Should I find a regular job or continue doing what am doing?
"This might sound harsh, but the first thing I would suggest is to stop making excuses.  I wasn't able to continue due to pressure from college and family The college I went to was horrible. Employers can very easily hire foreign work-force for   very cheap; for example as a citizen if I work $10 an hour, they can   get someone from outside to work for $5 per hour There's no guarantee that the project will succeed. I cannot really work and at the same time develop software on my free   time.  Despite my failures in the past, I was not the main person that's   responsible for those failures. Even if all of this is true, it's not helping you move forward and it seems to be getting in the way of creating a good action plan and motivating yourself to succeed. If you believe (based on past experiences) that you are doomed to fail, then you are indeed doomed to fail. You need to take a step back and re-evaluate your current circumstances and what you can do to reach your goals. You have a couple of things working in your favor here. It's great that you are debt free. That already puts you ahead of a lot of your peers.  You have the option of living with your parents. Presumably for no rent, or at least much lower rent than you would have to pay if you move out. This is worth literally thousands of $/£/€ for every year you stay. Now, onto your questions: 1) Should I quit regular programming for a normal job because I never monetized programming so I can move out of my parents' home? Are you being paid for this ""regular programming""? If so, are you being paid more than minimum wage? If not, it's perfectly acceptable to consider alternative ways to spend your time and generate income. However, this doesn't have to be at the expense of living with your parents. Have you thought about getting a new or second job while still living with them? If you absolutely must move out of your parent's home, consider renting a room in a house with other people to keep the rent costs to a minimum. That way, even if your main job is low paying, you should be able to put aside some money each month for future endeavors.  2) Should I monetize programming and gamble with the future? What does this mean? Are you thinking you'll write a mobile app and sell thousands of copies for 99¢ each? That would indeed be a big gamble, but maybe that's not what you meant, so you'll need to clarify. 3) Would it be wise to essentially quit programming for the sake of a minimum wage job? I'm not sure how this is different from question 1. So I'll reiterate what I said there - moving out is going to be expensive. You can still do it, but you're asking on a Personal Finance site where the focus is usually how to minimize living costs and maximize income. Without knowing more about where you live (employment opportunities, cost of living) the default recommendation is usually to save money by staying in your parents house. TLDR: Don't focus on anyone else. They are not preventing you from getting the job you want. Look at your own skills and qualifications (not just programming, consider all of your abilities). What are you good at? Who might need those skills? What is the cost of reaching those people (commute time, moving nearer)? What is the reward? If the reward exceeds the cost, start approaching those people. Show them what you can do."
Go for the economics course; the entry level accounting/finance positions don't demand much in-depth knowledge, so you can either take extra courses or build on your economics background and learn on the job. At least for those couple of years at uni do something interesting and stimulating. the shit show comes later. Do you know what you're interested in?  Sounds like you're focused on debt/equities with your certifications and past experience.  Do you want to stay in that field or do you want to try other finance related activities?  The first I cannot comment on and the second may require a pivot of your career (and potential earnings change).    It really depends on if you're generally happy doing what you're doing today or not. I don't know if I ever plan to retire, and I am fine with that. However, I would like to be financially secure enough to be able to do enjoyable part-time work or freelance work instead of having to worry about maintaining a career into my golden years. I just want to keep working to keep my mind and body sharp and not be isolated from society. Yes you are. Trickling down only works when there are enough jobs. All those receptionist that are being displaced by graduates or PA's will try to find a new job.  But the economy isn't very good so career options are limited and the chance of improving your career are slim.  So these receptionists apply to cleaning positions or McDonald.  Cleaning companies might think hey here is someone who has proven to be reliable and being able to communicate with clients. They hire the receptionists. Where do the cleaners go? Not enough jobs = not enough jobs. When you have a comfortable middle class career switching might be an option but for the working class it is almost impossible in a bad economy. I suppose that is true. If we take me anecdotally, i turn down down boring work. If I have some decent problems to solve, I perform. Payment isn't a factor. Though, I still don't want to take a job that pays less unless it is very interesting. You've got two main options, in my opinion:  1. Don't take the job and hustle to get into the front office off the bat.  2. Take the job, but after a little bit work your ass off to re-brand and get into the front office (of another employer). This could mean going back to school, for example. "You have a job ""lined up"". What if it falls through? Then you have to sell your fancy car, and you are back to scare, apart from the dough you owe your dad. For consumption items, live within your means. A cheap first car is just fine.   Spend cash where it brings you more cash." The earlier you are in your career, the more willing you should be to take a better opportunity even if it has a short-term financial cost.  You go to college even if McDonald's has an opening.  