Due to the cyclic nature of the industry, it is almost impossible for oilfield workers to achieve early retirement. The game is rigged. It is easy to say that if oilfield workers would just save a little more, and live a bit farther below their means, and avoid buying big trucks, they’d be able to quit their jobs and live the life they crave. But that’s not the reality. Downturn happens in the oil and gas industry every few years, and these crises could devastate oilfield workers’ emergency funds. Only the next energy boom can help. Please God, just give us one more oil boom. We promise not to blow it next time.
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I don't think anyone is saying that the oilfield will be gone soon. The problem is when people go to work for short sighted service companies (BHI, HAL, SLB) and are fooled into thinking they have an actual career or are part of some "family". Then they eventually realize that in the big picture, they are at the very bottom of the barrel and can be disposed of at anytime. Trust me, I have made the leap to the major operator side, and I can guarantee you it is night and day. When we deal with service hands, we don't even want to know their names, because we know that same person might be gone from that service company in a week. Do major operators have layoffs too? Sometimes. Are they as massive and frequent as service company layoffs? No, not even close.
I had numerous people in the past 10 years say the oilfield is here to stay for the next 50 years and they are not worried about it. It usually the guys that have never lived a down turn.
No well managed company has any desire to make its workers financially independent. They want to pay them enough so they won't leave but little enough that they have to stay. Retention is good for business. Employee turnover is not. No corporation has any interest in the personal issues of its workers. Accept reality.
tend to agree with you, though for slightly different reasons. Those fortunate enough to 'find' themselves in well paying field jobs, yeah, you can make it into early retirement, but there is some amount of luck involved, well luck and timing, suppose they could be the same thing in a way. Job based bonus helps in the good times, and that comes from a Wireline bias, certainly in the last 10 years bonuses have been very, very high especially on the cased-hole/frac side. Field tends to favor younger guys, endless round the clock hours and back to back jobs take their toll eventually, though some do hang on in the field into their 40s and 50s. I don't know the ratio of 'crazy spenders' to diligent savers, but certainly the corporate enthusiasm to push the 401k lottery (in my humble opinion) contributes to the general unpreparedness out there, hey the match helps but overall few are able to take advantage of the market gamble, and being ultra conservative doesn't help much either, returns are meager... no idea what the answer is, but for our generation, the boomers, the vast majority will likely struggle, in or out the oilfield, particularly here in the US.
Seen guys get a few good paychecks and then go out and buy a brand new truck with all the fancy details. Then they panic when shit hits the fan. You see this happen at oilfield service companies all the damn time. What's worse is when the person doing this know's they are NOT qualified for any other type of work that pays anywhere near that.
108024
The dollar is as strong as ever.at a all time high. You need to stop watching fox . And research for your self.
You haven't seen anything yet , Wait until the dollar becomes worthless. It's coming to america real soon.