How AI Legalese Decoder Can Help Unravel the Fine Print Behind Your Worst Financial Decision
- May 10, 2024
- Posted by: legaleseblogger
- Category: Related News
Speed-Dial AI Lawyer (470) 835 3425 FREE
FREE Legal Document translation
Try Free Now: Legalese tool without registration
## Exploring Bad Financial Decision Making
I am genuinely interested in gaining insight into other people’s experiences regarding poor financial decisions and understanding the recoverable and non-recoverable aspects of those decisions.
## My Worst Financial Mistake: Pursuing a Mechanical Engineering Degree
The most regrettable financial decision I ever made was investing in a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a low-paying profession with limited opportunities for career advancement. The job demanded long hours, was highly stressful, and offered minimal crossover potential with higher-paying fields. To make matters worse, in today’s world, this profession is perceived as having a low status among younger individuals in their 20s. I have often found myself being stereotyped as someone who merely fixes cars or refrigerators, leading to the unjust assumption of being slow or unintelligent based on my career choice.
## Struggling to Bounce Back Financially
Unfortunately, I have not been able to bounce back financially from this mistake. Fortunately, I did not accumulate significant debt pursuing this seemingly worthless degree. I fell prey to the misleading notion that obtaining a STEM degree guarantees financial stability, while belittling the value of pursuing liberal arts degrees. Little did I know that many STEM fields also face similar issues of low salaries and lack of promising career prospects.
## How AI Legalese Decoder Can Assist in Such Situations
In situations like mine, where a poor financial decision has had long-lasting repercussions, AI Legalese Decoder can be a valuable tool. By analyzing legal jargon and complex financial terms, this AI-powered platform can help individuals gain a better understanding of their financial predicament. It can decode intricate legal documents related to student loans, employment contracts, or financial agreements, shedding light on crucial details that may affect one’s financial well-being. With the help of AI Legalese Decoder, individuals can navigate complex financial matters with clarity and make more informed decisions to recover from past mistakes effectively.
Speed-Dial AI Lawyer (470) 835 3425 FREE
FREE Legal Document translation
Try Free Now: Legalese tool without registration
### How AI Legalese Decoder Can Help Simplify Legal Jargon
AI Legalese Decoder is a revolutionary tool that can assist individuals in parsing through complex legal jargon and documents. By utilizing advanced artificial intelligence technology, this platform is able to analyze and interpret intricate legal language, making it easier for users to understand and navigate legal documentation.
With the help of AI Legalese Decoder, individuals can save time and eliminate confusion when attempting to comprehend legal terms and contracts. The software can quickly break down key concepts and terms, providing users with clear and concise explanations that are easy to understand.
Furthermore, AI Legalese Decoder can help individuals identify potential risks or implications within legal documents, ensuring that they are fully informed and prepared before making important decisions. By removing the barriers presented by convoluted legal language, this tool empowers individuals to take control of their legal matters with confidence and ease.
In conclusion, AI Legalese Decoder offers a valuable solution for anyone who is faced with deciphering complex legal jargon. By providing simplified explanations and insights, this tool can assist individuals in navigating the intricacies of legal documentation, ultimately saving time and reducing the stress associated with understanding legal terms.
Speed-Dial AI Lawyer (470) 835 3425 FREE
FREE Legal Document translation
****** just grabbed a
Payscale’s list has mechanical engineering as the 83rd highest average mid career salary out of 799 majors — top 11%. Yes, typical earnings are not as high as CS/SWE, but saying the degree is “worthless” and it’s the worst financial decision of your life is quite extreme. MEs as a whole have far better opportunities for high earnings that the overwhelming majority of majors, as well as most STEM majors. For example, the most common STEM major is biology. Which do you think would have a typical more lucrative career path with only a bachelor’s — ME or biology?
[deleted]
I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone call mechanical engineering low paid with low opportunity for advancement. You gotta be absolutely trash at your job to think this.
I’m a mech E and it’s about average for STEM jobs. I have better work conditions and make more than my civil friends but by CS, chem E, and EE friends all make more than me. Also my friend makes the same as me as an accountant and he has a higher earning ceiling. ME is pretty old school so the pay is industry standard and unless you’re working for an aerospace company or some robotics company you aren’t niche enough to leverage high pay.
