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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I grew up pretty lower middle class in a rural southern town. I escaped by getting into an Ivy League and getting tons of aid.

And then promptly squandered that opportunity by making all the wrong career choices (I never interned while in college, just went home and helped out my folks), didn’t understand the potential salary ranges for various careers nor the importance of prestige and clout for your work history (I looked for interesting work in towns I thought would be interesting to live in)

That’s how I ended up in DC, working for a gov contractor on DoD projects — post 9/11 working on defense seemed cool, jobs seemed stable, and I had never lived in a bigger East coast city. I especially appreciated the stability of the job after going through the dot.com crash.

But I could have done so much more with my elite college education, I just squandered it on jobs that fit my lifestyle (clock out at 5) and stability. No idea that you real people could make $400k or $500k — my parents house TODAY is only worth $100k, so this sounds like made up numbers only people like Gates make.  As an old person I realize how dumb I was. Anyone relate?[/quote]

Didn't read the thread, but I can relate.  Though I suspect my childhood HHI may have been better than yours, it was through dumb luck - my dad was a college dropout programmer who made okay money, but never maximized his earnings.  I had nobody guiding me, helping me navigate the professional world, etc.  I barely got into college (no ivy league for me), barely graduated, and went through the first decade of my professional career with no real plan other than to live paycheck to paycheck.  I stumbled into a lucrative niche of tech, but even then it took me a while to figure out that I could make what most would consider real money - and then took me a while to figure out how to pursue it.

I can - and have - looked back with regret, pondering what I could have done if I applied myself.  What if I had invested an iota of effort in HS and college, gone to a better school, gotten a better start, or sought a mentor.  But there's no real value in pondering what might have been.  I try to impart my missed opportunities to others - through parenting and mentoring and general leadership.  And I like my life, so that helps, too.  But I'm with you - hindsight can really suck sometimes.[/quote]

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