Surprising 6 figure jobs

Want to make six figures? Here is a fun list of 6 figure jobs that I think are reasonable.

• Court Reporter- If you got the skills to type 200+ words a minute, then this is your job. Special skills like this is always in demand
  
  
• Professional Coach - About 20% of 10,000 coaches make six figures, according to industry estimates.
  
  
• Mine Manager - Claustrophobia aside, this profession has a median of 106,000 dollars a year for those with the project management skills.
  
  
• Sales person - Also know as the world's easiest high paying job for some, and the toughest low paying job for others. If you have a way with people, then this job is for you.
  
  
• Truck Drivers - These long haul truck drivers whose willing to be on the road for weeks can pull over 100,000 dollars plus benefits.
  
  
• Tech Writer - For those who understand high-tech issues, with the ability to write about them in way that makes them understandable to the masses, this job could be for you.
  
  
• Restaurant Managers - If you able to work your way up from a kitchen staff or a waiter to a store manager, you could be making six figures.
  
  
• Air Traffic Controllers - If you can manage the stress and then your looking at starting around 100,000.
  
  
• Elementary Principle - The national median is said to be 76,000 a year but if you live in those higher income areas with large enrollment
  

Ideas to keep in mind to prepare for 2007

We all know that 2007 is just around the corner so lets start preparing for the new year. Here are some things to keep in mind for this new up coming year and things you should consider.

1. Stop driving so recklessly. To save at the pump, be smart at the wheel. For every pound per square inch your tires are under-inflated, you cut mileage by 1% to 2%. Save up to 30% by replacing dirty spark plugs and air filters. Accelerating and braking quickly lowers your highway gas mileage by 33%. At home, plug leaks. Install a programmable thermostat and shave 10% off your bill.


2. It's a buyer's market. Drive a hard bargain. Real estate in 2006 turned a corner - and not a good one. In the past year, home prices have dropped 2.2%. In this kind of a market, once you've found the house you want, start the bidding at least 15% below the asking price. Barry Miller, a broker and owner of Denver-based Buyers Only America Realty, says that's the average discount his clients are getting.


3. Invest your tax refund for retirement, automatically. Starting with your 2006 tax return, you'll be able to directly deposit your refund in an IRA. Yield not to the temptation of spending your refund - just get yield.


4. Vanguard Growth Index.Blue-chip growth companies have returned only three-quarters as much as the S&P 500 this year and even less of the Dow's gains. And they're still at least 20% below their normal valuations, as measured by their price-to-earnings ratios.

When will you be a millionaire?

It seems that everyone is trying to climb that millionaire ladder of success, that includes me. My goal is to get there by the early 40's. Think its reasonable? I certainly do, heres my plans/situations and what defereniate me from the rest.

• I am currently in school and will have absolutely no loans after Im done. In fact, I am currently getting paid to go to school.


• I will have a steady income of 50k+ a year after graduation, which is a nice start.


• The company that I work for will pay for my masters and in returns will also give me a nice raise.


• My plans to own my home by the age of 25 will help me by not dumping my money away to pay for rent. The monthly mortage will be going towards my house.


• I have plans for investing in real estate and expect to own a few houses by mid 30's, where I will be renting out to people for monthly income.


• I intend on putting away most of my checks in index funds.


• I have a great start just because I started to save/invest at such an early age.


• I think long term and have already started planning out my budget for my first home.

These are just some cases and plans I currently have. Here is a site that calculates when your gonna hit your million mark. After putting in my data, my results came out to be 20 years and 6 months. Have fun.

Smart ways to save money in a divorce

I read a story from msnbc about how to save money in a divorce. Now we all know that divorces can get pretty expensive but where does all that money go? Here are some highlights from the article. Enjoy:

Down and Dirty:

"The average cost of a wedding is just under $28,000, according to Conde
Nast Bridal Group — double what it was 16 years ago. The average cost of a
divorce? "That's like asking how much a car costs," says John Crouch, a
family
law attorney who practices in Arlington, Va.

Divorce proceedings can range anywhere from several hundred to several
thousand dollars. Estimates on the average cost of a divorce in the U.S. range
from $15,000 to $30,000."

The eye opener:

"The simplest — and the cheapest — way of handling divorce proceedings is to do all the negotiating and paperwork on your own. Web sites like divorce.com, divorceonline.com and completecase.com offer an array of information and services to assist you, from state-specific legal forms to downloadable divorce kits.

