Gather all around the young ones

A man I met many years ago had a son who became a senior manager in a company at a fairly young age.  Rather than being pleased, the man urged his son to set up his own business on the basis that he would not get rich working for someone else.

This was very poor advice.  On the one hand, giving up the security of employment for the insecurity of self-employment does increase the likelihood that you will one day become rich.  On the other hand, it also increased the likelihood that you will one day become impoverished.

A man called Paul Leighton used to be self-employed, but he ended up unable to pay his mortgage.  He then found work as a finance manager in a theatre, and stole money to pay off his mortgage arrears.  I have now made the point that self-employment can be a poor career choice.  I merely observe the fact that he was eventually imprisoned.

It is reported today that record numbers of young people are about to start university.  The top-rated comment on The Daily Mail website reads:

I've just completed an apprenticeship. My friends have finished university. Some are about to embark on exciting careers. Most are struggling to find work and are claiming benefits. I can't believe in the space of three years my view on universities has changed from 'inevitable success' to feeling sorry for the veil of illusion these young people are yet to discover.

I will not rejoice at young people either starting university or graduating thereafter, but I might rejoice at them all finding work after graduating.

I was impressed by a recent item in The Daily Express about young entrepreneurs.  We should not be surprised to see young people - including teenagers - succeeding in business.  After all it is arguably the best time of life to be starting in self-employment, partly because it is the time of life when you have the least to lose.  A teenager who lives in the parental home does not have a mortgage to worry about.

I remember several years ago reading about a teenage boy who set up a successful mail order business from his bedroom.  Before long he was shifting so much stock that he had to store his merchandise in the bath.  His mother allowed that, but I wonder how many parents would be as tolerant.

In conclusion, we should perhaps encourage young people we know to look for alternatives to going to university, but at the same time we should perhaps not encourage people to become self-employed if they already enjoy the security of a regular pay cheque.