most r shocked to discover how little is needed

[y2k]

and how much of it is just "want". I have several times lived on 5k a year, and had a ball.

[crashdive123]

Yeah, but I'll bet it was a small ball. The bigger ones are going to cost you.

[Rick]

I've lived on less than that but I think it was 1935 or 72. I don't remember dates well anymore.

[crashdive123]

My first year in the military (and probably my second and third) I made less than $5,000 a year. Didn't need to sleep out of a van or anything. Just sayin.

[Rick]

But I'll bet you did a time or two. And probably wondered where you were the next morning. Just sayin'.

[crashdive123]

Well.........there was the time...........

[hunter63]

Well.........there was the time...........

"Hey, can you come a get me, I think I had too much...er....ah...fun?"
'OK...OK, where are you?"

"I'm on the corner of telphone and telphone, I think......"

[Rick]

You realize a lot of kids aren't going to get that. There aren't many phone booths these days. Still funny, though.

[BENESSE]

and how much of it is just "want". I have several times lived on 5k a year, and had a ball.

You can live for less than that and have a ball.
In jail.

[hunter63]

You realize a lot of kids aren't going to get that. There aren't many phone booths these days. Still funny, though.

That's OK, they can't text on a pay phone(HUH?) anyway.

I'm telling you, those Zombies you see.....Just young people with dead batteries in their cell phones.....wondering around, (what? no "App" for dead batteries?)

[Rick]

One day we'll be hit with a giant EMP. All the kids across America will all look up at once wondering why their (fill in the blank) just went dead. Slowly, they will begin to emerge from their homes.

"What's that mommy?"
"That's a tree, son."
"How do you play it?"

[Sourdough]

You can live for less than that and have a ball.
In jail.



heheheheheheheheeheheheh:sad: don't drop the soap......:sad:

[rwc1969]

I'm currently living on 700 a month, 400 of that is room and board and 35 is internet. I've been doing it for going on 3 years now. I spend about 100-150 of it a month on gas to and from school and such. I receive or ask for no help other than the 700 which is my rapidly dwindling life savings.

I have no insurance of any kind and that's the only thing I miss, and I miss it dearly. I'm currently able to get nearly 20% of my food from the wild, but if the laws allowed I could get near 75 or 80%. If the laws allowed I could get near 75% and sell even more to make a better living than I ever have in my life, but they don't allow.

I spend 300-700 a year on things I don't need, guns, backpacks, etc. all the rest goes for food, shelter, fire and water and gifts for others for christmas, birthdays and such.

700 X 12 = 8400 a year X 3 years = life savings. 25 grand!

3-10 + years ago I made 25-30,000 a year and thought I had a hard time making ends meet.

[Rick]

That's some serious self discipline, RWC. I'm damned impressed and give you cudos for walkin' the talk. Frankly, I don't think I could do that for very long. Not nearly as long as you have. A little rep your way.

[Sourdough]

I live on $628.00 per month Social Security plus the the one time per year Alaska Permenent Fund Dividend of $1,281.00. Which is $735.00 per month total. It is getting harder with the food cost going up. But my living cost is so low that I can still buy a firearm or two per year. I live in a shack and I am just happy to be alive.

[BENESSE]

Maybe I'm the only one who is perplexed by this phenomenon and someone will hopefully, set me straight.
Have we set the bar so low, that living within ones' means has become so extraordinary that it is treated as special achievement?
Not spending money you don't have...way to go!
Spending time with your kids...applause!
Working 2 jobs so you can put food on the table...a hero!
Going to school and working so you can pay for it...a genius!

Excuse me, but isn't that something people are supposed to do?
Somewhere along the way, 'the right thing to do' has come to mean something different and I didn't get the memo.

[rwc1969]

The point of my post isn't to say folks should strive for that, but that it can be done and there are other options. If I had land my expenses would be less and I could likely afford to buy insurance. Also, I could use that land to make food and money as well.