If your finances are simple, you don't have any shared debt, and you and your spouse can reach an agreement on custody arrangements, this may be an attractive option, and it will generally run you between $50 and $250. "

Five rules for investing

Setting your goals is an important step when considering to start investing. You should have an investment plan which can help you develop a strategy that suits your goals and financial situations. But im gonna assume that you have already done that. So here I present to you five rule for investing:

1. Diversify


2. Keep costs down


3. Pay attention to taxes


4. Buy and hold for the long run


5. Know yourself

1.)Keep in mind that all investments involve some risk. The best thing to do is to spread the risk around by investing in a mix of stocks, bonds, and cash investments and diversifying your investments within each of those asset classes. This way if some investments are not doing so well, the other investments may help even out the ups and downs of your overall portfolio.

2.)Dont let the costs fool you into thinking that higher costs and fees means you'll get more for your money. Normally, people think that you get what you paid for but when buying mutual funds, this is not the case. Overall , higher costs and fees will reduce your total performace.

3.)After the investment costs and inflation, taxes take the biggest bite out of your return. For your taxable accounts, consider investing in:

• Municipal bonds or municipal bond funds, which are exempt from federal (and often state and local) income taxes.
• Tax-managed mutual funds, which use special strategies in seeking to reduce taxes on investment returns.
• Index funds, which tend to have lower turnover and so are less likely than actively managed funds to pass along taxable gains. (This may not always be the case for index funds that track a benchmark for a narrow market segment or industry sector.)

4.) Dont waste your time trying to figure out the picdict the martket. No one can predict the ups and downs of the market often enough to make market-timing a consistently winning strategy. Just be patient and hold your ground.

5.) Know what you are comfortable with. If you cant sleep at night because your over-worried at the fact that the value of your investments is bounding around, then you need to build a portfolio with a more conservative mix. This way may not reach you to your goals asfast, but as least you will be more comfortable and more rested along the way.

How to create your investment plans

The concept of investing can be very intimidating at first. You ask your self, where do I start? Stocks, bonds, cash investment? In order to start, you need to set your financial goals, whether you want to save for your retirement, school education, new house or starting up your own business. To succeed as an investor, planning and discipline is a must.

First step in creating your investment plan is to know what you want to do with your money and when you'll need it.

• Check your time frame, this is important because your investments will rise and fall in value throughout the time you own them.The longer your time frame, the greater your ability to ride out the ups and downs of the markets. Because you won't need your money right away, you can more reasonably select investments whose values might fluctuate in the short term in hopes of earning greater returns over the long term.


• Consider all your goals. Ask your self how can I invest to meet my goals. Whatever your goals are, keep in mind that the sooner you start the better your off.

Understand and choose your assets. Take the time to understand the basics of each asset class and how you can spread the risks around.

• Stocks. Stock represents a share of ownership in a corporation. Stock returns are based on a company's dividends and profits and how investors assess its potential for future profits. Historically, stocks have provided the highest returns over time, but stock prices fluctuate — sometimes dramatically. Investors typically choose stocks for growth of capital, which can help them stay ahead of inflation over the long term.
  
• Bonds. Bonds are IOUs issued by governments, government agencies, and corporations. Interest-rate changes directly affect the prices and returns of bonds, but in general, bond prices fluctuate less than those of stocks. Investors typically choose bonds to receive income and to diversify stock portfolios.


• Cash investments. A cash investment is a very short-term IOU issued by a government, corporation, bank, or other financial institution. Using the interest payments from such IOUs, money market mutual funds provide income—most often, less than that provided by bond funds—while maintaining a stable price of $1 a share. Investors typically rely on this type of fund to stash money they'll need for emergencies and short-term goals.

Once you have decided what asset your comfortable, your next step is to select the right investments. Although you could build your portfolio with your own individual stocks, I recommend starting with a mutual fund.

The next thing is to know when to change your investment mix. Life changing events can alter your financial situation and give you good reasons to change your mix. If you need to make a change, you can rebalance in three ways:

• Make an exchange. If your asset allocation is dramatically out of balance, you can transfer money from one type of fund to another. If you move retirement money within your employer's plan or an IRA, you won't owe any taxes. Outside a retirement plan, however, you may incur taxable capital gains by exchanging shares. If this is the case, you may prefer to rebalance using one of the next two methods.


• Redirect your new investments. You could simply add new money to the asset class that's underrepresented in your portfolio.


• Redirect dividends and capital gains. Have your fund company invest dividends and capital gains from funds that have grown out of proportion in the funds that need a boost.

Next and final step is to take action. Once you have designed your plans, start working on it. Remember that the longer you wait, the more you miss out. Each day counts.