Edit: I have 7 years experience in aerospace and I only make $125k in CA.
If it makes you feel better, I got an EE degree from ITT tech insititute. My college wasnt even accredited, and then forced to shut down by the Feds. I cant get a masters bc my credits arent legit. I cant get an Engineering license bc my credits arent legit. Its embarrassing.
[deleted]
More of a bad investment decision- but i invested $1500 in Apple in 1999. Sold it when it doubled in 2000. Would be worth about $2M now.
Look for a job elsewhere. ME pays well and is in demand. You’re either in a bad geographic location, bad company, or you’re bad at your job. Potentially all three.
Two decisions. Luckily both investment related, so nothing too big. First was, back about 11 years ago I decided not to work for a year. I drained the 30k that was in my 401k at the time. Future me really wishes I hadn’t done that!
The second mistake was getting FOMO a few years and throwing 22k into crypto. Ofc I bought it at the absolute peak. It’s worth about 13k right now. I’ve been debating taking it out, but idk.
Lol I wish I had one, would help me now.
As for worst decision…
Early 20s, not being serious in school working bullshit job. Off my parents good insurance 24, had garbage not even insurance.
Then got diagnosed with cancer. 4 months later $200k in debt. $3k savings only asset a car worth $10k.
Negotiated the medical debt, most of it was dropped. 4 years later bought my first new car credit score low 700s, 7-8 years later bought my first new house, credit score in mid 700s.
Also during that time I took out $40k in student loans for school.
20 years later(41 years old), Have a career, no debt other then less then about $90k on my decent house, and only 11 years left on mortgage. Very decent retirement setup.
Lots of OT worked to get wife and I out of student loan debt.
I left major depression largely untreated for the last two decades. Every time it kicked in my life fell apart. I couldn’t find medication that’d work for me that didn’t give me a ton of side effects so I’d stay on them just long enough to dust myself off and get back to work. I didn’t go to therapy and tackle underlying issues, I just kept throwing medication band aids on the emotional bullet wounds I never fully recovered from.
I missed a lot of work over the years because of it. It’s cost me over a hundred thousand dollars in earnings over the course of my lifetime.
Getting married
And yes
Mine is way worse. I went to college. Failed to get into desired major, and instead of just choosing something else I doubled down then just dropped out when that didn’t work with about 9k in student loans. But it doesn’t end there. On my last semester I never attended any classes and was forced to pay back the ~5k financial aid that I didn’t even use for that semester. Currently clawing myself out of that mess but yeah worst decision in my life both not only financially but overall.
1) Not investing (even if just a little) from the start of my career and losing out on compound interest
2) not moving jobs/companies to increase my salary faster
3) splurging on a wedding because in laws wanted to keep up with the Joneses
1. Not taking more risk to pivot into tech or consulting after grad school 9 years ago. Several if my friends did it, and I started looking into it but didn’t understand the landscape and took the first job offer I got. I love the job I’ve worked my way into, but I could have made 2-3x as much if I’d been more risk tolerant.
2. Not stretching my budget to buy a house I could live with long term 4 years ago. I was trying to be very financially conservative thinking we’d be able to move into a bigger place after a few years. OOPS. Given the price and interest rates now, never gonna happen.
I sublet my apartment in NYC when I moved to LA. I thought I had a good renter, but I didn’t do it through the right channels and these people were professional squatters. Long story short they stayed about 8 months, I got to pay the back rent and lawyers fees that I had to get to help me evict the squatters. I’m not even sure how much it all cost in the end, but it was somewhere around $20,000. It was a soul crushing amount for me. However, I was honest about what I could do, set up a payment plan with the landlords and the lawyer and got it paid off. It was a huge life lesson, to jump into things and what seems easy is not always what it seems. I also learned that I can handle any financial situation that comes my way. Even when you’re in the hole you can always dig yourself out of it.
Context is everything.
A Mech E degree from MIT, Cal-Tech, Purdue, Notre Dame, Stanford, Georgia Tech, etc. is going to put you in a place to get a good engineering job (strength of program, name recognition, alumni connections, networking and internship opportunities).
