#9: Career Research Questions

The Career Path I would like to follow is, becoming a veterinarian.

1. Who hires entry level professionals for your career?   Small animal clinics, veterinary hospitals, colleges and universities, social advocacy programs, local state or federal government agencies, farms or zoos hire entry level professionals for veterinarians. 
2. What does one need to know and be able to do for this career? The skills I need are critical thinking, complex problem solving, decision making, speaking, active listening, reading skills, knowledge of software used to record information and communicate with others , knowledge of software specific to the veterinarian field, experience with x-ray,and experience with surgical and laboratory equipment.
   
3. What type of work does one do in this career? I prevent and and treat injuries and illnesses in animals. I might specialize in a field, like surgery, and I might specialize in a certain type of animal, like horses or wildlife or dogs. I diagnose patients, prescribe medication, perform surgery, give vaccinations, and recommend types of health care to pet owners. I might also conduct research in areas such as biomedical science.
4. What are typical starting salaries? A typical starting salaray for students accepting employment is $45,575.00, but for students going into advanced education it is $65,404.00.
5. What type of benefits package can one expect? Benefits for salaried veterinarians include paid holidays and vacations, health insurance, and pension plans. Self employed veterinarians mustprovide their own benefits.
6. How many entry level jobs are available each year? Over 51,000 vets. work in clinics and veterinary hospitals, local state and federal federal government agencies employ about 2,000 and college and university employ approximately 600 while social advocacy programs employ less than 600.
7. What is the projected outlook for job openings in this career for the next ten years? The growth projection over the next 10 years is 36%
8. Where are these jobs located? These jobs are in the government, universities, and in research.
9. What sort of advancements are available in this career? The only kind of advancement there is in this career is becoming a board member which validifies your knowledge of the trade and also your commitment and willingness to the trade. Also, becoming a member of the board can get you better pay, more benefits, the right to refer to yourself as a diplomate, and a few other things.
   
   
10. What is the average salary? The average wage of a veterinarian is $84,460.00
11. What is a high salary?  How many people make this salary? A high salary is over $144,100.00 and about %10 of veterinarians make this much.
12. What professional organizations will you need to join? I dont HAVE to join a professional organization, but the organization that most veterinarians are represented by is the American Veterinary Medical Association. 
13. Is additional education required?  If so, what is required?
    I need an average of 4 1/2 years of undergraduate education then I will go to a veterinary school for 4 years. After than I can choose to get one more year of "education" in the form of an internship . I can also choose to become board certified and that means a residency of approximately 2-3 years which could also be considered "additional education".
14. After 15 years, what second career(s) could you pursue with the same degree and/or other education? With a veterinary medicine degree I can pursue jobs in the fields of corporate veterinary medicine (animal testing or producing animal related products), the federal government (food and drug administration , CDC, United States Department of Agriculture, ect.) , research ( university setting or companies that produce animal related products), teaching; in academia or non-professional schools, public health, food supply medicine, public policy (working for government on animal and zoonotic diseases, animal welfare, public health issues, ect.), and shelter medicine ( working with communities and private or public agencies to ensure the health and wellbeing of animal populations housed in shelters)
15. What other relevant information did you find?.
    I dont know if this information is relevant but something that I found interesting is that a Nuclear Medicine Technologist is considered a job related to a veterinarian.

#10: My budget

-Packages to the U.S from Australia : website 

-Phone contract in Australia : website 

-Myki pass monthly price : website 

#11: Taxes

For my first tax estimate I put that I was a single 25 year old home owner with no children. My taxable wages are $66,469.00. I donate $200.00 to charity. I don't pay childcare expenses. I put in $400.00 to energy efficient improvements. I paid college tuition expenses and I didn't qualify for American Opportunity Credit.

When I estimated my taxes for the second time, I kept everything exactly the same except for the fact that I now had 4 kids. 2 kids age 16 or under and 2 kids aged 17 - 23. The amount of taxes due changed from $7,729.00 to $2,956.00. Thats a $4,773.00 difference. 

The third time I estimated my taxes , I changed everything back to what it was originally. No kids. Then I changed that fact that I was single, to being married. That changed my amount of taxes due from $7,729.00 to $5,979.00. Thats a difference of $1,750.00.

#12: Surprise 1 - My lifetime earnings

Assuming that i'm accepted into university right after high school , then, after 8 years , i'm hired as a clinical veterinarian, I will be 25 years old. My starting salary would be $66,469.00, and if I work 40 years until I retire than I would make a total of $3,708,043. Then I incorporated the inflation rate (.0163) and my new total amount was $2,430,442. 

I made my percent of inflation .0163 because , I assume that eventually I will be working in a research facility where I will be making at least $124,610.00 a year, and using .0163 will eventually get me to making $124,875.00 a year, which is as close to $124,610.00 as I could possibly get.  

Here's a link to my spread sheet... 

#13: Surprise 2 - How much will I spend on these 3 things my whole life

The three things I decided to predict my life time earning on are, rent expenses, food expenses, and clothing expenses. My assumptions are that, annually I will be spending $21,120 annually on rent, $3,600 annually on food, and $1,200 annually on clothing. The inflation of rent is .03%, the inflation of food is 1.5%, and the inflation of clothing is .03%. You can see my calculations and number all on the spreadsheet bellow....


Here's a link to my spreadsheet

#14: Reflection

Reflection: What have you learned while completing Entries 8 through 13?

• Which of your answers surprised you? Explain.                        The answer that surprised me most was, the significant amount  of taxes I didn't have to pay when I was single with 4 children. To put it plainly, it was surprising because it was a lot of money that i would be "saving", but not really saving because I would most likely just end up spending the money on my kids or something like that.                                                                         
• Did you expect your lifetime earnings to be as much as you estimated in Entry 12?  Explain.                                     I was actually expecting my lifetime earnings to be more than i had estimated, but I figure that's because I didn't input the income i would be receiving if I transferred into working in a research facility and just used my starting income.                                                                       
• Did you expect your lifetime expenses to be as much as you estimated in Entry 13?  Explain.                                                   Honestly , I was assuming that I would be spending more money that what I ended up spending. 40 years is a long time and thats also a lot of money. Maybe because I still dont fully understand the value of dollar and thats why it doesn't seem like a lot of money , but I was really expecting to spend a lot more money on this three things.    
• 
• Now that we’ve finished Life Stage 2, how would you change your answer to Entry 8?  Why or why not?                                          Assuming that this question isn't relevant to the next question, and that you're just asking if I would change my answer based on the research we had to do, I would say that I would contribute money into paying for university ot for paying for my living expenses when I (hopefully) move to Australia. Aside from that though, I dont think I would really change my answer.                                            
     
• How would you change your answer if you knew that $1 million needed to last you the rest of your life?                             If I knew that $1 million dollars had to last me the rest of my life, than I don't really know what I would do. I'm not sure if this question is stating that I'm not going to be able to make money on my own and that I'm just going to have to live off of this $1 million or if it's stating that, this $1 million has to be visible in my life but I'm free to make my own money as well. Obviously , if it was meant to last me the rest of my life and it was my only source of income then I would have to make some major changes, like I would probably just live at home for the rest of my life, and walk everywhere. Though, if it's stating that I have this $1 million along with my own other source of income, then I wouldn't change anything and would probably just end up spending more money on a lot of other useless things, like a hedgehog, or my own personal Chipotle.