Reddit mentions of The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change

I run my own little title insurance agency. Didn't go to school for it, though my field is heavily involved with real estate law and being an English major coincidentally did help a lot (close reading, textual analysis, etc.).

I got into it after my dad, who is a mortgage broker, first tried to get me to follow in his business but I have zero interest in that side of it. So when I was finishing up college he said: "Well you read and write all the time in college, and there's this thing called title insurance where you can at least make money at it." I looked into it, it did seem a good fit for my skills, so I got licensed and hit the road to get clients...turned out well.

BUT it turned out well because I started in 2005. Real estate bubble times. My success was pretty much my timing. Had I started even a year or two later, I'd not have made even half what I have.

I do enjoy what I do, because it's almost like being a real estate attorney through the back door (title insurance used to be done by attorneys in fact). I can't give legal advice or anything, but I have to know quite a bit of local real estate law and many of my clients are attorneys. When a title issue comes up we often hash out the problems & solutions together and it's fun. My respect for attorneys has definitely gone up tremendously, and the jokes about them are unfair overall. Yes there are some douchebag ones with big egos, but there are people like that in every field.

Would I recommend others get into this? Depends. I would not recommend starting your own agency like I did. Small agencies like mine are dropping like flies, both due to tougher regulations (the CFPB, which I actually support, is nonetheless cracking down hard on my industry now) and due to the best days of U.S. real estate now behind us. There just isn't the volume of business or number of clients out there to build a new network, especially with how regulated our industry is when it comes to sales/spending on clients (in my state I'm not allowed to spend more than $20 a YEAR on a client...that means I can't even take them out to lunch in many spots, not if I want to buy them some donuts for Christmas or something...it's nuts).

But I will recommend this: if you're an English or History major and don't mind an okay salary working for a larger title ins. company, it's worth checking out as a sort of "wild card" option instead of the usual teaching path that English/History majors go on.

Which leads to one final note: what I actually went to school for was to become a teacher. I got certified and everything, did my student teaching, taught 2nd & 5th grades. The short answer to that whole path is: only do teaching if you really can't picture yourself doing anything else and don't mind if no one else appreciates you for it. The KIDS do (honestly they really do, even if they act like they don't), and if that's enough to keep you going...well then maybe go for it. It's tough though. (If anyone wants more details on my experience pursuing teaching, feel free to PM me.)

Oh, and ALL of you need to watch this 15 minute video to understand the labor environment of the future we're moving into. Automation and bots are making rapid strides into nearly every field. For example: Think "I'm a doctor, I'll be fine"? Think again:

Humans Need Not Apply

If that video intrigued you, definitely read this book too.