Thomas Edison once said "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.".The truth is there’s no magic to investing, anyone can learn to do it with just a little effort.

5 easy steps to follow your "to do list".

Here's an idea that i came up with which basically helps me accomplish my goals, this really works for me so try it out.

My 5 easy steps, here they are:

• Step 1: Go buy some post-it note pads. You know, the ones where you can take each sheet and stick it on a wall or something. They're really cheap and you can find them anywhere.
• Step 2: Now write down your goals and or activities you want to accomplish on these note pads. For each goal, write it on a separate post-its. Make sure to not get too detailed when writing these posts. You want to keep it simple and short enough so that you can read it just by looking at it for a second or two.
• Step3: This is important, make sure that on each post-it pads you write down the expected date you want to accomplish your task, or else it will never get done.
• Step4: On each post, get a red pen and write on the bottom "$five dollars". (starting to get the idea?)
• Step5: Stick these posts where you can see them everyday. I have mines on my wall right next to where I sit when I'm on my computer.

Now your ready to start. The main idea here is this. Now you have posts on your wall (or where ever you decide to put them) and for every one you have an objective or a goal with a date in which you want to accomplish your task. Basically how it works is this, if you cannot accomplish your post within that due date, you pay the penalty fee, which is written on each of these posts. You can set the amount to whatever you want whether it be 2 dollars or 10 per post, just don't cheat yourself.

Look at it like this, think of these posts as price tags. For each of these tasks/goals you cannot accomplish, you have to pay x dollars. Now you ask "where does this money go?". That's the great part about this, they all go into the "savings stash" or your "savings account" or where ever, it doesn't matter as long as your saving it. So now, you will try harder to get these goals/objectives done because not only do you see them everyday but it has a price tag on it! Isn't that great? When i look at my post, it makes me want to get things done because i don't want to pay that red fine.

It can't get any better than this. You either get your "things to do" accomplished, or you have to put money away for savings. Regardless, your helping your self achieve more by supporting each cause. You just gotta love how this works, does it get any easier?

Retirement, start a 401(k) plan!

Most people have questions regarding 401k plan, many wonders how it works, what it is or how you can revive the dwindling balance in your 401k.

The 401(k) plan is a type of employer-sponsored retirement plan named after a section of the United States Internal Revenue Code. A 401(k) plan allows a worker to save for retirement while deferring income taxes on the saved money or earnings until withdrawal.

If your company offers a 401k retirement plan, which most companies now do, then you are given the opportunity to start investing towards your retirement. Your company will provide you with a list of funds they use for the plans that they offer and gives you the choice of which to invest in and also the percentage of how much you can invest.

Now, all you need know is how to get started. Contributing to a 401k plan is like investing in a car, it can be very useful as long as you don't crash.

First off, you need to figure out how much you're allowed to put in your 401k each year. When you find out how much your able to put in, you need to max it out each year if possible. Especially if you're just now starting to plan for retirement and you have less then 20 years, you're gonna have to put more away then someone who still has more than 35 years left. Either situation, you should still try to put in as much as your allowed.

Then, find out if your employer offers any kinds of matching contribution. The typical employer will match 50% of what you put in, so 50 cents to the dollar, which is a sweet deal.

Overall you want to start asap. Starting early will give you a huge lead than someone starting later on.

So the major benefits of 401k plans:

• Dollar-Cost Averaging - 401k plans are invested at regular intervals by payroll deduction. This helps force you to save, and it smooths out the bumps inherent in any futile attempt to time the stock market.


• Employer Matching - Most, but not all, employers will match a certain percentage of the funds that you contribute. This is free money!


• Tax Benefits - 401k plans allow individuals to invest up to the current federal limit (last time I checked it was $10,000 per year), and the interest earned is tax-deferred and continues to grow until you retire.


• Compound Interest - Start saving just a little bit each and every month and you can build a size-able fortune over time. Check here for an interesting story about Rick and Harper.

401k plans are very popular and an excellent way to plan for your retirement. Keep in mind as with any other investment, you still need to carefully watch your portfolio and make wise investment choices.

Mutual Funds 101

Buying a mutual fund may be the smartest decision you can ever make , however with over 12,000 mutual funds to choose from, it can also be your worst if you don't know what your doing. If your thinking to invest in a mutual fund, then your in the right process of thinking, but you have to make sure that you do your research first. There are some things you should know before you get into investing in funds.

