I always laugh when I hear some adjusters whining about the drawbacks to adjusting.
It never fails. Someone will have heard about all the money that can be made as an independent CAT adjuster and they ask about getting into adjusting...and some adjuster will flood them with discouraging comments.
“You have to work a lot.”
“You are away from home so much.”
“It's hard work.”
“You make big money, but you have to pay your own expenses, and you have to pay taxes.”
These comments usually poor out one right after another in quick succession, and whoever they're coming from generally has a frantic, contorted look on their face that would scare the bejezus out of anyone.
Ok. Now first off, it’s true that adjusters have to work a lot. And it's true that adjusting is hard work.
But, so what?
I'm not afraid to work hard to make money...as long as it's a lot of money! You have to work hard in any real field to be successful. Adjusting is definitely not a sit-back-relax-and-get-rich scheme. What it is though, is a job where you can actually be rewarded well for working hard, and a field that you will wash out of if you aren't willing to learn and do the hard work.
You do have to pay your own expenses as an adjuster, but you should still come out way ahead of what you would be making in most other jobs. And taxes? Well, fact of life for everyone, my friend.
The truth is, adjusting is not a job that you fall back on. It's not a job you accept because you can't find anything else. It's a job where you have to get out and really bust your rump. But it's definitely worth it.