The top schools turn out hundreds of Mech E’s every year. Given the option, the companies with the best opportunities for are going to go with top ranked candidates.
The thing is – that’s the story across every degree field.
There are so many bachelor degree holders now that just having a degree with no connections, no network, no internships, no name recognition, just doesn’t open the doors that it use to thirty years ago when bachelor degrees were less common.
Our kids (and us as parents) sacrificed a ton to make it work for them to both get degrees and to get them from good programs with connections – because we never had any. And it’s worked. So far all of them are making more in their early careers than we do now at the end of ours.
Edit to add: What was our worst FINANCIAL decision? – having those kids 😀 What was our best LIFE decision? – having those kids!!!
A degree is a bad decision if you don’t prioritize financial goals along with career goals that justifies the education. There’s nothing wrong with focusing on career and not so much on the pay. But if you’re considering a MechE degree to be the worst financial decision, maybe it’s time to pivot and focus on financial goals and make career changes based on those goals.
I graduated with a B.A. (yes they have those) in Mechanical Engineering. Started as QA at a startup company, then job hopped around to get into a software developer role. 10 years later I earn $175k, which includes yearly bonus and RSUs. I personally wanted to focus on both financial and career goals ever since I started college. I was brought up in poverty and never wanted to go back into it. I learned through my college groups that I should get into a software role because that’s where the money was at while still being able to apply engineering principles I learned in school into the work that I did.
Used my 401K to buy a muscle car. Sold it 5 yrs later.
Just piling on to let OP know that my company hires MEs out of college for $70-80k, Engineers with 10 years experience in the $120-130k range, and that you can pivot (like I did) to program management, product management, or a number of other roles, that get you to $150k+ (or significantly higher if you climb the ranks). This is all L/MCOL areas. This post is nonsense.
Mech Eng is fairly useless as a base degree.
I tell you what they do here in NZ. They become acoustic ‘engineers’. I’m a structural engineer in vertical construction and literally 95% of acoustic ‘engineers’ I meet are mechanical majors. That’s basically reading manuals on Sound Constant Transfer ratings from tech literature and doing basic calculations. Anyone can do that, no engineering degree necessary.
They also tend to do HVAC ‘design’, but in reality, it’s the old fucker that’s been doing it for 50 years since he was 12 years old, that does all that anyway. The Mech guy just rubber stamp it.
I don’t know what further study in Mech Engineering looks like, maybe it becomes useful going towards a Masters or PHD, but I doubt it. Might be wrong though.
Boomers used to think that ‘any degree is a good degree’. It took a whole generation to start wiping that shit from people’s eyes. Not nearly fast enough, but it’s getting there.
Now it’s the same with ‘engineering’. It’s NOT all created equally AT ALL. Just because it has the word ‘engineering’ planted in, doesn’t mean it’s any better than a liberal arts degree.
I lost $500,000 in the dotcom bubble in 2000 – months before I got married. I just failed to recognize the signs, and doubled down when I should have sold.
Then I failed to insist on a prenup and went through a messy divorce in 2004.
Not sure how I did it, but I managed to recover and retired 2 years ago with net worth of $2.5 million and zero debt. Go figure.
So it appears that a lot of people here aren’t super familiar with the different engineering degrees. My wife is a civil and a lot of her friends are from her engineering college. Yeah, ME’s make the least out of them unfortunately.
But fortunately, even “the least out of them” is still pretty dang good pay.
You are correct in that there really isn’t much carry over for moving career pipelines, but it doesn’t mean there is *none.*
That being said, you have a degree, and I would assume your PE which does mean something, and you can make it mean a lot of money if you’re smart. First thing to do would be to find someone successful around you doing something you want to do and ask if you can get coffee once a month as sort of a mentorship thing to bounce ideas off of them. Then start to imitate other successful people in the space and figure out what they’re doing so you can be successful too. That will help a ton in life.
You know what won’t help in life? Just sitting here complaining about it on reddit.
It’s strange to simultaneously argue that engineering is low status while also claiming it’s overhyped and promoted. It sounds like your career trajectory hasn’t gone the way you hoped and rather than improving your life you’re catastrophizing your past choices.
Got a degree in Criminal Justice, then realized I didn’t want to have anything to do with the criminal justice system.