Things to know:
1.) What is a Mutual fund
2.) Different kinds of stock funds
3.) Importance of low expenses
4.) Don't go after the "winners"
5.) Don't be too quick to dump a fund
6.) Be aware of taxes

1.) A mutual fund is simply a collection of stocks and/or bonds.A mutual fund pools money from hundreds and thousands of investors to construct a portfolio of stocks, bonds, real estate or other securities, according to its charter. Each investor in the fund gets a slice of the total pie.

2.) The different kinds of stock funds includes growth funds, which buy shares of burgeoning companies; sector funds, which buy shares of companies in a particular sector such as technology or health care; and index funds, which buy shares of every stock in a particular index, such as the S&P 500.

3.) The importance of low expenses are crucial when looking for a fund. Companies add on these expenses to cover their expenses and to make profit of course so watch out for these. They don't charge more a few percentage points a year, expenses may not sound substantial, but they create a serious drag on performance over time.

4.) Don't go after the winners because stats show that funds that rank very highly over one period of time rarely finishes on top in the later ones. When choosing a fund, do some research and look for consistant long term results.

5.) Don't be quick to dump a fund because every fund will have its off year. If you find your fund to be losing a little here and there don't be so quick to dump it. Although you may be tempted to sell a losing fund, check to see its previous behaviors and see if whether it has trailed comparable funds for more than two years. If it hasn't then be patient. However if earnings have been consistently below par, it may be time to move on.

6.) Be aware of taxes even if you don't sell your fund shares, you could still end up stuck with a big tax bite. If a fund owns dividend-paying stocks, or if a fund manager sells some big winners, shareholders will owe their share of Uncle Sam's bill. Tax-efficient funds avoid rapid trading (and high short-term capital gains taxes) and match winning trades with losing trades. Also don't double pay your taxes!

Now here are some advantages and disadvantages of mutual funds:

Advantages:

• Low start -You can get started for as little as $100, but 2000 - 3000 is the common minimum.
• Diversification- Buying a mutual fund provides instant holdings of several different companies.
• Liquidity- Like individual stocks, a mutual fund investment can be converted into cash upon your request, in other words, it gives you convenient access to your money
  

Disadvantages:

• The Wisdom of Professional Management- That's right, this is not an advantage. The average mutual fund manager is no better at picking stocks than the average nonprofessional, but will charge you fees as though he/she is.
  
• No Control- Unlike picking your own individual stocks, a mutual fund puts you in the passenger seat of somebody else's car.
  
• Dilution- Mutual funds generally have such small holdings of so many different stocks that insanely great performance by a fund's top holdings still doesn't make much of a difference in a mutual fund's total performance.
  
• Buried Costs- Many mutual funds specialize in burying their costs and in hiring salesmen who do not make those costs clear to their clients.

The key thing is to research research and research. You want to have a very good understanding of how all the fees work and review their prospectus. Their Prospectus should provide things such as fees, objectives, risks, etc. All in all, study and know what your putting your money into. There are many websites with very useful information and here are some that are updated pretty frequently. Have fun!

• Morningstar.com
• Quicken.com
• Smartmoney.com
• Fundstyle.com

Best and worst money moves

This post was inspired by jims My Best and Worst Money Moves Ever (So Far!). and Henrys BD’s Best (and Worst) Money Moves . My best and worst money moves is also related to one another and it all happened within this year. Lets start with my worst..

Worst money move ever: So this summer started off with me getting a high paying internship. I was really excited and didnt know what to do with the money i was raking in so i was just looking for things to buy. Then the thought of buying a car came accross my mind. So of course ifound a nice car, a 2000 Honda Prelude for 8,700 dollars, which was a sweet deal at 85k miles(considering the original base cost was at 24 thousand).

So when i went to go test drive it,i fell it love with it. Such a great car btw. Then i did the stupidiest/worst move ever.

I bought the car wtih my credit card. STUPID ANDY!!!

When i bought it, i figured i would pay it off before the summer was over cause i was making some sweet dough over at my internship...however that was not the case. After putting 8,700 on my car, all other things started piling on top too. My insurance was about 600 at the time(for 6 months) and also had to pay for registrations fees which was another 500 bucks, and it gets even worse...i ended up buying 4 new tires for my car.(dont even ask why).

So by this point my credit card was almost at 10 thousand, insane! But it gets even worse...sometime a month from that point i got into this accident that costed me another 2,200 dollars. This accident was purely BS btw, long story short, some 100 year old dude ran into me from the side cause he wasnt looking and because there were no witnesses i had to pay the damage(you can check out the post here). So...after all that i was seriosuly hurting, which totaled the credit card debt to 12 thousand dollars!

