Are you guys survining off your security job alone?

[dsoul27]

I was just wondering if security work alone is paying the bills and helping you live comfortable. I just got out of the military and was making allot more money then I am now. I really do enjoy the work, I love it. I don't see myself doing anything else but this and law enforcement. But the money/benefits isn't good. Luckily this is a dual income house and my wife is making good money. But if it was just me, I wouldn't be surviving in California with a security check. I'm trying to get all the training I can so I can make more money, maybe then I'll be ok.

what's your comments/advice

[tattedupboy]

I was just wondering if security work alone is paying the bills and helping you live comfortable. I just got out of the military and was making allot more money then I am now. I really do enjoy the work, I love it. I don't see myself doing anything else but this and law enforcement. But the money/benefits isn't good. Luckily this is a dual income house and my wife is making good money. But if it was just me, I wouldn't be surviving in California with a security check. I'm trying to get all the training I can so I can make more money, maybe then I'll be ok.

what's your comments/advice

I also have a tutoring job on the side. I do approximately 31 hours of security per week plus between 8 and 16 hours of tutoring I suppose that if my girlfriend weren't in the picture, I'd be able to live off of security by itself, but since she is, I probably wouldn't.

[HotelSecurity]

I used to do my 40 hour a week job at the downtown hotel then cover an 8 hour overnight job at one of the other hotels. This gave me one day off a week which I spent sleeping

Many years ago I got into trouble with my mortgage then tax payments. I had to get a mortgage from one of the credit companies. (Legal loan sharks!). I was paying 18%

2 years ago when the house needed majpr repairs I finally gave up & sold it. Because I have a big dog I needed a ground level appartment & no one wanted to rent to me with the dog. Luckly at that time some "flats" were being subdivded & turned into condos. I bought one. I am now paying under $500 a month, tax included where as my old place was costing me over $1,000.00. It is not as nice an area as where I used to be (that's where the dog comes in handy) but I am close to everything, including a 3 minute walk to the métro! Sometimes you have to look at what you are doing & make a drastic change.

[Hank1]

I can honestly say that I am living pretty well on what I make as a security officer. I will never be rich, but I find my job enjoyable and my bills are paid. I get to help people ( I know it's corny) and I have helped put some bad people in jail/prison. But, like my father used to tell me "If you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life". Well, he was right about that.

Be safe,

Hank

[copelandamuffy]

I agree with everything Hank stated. But it is a two income economy we
live in. My wife works full time during the week, and part time on weekends
I am doing okay because I am an Account Manager for contractual Security, and on weekends do detail for them.
My wife and I have had weeks where we have worked 125-plus hours togther.

[Bern Wheaton]

well I skim by if I could loose the doctor bills I be a little ahead of the game. But my condo mortage is only 374 and dues are 213. so if i pay off the big bills the other ones can just get small amounts.

[CorpSec]

I am lucky in that I landed a great job in security and make over 70k a year. However, the thing that sucks is that jobs like mine are few and far in between and if I lost it I would be pretty screwed.

I am sure I could get a position that paid high 30's to mid 40's without a lot of issues, but that would be a big pay cut and I would have to give up some stuff.

[dsoul27]

you guys have some low rent/house payments my rent here in California is $905 a month, and thats a one bedroom. Me and the wife is thinking of moving to washington state. next year. money goes a little further when you get outside of california.

[HotelSecurity]

you guys have some low rent/house payments my rent here in California is $905 a month, and thats a one bedroom. Me and the wife is thinking of moving to washington state. next year. money goes a little further when you get outside of california.

I paid a big down payment on my condo, that's why it's so cheap for me.

[EMTGuard]

We clip coupons, don't go out much and scrape by.

[Lawson]

I try to live as comfortably as possible, but it's not easy. I am a 1 income household as I live alone. I get the bills paid for the most part... sometimes I have to not pay a couple bills so I can pay more important ones (like skipping cable to pay the rent). It sucks, and I hope I can get a higher paying job soon.

[junkyarddog]

My other income is as a facility services contractor, anything that requires expertise and more equipment/resources than a regular janitorial contractor. I've been doing that for 10 years. My mistake was when the decision had to made between having a bunch of employees and evolving into more of a sales guy and keeping it small and doing the work myself (with some helpers), I chose to keep it small. Lost 3/4s of my business when at the same time an account that had 4 separate job sites (about 300k SF overall) and a small grocery chain we did floors for went out of business at the same time. Both were regular per-year contracts, serviced daily. Had to get rid of the guys that I had, and am in a rebuilding phase. I still get 1000-2000 a month from what I have left (depending on the month, these aren't serviced daily and half are on-demand).

Without that additional income, there is no way I could feed my family on what I make doing security. Unless they want to pay me $30.00 an hour + full benefits, I am outta security as soon as I have enough contracts to get me back to where I was before.

[craig333]

I'm just barely keeping my head above water, and thats with the income from renting out a room.

[Bern Wheaton]

I was lucky the people where getting a divorce and wanted to get rid of it cheap ,one is because it didn't run by gas at all ,just elec. which is way to high as is. I like it because it is a two bedroom with fireplace and a nice view of the park. and at the edge of the city. where the bear and moose roam. and now if I ever sale it ill double my amount of the sale price.

[Nauticus]

I live in Canada, but I'm the same way. I'm taking a course so that I can start training to do Private Investigation, and I'm considering starting up a company - so plenty of financial risk there.