I was reading about FIFO workers the other day and was really intrigued. I find it an interesting glimpse into the age old argument of fairness. You'll often hear people complain about how unfair things are. How if only they were given the chance - the opportunities that only the rich get. But here you have a large number of people that were given the chance to make obscene amounts of money and blew it. To be sure, not everyone blew it - some did the right thing and were responsible, invested their money etc. But many did not.
Does anyone know any FIFO workers that have gone from rags to riches then back again? I'm curious - do they at least acknowledge that they screwed up, or do they still see the world as unfair? Are they still bitter about those corporate fat cats?
I've never seen such a great opportunity for huge numbers of the working poor to get RICH, and I'm curious to see whether it has changed their attitudes about money and social "fairness".
Please don't bundle us FIFO all into the same box.
Like any profession,suburb,school,office block, some make it some don't.
I have heard of kids working at maccas saving every dollar and buying an ip when they turn 18 others at maccas have just spent their money on more maccas.
The only difference with all of us is the 0s that follow the $ sign and how we make it work for us.
Like anything , the media grab the minority and blow it out of proportion . They will always find a hard luck story. That's the media.
In my department here in FIFO land we have a 75% turnover of staff. It's hard to deal with l can tell you. But what we get is a lot of kids come up here to buy a car, overseas trip,pay their hec, s or credit card debt.
The Other majority is middle aged women who have divorced and are trying to re set their lives up financially .
They are the ones that stay, manage and make it work for them.
I talk to the miners everyday and l can tell you the majority have done pretty damn nicely thank you very much because they have been around before and know all too well that she booms and busts just like the property cycle goes up and down. By the way l would have to say the majority of the fellas up here are all over 40.
A lot have lost their jobs now with the down turn, they move on settle for less money and when she booms again they will prolly look at coming back and make the $s work a bit harder for them.
This iron ore boom has been fantastic for the Australian economy. The opportunities it's given so many across the country and further afield in so many different areas.
Don't knock it and don't knock those who have tried to make the most of it.
I hope you benefited in some way from the boom.
Maybe look for an opportunity to profit from the next boom. I know there is lots of great big yellow dump trucks going cheap if you can find a buyer
Me ,well l am lucky that l was/ am fit and healthy enough to come up here and work my but off for the last 3 years to recover from some bad, ip investment decisions, and big losses from the GFC. Thank God for mining. I am now hoping to push ahead and score an offshore job, so l can really start building my finacial security for the future
Cheers
Yadreamin