Imagine for a moment, being in the 7th grade.  Your whole world ahead of you.  Every opportunity available. No fear, no worry, just pure potential.  Last week, as the school year had just begun, my son’s new math teacher, in an effort to show them how math IS actually used in day to life, sent home an assignment titled, “What is your Dream Career?”  The whole posterboard/creative presentation/”fun” assignment thing has never particularly appealed to Kendall, but since he had actually been exploring what he wanted to be quite a bit over the summer, he was excited about it.  Long conversations about who makes how much money, how businesses work, how each person’s roll within a business works, how to create steady income without having to work – aka passive income, and how is he going to be able to afford the Ford Mustang he wants for his 16th birthday have been ongoing for months.

Perhaps because of the recession and he is engaged in/hearing/a part of conversations about how everyone is cutting back and feeling the pressure and stress of tough economic times. Perhaps because he is at the age where kids are asked this question. Perhaps because his friends are talking about whether they are going to “do” what their parents “do” when they grow up.  Perhaps it is a combination of all of the above.   Whatever the reason, the question has reverberated through many channels as my friends and I engage in this conversation with our kids.   For now is the time when many of us adults are facing our own questions – what are we going to do?  For money.  For a career, either old or new?  For ourselves?   For our family? What do we want to be today, tomorrow, in our future?

And while it is a bit different for a mom, it is a refreshing and exciting conversation to engage in – both with kids as they explore their futures and with friends as we all explore our own.   Here is Kendall’s report, unedited, from his 12-year old, 7th grade mind.  It’s a beautiful mind.   And this presents a simple lesson in how we all can map out our dreams, simply, create or recreate who we want to be, and establish a sense of financial security in our future.  My favorite line?  ”All you have to do is do what you do well.”

What is your Dream Career?  By Kendall Melton
I am going to be an attorney/lawyer when I grow up because, first of all, it pays well.  Also because my grandpa was one as well.  An attorney’s job entails something different for every person because there are several different types of lawyers.  For example there is civil and criminal lawyers.  A civil lawyer is the type of lawyer who deals with personal, injury, contracts, trademark and more issues, while a criminal lawyer is the type of lawyer who either protects criminals or defends criminals, which is called a prosecutor lawyer.

I want to be a criminal prosecutor type of lawyer because I want to make sure that no criminals get away when they should be found guilty.  I will now tell you how to become an attorney and the salary they can make.

To become an attorney you must first do well in middle school, graduate from high school, and graduate college to get a bachelor’s degree.  Next you must attend law school for about three years to get your law degree.  After you get your law school degree you must then take the BAR exam and pass if you wish to continue to study the art of law.  After you pass your BAR exam you then may send out job applications to people so you can began your work and start your career!  Now a typical educated attorney can make around $70,000 to $100,000 a year while a well-educated attorney can make around $200,000 to $300,000 a year.  Finally the cap salary is in the millions, although very few people qualify in that area.

When you are just beginning your career you want to make sure that you quickly climb up the ladder to success.  The way you do this is really simple….  All you have to do is do what you do well.  That means either winning in the courtroom or doing what your client wants you to do and that’s it!

It is important to pay attention in math class because one of the first and most important financial elements to being an attorney is being able to bill your customers correctly.  This is important because if you don’t know how to bill your clients properly then you could be losing money, and we don’t want that.  The second thing you need math for is that it helps you think logically, and you definitely need to be able to think logically, or make smart, quick decisions based on things you know, if you want to become an attorney.  Next, if you are going to sue somebody then you have to know how much to sue him or her for and finally, if somebody used your client’s trademark you will need to find out how much money they lost you because of it.  As you can see math is required in all of these examples and is very important if you wish to become an attorney!

As you might expect becoming an attorney is not easy but it has great rewards!!!