I'm certainly not living at the bottom of the barrel. I have everything I need and can get things I don't need as well. I do it all legally and not under the table either. If I were living at the bottom I'd have insurance, free insurance. I'd probably have free food too and possibly even a place of my own and a free vehicle.

The thing that amazes me is how much more expensive it is to live while working. My income needs almost double while working. I worked very hard and saved money that I didn't have so that I could take the time off to dedicate to school and hopefully learn enough or make enough contacts to land a job/ career in a field I knew absolutely nothing about 2-1/2 years ago, computers. I still know very little in the scope of things, but have learned a great deal.

The reality is some people strive to have everything and some are just happy with very little. One class I'm in had a goal setting project. We were to list what kind of car and stuff we wanted, how much $$ we want to make and such, and how we were to achieve this. It was called "Dream Big Dreams" as if they could happen, no limits.

I said I want a 4WD van that gets 100 mpg and requires no maintenance. I want 10,000 or so acres of land and a tin roofed shack with high speed internet access and a hospital within a 30 minute drive or flight. I want a career that will afford me the time to do the things I enjoy, preferably a software engineer that works from home "long term goal". I want to simply pay the bills, afford insurance and save a small amount for a humble retirement. I didn't specify a $ amount.

Most everyone else said they wanted six figure incomes. For me, money is not the goal, it's the things that money will afford me that are the goal.

I've made close to six figure incomes at several points in my life for short periods of time, 2 years or less. During those times, I worked, came home, ate, slept, got up, and worked again. I had no time, my guns collected dust, my fishing line rotted on the reel, my packs and tents got filled with spiders and mold, and my money seemed to just disappear. It was a miserable existence in my opinion. I had enough money for everything I wanted and absolutely no time to enjoy it. Before I knew it ten to twenty years had went by, I was getting older and more broken, and I was no happier or better off than when I started.

I have friends that seem to enjoy the hussle and bussle and they do fine apparently. They have vacation homes that they rarely visit. If we go hunting together it's always a rush rush kind of thing. They're always taking calls in the woods and having to jet off for some unplanned meeting or emergency. Everything has to be planned out well in advance. I'm not built that way. I don't want to wait until I'm 67 to enjoy life. i don't want to run around like a chicken with it's head cut off. I want to stop and smell the roses right now if the notion hits me. The notion just hit me, later.

[Rick]

I can only speak for me, B. I wasn't impressed that RWC was doing the right things. I expect everyone to do that. I was impressed that he was doing the right things with such a limited income AND NOT RELYING ON THE GOVERNMENT to do for him. I guess that was the unspoken part and may have delivered the wrong message.

And I really don't have a problem with the government providing short term assistance when it's there to improve your lot in life. I have a niece that was a single mother and the government paid her rent, paid her schooling and paid her to go to school. She earned a degree and began teaching high school special ed part time. Today, she has a masters degree that she paid for in special education and teaches full time. So there are success stories even in assistance situations.

[Sourdough]

I don't consider Social Security to be a Government Handout.

[Winter]

Social security is your money the gov took and feeds back to you at their leisure.

This is an interesting topic and I understand both sides of the issue.

No matter how much money someone makes, living off as little as possible is always a good thing.

Measuring success with money is futile IMO. Success should be measured in happiness.

[BENESSE]

I can only speak for me, B. I wasn't impressed that RWC was doing the right things. I expect everyone to do that. I was impressed that he was doing the right things with such a limited income AND NOT RELYING ON THE GOVERNMENT to do for him. I guess that was the unspoken part and may have delivered the wrong message.

