[quote]Greekboy80 wrote:
stuff…
[/quote]
I think you’re the first teacher that I’ve ever heard that was happy with teacher level pay.
Guess I’m too used to the bitching and moaning about teachers being paid shit.
You have had some good replies on here but I think people are down playing the benefits of being a trainer. If you have a lot of exercise knowledge unfortunately you may not be able to use most of that in high school, but as a trainer that will be your bread and butter. You will have more freedom as a trainer to set your schedule and (once you get established) choose your clients or at least not work with the one’s you don’t like.
If you work for yourself there are a lot of deductions you can make tax wise. However as people pointed out you don’t get much for vacations, sick leave, benefits, etc. I don’t know where you live but in DC (where I am) starting trainers should make 30-35K a year easy and 45-55K is certainly doable in a year or so and is by no means the upper limit.
However all of that doesn’t mean much if you don’t enjoy your job, so I would say pick the one you are the most passionate about and go with that one. Good choices of both of them if you love fitness.
I’m a high school physed teacher in Ontario. I love it! We are paid very well. After 10 years our salary caps out at around $82,000. That’s about $70,000 US dollars. And, we are constantly renegotiating our contracts for better pay.
Also, we have one of the best pensions around and great benefits. I get 2 months off in the summer, 2 weeks at Christmas, 1 week for “March break”, and all of the other regular holidays. It comes out to a little more than 3 months of holidays…not to many jobs can offer that.
It would be very difficult to be personal trainer and a physed teacher at the same time. Physed teachers are expected to coach a couple of teams which could be pretty time consuming. There is nothing in our contracts that says we have to coach…but you would be a jerk if you didn’t because physed teachers have significantly less marking and planning compared to other teachers.
I was a personal trainer for 2 years and I also loved that job, but I am much more financially stable as a teacher. I know some of the great trainers are paid very well, but there aren’t very many of them.
Damn, I clicked on this thinking the “P.E.” in the title was Public Enemy. Where’s Chuck D? Terminator X?
I have also thought about going into a PE career…heres my problem, im tattooed! Full Sleeves, there is no hiding them at all(it was a phase)…Am i Screwed??? Or should i really think about getting into PE?
[quote]Split wrote:
well i know teachers for the most part in the states make crap, but here in canada they do VERY well for themselves, so i guess it depends on where you live.[/quote]
Teachers are well paid in my area. Some areas (like Kansas) they are not so well paid.
Good hours, good vacation and good benefits package. Sometimes I wish I went into teaching.
[quote]unearth wrote:
Greekboy80 wrote:
stuff…
I think you’re the first teacher that I’ve ever heard that was happy with teacher level pay.
Guess I’m too used to the bitching and moaning about teachers being paid shit.[/quote]
Well, your right in most cases. Most teachers just cant live within their means. I know a few teachers that have stay at home wives and do ok(not for everyone). Talk about being strapped for cash!
Also, just to be honest, a lot of the elementay teachers should get paid more…My wife teaches 1st grade and woks her butt off, planning, cutting up objects, making things, etc, from 6:00 a.m. till 9:00 p.m. at night, (with breaks to lift at the gym,have dinner with me, and to get a little nookie too). Plus on top of that she is just brilliant with her students, I dare anyone who says teachign is easy or anything of that topic to go to a 1st grade class and see what teachers do day in and day out…
I could not do what elem. teachers do, I admitt it…
But honestly, does STARTING OUT at $75,000 for a household sound horrible to you?
[quote]biggchris wrote:
I have also thought about going into a PE career…heres my problem, im tattooed! Full Sleeves, there is no hiding them at all(it was a phase)…Am i Screwed??? Or should i really think about getting into PE?[/quote]
Long sleeve tee-shirts my friend. It might be a little warmer, but it wouldn’t be that hard to hide them.
I have a tattoo that basically takes up my whole right forearm and might get a full sleeve on my left arm at some point (probably another few years before I know exactly what I want) and it’s not hard for me to hide. I’ve been thinking very strongly about going into teaching (probably not PE though), and I just plan on wearing a shirt and tie. No big deal, just keep 'em covered up at work.
It also depends where you live. Here in the DC Area, starting teacher is about 45k/year. Here that is poverty. Say you move to Richmond, VA. There they will get more like 35k/year. That is a middle of the road salary there. It really depends on where you are.
For the trainer making 30k in this area, you are not paying your rent. Ask me, I know. I’m doing well above 30k now, but im nowhere near wealthy and won’t be until I change careers or get extremely lucky.
My calculus teacher posted a salary of teachers for TN depending on what degree you had,if you had a doctorate you could make $112,000.though i dont know what the starting pay was.
I plan on goint to the Univeristy of Texas in the fall or next spring to get a degree in kinesiology with a minor in teaching.I wanted to do it that way so I can be a personal trainer if I want to,and I can go teach at a highschool or college if I want to.A lot of colleges will actually include the minor in teaching in the kinesiology.
I looked up the starting pay of a trainer who has a masters and it was $35-45 an hour.That ain’t bad,unless you owe the mafia or something.My dad makes around 25-30 an hour and he’s been at the same job since 1995 and we do fine.I don’t know why 40k starting out is bad for some of you,you can live off that.
I think the problem is yall dont live down south,the yankee tax must be pretty high 
[quote]TrainerinDC wrote:
It also depends where you live. Here in the DC Area, starting teacher is about 45k/year. Here that is poverty. Say you move to Richmond, VA. There they will get more like 35k/year. That is a middle of the road salary there. It really depends on where you are.
