Financial Shift

Happiness doing what you love or happiness in financial security?

I was born into a low income background and through the years my parents built up our family's financial security. I know what it's like being poor and I never want to experience it ever again. I am attending university and have a passion for history, but I know that I need to take care of myself and my family and I am almost finished with a degree in business. Most of my friends are liberal arts majors and they always chide me for my choice in my major. The things is, they come from upper middle class backgrounds and their parents can afford to let them do what they want. So, this is a question to business majors and to anyone who can offer sound advice, should I stick with the business degree? I don't hate business, but it is not something I am passionate about. I would especially love to hear of the experiences of people who have/had found themselves in my situation. Thanks!

Public Comments

1. Doing what you Love. Money means very little if you are depressed by what you do. That is the problem of many. Money is not all it is made out to be. May the Stars light your path...
2. Follow your passion.
3. You can do essentially two things in life, a. do the things you love to do b. love the things that you have to do. When you are young, you will always have the desire to do the things that you love to do. Later in life, when you have to put food on the table for your family, take care of mortgage, save enough fro your retirement, will will feel the need to have financial security.
4. since your almost already finished then yeah, i would stick to it, It's still a degree that has signifigant value.
5. There's plenty of time for passion. Stick with your plan to get a solid financial foundation under your feet. Launch into passionate pursuits later from that foundation. Economic times are about to get tougher. Be very conservative.
6. Rich or poor you live with yourself. You can't buy love or happiness. Money isn't real, it a tool you use for what needs to be done. I'm a musician and poor but happy and getting by and for me I don't want to do anything else. I accept what I do and live as I can.
7. I majored in business because it was the practical thing to do. I never even thought about whether there was another subject that might interest me more. I had taken bookkeeping and business law in high school and liked both courses, and my father was a business executive; so I business seemed like the logical choice. I graduated 20 years ago and have spent my career in finance and accounting. For the most part, I've enjoyed my work, and it (plus a lot of saving and investing) has given me great financial security (which is very important to me). I'm going to take early retirement in a little over 10 years, and at that time I will probably pursue other avenues that I may find more rewarding than accounting (tutoring kids or teaching adults to read perhaps), but I know I made the right choice in college. I think since you're close to your degree, you should certainly complete it. Once you are established in your career, you can always go back to school at night. You could get a second Bachelor's degree in history if you wanted. But with a business degree you will have the financial security that you want, and once you have that, the world is yours. I wish you the best of luck.