What does it mean to become an independent adult and what options are available to pursue the goal of independence? There are several aspects of being independent. One aspect is being able to earn a living or earn an income. Another aspect is developing personal financial skills to spend your earnings wisely to meet your current expenses and invest in your future needs. As this stage of your life, a primary focus is on developing skills to earn an income so you can financially take care of yourself and those who depend on you. Therefore, earning an income becomes a focal point of your efforts at this stage. There are other important considerations, but let us start with earning a living at point in our discussion.
What are your options for earning a living? There are the following:
- Working a Job
- Joining the Military
- Doing Freelance Work
- Starting a Business
- Going to School
The last option of going to school is a means to an end. You go to school to obtain a skill that you can use to earn a living. The type of schooling does not matter. You can go to college, a trade school, earn a certification, obtain a license, but it all leads to learning a skill so you can work and earn money. Joining the military is just a job or career in the armed forces. That seems pretty straigth forward and there is nothing new here, I am just putting this options into context. In the United States and may other places, money is the medium of exchange. You need money to buy goods and services and although you can barter your skills for services and goods, money is the primary means of economic exchange.
You want to earn a living doing something that has meaning for you and gives you a sense of purpose. Not everyone feels this way, but if your career, vocation or job provides you with a sense of purpose, satisfaction and accomplishment, then you are less likely to hate your job and have it serve as a source of frustration and bitterness. You can still have moments of frustration with a job you love for various reason, but those moments of disappointment and frustration are less likely to have you question your career or job choice.
If you are a teen or young adult who has not decided on a career path and are deciding on your next move, then you are faced with the five (5) options above whether that is clear to you or not. Some options will not appeal to you and you will automatically strike an option as not being a serious alternative. For example, joining the military is not an option for everyone. Having said this, we will examine each option above. I will provide a review of each option, along with a process to examine each option, on a separate page as indicated on the menu under this section “Life Options.”
As part of this process, each of you need to level set, and examine your current circumstances. This may seem unnecessary, but it is a review that is worth the investment of time and you can examine your income options as you engage in a self review to better understand how to move forward. You need to understand your strengths and weaknesses, your fears and aspirations so you can set clear goals for yourself. Some individuals believe that because you don’t any significant income or assets, you are in no position to make goals for yourself, but that is a preception and not reality. Understanding what you want and why, will help you set goals and this will drive your efforts to create the life you want for yourself. I did not say this is easy, but many of the standard American wants such as a house, nice car and you can fill in the other desire, are very obtainable in today’s economy, contrary to what you have heard. Even if you are not interested in material wealth, you still need a place to live, and if you are interest in social justice, being a decent human being does not cost you anything.
What am I going to provide you in this section? I am going to outline a process you can follow for each path, provide you some free tools you can use within each option and in the future offer some course that can further assist you in each area. Each of you will pick an area to pursue as you gain clarity on your path and you will begin to master that subject and make the transition into adulthood and becoming independent.
Let us revisit the issue of examining your current circumstances. Below is a flowchart of the process you can start in order to review your current situation. It helps to writing things down so you can read it, and better understand it and consider how to make changes.
