But hey, you do you. As for me, been there, done that, got the tshirts, hard hat and tool belts. Gonna make my money administrating this newfangled internet thingy rather than building it.

I thnk this goes for everything. Work hard, study hard, and you will succeed. If your one of the beat at what you do there is money waiting for you. Job hopping MAY be helpful mainly just for higher salaries/better benefits.

Trades is really what you make of it. So many different skilled occupations from big to small to private or public. If I could start all over again, I would become an Instrument tech and work for public utility, you would be setup for a sound body and comfortable retirement.

All it takes is commitment to change your life. People want the easy comfortable tech jobs. I know cuz that's what I've chased before. But it's just not as satisfying as fixing something.

Exactly! I'm not trying to disrespect software engineers or other professionals. I'm just saying people sleep on trades. People think they need to go to university, get into debt, and meanwhile the trucker with a smart head is investing his money so after some time he can walk away from being a trucker. The same can be said for the programmer or accountant. If the trucker is smart with credit and understands assets and liabilities he'll do very well.

I think people perceive them as high-paying because most of the people employed in the trades come from low income backgrounds. When they finally experience a middle class lifestyle it feels like wealth to them.

You are absolutely right. And this is coming from someone who got two masters degrees. But I got them to teach college education. What a stupid move! It pays next to nothing! Professors never tell you that because they don't want to admit that they make less than $30,000 a year many times! Ridiculous. So I cleaned houses instead, usually charge $55 an hour, but actually I average closer to $80. People wonder who would want to clean, but I do not want to spend my day in a cubicle, I would much rather spend it in a million dollar house, overlooking a beautiful lake, listening to a podcast quietly. I get to play with people's animals and do whatever I want however quickly I want to. My husband's job in the trades allowed us to be fully independent from bosses. I think one of the big things that people overlook about the trades is that once you are an experienced tradesman, you can start your own company. Then you can hire other people and make a lot of money. I think the real reason that many people overlook trades is because they are lazy. Sometimes I comment on people's statuses who say that they are hopeless because they cannot find a job, and I suggest that they go into a trade, and they reply that they were made for sitting (I'm assuming not disabled). Ok then!

Also, AI is going to take a bunch of desk jobs before people have a chance to retire. My husband's and my jobs cannot be replaced by machines, or at least not for a very long time!

It's not laziness. I do MMA/kickboxing and I'm pretty healthy overall. But I physically can't even tolerate working 40 hours a week in a healthcare setting with mixed sitting and standing. My body has broken to pieces from really basic ergonomic injuries. Torn feet ligaments, wrist sprains, shoulder tendonitis, you name it, I was being debilitated by it in my early 20's. Working a trade would be a death sentence for me and many others.

You’re talking about blue collar work. All of these jobs existed before tech. In fact most of America was built with these jobs. As far as trade work. I am in a trade and am successful so I can say it really matters how much work you put into it and how good at the job you actually are. It does require an education. Trade work also requires continuing education every year and a lot of will; to be good at what you do and to make yourself be successful. It is actual hard/physical work and is hard on your body. If you are not physically strong than electrician, carpenter, plumber, roofer, massage therapist (me), is going to be very hard work. Things aren’t going to just fall into your hands and poof! You’re a millionaire either. For me though, it was the right choice. I make about $80,000/yr on my own (more if I work more), work for myself, don’t have student loans or debt, only work 4 days a week, and actually love what I do. I have put an insane amount of effort into my work but now I can relax a bit at 40. Life hack? Sure. Recession proof? To be seen. Millionaire? Depends on you. Hard work? Absolutely.

As a plumber, I do not have a wealth hack, I promise.

Maybe it’s great if you’re in the union or own a shop. I have 6 years plumbing experience in 4 years new construction and 2 years in service. I work in a non-union service company working for 2 years and let me tell you, the pay sucks. I’ve been trying to get in the union since I started but it’s a waiting game. I work around people with more years of experiences than I do and a lot older than me with 20-30 year age gap and they still haven’t retired and still don’t make as much. I’m already looking into a new career path in law enforcement. Trades are great skills to learn, but I just wouldn’t do it in a long term since it’s a gamble for your life. I don’t want to keep working in the trades and have no retirement and health insurance. Especially if you’re non-union. I just have bad luck getting into unions I guess since that’s where the “money” is at. I gave up on it lost passion. I know I’m not the only one that’s going through the process lol

Can confirm, first year electrician apprentice here making 400k total comp in the Midwest. Hoping to open my own business and clear 5m by next year.

Now they are with all the useless degrees around

Depends what you like and what you’re good at. If you’re good at HVAC or driving truck, people will pay you a lot of money for it. If you’re good at engineering or accounting, people will pay you a lot of money for it. Do what makes you successful. As for millionaires, anyone CAN do it. It’s just a boring plan of consistent investing. Just go play with a retirement calculator.. enter your age and play with percentages and dollar amounts to see when it reaches $1M. Then do that. (If you include an eventual paid off house over your lifetime that would also be considered).

I talked to a welder once with 40 years experience. He was making 350k

I disagree. I was in trades as an electrician when I was younger and hated my life every working day. I thought it fucken sucked to no end. To a point where no amount of money made a difference any more . Thus I quit and took a different career choice. I much rather sit in front of screens typing in a constant temp setting, than freezing or sweating my ass off stuck in a ceiling bending conduit to pull wire through. Oh the eye candy is also great watching all those other dirty ass dudes slave away for a 'great' living. So I ask you, how the fuck is slowly destroying your body a great wealth hack? You never asked one of those old farts how their body is doing? Knee, joints, hands, back. Hands with skin so tough can't even feel what a great pair of tiddies feel like any more. A hack is getting a lot with little to no effort put in. Trades is just work. Want to know a hack? Becoming a ceo of a blue chip company. Show no results and then get fired with a multi million dollar pay out.

Are they recession proof? Wasn’t sure, maybe you should mention it again.

Duh. I’m a Union HVAC guy. I make almost $200k a year and spend more time at home than most people.

No trade is recession proof. Part of the reason most people aren’t sticking with trades is that the old folks who know what they’re doing are retiring before getting the opportunity to pass their knowledge on. So by the time us young people figure out there are options outside of college we get sucked into a workforce that expects us to just figure it out. Recessions and other unfortunate events only accelerate this problem. A lot of people in my trade burn out in the first 2-3 years of doing it because the demand is too high for us to handle. But people don’t want to pay us more to do it because they can’t afford to.

kind of a naive assumptions lol

If you are dumb enough to think the trades are the golden ticket, then the trades are not for you. They'll shit you out

I wfh, make great money and play video games for 5/8 of my work hours. That's a cheat code.

In engineering school they teach everything so slow and expect every student to be clueless about everything, I learned more in the first week of doing construction then I did in years of studying engineering, plus I made more money and get to put a well known company on my resume, could’ve got a big salary job in an industrial-scale laboratory if I wasn’t still wasting time with university, I wish I chose money and experience over wasting time and money

The secret is you gotta be union and in a blue state