After college you may take an entry level job with better long-term prospects even if a higher paying job is available.  You may train for some professional qualification. Having expenses you have to pay limits your flexibility to do this.  A variable rate loan that goes up later may give you the freedom to make better decisions early on.  Thus in this case it may be worthwhile. That said - be very wary of variable rate loans.  Unless you have iron discipline, they give the opportunity to bury yourself. "I'll chime in as someone who started a business after my first year in college. That business kept me going for a couple decades and allowed me to retire young.  First thought - ""you don't just start a business"" with no idea what you're going to do. When you have a true passion, you'll know it.   Once you discover something that you love to do, you will find that you dedicate your time to it and it won't feel like work. You'll spend countless hours on it becoming 'great' at it. It will be obvious that you should pursue it. If you don't feel like this, then you'll very likely give up when you need to double down. Or, if it's really a good business idea, you won't be competitive.   Starting and running a business may be the hardest thing you'll ever do. When your friends are out partying, you'll be coding, or stocking shelves or writing ad copy or paying bills or cleaning toilets. When the business has a bad month, you'll forgo your income so you can pay your employees or other bills. But you'll love it and believe in what you're doing, so you'll keep going.   It seems trite but so much will just come down to persistence and hard work. Over time, you'll become one of the best at what you do. But that will take years. Years before you'll likely make enough money to survive. So for most people, you'll have to get a conventional job to pay the bills.  As you try to sell yourself or your product, you have to keep asking yourself ""would I spend my money on this?"" If you wouldn't, why would anyone else? Always remember that.   The positive thing is, if you find your calling, you'll keep thinking ""I have the best job in the world!"" and it won't feel like work. It will just be what you do." Did I make the right choice? Only you can determine that. Financial security and stability are not worthless, but they do not have infinite value either. Any time you go out for a walk you're trading a small amount of financial independence for personal satisfaction, since you could be struck by a car and become disabled. That's a silly example, and you're risking much more financial security by changing jobs than by going for a walk, but it illustrates that sometimes risk is worth it. Would changing jobs be worth the risk that you could end up unemployed? Only you can determine that. "If you're not rich, investing money will produce very small return, and is a waste of your resources. If you want to save until you die, then go for it (that's what investment companies want you to do). I suggest invest your money in building a network of friends who will be future asset for you. A group of friends helping each other have a much higher prospect of success. It has been proven that approximately 70% of jobs have been obtained through networking. Either through family, or friends, this is the vast majority. I will reiterate, invest on friends and family, not on strangers who want to tie down your money so they can have fun for the moment, while you wait to have fun when you're almost dead. Added source for those who are questioning the most well known fact within organizations, I'm baffled by the level of ignorance. Linkedin Recruitment Blog ...companies want to hire from within first; only when there are no   appropriate internal candidates will they rely on referrals from   employees (who get a bonus for a successful  hire) and people who will   approach them through informational meetings. The latter category of   jobseekers (you) have the benefit of getting known before the job is   ""officially posted."" For those who believe loaning money to friends and family is a way of losing money -> this is a risk well worth taking -> and the risk is much lower than loaning your money to strangers -> and the reward is much higher than loaning your money to strangers." You should begin job searching NOW. I'm going to echo the rest of everyone here and say that the CFA is nice and all but not key to getting a job. Get networking and get experience. Without experience, you have a lot of knowledge that you've never used before in a practical setting and practical knowledge trumps textbook knowledge most days of the week. That's up to you, but I wouldn't play around with my retirement money if I was in your situation. Your earning potential during your retirement years will likely be at its nadir. Do you really want to risk being forced to be a Wal-Mart greeter when you are 80? Also, considering your earning potential now is probably at or near the peak, your opportunity cost for each hour of your life is much higher now than it will be later. So ultimately you'd be working a little harder now or a lot harder later for less money. Do you get time and half on the overtime? If you give that up you're going to take a decent hit on overall income. You'll also decrease income because benefit costs are likely to be double or more.   I've been in retail customer service. It rough. Just try to get through it, make the best of things and move on to something else with more overall benefits. I started my career over 10 years ago and I work in the financial sector. As a young person from a working class family with no rich uncles, I would prioritize my investments like this: It seems to be pretty popular on here to recommend trading individual stocks, granted you've read a book on it. I would thoroughly recommend against this, for a number of reasons. Odds are you will underestimate the risks you're taking, waste time at your job, stress yourself out, and fail to beat a passive index fund. It's seriously not worth it. Some additional out-of-the box ideas for building wealth: Self-serving bias is pervasive in the financial world so be careful about what others tell you about what they know (including me). Good luck.