Nextgen Trades

💰 THE POWER OF STARTING EARLIER 💰

One of the biggest advantages of the skilled trades isn’t just what you earn. It’s when you start earning.

In this example, we compared two paths:

🎓 A college graduate who enters the workforce at age 22

🔧 A skilled trades professional who starts earning, gaining experience, and investing at age 18

Assuming each person saves just 5% of their income and earns an average 7% annual return on those investments, the difference over time becomes remarkable.

By age 48:

🎓 College Graduate
• ~$550,000 invested

🔧 Skilled Trades Professional
• ~$830,000 invested

That’s a difference of approximately $280,000.

The lesson isn’t that one path is right and the other is wrong. Both can lead to successful and rewarding careers.

The lesson is that time matters.

Starting your career earlier means:
✅ More years of earning
✅ More years of experience
✅ More years of investing
✅ More time for compound growth to work for you

The decisions you make today can impact the next 30 years of your life. That’s why we’re passionate about helping students understand all of their options and choose the path that’s right for them.

What would you do with an extra $280,000?

🎓 College or Trades?

For decades, students have been told that college is the only path to success. The truth is that there are multiple paths to a great career, financial stability, and a bright future.

Take a look at what the first five years after high school can look like.

Many skilled trades professionals are earning while they learn, gaining real-world experience from day one, and building careers with little to no student debt. By age 23, they may already have five years of experience, a strong professional network, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cumulative earnings.

This isn’t about saying one path is better than the other. It’s about making sure students know all of their options and choosing the path that best fits their goals, talents, and interests.

Success doesn’t come from following one specific route. It comes from finding the path that’s right for you.