Rick, we're so used to seeing masses people rely on the govt. indefinitely and not lift a finger to help themselves, that we've come to accept is as a norm.
So when someone like rwc makes the choice to be self sufficient and live within his means no matter how limited they might be, it seems extraordinary.
I am not trying to diminish that...on the contrary. That's where the bar ought to start. That should be the norm.
By his own admission, rwc has made some trade offs:

I have friends that seem to enjoy the hussle and bussle and they do fine apparently. They have vacation homes that they rarely visit. If we go hunting together it's always a rush rush kind of thing. They're always taking calls in the woods and having to jet off for some unplanned meeting or emergency. Everything has to be planned out well in advance. I'm not built that way. I don't want to wait until I'm 67 to enjoy life. i don't want to run around like a chicken with it's head cut off. I want to stop and smell the roses right now if the notion hits me. The notion just hit me, later.
Good for him! Realizing what makes you happy and willing to give up stuff for it, is terrific. Being solely responsible for those choices is the price of admission, IMO.

[hunter63]

I guess I have been lucky (read as, busting my butte) all of my life.
But I have always been blessed/cursed with the "can't sit still, how can I make this work for me, I bet I could make a couple of bucks doing (whatever), yeah I can fix that myself,".. syndrome.

At retirement age now (sorta) and just started getting SS, DW's in Jan, but the truth is that we had worked, saved, planned built a self suficent life style...avoided a lot of the normal pit falls one comes across in life.
We can live simply, with out the SS, but hey, I saw all the deductions that were held out of our checks over the years, so I just hopping i can live long enough I can get some of it back.

I/We have lived both ways, and I prefer a more level, comfortable,... little less not having to scratch for a living, lifestyle,.... But not too much.

I feel you do need to scratch a little, just to keep things intresting, and keep your creativeativity in top form.......Doing it long enough, it becomes a habit.
Kudo's to those that have seen the light, that can and will get by no matter what.

[Sourdough]

Social security is your money the gov took and feeds back to you at their leisure.

This is an interesting topic and I understand both sides of the issue.

No matter how much money someone makes, living off as little as possible is always a good thing.

Measuring success with money is futile IMO. Success should be measured in happiness.


I agree 100% reputation point sent, good post.

[Rick]

I don't consider Social Security to be a Government Handout.

I didn't say it was nor did I mean to imply SS was. I'm in complete agreement with Winter. It's your money, collected and paid without benefit of interest. I'll use JD Wentworth's expression to describe how SS should be paid. "It's your money, use it when you want."

[doug1980]

To be fair though... Many people do live within their means, however if they get laid off, cut back or fired then they get screwed. Not really there fault yet they get scolded and told they should have planned for this. How many here plan to be fired? How many can afford to save in case they do get fired? Who gets to make the determination whether someone can or can not afford something?

[Rick]

Doug - I can honestly say I did. My whole career. I looked at the core business and tried to position myself where the least impact would be. That was always part of my personal/family survival plan. At one point it meant working away from home for 18 months and at another time it meant moving the family but I was always focused on being where the shark wasn't so I wouldn't get eaten. You have to today.

[wareagle69]

i sold my soul for a full time night woman, statred 15 yrs ago when i met a girl in flagstaff who turned out to be more than a buckle bunny, i got a trade to get her nice things, and a few girls and a few wives later i have a real nice property and lots of crap in several buildings- a far cry from living out of my truck whilst trying to become a world champion- but as was said i did not want to wait until the age of 65 to start living
now as a bit of background, i was raised with money like the top one percent in the country type of money, private military school, limosene type of money- i left all that at the age of 14- sure didn't see money as any happiness back then, now i make over 100,000 a yr not bad for canadian small town in the north, but as i said i sold my soul.
i wish i could go back to living in an rv or slidein camper and being a nomad again, owing nothing to no one and beholded to no one but myself- the only thing holding me back- is my absolute love for my wife other than that i am the wind.

[Sourdough]

Doug - I can honestly say I did. My whole career. I looked at the core business and tried to position myself where the least impact would be. That was always part of my personal/family survival plan. At one point it meant working away from home for 18 months and at another time it meant moving the family but I was always focused on being where the shark wasn't so I wouldn't get eaten. You have to today.


