THE DISADVANTAGED LATE BLOOMER…

Q.) What is the main disadvantage of being a Late Bloomer?

A.) The Late Bloomer is not up against his peers. He is up against high school kids!

The Late Bloomer did not build a strong character or gain worthwhile skills during the formative years, as did early bloomers. Therefore, when the Late Bloomer begins to bloom, usually in his 30s, he is focused on the same educational and maturational goals as an early bloomer just out of high school who is 10 to 15 years his junior. Both are getting the same lessons from the same colleges using the same books. So what exactly are the disadvantages?

The disadvantages are 3 fold:

1. The dogs
2. Money matters
3. Real responsibilities

First up: The dogs.

I have never believed that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. But I will admit that the phrase was not born out of thin air. It is simply more difficult for the Late Bloomer than it is for an early bloomer to catch on to learning today’s technologies. The early bloomer, fresh out of high school, is already familiar with these technologies because they are introduced in high school, and because he is an early bloomer he has already taken the time to study and understand them. I have talked to high school juniors and seniors who already understand computer programming languages and other technologies. These are, at worst, foreign, or at best, introduced in non-formal ways, to the Late Bloomer.

Let’s discuss study habits. It is extremely difficult for a Late Bloomer to learn the proper study habits and skills that he should have learned during his school years. The early bloomer, fresh out of school, has already taken the time to build these habits and skills.

These things said, it naturally follows that the young buck will have the advantage over the Late Bloomer regarding learning new technologies and study habits; not to mention that the Late Bloomer has long since forgotten anything he learned in high school regarding all things math, science, and English (assuming he learned them at some level in the first place).

Next up: Money Matters:

By “money matters” I am not referring to matters about money, at least not the way it seems to be implied. I am referring to the fact that money matters. It matters to the Late Bloomer much more than to the high school grad. In many cases the graduate is fairly well set up for his college years. He may have parents who have set up funds for tuition, room, and board; or perhaps just tuition with the expectation that their new college student will stay at home during those years. If the case is such that the parents did not, or simply could not, set up such an arrangement, there are school loans, grants and a whole host of other pools from which to draw money. The point is that the high school grad is typically not overly concerned about the money or its source. He knows he will get it because he is an early bloomer and has the motivation to find it. He is even willing work for what he needs. (I will talk about this in a second. Hang on.)

The Late Bloomer is not so at ease. Chances are that the Late Bloomer is already married, possibly with children. If he does not have a mortgage payment yet, then he will have a rent payment. He is also feeling the pressure of all that rent money going out the window straight into another person’s wallet. (And the other person is probably an early bloomer anyway, so there’s a bit of salt on the wound for ya’.) The late bloomer is focused on getting bills paid, usually maintaining at least one car, and trying to save a bit of money for a house or family or repairs or vacation or whatever. And because he is a Late Bloomer, he doesn’t make enough to cover all of that, which is why he is now, in his 30s, trying to catch up to everyone else his age. And he, like the early bloomer, is willing to work for what he needs.

One more point about “Money Matters”. I have stated that both the early bloomer and the Late Bloomer are willing to work for what they need. There is a huge difference between the two. One is working to support himself. The other is working to support himself and probably a wife and family. (The truly blessed Late Bloomer would be the one who discovers that he is at a disadvantage before marriage and children come into the picture.) It therefore stands to reason that the Late Bloomer needs more money. That perhaps seems like a loose argument with many hanging treads to pull it apart. But I would stack my financial needs/goals up to any high school graduate and I think the argument stands up pretty well. Sure. The freshly graduated kid may not get into a job that pays great amounts of cash (or perhaps he will, who knows). But play out the scene for 4 years and you’ll find that the early bloomer has received his 4 year degree while the Late Bloomer is struggling to get his 2 year degree in that same 4 years. The early bloomer has given it his full attention while the Late Bloomer has been distracted by responsibilities. This obviously brings me to my next point: Real Responsibilities.

Real Responsibilities:

This will be a quick point.
The distractions that keep the Late Bloomer from being so focused on his education are not at all distractions for the kid out of high school.

Being a college student at the age of 40, with a wife, a 4 year old, a two year old, and a two bedroom apartment, a 40 hour a week job, a 1 hour commute each way, and yet still trying to maintain a social life, is…well…hard. It just is. I don’t know anyone who says it’s easy.

The Late Bloomer has real responsibilities. The freshman at college? he just don’t!

So there you have it. The Late Bloomer is not up against his peers. He is up against high school graduates. And he is at a disadvantage because of: The Dogs, Money Matters, and Real Responsibilities.