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I live in New Jersey and on a website I found it said an entry level high school gym teacher makes about 40,000 in Jersey.
Ask yourself this question:
Am I a good manipulator?
In other words, when you speak with potential clients, do you use emotional ‘money’ words or are you more direct.
In my experiences both in training, coaching and as a rabid observer, if you’re better at speaking in emotional and glittering generalities, personal training is the likely the better position for you…and plan on making a killing. The emotional types can make six figures or more if they want to.
If, on the other hand, you are more direct and to the point, you don’t take shit from people and you aren’t empathetic…coaching, strength coaching and possibly P.E. could be the better choice.
I’ve seen and heard and read about numerous trainers quitting (myself included) for one reason or another. However, one reason pops up more so than others and that is that they couldn’t sell training effectively. This comes down to a personality issue…if you’re potential client thinks your an asshole, chances are they won’t buy sessions from you.
So to sum it up:
If the thought of Brian Tracy and Tony Robbins seminars makes you wanna puke, P.E., coaching or strength coaching is probably the better route.
[quote]Greekboy80 wrote:
unearth wrote:
That’s kind of like asking - “What’s a better career move, hot-dog stand vendor or night shift manager at Wendy’s?”
Ok, maybe not that bad, but financially pretty damn close.
Dude, horrible attitude.I’m a P.E. teacher and you make pretty damn good money for teaching. My wife and I(26 & 27 yrs old) both teach now and love it! We are doing just fine financially and in our relationship.
You start off at mid 30’s and by the time you finish your career you end up @ around mid 50’s. With 2 people being teachers we pull in about 75 grand a year now. By the time we retire we will be being paid aroud 110,000 a year, thats not too shabby. There is not many families that make more than that…
We have great beneifts(better than most any jobs), paid retirement(we dont contribute a dime) and also we have our summers off, great vacations and most importantly we will have awesome time to raise our children and concentrate on being a wonderful family(if thats valueable to you).
Like the guy said above me, do both, take advantage of both and personal train on your freetime and during the summers. You’ll be making bank and still have pleanty of time during the summer to travel, go to the beach, work out or screw your wife all day long while the rest of the population is workng…
Yeah I have a horrible life…[/quote]
Since when is mid 30’s “damn good money”? Jesus…
[quote]chrisrodx wrote:
Since when is mid 30’s “damn good money”? Jesus…
[/quote]
In California it never is. I, however, as a single male living in the midwest, making mid 30 is a pretty good living.
Ok, I guess I still wouldn’t call it “damn good,” but I support myself just fine with enough left over to play with.
[quote]Greekboy80 wrote:
But honestly, does STARTING OUT at $75,000 for a household sound horrible to you? [/quote]
Yes.
I say do what you love. Im a PT and its the only job I have truely enjoyed.
Its not how much you make is how much you save that gets you to retirement early.
[quote]chrisrodx wrote:
Since when is mid 30’s “damn good money”? Jesus…
[/quote]
Chris, I guess it all depends where you live. I live in Norfolk, Virginia. Not a Major Metro by any means but still a bigger city than most. I see you live in Cali, depending where you live there, in California $37,000 might not be great, but teachers in California probably get paid more, much more, but the cost of living is much much higher.
YOU have a choice where YOU live and how expensive YOU want YOUR life to be…
Here in Norfolk, No one, unless your job is highly trained, i.e. Doctor, Engineer, Lawyer, Etc. You dont start off with a salary over $40,000. Some aren’t lucky enough to make mid 30,000’s with a college degree.
And here, the median Household income is around $60,000 to $70,000(and i’m being generous, its porb lower). My family is making that starting off first year out of school @ 23 & 24 yrs. old.
Like I said, Mid 30’s is pretty damn good. Maybe I should have said, “in some places”, sorry…
[quote]unearth wrote:
Greekboy80 wrote:
But honestly, does STARTING OUT at $75,000 for a household sound horrible to you?
Yes.[/quote]
Well, I would to hate to live where you live…see my post above.
[quote]Greekboy80 wrote:
chrisrodx wrote:
Since when is mid 30’s “damn good money”? Jesus…
And here, the median Household income is around $60,000 to $70,000(and i’m being generous, its porb lower).
[/quote]
Actually, after further research, 2001 census says that the median household income is $36,000. Much lower than I assumed. Now, that is 7 years ago, so I’ll give it $55,000 median household income as of today(still being generous).
I’m still killing that starting off.
[quote]unearth wrote:
Greekboy80 wrote:
But honestly, does STARTING OUT at $75,000 for a household sound horrible to you?
Yes.[/quote]
Dare I ask what you do for a living and where you live? Actually, I realize that might be getting a bit personal. Just answer me this: are you still in college?
If you’re not and you’re making considerably more than that, then congratulations (and I mean that seriously, no sarcasm here). You make more than probably 80-90% of the general population. If you are still in school and you’re still young, you may be very disappointed in life.
The remainder of this post is not directed at the poster that I quoted:
Some doctors, lawyers, and brokers don’t even get “rich” by some standards. Not a lot, but some. And some of the ones that do make a lot of money live in constant debt and stress (job-related stress, car payments, mortgage, sending kids to private school, etc.). To me, that’s not really “living”.
If having the biggest house on the street, the most expensive cars, membership to the most exclusive private social and country clubs is important to you, then yeah $70-80,000 for a family probably isn’t a lot of money. But like I already said, if you don’t need all that stuff and can live within your means, you can have a very nice life with that amount of money.