Good post Rick, well played. Rep. point sent.

[crashdive123]

To be fair though... Many people do live within their means, however if they get laid off, cut back or fired then they get screwed. Not really there fault yet they get scolded and told they should have planned for this. How many here plan to be fired? How many can afford to save in case they do get fired? Who gets to make the determination whether someone can or can not afford something?

I've gotta say that I did as well. Stayed in the military until retirement. After the military I worked on average 80 or more hours a week to become debt free. Started my own business when I was fired from my last job (the company was sold) and now it is my choice as to how hard I work. For now - although I cannot pack up and leave for weeks on end, I do choose to budget enough of my time for hobbies and enjoying the outdoors. I may not have a lot of money, but I worked my tail off to be in a position where I don't need a lot. Maybe it has something to do with how much time I spent under water, but for now, being outdoors and seeing the sky makes me feel rich beyond words.

[BENESSE]

To be fair though... Many people do live within their means, however if they get laid off, cut back or fired then they get screwed. Not really there fault yet they get scolded and told they should have planned for this.
How many here plan to be fired? How many can afford to save in case they do get fired? Who gets to make the determination whether someone can or can not afford something?

We've not only planned for the possibility of getting fired, (I've been fired several times in my career--that's just the nature of what I do) we moved to where the best jobs are and we've always lived below our means so we can have a buffer against the unforeseen.
That's how we were raised, that's what we do.

How do you know you can't afford something?
When you go into debt over it and never quite catch up. If you're charging stuff on your credit card and only paying the minimum, you can't afford it. If you can hardly make ends meet now when all's relatively well, what makes you think you'll be able to make it when TSHTF? You might be prepared to live through TEOTWAWKI but you gotta survive somehow before you get there.
And that would be starting now.

[Rick]

I know it's hard sometimes to figure out where you're going in life when you are young but you really need to sit down and write out what your goals are, short term and long term and what you need to do to get there. If you travel from town A to a town you've never been to you generally follow a map. Your goals and how you achieve them is a road map for your life.

I went to school with a lot of guys that don't have much and aren't very happy. When I talk to them they say they don't know where the time went and never figured they'd be where they are. But they just let life dictate where they went so it's not surprising they ended up some place other than where they wanted to be.

Everyone says life's a journey but no one tells you that you need to follow a map.

[Camp10]

To be fair though... Many people do live within their means, however if they get laid off, cut back or fired then they get screwed. Not really there fault yet they get scolded and told they should have planned for this. How many here plan to be fired? How many can afford to save in case they do get fired? Who gets to make the determination whether someone can or can not afford something?

Sorry your getting beat up with this post but you put it on a survival site...lol. I've also planned for the worse. I picked a job that has high demand and few qualified workers. I can quit here today and have a job some place in the country within a month. In fact, if I were to leave Maine I could make $40-60K more a year doing the same work (if it was just about money).

I live for a little less than half my income, have no debt and am planning/saving hard for retirement. I am not counting on Social security being available for me, so if it still exists when I retire it will be extra.

As far as who determines who can afford something..I use my father's method. Its simple, look in your wallet right now. If there is enough money in there to buy it and still cover your other expenses...you can afford it.

[rwc1969]

I'm not against people getting SS or unemployment either. I'm not against some drawing welfare and housing assistance and food stamps,etc. either. But, some just live that way their whole life, and for many, their parents did as well. That's what I'm against and refuse to be a part of. It cwertainly is a personal decision and I don't look down on those who choose otherwise, I just don't agree with them is all.

We have folks in school getting NWLB money to attend. Some are well off and don't need the help, others are not well off and have no intent of getting work. They're going solely so they can draw welfare or unemployment and not have to seek work.

If someone pays taxes both sales and income, etc. with their own hard earned dollars then they are entitled to these things, but too many abuse it. It's not something new. It's been going on forever in one form or another.

