(07-01-2023, 03:57 AM)Ninurta Wrote: I use cash or barter only - no plastic. if you're in the plastic habit, well, here's your sign I reckon!
I got out of playing the stock market about 28 years ago. Not enough profit, too many bookkeeping headaches.
But maybe that's their main threat... but, oh, remember what I said about getting off the credit hamster wheel above?
I'm not quite as 'free' as you are, Brother. The only thing I 'owe' at this point is taxes ... but, I'm trying to figure a way out of paying any of those too. They've got enough out of me at this point.
My first foray into the stock market taught me to stay up on the porch and never try running with the big dogs again. Getting off credit made a real difference. But the real deal was learning to get paid what I was worth. Not sure I was as successful there as I should have been, but requiring my boss to pay me three, four, five ... ten times ... what my costs of living were made the difference. Getting paid 'the right way' added to that.
If there is any value to my life's accomplishments ... it is keeping my kids away from going into hock. I'm deep into my second agricultural endeavor. It'll be a legacy one of 'em can inherit (God forbid) or they can sell it and split (that's me being mean) the profits when I'm gone. This place is as close to self-sustaining as it can be at this point.
When I turn around and look (not just a glance over the shoulder), I see accomplishments and I see valuables. What endures are the only things that matter. The wife, the kids ... and 'stuff' that doesn't erode. The land can be taken away. Some stuff faces the Law of Entropy. I just no longer have any worries ... and people my age shouldn't.