I have read a lot of the posts that people have made about the actuarial and accounting professions of interest. I thank everyone for those posts, which were a good read.

I am trying to figure out what my long term professional path should be. I read somewhere, and I agree, that your professional goal should be something that combines your interests and talents (a pretty logical conclusion). In my opinion, it is tough to decide exactly which path to target becuase there are literally hundreds of options. Also, I think perhaps one should consider the future job market in determining their "direction."

I have an undergraduate degree in economics and finance & 6 years in mortgage industry, 1.5 years in administrative work, and 4.5 years in sales. Although I did enjoy parts of being in sales, I never really thought that it was for me as I am more of an analytical person. I have also done a little bit of real estate investing (1 propety to be exact).

Anyway, the above careers are all pretty analytical and seem like fields that should be on my list to consider. Some of the fields, like computer science and engineering would mean taking a huge step back because I would be almost literally on ground zero in those areas. However, better to correct an educational or career mistake now rather than wait until I am middle aged.

I have already done quite a bit of research into the actuarial field though I have not researched the others. Any resources that you guys can provide that might give me an insight into some of these industries- books, websites, bulletin boards- would be greatly appreciated.

Also, are there any good personality-career tests/ career counseling resources that I should look at? A few years ago, I took some online multiple choice test that recommended appropriate careers based on interests/talents. I did not buy the full version so it just gave me very limited information. I think it told me something like accountant is my 5th best fit career. It also said that I get a lot of satisfaction out of completing things. In other words, it thought that careers where you often can't see progress (an example of this might be counselor where the clients just don't change, or change very slowly) may not be the best fit. It also said that I am like artistic with math, something like I creatively apply math to situations. It said other things too, though I don't recall those details.

I think I do like to work with people instead of just with numbers and computers all day. I thingk that non-confrontational human interraction makes the work day go by more quickly.

Here is one example of such a career test (this is not the one that I did)
http://www.careerpath.com/career-tests/

http://www.queendom.com/
http://assessment.monster.ca/
http://www.jobsetc.gc.ca/eng/

Or go to your nearest job search center. They should have counselors that should be able to provide free insight towards your career job.

I'd probably skip the comp sci and engineering. In order to progress in these fields (unless, obviously, you start your own company) you need a degree, ideally a masters, in the subject and 5 years of relevant experience.

Since you already have an economics and finance and sales background, perhaps you could go the financial planning route? It seems like an excellent fit for you. It's analytical and yet you also have non-confrontational interaction with people regularly.

I think financial planning is really just too salesy for me. For personal financial planning it seems like the details/knowledge are kinda basic. I feel like it is mostly about getting new clients and then you almost just plug a bunch of **** into a computer and it tells you how to allocate their money. I used to be interested in said career. However, from what I found, it seemed less client advice oriented and more sales focused.

I know that I would be way behind in some fields if I were to start studying now. However, better to correct a mistake now when I am 30 rather than be in a career that does not give me fulfillment. Most people have more than one career anyway in their lifetime. Furthermore, I read in a book that, if, say you are 30, you still have 40 years or so until retirement (people are living longer now so retirement is later) so you are only at the tip of the iceberg in your career and should be very open to change.

I am highly interested in the financial markets/ business/ investing. I have not really had much exposure, though, to engineering and computer science. I basically took 1 computer science class in college, and though it was a struggle for me, the experience of one class should not have too much bearing on one's entire future.