You don’t have to be a stockbroker, Hollywood actor or brilliant brain surgeon to earn a huge income and retire early to spend your riches. There are lots of other jobs available that will allow you to earn a fairly high income. If you’re willing to put the effort in and do the difficult work that other people are less willing to do, you might have a shot at real wealth. Here are some of those difficult jobs that will eventually make you rich:
Boilermakers
Never heard of this occupation? You might want to consider it, especially if you are interested in eventually earning up to a six-figure income. Boilermakers construct and maintain steam boilers and boilerhouse materials, which are essential in most industrial settings. It’s not easy work; hand tools and power tools are involved and you will be covered in safety gear all day long. However, the starting salary is right below $60,000 per year and the average boilermaker salary creeps towards $100,000. Plus, you’ll learn a lot about machines, safety regulations and steam.

Oil Drill Operators
There is inherent danger when working in the field of oil exploration, as we learned with the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico years ago. However, if you are willing to get dirty and work hard, operating oil drills can earn you big bucks. You will be required to set up and operate drills that remove gas and oil from the earth. Your hourly rate will be at least $30, and you will probably get to travel. The biggest boon is in Alaska right now. Considering this job may be difficult, but it could offer big returns and eventually make you rich.

Transportation Inspector
If traffic drives you crazy, this might not be the job for you. It’s difficult work, but you will be compensated well. Transportation inspectors monitor all methods of transportation to ensure people and cargo are safe on the roads, railways, waterways and airways. This difficult job might require you to inspect freight on trains, check out planes at the airport or study the effect of vehicles on roads and bridges. You will easily make over $100,000 per year once you put in a few and the starting salary for a transportation inspector is around $65,000.

Elevator Work
If you can handle installing and maintaining elevators, you might be looking at around $105,000 per year. These jobs are in high demand, and they are not easy. You will need to understand every intricate detail of an elevator and how it works and you will be on call to repair any elevator that needs work with everything you do being precise and perfect. It’s not all elevators, either. You will need to understand escalators and dumbwaiters, too. The best state to go to work as an elevator repair person is Massachusetts.

Jobs like these are considered “blue collar” by the American workforce. You probably do not need a college degree for any of them, but your salary will be on par with what your college educated peers are also making. A few classes in engineering or physics wouldn’t hurt, but the best way to make good money with these difficult jobs is by starting at the bottom of the pack and working your way up.

There are a number of benefits to shopping online. Amazon.com has been my one stop shop for Christmas gifts for years. There’s a convenience and ease of not having to go to a crowded mall or shopping plaza and shopping online also saves you time and can be done from the comfort of your own home. The other big plus to shopping online are the savings. Because online stores have very little overhead, the customers profit on the savings in shipping, tax, and overall cost. On the other hand, is shopping online really all it’s cracked up to be? Do you really save money shopping online? Here are a few ways to ensure that your online shopping experience is better than battling the real retail world.

Price-comparison sites: Always comparison-shop to get the best deals on your favorite products. Search popular sites such as mysimon.com or bizrate.com to compare the cost of items you’re interested in at a variety of retailers. This is one of the best reasons to shop online; you can easily check the prices in two different places to ensure your saving money and getting the product for the lowest cost.

Scour online coupons: Before purchasing from a merchant on the Internet, check coupon sites such as retailmenot.com, which provides coupon codes for over 90,000 online retailers. There’s a rule of thumb for avid online shoppers to never buy something without a discount or coupon code.

Social Media advantage: Chances are, many of your favorite merchants have jumped on the Facebook bandwagon, which can help you rack up more savings. All you have to do is “like” a retailer on its Facebook page and you’ll have access to special coupons or be the first to find out about the latest sale and new products. This is one of the ways stores and retailers gain online shopping customers, so take advantage.

Email saving alerts: An easy way to save money shopping online is by signing up for email alerts from merchants that you frequently buy from. The merchant, such as Kohls.com, will automatically email you coupons and notify you of sales and other specials several times per month. Some specials are for email subscribers only. Certain businesses will offer you a coupon just for joining an email list. Sometimes specials would be identified as online only or in-store only.

Skip shipping charges: Some merchants will waive shipping fees if you satisfy a purchasing minimum. In some cases it might be worth it to buy a little more so that you qualify for free shipping. Programs like Amazon Prime offer frequent shoppers free two-day shipping on every purchase or Super-Saver Shipping on orders of $25 or more. Returns are often offered to customers for free.

Easy rewards: Smartmoney.com recommends joining retailer loyalty programs, which enable you to earn money back on what you buy. You can get reward offers from banks, airlines, drugstores, and gift shops. In the past year alone, Delta Air Lines, Virgin America, JCPenney, GameStop, Rite Aid, and others have rolled out or expanded their programs.

As life progresses and we grow older, there is a time we all must start to think about long-term care and life after being a working professional. Most of us would like to imagine a time when we can retire comfortably, but with social security quickly depleting that dream might be a little further away than we like. Eventually, long-term medical care won’t be provided by employers and most people will turn to programs like medicare. But aside from the general age group, what do you really know about a program that should provide you with quality care at an age when you need it the most? Here are 5 things everyone needs to know about medicare.