The real problem with the system is the ones who need help the most rarely get it, lower middle class. the ones who are fairly well off or the ones who never paid in are typically the ones that recieve the handouts. Handouts come in all forms from corporate tax cuts right down to the soup kitchens, etc.

I can't honestly say I chose to live on 700 a month. I got divorced, lost my job through no fault of my own, lost my house cuz the wife kept it and let it go back to the bank, had a double hernia and appendicitis and was essentially forced into this situation.

I'm just not typically going to come on here or anywhere else and whine about it or ask for handouts. Stuff happens, people should learn to deal with it the best they can and stop blaming Obama, welfare folks, the economy, layoffs or whatever else has taken a bite outta their behind.

The only reason I posted the above in the first place was because of the OP.

[doug1980]

I'm not getting beat up, I didn't post this because I'm not living within my means. Money is tight as always but we manage to save and still have money to have fun. I just see a lot of people getting blamed for mis managing their money, but in reality it may not have been there fault. Most people who do the blaming are older, so obviously they have less debt and are more finacially secure. Seems they forgot how hard it was to save when they were younger. Just don't think it fair to lump everyone who is having a hard time into one group. My wife and I are doing well for ourselves right now but if one of us lost our jobs we would be in a world of trouble, but that doesn't mean we are iresponsible, it just means we are trying to live our lives as much as we can with what we have to work with.

[Rick]

I would like to address one other point that you mentioned. You asked who could afford to save in case they do get fired.

First, make certain you have a budget regardless of how much money you make. You either control your money or it controls you and a budget is how you control it. Then the very first bill on the budget is you. How much you pay yourself is dependent upon your level of debt vs. income but even if you start out at $5 per pay you have to pay yourself first. As you pay off debt or get a raise then increase how much you pay yourself.

This needs to be money that is not locked into investments like a 401K. It needs to be money that you have instant access to should you need it. It also needs to be far enough away so that getting to it is harder than just opening a drawer or a safe. That way you aren't tempted to use it.

Sometimes it takes a long time and some serious mistakes to learn these kinds of lessons so please don't think I'm picking on you. You brought up some very good and some very common questions. Hopefully our answers are helpful. You're still pretty young so now is the time to implement them.

[almostbarefoot]

This needs to be money that is not locked into investments like a 401K. It needs to be money that you have instant access to should you need it. It also needs to be far enough away so that getting to it is harder than just opening a drawer or a safe. That way you aren't tempted to use it.

Sometimes it takes a long time and some serious mistakes to learn these kinds of lessons so please don't think I'm picking on you. You brought up some very good and some very common questions. Hopefully our answers are helpful. You're still pretty young so now is the time to implement them.

You're absolutely right. My friend suggested that your emergency savings ($1,000) should be in a picture frame with a note that says "Break glass in case of emergency" and then be put in the closet. I've had to learn the ins and outs of finance the hard way (though not as hard as it could have been) and that's why I'm currently working 96+ hours/week to finish paying off all debts and put a large down payment on land.
As far as retirement goes I'm planning on not needing my IRA/401K because I plan to own multiple businesses.

[finallyME]

When I was in school with 4 kids, we had food stamps and medicaid. I learned a lot about how medicaid and food stamps could be better to eliminate waste. Both are regulated by the state, so each state is different. For food stamps, I think it was too much. We got $150 a month per adult, and $100 per child. The reason I think it was too much is when you eventually get off food stamps. Then you come to reality and see how much you can really budget for food. If you look at the income necessary to not qualify, and then factor in all the other bills, it makes it desirable to not work and get food stamps. If you lower the food stamp amount and teach people how to cook and live off of little, then getting a job and making more money looks like a better option.

[miller4546]

My first year in the military (and probably my second and third) I made less than $5,000 a year. Didn't need to sleep out of a van or anything. Just sayin.

i agree with you, i lived off 8k and need only the minimal and was happy, now i make alot more and life is not all that...

