Sunday, July 15, 2007

Quicker Post: Six Figure Salaries

I am not sure whether this Six Figure Salaries thread is humbling or inspirational.

Basically, it gives anecdotes of folks earning far in excess of $100k/annum with sometimes little more than pluck and drive.

No wonder I forever feel "behind"; I have calculated that I will not rest easy until I have roughly $1 million in the retirement fund + undergrad/grad for the children + some number of rental-property income streams. Not there yet, in case you were wondering.

Never fear: I am grateful for what I have; nevertheless, I remain mildly uncomfortable that, somehow, I have not fully capitalized on my skills/talents/education. One of my goals is to reduce risk-aversion in my children, such that they may experiment a bit more with seeking self-sustaining (both monetarily and "spiritually," for lack of a better word) pursuits.

Who wants to be a millionaire? A.K.A., how's my driving?

[Last aside: somewhere in my teens, my father had a line on four private parking lots in a metropolitan area. He wanted to know whether I was interested in owning/managing them, which I wasn't. What a fool!

Note to self: do not ask children what is best for them, simply direct 'em to what is best; consider it yet another duty as a father.]

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Long time reader, first time commenter,and the father of three girls (1,4,7). I totally agree with your last statement. Sometimes you have to push the kiddos hard in a certain direction. Like college:

"Oh, you want to take a semester off to serve coffee? Umm, no."

I so wish my mom had held my nose to the grindstone in many areas(not that my short comings are her fault).

I will try to add more value in the future. Unfortunately our philosophies are aligned on numerous fronts.

Anonymous Bosh said...

It was near eery to read your post, as I wondered for just a second whether I had simply responded to myself.

I agree entirely with your comment on parents: while I wish there had been a grindstone in my upbringing, I cannot, as an adult, hold my parents responsible at this point. I try to explain this to others (to include some of the more neurotic of my acquaintances, some of whom still believe it's all Mommy's fault), to no avail.

With regard to pushing children: my 'philosophy' is that they are free to rebel (sure, go ahead), because in that rebellion perhaps they will find passion. In the absence of that rebellion, being a doctor/lawyer/I-banker would be just fine.

Or, said differently: yes, BE an actor/ballerina/artist--but you can do that OUTSIDE your studies. And said differently yet again: I don't know too too many writers/actors that actually studied wrting/acting in college. Following the example of Charles Bukowski: either you are, or you aren't.

Thanks for posting, although now that I have an actual reader I will have to work against self-censorship (or work at, as the young'uns say, "keepin' it RE-al").