I am at a Career Crossroads

[Patrick Campbell]

First off, I hope anyone reading this is staying safe and sane in these particularly chaotic times. While this post does not pertain to the current pandemic taking place, I think it’s so great that there are platforms like this that allow people to come together to navigate this unusual situation.

In regards to my personal predicament, I am absolutely certain that I want to make a career change that involves real estate in at least some capacity. However, I am quite conflicted in figuring out what that path should be.

I finished my master’s degree in accounting this past December and began working at a “Big 4” accounting firm immediately after. Although I am only a few months into my job in public accounting, I know that the profession is not for me. The firm and the people that I work for have been wonderful thus far, however, I do not find the work fulfilling in the slightest nor do I think I ever will. I plan to stay at my job at least through the rest of the year and will hopefully have my CPA license by then, but what I should do after that is something that I am constantly going back forth on.

I have had a strong interest and love for real estate and architecture for as long as I can remember. Scrolling through real estate listings is something that I have done daily since I was in middle school and had purchased probably 50+ house plan books even before then. My choice to go into accounting in school stemmed from me not being sure of what I wanted for a career and accounting seemed like a safe foundation to build a career off of once I figured that out. I was also somewhat concerned that pursuing a career directly in real estate would take the joy out of it for me and that I could perhaps fulfill my itch for real estate by pursuing real estate investing on the side. After working in the corporate world for a little while now, though, I feel confident that I want my full-time occupation to be focused around real estate.

One of the paths that I have been strongly considering is going to law school to become a real estate attorney. I think there is a potential for me to really enjoy that type of work as well as be able to leverage the expertise that would come from it towards my real estate investing endeavors. I should mention that I would only go to law school if I receive a considerable amount of scholarship money that would allow me to avoid going into a large amount of debt. Even then, I question if it would be worth sacrificing three years of my life or even all that beneficial for real estate investing. (If there are any real estate attorney/investors reading this, I would love to hear from you!)

Another consideration I have is to simply find a different job based around real estate with the accounting/economics degrees that I already have whether that be a real estate accountant, analyst, or even a real estate agent. If I go this route, I would probably keep the mentality of investing in real estate on the side until a day that it can hopefully be my full-time job, I would just hopefully be more interested in the type of work than what I am doing now.

I have also thought about somewhat of a merge between the two above options and trying to get into a law school that offers a part-time/evening program and working simultaneously as a real estate agent. I feel like there could be a lot of great experience potential with this that could put put me in a nice position one I finished law school.

At the end of the day, I really just want to find fulfillment in what I do and enjoy the the work as much as possible. I would greatly appreciate any input that you all may have. I know there are much more pressing issues happening in the world right so thank you for taking the time to read my post.

[Arlan Potter]

Do what you want. I got my degree in Accounting, passed the CPA test, and went to work for a Regional Grain Marketing firm. One of the best things that ever happened to me. Ended up working in industry for 20 years. Staff accountant, Accounting Manager, Internal Auditor, Controller, CFO.

20 years.

Then I started buying rentals, building houses, flips.

20 years.

Now I am ranching, Have about 40 cows, calfs, 320 acres of ranch land.

The last 20 years I guess.

After 80 who knows.

Do what you want.