1. Tax rate—Have you ever looked closely at your pay stub? Medicare is already a part of your life with money being taken out of each check for the service. Most workers pay 1.45 percent of their earnings into the Medicare trust fund, and companies pay a matching 1.45 percent per employee. Self-employed workers pay 2.9 percent of their earned income into the Medicare trust fund. Beginning in 2013, the Affordable Care Act enacted an additional Medicare tax equal to 0.9 percent of earnings over $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples.
2. Premium costs—Despite what you may think about HMOs and PPOs now, they will essentially stay the same once Medicare becomes your primary insurance. This program also has “plans” that will define your level of care. Most retirees don’t pay a premium for Medicare Part A hospital insurance. The standard premium amount for Medicare Part B medical insurance is $104.90 per month in 2013, but retirees who earn more than $85,000 ($170,000 for couples) pay higher premiums.
3. Other out-of-pocket expenses—You still need to bring your wallet to the doctor’s office or pharmacy counter while on Medicare. Just as with private health insurance, Medicare has deductibles, copays and coinsurance. The Part B deductible is $147 in 2013, after which Medicare typically pays 80 percent of the Medicare-approved amount of the service. There’s no annual limit on what you might need to pay out-of-pocket.
4. Free physicals—You can get a free “welcome to Medicare” preventative care doctor’s visit during the first 12 months that you have Medicare Part B, which generally includes a review of your medical history and recommendations about preventative care. Once you’ve had Medicare for a year, you become eligible for annual wellness visits to a doctor to make a personalized plan to prevent disease.
5. What is not covered—Surprisingly enough, Medicare doesn’t cover some of the basic needs of a senior citizen. We poke fun at the elderly when they can’t see or hear anything, but we aren’t give them a fighting chance. There are a variety of medical services commonly used by older people that Medicare doesn’t cover, including routine dental or eye care, dentures and hearing aids. Medicare also does not cover extensive long-term care in a nursing home or assisted living facility.

While a pirate might have a better chance of finding gold at the bottom of the ocean than you do in your costume jewelry box, this shouldn’t dissuade you from searching for some. You probably noticed the amount of commercials targeting those who have old gold pieces they wish to get rid of. Gold is in huge demand right now. Ever watch Gold Rush on the Discovery Channel? Those guys work night and day for 6 months straight for just a couple hundred ounces and earn more than I do in one year. But is gold the best get-started investment for you? Here are a few of the pros and cons of investing in gold.There are several different types of gold-based commodities that you can potentially invest in. When you buy gold itself in the form of coins, ingots, bullion or bars, this is called a “physical asset”. Another option you can invest in is called a gold exchange traded fund, or EFT. An EFT is not all that different from buying a stock, as you are buying a “share” of the tracked price of gold. Share prices can vary throughout the day and over time. You can also purchase a share of gold as a commodity, often called investing in “futures”. This is the most uncertain and volatile form of investing, like gambling, as you are simply banking on your own investing intelligence, or that of your financial adviser, to best guess-timate what the future price of gold may do.

The Pros of Investing in Gold

There are several significant pros to investing in gold. Gold has some interesting properties including that its value tends to move in an inverse relationship to the value of the dollar or the performance of the stock market. A tangible asset, gold is also a more stable investment even in futures form. Gold is also immune from tarnish or damage in most cases, making it a durable, secure investment. As a stable asset, it can also be cheaper to buy than other metal commodities. Finally, banks use gold as a reserve asset meaning it will hold its value long after other forms of securities have fallen.

The Cons of Investing in Gold

There are also some significant cons to investing in gold. Gold can be lost or destroyed in the event of natural or man-made disasters, theft, or other incidents. There were a slew of cases a few years ago that involved the theft of copper wiring from air conditioners, gold is worth the risk of theft, which is why a jewelry box is the first thing thieves search. Gold is also considered a stable and secure asset and thus will not ever typically provide the rate of return that stocks can. Finally, gold in and of itself does not provide a return on investment beyond any differential in the bought and sold price after adjusting for inflation.

All-in-all, the general consensus is that the pros out weight the cons on this investment so if you have the money, you may want to consider investing in gold.

Silver is a metallic metal that possesses the highest electrical conductivity of any metal. Bet you didn’t know that’s what was hanging around your neck all this time. Silver has been valued as a precious metal for many years and is now used as an investment, to make jewelry and ornaments, used as high-end tableware and currency. The latest price of silver is $31 per ounce, it doesn’t look like much sitting next to the high price of gold, but it’s a more stable value than most stocks. Like gold, there are many different forms of silver you can invest in. Here are the pros and cons of investing in silver.If you would like to invest in silver without having to actually store it yourself, then silver mining stocks may be the investment for you. This type of investment can yield a return in capital appreciation or depending on the stock, pay a dividend as well. The disadvantage is that these stocks generally involve making a very large investment up front, so it is best suited for people with a lot of money to invest and a good understanding of the equities market. No other method has been more popular than the direct ownership of physical silver as an investment. The advantages far outweigh any minor disadvantages such as storage.

The Pros of Investing in Silver:

Silver is tangible and can be used for sale, barter or trade in case of economic collapse or massive currency devaluation.

Avoid the loss of purchasing power if the dollar decreases in value through inflation. If you buy silver, your silver will increase in price as the dollar decreases. This makes it kind of a catch 22 if you find yourself traveling to foreign countries and trying to get the most bang for your buck.

Silver is relatively inexpensive per ounce compared to gold and other precious metals, which makes it an easier start-up investment.

Silver has many industrial uses such as electronics, antibacterial preparations, clothing, technology and more.

The Cons of Investing in Silver:

Silver can go down in price after you buy it. This is true of almost any investment you make, but it’s important to acknowledge that there is no guarantee that silver will keep going up in value.

Silver can’t always be liquidated immediately if you need to buy something with cash. If you don’t have a silver dealer or a good pawn shop or jeweler where you can trade in the silver for money, you may experience a transaction delay.

Silver held in one’s possession is at risk of theft even if well secured.

Other investment opportunities, like real estate, stocks or small may outperform your returns from silver. There is the risk that you will not make as much money investing in silver as you would in some other venture or commodity.