This is absolutely fantastic. A must read/watch for all.

My wife has a masters from a "full" ride academic scholarship, graduated with $40k debt. Could have been lots worse. She is a teacher and loves it but doesn't make much. She could and has made 2-4 times the money as a mason/foreman.

I have no degree and made good money with a framing crew before the housing market crashed. I switched over to commercial framing until 2008 and did ok. Now I'm on the fire dept and still make considerably more than my wife.

Not that a degree is a bad thing, but if you can't find a job in the field it's just a money pit. Kids these days grow up thinking, "I'll go to college and then make lots of money". That is their entire plan.

 

Not the Mommy and Daddy at this house, no way, no how.

Not so sure about that last part these days Dexter, seems a lot of folk do that for a living (just look around).

 

Sorry, you are more likely to get part of the bill for that fiasco.

Current status Australian Icebreaker has been ordered to hold station as the Chinese Icebreaker that provided the helicopter rescue has signaled it might be in need of help.

The USCG Polar Star is currently headed to McMurdo on a re-provision deployment and could end up joining in the operation.

 

Oh how I would love to be debt free.
Almost there.....

 

Got there in 1999. You can also do it.

 

I was planning on being there this at the end of 2013. But 2012's drought nocked me down. Looks like 2 more years praying for less. I'll get there!

 

I don't owe anybody a dime for anything.

 

I believe it should be law that every kid that graduates from high school be trained in a vocation in order to graduate, even if going to college. In my 60 years, I have learned that you can never count on any one job or one company for life. Come out of high school with some training or a certificate in something. Then when you lose that college educated job you have something to fall back on. Most people will have many different jobs thru-out their life.

 

My first house was "mine" when I was 26....then we upgraded and it was "mine" again at 32.

 

I don't disagree with any of that...but I get much more enjoyment being debt free than what I would get out of anything else I would buy with the $. To each their own...and not all debt is bad...but some surely is.

 

Debt is like anything else you buy, if you can afford the debt, that the most important thing. When you can't afford the debt, then you stick it to someone else, not a good thing. Having some debt that you manage properly will give you a good credit rating. Being debt free because you don't have anything to manage won't give you a good rating either.
Buy it wit. A CC and pay it off at the end of the month works well.

 

Let's see when the boss went out and got her new car they wanted to know what she did, who she worked for, and for how long. She told them she was going to school, and had just quit her job. They then asked about me and she told them that I had just changed jobs. Well that was that until she suggested they call and check our credit rating. She came home with a new car, she could have put it on our CC.

 

I'm lazy and I'm doing Okay!!

 

I've got a 4 year degree (2 years at a community college, 2 at a state college), but I can't say that its really necessary in the line of work I'm in now. I graduated nearly 16 years ago. 4 years of school tuition then wouldn't cover a year these days. I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up back then, and I'm still not 100% sure what I want to be when I grow up now.

I have a shade over 3 years until my house is paid for. I bought it in 2001 on a 15 year loan. I wanted to have it paid off by the time I hit 40 but that probably won't happen (only 13 months to go until I hit that mark). My goal is to retire at 55 - retirement not meaning ceasing to work entirely, but rather getting away from 24/7 on call schedules and the technology world in general. Maybe work at a sporting goods shop or drive a delivery truck for an auto parts store....

 

I posted a thread a couple weeks ago with that interview:
Dirty Jobs' Mike Rowe on the High Cost of College (Full Interview)
http://firewoodhoardersclub.com/for...the-high-cost-of-college-full-interview.1638/

 

There is really only one thing needed to be successful. And that is ambition.

 

Not at all. Its a good piece for everyone to see esp if they missed the first thread.