gne in prog
Well-Known Member
So essentially children are only for those with a trust fund.
I've got three, and I make over $100k.
But the only way to make the real money in the world is to screw people, inherit it, start your own business and get REALLY lucky or have a talent or insight that's 2-3 standard deviations outside the norm, but still lets you relate to people.
Everything else, and I mean everything, is working for the man.
Richman
I know I'm in the majority on this thread, but it floors me how many captains I fly with 'can't afford to live' on guarantee! Also, three FOs I started with declared bankruptcy when we were furloughed because they were living beyond their means.
As for life circumstances, in the past six years of my aviation career, I've been (in order) fired, company went under, company went under, company cancelled flight department, then furloughed. During the same time period, my wife also had one company go under, one company fire her and a county government cut her department in half laying her off just after I was furloughed. All told in the last 8 years I've spent a full year jobless (3 for my wife) because of these events, had 2 kids (one was a technology failure), had my house burn to the ground, adopted three teens, and paid everyone of my bills on-time, including the stupid aviation school loan I got myself into.
With the exception of a medical (even then it would have to be worst case) I can't imagine ever having to declare bankruptcy because I have always lived well below my means just in case. Just to be clear, I've always had two good vehicles, I buy Macs (yes, I'm on of those), my house is 3000 SF and my wife and I combined have never made more than $70,000 (average $50,000 over the last 8 years). Yes unexpected things happen, but I've lived through enough unusual occurrences in the last decade that I find the 'you can't plan for' argument rater absurd!
Sorry for the diatribe, but it's mind boggling to me how acting irresponsibly (i.e. bankruptcy) has become socially acceptable!
There are a lot of ways to go broke, not all of them involve big screen tvs.
Indeed. The promise of "free markets" is freedom to become the product of your own ambition. The simple fact of the matter is that, as has been outlined above, we have engineered a system that masquerades in the guise of "free markets", but is anything but. And that, if one's personal ambition is to become wealthy (luckily for me, mine isn't), one must constantly and mindfully violate the social compact.
It might be arguable that Bill Gates is an example of what America was supposed to be like. Have a great idea that actually improves lives, work tirelessly to construct and promote it, become fabulously wealthy. But for every Bill Gates there are a hundred Bernie Madoffs and Ken Lays. It's broken. And simply repeating by rote that "the markets" are free and that innovation is rewarded does not make it so.
The only "innovations" that I've seen from the Moneylenders are layers upon layers of new scams to further leverage the future labor of people who don't understand what's being done to them. "Creating" debt is not creating anything (well, misery and social unrest, maybe). It's broken, and it needs fixing. Acknowledging that fact does not make one a Commie or a Socialist, any more than correcting a map makes someone a Flat Earther.
So essentially children are only for those with a trust fund.
No, I would suggest not having kids in the first place unless you could still afford them after taking a big pay cut. Having kids is a huge responsibility, and people should stop jumping in head first without considering the financial implications. Studies show that it takes roughly $250,000 on average to raise a child from birth until they leave home. Don't assume such a significant financial commitment unless you are sure you'll be able to handle it, even if things go sour at work.
I'm keeping this one!
You're going to meet a girl soon, you're going to like her, she's going to like you. Get engaged, married and she's going to want little ATN's bouncing around the house. Then you think L'il Mrs. ATN deserves that big house in Cobb County because you're sooooo close to getting that upgrade.
Nah, the whole "I'll never get married" speech. I gave that one too.
Living within your means is a relative statement. You can live within your means and then "X" happens, then there are a bunch of people on the internet presuming you were living high on the hog.
Far more common is the Delta 767 Captain who is on his third wife and his fourth kid while living in a $750k house in Peachtree City and driving a Mercedes S-Class
Oh no man, there's nothing more fun than playing drunken friend subset at a wedding! Just ask Seggy!
Truth.