I also bought a few hundred dollars in crypto. I lost about $100
That’s all unless we’re counting speeding tickets and such. My most expensive ticket was just over $1k in lawyer fees because I was doing 32mph over like an idiot.
Crypto. Wasted my money and bought at the very peak. I thankfully haven’t sold anything so I haven’t realized any losses but I’m out on crypto. I’m not buying any more. If what I have turns to gold, I’m gonna take the money and run.
There are a ton of degrees out there that have little worth in the job marketplace. It’s disheartening to hear that an engineering degree would be one of them.
My worst financial decision probably turned out to be the best thing for us in the long run. We ventures I to a business, close to 1 mil in debt. Things weren’t working out and we were behind almost every month. We decided to get out and sell everything. That included our home, as it was part of the business. Uprooted our family and moved to a small home. We still had probably 100k in debt when we sold everything. Worked our asses off and paid for it. Didn’t do anything for a couple years. That taught us a lot. I actually hate to think where we’d be if we didn’t venture that way.
I bought a house and we had a “100 year flood” that started the night we closed. Wiped out all the cash we had to repair. All while caring for a 10 day old baby. Lost another $10k on the eventual sale.
Going to a private school for the first two years of my Bachelor’s.
It was 16k a year WITH a 50% scholarship. I ended up transferring to a school that was half the price for the second half of my degree anyway. (They shut down the school during Covid and it took them two years to completely re-open so didn’t have much of a choice.)
I had looked at every school that was within driving distance (I thought) because living on campus was too expensive. Turns out I missed one. Which was a much better school for half the price.
So that’s around 16k extra that I didn’t need to spend 🤦♀️
I bought 8000 shares of AMD at 6 dollars and sold them 3 years later at 9 dollars after RYZEN was released.
It was so obvious RYZEN was going to steal server market share from Intel (close to 99% market share at the time). Somehow the market and fund managers couldn’t see that and it bounced from 9 to 15 dollars for quite some time. I got frustrated and sold it right before it broke past 15 up to 20 and so on…
Losing money sucks, but I never thought missing a once in a lifetime opportunity would lead to depression. Worse than my first heart break!
I then went on to lose 60k looking for the next AMD, but none of those stocks gave me the same reassurance AMD did.
All because I wasn’t patient enough by a week after holding for 3 years. It was a middle finger from the market before teaching me a really expensive lesson.
Worst decision? the first stock i ever bought was Blockbuster, oops
Best Decistion? College and getting my CPA, thankful everyday….88% of all Millionaires in america have a 4 year degree, facts
Definitely not low paying.
I was unemployed for 5 years and worked a few hours a week to cover the basics
$30,000 mistake:
In 2020, I invested in Alibaba when they were talking about an IPO of Ant Group… which never happened. Not only did I buy shares, I bought calls.
I held for too long and bought more shares on the way down. Ended up losing $30K (mostly from the calls) from that.
Everything is “recoverable” as long as you keep earning by money and live within your means. But that $30K loss will always haunt me. I am forever $30K less rich than I would’ve been if I never gambled on that dumb company.
OH I also went to college and never used my degree. That’s a bit less of a loss though financially AND I still technically got something out of it.
Let’s be real, you work at a shitty company that’s unorthodox for any discipline. No good company will ask employees to buy their own laptops or to share hotel rooms. That’s ridiculous.
​
[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskEngineers/comments/tp50xl/is_it_rudeunprofessional_to_pay_for_my_own_hotel/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskEngineers/comments/tp50xl/is_it_rudeunprofessional_to_pay_for_my_own_hotel/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskEngineers/comments/tp50xl/comment/i28sq6q/](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskEngineers/comments/tp50xl/comment/i28sq6q/)
​
You work for a company that makes machines for agricultural. That’s low profit and not super high-tech, it’s no surprise your current job pays low. What’s surprising is why you haven’t changed jobs in all these years. What’s your success rate for interviews??
it was my ex. Eventually she decided she wanted something else in life and she left. Best thing that ever happened for me financially because she was a drain. Two months after she left I had enough cash sitting in my bank account that I didn’t know what to do with that I went and bought a Rolex because, I like watches