My advice is to follow marcus's advice.
And if marcus's advice doesn't seem too appealing, do look into mechanics, engineering, electronics or plumbing.... These are all very easy to pick up apprenticeships and start getting paid before you even know how to do the job.
Then, the work becomes easier, and your pay gets better as you back out of the apprenticeship and into full time employment. However, it's labour intensive in most cases, so if you're a lazy ass (like myself), you HAVE to look into gaming.
I mean seriously, these are some of the best paid jobs around nowadays. Being a critic or an editor for magazines, are becoming a concept artist for a games company can land you some serious cash.