I'm Pessimistic about future job market. Anyone considering long term strategies.

[amarowsky]

Personally, I'm very pessimistic for the future job market (medium to high paying).

When I see the market react so emotionally to different world events, it really saps a portion of my faith out of the market.

So I'm considering looking into other options to ensure a bit of income outside of the market incase the future job market plummets due to automation and massive increases in unforeseeable new technology.

Currently I work in an engineering company, so I may be safe for a while (5-10 years). But it is kind of scary to think, that even complex or high demanding jobs, can have their primary function removed by a moderate algorithm implemented with complex program.

Either way I don't think it's a bad idea to brainstorm strategies to set into place assets that have the following attributes:
1) earn (preferably) passive income, but income in general.
2) will have long lasting demand. Even in the light of a heavily autonomous society that requires much less workers to produce as much or more output.
3) be a simple enough investment that doesn't require me to completely quit my job under normal circumstances.
4) hopefully be less dependent on direct stock market

When I put my ideas though this criterion, there do not seem to be too many ideas. Real estate, business ownership/partnership, or maybe learn a hobby/skill that can yield some income.

I keep leaning towards the idea of Never selling a home again. Pay off my current home, rent it out, and buy another. With the proceeds of one rental go towards aggressively paying off the next. Always buying a home that you are happy to live in and in a good area seems to be a save way to not over leverage. That way, if "robots" do all our jobs later in life (that would pay a high wage) I would have some supplemental income (maybe 1-4 homes being rented out w/ no debt).

Anyone's thoughts or ideas?

[TexasHusker]

I could have posted this thread 6 years ago. I opened a franchise while working for a company. When it made enough $, I simply quit. I then opened 2 more locations.

Not that hard really.

[clatoden99]

Number 2 is pretty optimistic. Theres no reason to think that massive automation will hurt the stock market (if it was going to, why would companies do it?) but there may certainly be reasons why massive automation could hurt your local rental market.
Edit: I realized I made an implicit assumption that you were saying that the rental market will do better than the stock market. You may not have meant this exactly, but I still think that it is a higher risk-adjusted return to just invest in stocks and bonds than in specific housing.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I could have posted this thread 6 years ago. I opened a franchise while working for a company. When it made enough $, I simply quit. I then opened 2 more locations.

Not that hard really.

what franchise did you open?

[Outdoorsygal]

I would try to move every 2-3 years then pocket any profit you make on the new house since there is no long term capitol gains tax and you don't even need to list it on your tax return. But this means you'd need to have enough $$ to start with. As long as you own your home for at least 1yr+1day, no taxes. It's not bankable of course and relies on luck to a large degree depending upon your area.
It requires memorizing your local real estate market

Heck you could even get licensed as a Real Estate Agent and save on fees.

[thestrongprofessional]

Passive income ideas

Hey guys,

Gaining passive income is always a good idea regardless of the job market. I've personally used these 3 ideas to make money on the side:

1) Thumbtack - consulting for resume writing and interview coaching
2) Uber - Being an Uber driver
3) Side business - I have a blog that produces passive income through affiliate links.

You can always find something that can bring in passive income. You just have to get a little creative.

Thanks,

Raphael

[scfr]

If people don't have jobs, how are they going to pay the rent?