[y2k]

It only takes 2k to cover all the bases, except for medical expenses. Depending upon your age and health, you can put together an insurance package for 2-10k. If you go to Thailand for a heart bypass, it costs 10k, not 100k, and their survival % is better than that of the US. So you self insure for the first 2-5k, by having a package that has that big a deductible, and goes up to 50-100k. If that much won't stabilize you (to be sent overseas) the odds are very high that you cant be helped anyway, no matter how much you spend. Then you get another policy, with the 50-100k deductible, going up to 1/4-1/2 mill, you see, for use overseas. the 2 policies will cost you 1-5k each, per year. you don't have to settle for the policies the companies mass offer. Use The Net, shop around, bargain with them.

[NightShade]

2k a year... Geesh.. I don't think I could do that... Heck my monthly mortgage is almost that... And well, my wife makes some money... But I'm the main breadwinner... Support myself, my wife, and 2 kids... On 2k? I don't know... Maybe I could... But if I can afford more... Why wouldn't I spend more? Sure we could live in an urban alley using a cardboard box... But if I can afford waterfront property in an affluent neighborhood, and send my kids to a good school... What's wrong with that?

[Justin Case]

It only takes 2k to cover all the bases, except for medical expenses. Depending upon your age and health, you can put together an insurance package for 2-10k. If you go to Thailand for a heart bypass, it costs 10k, not 100k,.

Is that where you got you Brain Bypass ?

[canid]

i've made less than 2k in the last year, and i gotta tell you all: i really don't recommend it.

i'm one of the first to advise living frugally, but there are just some things you want, as close to needing as matters.

[ravenscar]

It only takes 2k to cover all the bases, except for medical expenses. Depending upon your age and health, you can put together an insurance package for 2-10k. If you go to Thailand for a heart bypass, it costs 10k, not 100k, and their survival % is better than that of the US. So you self insure for the first 2-5k, by having a package that has that big a deductible, and goes up to 50-100k. If that much won't stabilize you (to be sent overseas) the odds are very high that you cant be helped anyway, no matter how much you spend. Then you get another policy, with the 50-100k deductible, going up to 1/4-1/2 mill, you see, for use overseas. the 2 policies will cost you 1-5k each, per year. you don't have to settle for the policies the companies mass offer. Use The Net, shop around, bargain with them.

2000 a 1/2 month sounds more reasonable, 150 for power, 60 for water, 60 for tracfone minutes(x# of phones), 75 food (per person x # of people) 300 in gas, 20 to get the propane man out here and 160 to fill-er-up, yadda yadda yadda that adds up sonny. then you have taxes(for everything!!) replacing clothing, tires, vehicle breakdowns,hospital bills,perscripions, christmas, birthdays, tickets, vehicle inspectitions and all the "nicity's".



in words a troll could understand. you need more than 2k a year, unless your adding up a booze budget

[randyt]

I left kentucky in 1986 making $2.15 per hour. Once in awhile I would get a side job for $4.00 per hour such as cutting tobacco or running fence but that was a challenge because the $2.15 an hour job was a 5 day plus a half day on Saturday. By the way that was a construction job. I didn't have any payments except for a land contract payment and land taxes. lived in a log cabin I built myself and had no power or running water. Well I guess my running water consisted of grabbing a bucket and running to the spring to fill it. It was rough and a few more dollars would have made all the difference in the world .

[rwc1969]

When I worked, and I hope to one day work again, I worked hard to save a year's living in case something went wrong. But, in recent years that hasn't been possible, rising expenses and lowered wages made it near impossible to save even one month's living expenses. Being married to someone who wouldn't manage their money and had a severe gambling addiction only made matters worse.

People are faced with making tough decisions every day. The one's who make the right decisions, regardless of how tough they are, are the ones who survive and don't overburden our precious and fragile society.

