Hey everyone ! Im at a point in my life wher it is time to make a BIG decision. By trade I am a salesman for a local flooring company. I have been with them since I was 22 & an installer- During my 7 years I have progressed thru the company & make a decent wage for being 29 with no higher education. Recently I have been burnt out on all aspects of my job. My hobby is ofcourse coins & I spent A great majority of the last year digging deeper into what Ill call my obsession. 2 weeks ago I stopped into the high end coin dealer in my city to have a look around. On a whim I inquired about a job.At the time no one was there to give me a real response, but the young guy (yes he was younger than me) told me to come back next week. On my day off I did just that. To my suprise the Senior Numistmatist came out & greeted me. I basically told him I wanted to "GO PRO" He told me to hold on ,left to the back room & a moment later invited me back to speak with the owner. We had a great talk, He was interested in my Ebay store & by the end of the hour in his office I was sitting in his chair at his computer showing him my little store & sales reports. Oddly enough I happened to be in the right place at the right time & said he was intrigued. He asked me for my info & said he may be in touch. 2 days later - I get the call- Interview on Tuesday- This Tuesday I went for the interview. I had to grade 20 coins & answer a few written questions. The written I only got 3 right- I killed at the grading 90 % and the two I got wrong I undergraded ! The Offer- After the Senior Numistmatist graded my little test their offer came. $30,000.00 for the first 6 mos. $5,000.00 raise at 6mos- & my ANA courses are complete and unspecified bonus's at year end With room for major advancement They said this would be the best offer I would get in the country having no experiance- Here is my crossroad- Do I stay with the company I have been with where I make $15,000.00 more RIGHT NOW continue to support my family in the way they are used to & become a 55 yera old carpet salesman. Or do I follow my love of coins a take the job & bite the bullet for a few years & start an awesome career in Numismatics ? I am a damn good salesman but I think I'd be better at this -I just cant get over the monetary issue at this point .I have a new wife ,Mortgage,11 year old & a baby on the way- Sorry this was so long but I would just like to hear some thoughts from anyone who could have a chance like this - What would you do?
If it were me, I'd keep the job I have. With a family to support and take care off, you have to think of them first. If you really want to go into the field, by all means do so. But get some more learning under your belt before taking the leap. Here's why. A good grader working at one of the top TPG can make $100k a yr - easy. A very good grader can make $250k or more. And the TPGs are almost always hiring or looking for new talent. If you have an aptitude for the field, it'll show up qiuck enough as you study.
How about take the job, and make up the difference by installing carpet on the weekends ? A good carpet layer should be able to find spot jobs, assuming you can still kick and have knees left, or maybe you went into sales to save your body ? I had a carpet layer buddy that just did repairs when he got older, and stuff like motel rooms, easy stuff. If the coin job went bad, could you get the sales job back, or a comparable job ?
My only thought would be to sit down with your family & discuss it to death before deciding. Look at the negatives (lower pay, benefits?) and the positives (doing something you love). Just remember once your hobby becomes your job it can kill the hobby of it for you & actually cease to be fun.
GD- If I were to do it I would hope for it to be the jumping off point to get to the top TPG's Doug- I got out of installing for the health of my knees & other joints. I spoke to my sales Manager & since Im not going to another company in competition I could always come back or stay on semi part time- AnemicO-I have thought about it killing the hobby aspect & I kinda agree- & also I have to sign a no compitition clause ,so I cant sell any coins to make side money like I have in the past. It is a very hard decision- Thanks for your responses
If you can afford to do this job, and support your family comfortably I say go for it. I'm not sure if you meaant that your family was afforded a spoiled lifestyle, becacuse if they currently are spoiled, and you could get by on your coin salary without troubles, I say it's time to spoil yourself. However, if money would be tight, keep learning about coins. GD was right about TPGs paying lots. If I'm not mistaken PCGS pays its professional graders anywhere from 150-300 grand.
Hey - Zaneman - You all hooked back up in CA ? How was the move ? Nice to see you on again. And yes I hope that doesn't happen to you
The move went okay. It's been rough as I left all my stuff in PA. Had to buy new cars, new furniture from IKEA, and then had to put it together, had to get my new Drivers license, get new insurance for my cars etc. Didn't have tv or internet for nearly two weeks. Or at least it felt about that long. I start work next Thursday!
