It surely felt nice after we paid off our mortgage.
What % of your takehome pay are you spending on living expenses?
- Thread starter deadeyededric
- Start date
31.5%, but that is skewed by a HELOC that we took out for a big addition, and the fact that I max out my 401k. That percentage does not include auto fuel or groceries. We don't have any vehicle or student loans.
I'm not sure exactly what we spend per year on fuel. Not much since I work from home. Maybe $2k or so.
H
I'm not sure exactly what we spend per year on fuel. Not much since I work from home. Maybe $2k or so.
H
It really boils down to choosing a career path that allows you to live the lifestyle you want to live. We went to a graduation party on Saturday of a friends grandkid, when I asked him what he wants to do next, his response was to "get a job and work." Now there is nothing wrong with his response but he is setting himself up to be at the bottom of the income bracket for the rest of his life. We are long past the days of graduating high school and getting a factory job that pays well without at least some training before hand. No matter how much people preach to them that they need some type of degree after high school, seems like only half get the message. Hard to make much money as a general laborer these days.
If you don’t have the partner and kids then it’s a decision you are making just for yourself that’s the point and that’s the difference.
If you find that whatever time you spend with that extended family is worth that trade off by limiting your earnings and career potential then that’s your choice. It’s also 100% a trap that forces you to stay in an area with limited opportunities.
If you’re single or without kids it’s a lot easier and smarter to make that call unless you family is able to support you financially.
Also you’re talking about a world where everyone has this healthy family dynamic and sees each other as adults fairly frequently. That is not how most of the modern world in the US functions but it is how poor communities function
“Some type of degree” is kinda boomer thinking. You 100% don’t need some type of degree, you need a degree you can actually do something tangible with and that doesn’t have a short shelf life.
Figuring out what that is with student loans being what they are is incredibly difficult in 2026
I used to think that, but now being a plumber or an electrician or a welder or trained auto mechanic is a better job than a lawyer or a consultant or finance guy that will be replaced by AI over the next 5 years (if not 5 months!).
That is my point, you do not necessarily need a college degree, just something that sets you apart. Our oldest son is a certified electrician, makes a lot more money than I ever did in education. You need some post high school training these days, to get by.
I have to disagree a bit you you. I do feel most benefit with getting some kind of post HS degree but there are plenty of occupations out there in the trades you can make a good living doing without needing a 4 year degree for. I have family members and friends that never went to college that make a very good living. One friend owns his own plumbing business and he's done so well he had to hire another guy to work for him just so he can keep up with all the new build out contracts he's taken on. Have a family member that served in the military for 10 years and turned that into a career working at a state prison then eventually became a parole officer. I know other people that found jobs with car dealerships who paid their way though trade school to become a certified mechanic and have never had problems finding employment if they moved on from the original dealer they worked for.
College is not for everyone. Am I a believer that high education may open some higher paying job opportunities? Absolutely I do but for some people school is not their thing and what they lack in academics many make up for with a good work ethic and the ability and willingness to do some tough jobs that many of us don't have the desire to do. I see nothing wrong with that career path either. There are examples in both white and blue collar careers where people either excel or fail at it and the common denominator is your worth ethic and drive to be good at what your profession is.
You legit just posted that “they need some kind of degree after high school” then dumbed me for pointing out how wrong this is only to make a post less then 2 mins later refuting your own statement…what a ride
A degree could be through an apprenticeship program it does not have to be a college degree, something that give you a leg up, not just an ordinary worker. Many of them do not require any or much in the way of student loans. It's making a life style choice at a young age. I have a couple of former students that took the year and half training at a community college to become an X-Ray tech, starting out last year at 60K in a small rural hospital with IPERS.
I dumbed you because you assumed I was only talking about a college degree when I was not, you jumped to conclusions.
Of course, but again, where I was going with this is that the only piece of advice anyone ever gets on this sort of thing is "just move and get paid more lol", as though that's easy for anyone to do. These decisions have extreme costs and risks, regardless of family size... but that's irrelevant if you really view life strictly as a dollars and cents matter. Difficulty doesn't matter in that viewpoint.
Most people don't do that, so there's plenty of subjectivity involved -- like this stuff.
The only job that will pay you to move is a corporate job. Everyone else takes it in the shorts.
Ummm how you getting a degree without attending a college even if it’s a community college? Pretty sure an apprenticeship doesn’t give you a degree, there are certifications of course but you used the word degree. So if I jumped to conclusions based on the words you used maybe slowdown and use the words you actually mean
Does a decision have 0% risk and 0% impact merely because it's made by a single person? If not, we should stop pretending like it is. Life requires give and take from everyone, not just people with kids.
As for family dynamics, sure, that's true. I'm being pretty idealistic about that end of it.
I want to pay mine off but the bank is charging me 2.25% on the mortgage but currently paying me 3.5% for CDs.
I think it’s the push back to people complaining that they can’t find work or a good job when they only look in their area that you see this.
There will always be some kind of trade off with moving even if it’s just something minor like learning the area or the public transit system etc
It's definitely not easy since it's usually taking a risk to some degree, but it is "easier" if you're only taking the risk for yourself and not responsible for others also.
'Just go to the trades' sounds awesome when you're 20. It's less awesome when you've got a mangled body at 55.
What kind of degree are people getting that's not from a college or university?