BTW, my uncle made 2.00 an hour working for the Big 3 auto makers back in the heyday. That sounds like a small amount, but back then you could get room and board for 10 bucks a week and a new car cost under 1000 dollars. A house with 40 acres was around 5000 dollars or less. The same house and property is worth over 5 million today and a similar auto is about 30,000. The wage is now around 20 dollars an hour on average.

I started out in the late eighties making minimum wage, 3.65 an hour and progressivley moved up through different jobs to around 15-20 an hour on average and since the mid nineties have regressed back to about 8-10 bucks an hour if I'm lucky. Those are 9-5 type wages, not wages for someone willing to work 70-90 hours a week and have no P-time. Those jobs are very hard to find now too.

As I'm almost to the point where I'd be willing to tough it out for a couple years to build up my savings again and perhaps get a place with breathing room. Of course it's not possible to work 90 hours a week and still succesfully go to school full time.

What's really bad is that I can't get part time low wage jobs because the people think I'm overqualified, but I'm supposedly underqualified for a higher paying full time career. LOL! I'm half tempted to become homeless and make going to school a career. :( :)

[NightShade]

Most are shocked to discover.......... that y2k claims to be in his 50's

[ravenscar]

altimers much? mabey thats why he thinks you can survive on 2k, he means his meds :P

[crashdive123]

He's a kid using a school computer.

[NightShade]

He's a kid using a school computer.

Ha!... I knew it.

[Camp10]

He's a kid using a school computer.

So $2K a year would be about right. Mom and dad cover food, housing, utilities, clothing and travel and he covers Wii, Xbox and PS3 games.

[Sarge47]

and how much of it is just "want". I have several times lived on 5k a year, and had a ball. Yeah, but you live in Oklahoma! :no: That's a big "down side!" The title of this thread is "Most r shocked to discover how little is needed." Yeah, like brain cells. :burst:

[Beans]

I know it's hard sometimes to figure out where you're going in life when you are young but you really need to sit down and write out what your goals are, short term and long term and what you need to do to get there. If you travel from town A to a town you've never been to you generally follow a map. Your goals and how you achieve them is a road map for your life.

I went to school with a lot of guys that don't have much and aren't very happy. When I talk to them they say they don't know where the time went and never figured they'd be where they are. But they just let life dictate where they went so it's not surprising they ended up some place other than where they wanted to be.

Everyone says life's a journey but no one tells you that you need to follow a map.

Sometime you need to go where life take you., For example.

I was out on my own at age 16 and left school. I enlisted in the USMC 1 week after I turned 17 and was planning to make it my career (#1). 10 Years later I was medically discharged, thanks to Mr Charles.
I finished school then on to college thanks to the VA rehab.

I worked 5 1/2 years a LEO ( career #2), severly broke an ankle answering a burglary call. was given a small severence pay.

I then moved out west and went to work for a small city for 3 years, (my next career#3) that laid off 32 of their employees because a dog racing track was closed down. Last hired 1st fired

Career #4 spend 26 years working as a state investigator. before I retired.

I had planned each career to last until retirement but life had made another choice for me.

So IMHO I think you need to make the most of what life hands you and much like combat the best made plans go to hell when the first shot is fired.

I know people, girls and guys, that planned out their life in 6th/7th grade and it happened for them. They made the correct choices, were in the correct places and knew the correct people. Some of them are happy, some of them think they are happy and some of them hate the life they chose.

I know one man who worked for 30 years in a job he hated because of the very excellence retirement, He retired at age 55 and at age 57 he was in a car accident, he now wears a neck brace, is in constant pain and hates life. His response to any question to him is "life sucks and is very unfair"

FWIW I retired at age 62 , 5 years ago, and retirement is everything is it is cracked up to be. It is great and Life is good.

[Ole WV Coot]

That kind of cash wouldn't have covered my cig & beer tab back in the 60s. Don't smoke or drink now but I wouldn't want to try living on that.

[ravenscar]

He's a kid using a school computer.

did you ip check him?