I meant we are comfortable in our lifstyle. You know just kinda set in our grove with enough to be happy. As much as I dont want to admit it ,it would be a tough & I feel I would be letting my family down. Most likley I wont take it for that reason.But I have been back & forth with it for the past 36 hrs.
Why not keep your job that you have now and ask if you could do the Coins part time, offer to do it at a reduced rate, this would then give you a in to the Industry and also the oppertunity to see if you were realy suited to it & the oppertunity to improve your skills Good luck with whatever decision you make. De Orc
I'd be going nuts if I were you Budgood. On one hand, you have to take a hit in your pay, however who knows what the increases will be. Maybe it will be only a year where money is tighter than usual. Selling coins seems like a relaxed environment.
I can't tell you to take it or not to....but there are somethings you need to think about. you have said... It might not be a good idea to take a pay cut when you are already in debt...if you didn't have the mortgage and a baby on the way it might not be hard to decided... I know that baby's aren't cheap...I'm going to be an uncle soon Also....the pay they offered isn't bad but isn't good....around where I live a normal job will pay maybe $24K-$30K....that is low to some but it isn't too bad....I think most Policemen in the town make under $30K. But in most coin jobs the pay is higher...as GDJMSP has said a grading job is paying over $100K. Here is what I think I would do.... Keep my job for the time being....pay off the Mortgage and such and get as out of debt (that way when the pay cut comes you won't have bills on bills) take the ANA course since they want you to have that anyway. Keep on reading and learning and here in a year or two go back and see if they would be interested....since they were really interested in you and your ebay listing I think that on down the road they would be glad to have you join them! Again---I've never been in this "crossroad" and I can't tell you to take the job or leave it....that is totaly up to you. The wife is the main one to think about right now... Speedy
You might want to read Richard Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad. I'm seeing quite a bit of "Poor Dad's" philosophy in many of the responses you've received.
Here's a few random thoughts. Ask for $35K with $5k raise in 6 months, thus you're only $5k down on your prior salary at the end of the year. Ask if they can amend the non-compete to allow you to trade on the side, in a type of coin that they don't deal with (may or may not be a viable idea). Are you considering this as an educational experience, if successful you'll go full time into business yourself after a year (or whatever period of time)? If so, you'd just need to budget with savings and recuded spendings for that period of time until your business turns a successful profit. If you're thinking of this as a jumping board to a bigger job with a grading service or something, why not go directly to that job? Somehow avoid getting into a low-paying job and stagnating for too many years. What's worse, a 55 year old carpet salesman, or a 55 year old coin store employee with how many tens of thousands of dollars less? Take up Roy's suggestion, at least part-way, and find other ways to increase your cash-flow? The typical Kiyosaki method is to buy investment grade residential real estate.
Update- As much as I didnt want to I have turned the job down. I have to think of of my family 1st. I will continue to educate myself & possibly in the future take that fork in the road when the time & the offer is right. Thank you all for your comments & thoughts on this issue I did take them all to heart.
Except Kiyosaki is a fraud (there is no "rich dad", it's merely a device to peddle his one trick pony). His one trick pony is - buy real estate. Buy, buy, buy. Take multiple mortgages to buy real estate. Leverage yourself to the hilt to buy real estate. Use your credit cards to buy real estate. Sell your daughter to the Turks to buy real estate. OK, I made that last one up. But the rest is true.
I guess that you have gotten advice on most other aspects of your decision already but there is one aspect you have to consider that hasn't been mentioned. Retirement. From what I know about retirement issues and the impact of current trends, you need to look at the long-term financial picture as well. If you have a company pension right now, remove it and put in into some type of IRA. Companies are filing for bankruptcy protection and taking their employees pension plans with them. The bankruptcy laws are designed to protect the company not the employees. They can reduce a promised pension that you have contributed to over many years to literally nothing in one afternoon in court. In your new job, if that is the way you go, pour money into your IRA even if it means less in the take home check at the lower salary. You will adjust to less money over time as your salary increases. Not only will there be no Social Security around when you retire but many pension plans will have also have been raided by that point. Americans seem to be unaware of this trend and more than slow to react to it. The older you are, the more you need to put away. Retirement may seem like a long way off but the sooner you get saving the easier and less painful it will be. You can negotiate retirement contributions and other areas of retirement savings at the onset of a new job. Make sure it is one of the issues you bring up immediately. You'll never regret it believe me. Good Luck!