As of today, i am still paying for this mistake and im currently at -6k, you can check out a post i made relating to how i plan on paying off my debt here. But hopefully all this nightmare will soon be over.

Best money move ever: My best money move ive ever made didnt physically save me or earned me a dime, or at least not yet. My best money move came from me learning from my previous mistake during this part summer. I now know the importance of saving and through this summers mistakes it put me on track of owning a home at the age of 25.

All in all, my worse move was also my best move, and if i were given the opportunity to take back buying my car i wouldnt because that experience was well worth the 12 thousand credit debt and eventually will make me a millionaire. :)

Hooray for casinos!!

Even though the casino can be extremely fun and addicting, it can also really get to you when you realize that your 2 grand in. Have you ever been in a situation where your night goes by so fast and you keep telling yourself " I'm only down x and I can come back", then you realize that by the time you told your self this 5 times, the score becomes, CASINO : 1 YOU: 0. Yes, the casino has officially won that night, you have just been another victim of "the attack of the casinos".

Well let me say that you can't expect to beat them over an extended period of time. All their games like craps, video poker, roulette, slots, keno, my favorite..Texas hold em, must be regarded as being strictly entertainment because the odds in these games are always tilted against the player. The house enjoys an advantage in those games on virtually every bet, so players are bound to ultimately lose(exception to hold em and other poker type games where its mainly based on the players). And i think that everyone knows this fact, however people still go to casinos thinking that they can "beat" the system and become the next millionaire over night. It is mathematically impossible to keep winning for an extended period of time.

BTW casinos love these kinda people who think that they can beat their game. Yes, their game! One thing to keep in mind when your gambling is, have fun. I know you guys are thinking, no one goes to gamble to have fun, well no, they don't, but keep in mind that your bound to lose so try to make the best of it while losing. :)

The race to $0

Doesnt that sound great? Forget trying to save, im trying to get to freakin zero. On my last post, i was talking about my plans on owning a home at the age of 25 and how im currently at -6k. Well my friend henry and i are trying to make our way into the postive networth here. He puts up a post similair to mines and he gives us a little update on his Net worth, check it out.

Henry says that he should be hittin the positive mark sometime in 3-4 months but im gonna try to get there within the next two months, i think i can do it i just have to stick real tight with my budget. This means no more frequent stops at mcdonalds or if any at all. :(

How i plan on buying a home at the age of 25

I originally wanted to make this post about my top 10 goals, but when i looked at the list i realized that majority of my goals were leading toward owning a home. The toughtest part of buying a home is coming up with the downpayment so thats what im going to concentrate on. So heres what i came up with.

My Stats:
current saved so far: $0
Projected saved : $50,000

Buying a house:
My current status is at -6,423.23, this includes credit cards, car loans and whatever i felt like i owed.My goal is to have at least 50k saved up for downpayment on the house so here is the plan. After this december, i should be completely debt free! So i can start investing my money in an mutual fund. My general idea on how i plan on going about this is %75 percent of my check goes to the savings and the rest goes to paying life. Now heres all my sources of income:
Estimate per month while in school
1.) Work1 1,200
2.) Work2 600
3.) refund check 3,400 x 2 (once per semester)
4.) Girl friend's refund check 1,400 x 2 (once per semester)
*note: Basically, we're getting married so her refund check is going into savings also : )
-------------------------------------------------
Total amount in 8 months = 24,000

soooo....take %75 of this, which comes to 18,000. Now keep in mind this is only 8 months out of the time im in school. So lets also consider 1 month for winter break and 3 months for summer vacation, comes to 4 months.
Estimae per month while out of school

1.) Work1 2,200
2.) Work2 600
-------------------
Total amount in 4 months = 11,200

..and %75 of this comes to 8,400.Okay so we'll combine these two, only taking %75 and i get (18,000 + 8,400 = 26,400). I can save up a total of 26,400 per year if i can stick to this rule. Now, lets say i were to invest this in a mutual fund. According to a compound interest calculator this is what i got:

Inputs:
---------------------------------
Current Principal: $0.00
Annual Addition: $26,400.00
Years to grow: 4 years
Interest Rate: 5% *(fairly pretty low)

Outputs:
---------------------------------
Future Value: $119,476.67 *(Sweet!)

So, in conclusion i can have $119,476.67 by the time im 25. Now you guys are thinking....wait a minute, what about rent, food and all the other crap life has to offer. Well, i happen to have my room and board completly paid for til i graduate and that also includes food. So, this is pretty really realistic for me, i just have to stick to it.

