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Put the four paths side by side.

Answer seven honest questions about your teen. You will get the same four paths every family gets, sorted by how well they line up with your answers, with real costs, real timelines, and the honest downside of each one.

  • About 3 minutes
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  • Nothing is saved or sent

Seven questions about your teen

Question 1 of 7

Here is how the four paths line up

Sorted by fit with your answers. This is a starting point for a conversation, not a verdict. Every one of these four is a good life if it is chosen on purpose.

The four paths

All four are real. None of them is the safe one.

  • College

    A four-year degree, usually at a Florida public university.

    Fit with your answers 

    • CostRoughly $6,000 a year in tuition and fees in state, closer to $20,000 to $25,000 a year once housing, books, and food are in. Bright Futures covers a large share of tuition for students who qualify.
    • First full paycheckFour to five years out
    • First year looks likeGeneral education classes, mostly not in the major, plus learning to run your own schedule for the first time.

    The honest downside: it is the most expensive way to find out what you do not want to do. Roughly a third of students who start do not finish, and the debt does not care whether you finished.

  • Trades

    A licensed skill: electrical, HVAC, welding, plumbing, diesel, medical tech.

    Fit with your answers 

    • CostCertificate programs at a Florida state college commonly run a few thousand dollars total. Registered apprenticeships pay you while you learn.
    • First full paycheckSix months to two years
    • First year looks likeClass plus shop time, or an apprenticeship where you are the newest person on a real job site.

    The honest downside: the work is hard on your body, and the pay ceiling stays modest until you get licensed, or until you run the business instead of the truck.

  • Service

    Military, and the service-year programs next to it.

    Fit with your answers 

    • CostNo tuition. You are paid from day one, with housing and medical covered, and the GI Bill afterward.
    • First full paycheckImmediately, at a junior enlisted rate
    • First year looks likeBasic training, then technical school for your job, then your first duty station, which is usually not where you asked to go.

    The honest downside: you are signing a contract measured in years, and you do not control where you live or what you do next. I spent 25 years in and I will tell any teen the same thing: it is a good life for the right person and a long one for the wrong person.

  • Work & Entrepreneurship

    A job now, with a plan, or building something of your own.

    Fit with your answers 

    • CostNo tuition. The real cost is the credential you are not building yet, and any money you put into a venture.
    • First full paycheckRight away
    • First year looks likeFull-time hours, learning what you are actually good at, and finding out fast whether you can manage your own money and time.

    The honest downside: this is the one that quietly becomes five years. It works when there is a written plan and a date attached. It stalls when it is just what happened after graduation.

Read this part too

What seven questions cannot tell you

  • Whether your teen would actually enjoy the work, which usually takes a day of shadowing somebody to find out.
  • What they are good at that nobody has named yet. Most teens cannot list three strengths with evidence, and that is the first week of the sprint for a reason.
  • What the money really looks like for your family, including Bright Futures, aid, and what you are willing to co-sign.
  • Whether they will follow through, which is a question about dates on a calendar, not about ambition.

The four-week version of this

The sprint is where these questions get tested against your actual teen, and where it turns into a written plan with dates on it. Start with a free 20-minute parent call.

Book a free 20-minute parent call

No pressure. If it's not a fit, I'll tell you.