No hamsters - but is anyone on here self employed?

[Catja]

Thanks for those words Suga, its really interesting to hear other peoples experiences.

Putting by some savings is a bit of a pipe dream though, and is one of the things that is forcing the issue in a kind of way. Where I live has a very odd demographic, basically large numbers of wealthy retired people and very few jobs hence extremely low wages but a very high cost of living and therefore no disposable income for half the county and oodles for the other.

I sometimes wish we lived nearer a larger city, even though where I live is beautiful, just so I could earn a bit to put by.

Sorry I'm moaning dreadfully here. I think my main problem is the last 6 years has seen a succession of extremely boring low paid jobs because my area is very dependent on who you know and there are a lot of highly skilled people all competing for the same few jobs as we have had a huge influx of city people looking for the "rural" life. Who can blame them.

I came from Sheffield, so technically I'm one of them except I moved for love trouble is I moved from an exciting creative job to now the complete opposite.

Right thats got that moan out of the way, now back to the job hunt

[Gust0o]

basically large numbers of wealthy retired people

A thought, and staying in-theme - have you considered becoming a financial adviser?

Where you find affluence, you find people willing to advise on how best to invest - might be a thought, and your accounting background would stand you in very good stead indeed!

Am just throwing ideas out - if it's not helpful, tell me to shush

[Basia]

We're not short of financial advisors in Hereford Gus. Retired people, selling houses for a small fortune down south and moving here, even buying the expensive properties, they have cash in abundance - bees around a honey pot!

[Gust0o]

Where there's wealth, there's... something

You just need your Certificate in Financial Planning to start giving advice, courtesy of the CII - CFP; then there's stuff like CEMAP for mortgages, and the ACFP - advanced cert.

I don't think it's that hard to get into - I'd recommend it.

Al's doing some work on an academy for our advisers, she might be best placed to advise on the training requirements.