Things to remeber:
-Keep up good credit score
-Keep researching the martket
-Keep girlfriend

Save $1000's by investing in pre-paid legal

The average cost of a lawyer is estimated to be around $200 - $350 per hour, and this does not cover any kinds of other fees that might be attached. Now tell me who do you know that can pull out couple grand out of their pocket at any given time, cause thats about how much it would cost to get a lawyer. The solution to this is Pre-paid Legal. Pre-paid legal services refers to individual or group employee benefit legal plans in which members pay a monthly fee in exchange for access to a range of legal services on-call.

There are a number of reasons for choosing a pre-paid legal service.

Let me ask you this, have you ever..

Been overcharged for a repair?

Received a speeding ticket?

Been audited?

Purchased a home?

Tried to return a defective product?

Lost a security deposit?

Signed a contract?

Prepared a will?

Been in an accident?

Even though most people find themselves in these situations, the majority do not seek the advice or help of a qualified lawyer because

1.)It may cost too much.

2.)They may not know where to begin.

3.)The process is intimidating.

By having prepaid legal, you can call and talk to a lawyer about anything and get legal advise on how you should handle certain situations. Well theres a saying that goes like this," If you don't know your rights, you don't have any! ". If having prepaid legal services means having protection for me and my family and this only costs me 17 dollars a month, then its worth the investment cause you never know what lurks around the corner. When you get into a situation where you know your being taken advantage of, sometimes all it takes is a letter from a lawyer to end it right there. You just never know thats gonna happen.

This past summer i had a car accident(right after i bought my car btw) and it was %100 not at fault, but guess what, i had to pay the damage of my car which came to a total of 2200 dollars because of two things.

1.) the driver did not admit to hitting me on my side

2.) there were no witnesses

I later found out that all I needed was a lawyer to handle this situation and i would have saved 2grand simply because I didnt know what to do and how to approach the problem when it happened. So learn from my mistake and get prepaid legal because i dont know what else you can buy for $17 thats more important. You can check out their site by clicking here

Here are some general benefits of having prepaid legal:

*Writing a will for you and your spouse.

*Creating trusts.

*Court representation on charges such as DUI.

*Mediation in neighbor disputes.

*Representation in real estate transactions.

*Review of contracts.

*Divorce.

*Discounts on legal services through a network of attorneys;

*Free legal services, such as the preparation of a property deed or simple will;

*Access to a database of legal forms and documents.

CBCNEWS has an article Pre-paid legal services: Worth the money?, you should check it out.

Top 10 Jobs in America

CNNMoney.com has an article that Lists the top 10 bests jobs in America. MONEY Magazine and Salary.com has researched over hundreds of jobs while considering their growth, pay, stress-levels and other factors, and these careers ranked the highest:


1. Software engineer
2. College professor
3. Financial adviser
4. HR manager
5. Physician assistant
6. Market research
7. Computer IT analyst
8. Real Estate appraiser
9. Pharmacist
10. Psychologist


WOOHOO! Go software engineering! The job comes to an average of 80,500 a year while starting is at 44,800. So the pay is decent and definitely enough to make a living on(leaves a lot of room for investing). Coming from an S.E perspectives, I think the greatest thing about it is that it gives you the room to be an artist. I like the fact that your in control of your own implementation (for the most part) and it makes you feel like you own a part of an application if not the whole thing, and thats a great feeling :)

Heres some interesting facts about S.E from Money Magazine:


1. Software Engineer

Why it's great Software engineers are needed in virtually every part of the economy, making this one of the fastest-growing job titles in the U.S. Even so, it's not for everybody.Designing, developing and testing computer programs requires some pretty advanced math skills and creative problem-solving ability. If you've got them, though, you can work and live where you want: Telecommuting is quickly becoming widespread.The profession skews young -- the up-all-night-coding thing gets tired -- but consulting and management positions aren't hard to come by once you're experienced.

What's cool Cutting-edge projects, like designing a new video game or tweaking that military laser. Extra cash from freelance gigs. Plus, nothing says cool like great prospects.

What's not Jobs at the biggest companies tend to be less creative (think Neo, pre-Matrix). Outsourcing is a worry. Eyestrain and back, hand and wrist problems are common.

Top-paying job Release engineers, who are responsible for the final version of any software product, earn six figures.

Education Bachelor's degree, but moving up the ladder often requires a master's.


If you want to see the rest of the list, it goes to 50, check it out on CNNMoney.