O/T-For the more "Experienced" Generations - How did/do you make your $$$$

Arkracing,
My 2 cents...
I can relate. I'm 40 this year, and used to have a great job, but still didn't make near what you do. Now my income is has been less that 20,000 for the last 5 years. For the past 20 years, I have wrenched on other peoples cars and did side jobs to fund my habit. bought & sold parts, whatever I could to make a buck. I'm of the sawzall, mig welder school too.

I sold one of my cars this year to start another one, and even though I have a small chunk of change from the sale to work with, I have no where near what need to get the project done. I also work out of a VERY small one car garage, which means a lot of the work is done outside in the driveway. Someday my wife and I want to build a nice shop, but for now I want to enjoy the cars and I'm willing to put up with the incoveniences.

One way we have cut corners to help fund the hobby is to drive older high mileage cars. No car payments and doing the majority of repairs myself has saved us a ton. All my wife wants is something dependable... We have a 97 Caravan with 280,000 miles and a 95 Intrepid with 180,000 miles. Both very reliable, but not perfect. Yeah, I would love to have a new diesel pickup, but... I think about the 47 Tudor and my prostreet Dart, and it's worth it to me. I also do as much as I can myself which means I have learned a tom of skills to accomplish my goals. Yes, I make a ton of mistakes, but so what. It can always be done over and I enjoy the learnign as much as the accomplishments.

Hang in there, when I was your age I never thought I would have anything either, but slowly but surely the cars have come together.

 

Lots of great advice here - and I have to say I'm really impressed with the reply's that this has produced. Like I said before I thought that it would just fall in the sea of posts here on the HAMB

I Pay my C.C. bill in FULL every month...no matter what, And if the $$$ isn't in the bank I will not buy anything with it.

As far as the new car thing goes. I do not have a new car or ever will. I have a company truck that gets traded in every 80k (appox 2years with my job) & the project. A buddy of mine has a '52 Dodge pickup that I built back when I was in highschool...and am trying to get it back for my "personal" truck - towing & parts chasing.

I do have a car payment though...I basically took the note to buy my mom a new car a year and a half ago. Not that it matters...but we ended up buying a Honda Civic for her...mainly for Reliabilty, & they tend to hold thier value a lot better than anthing thing else out there. The note was a 4 year job and I have a few months of payments left....so less than 2 years on the note.

I don't drink or smoke...so $$ isn't wasted there.

I do although have a tendancy to buy more expensive tools...just because I don't like dealing with broken stuff or having to fight with tools.
Example - $300 for a Miller Elite Welding Mask...Yeh it is expensive, but oh so sweet..and I wear glasses so I wanted the bigger lens area on the helmet.

I want to live my life without worry about what the future has, because I could be gone tomorrow....why should I go crazy now so that I "Might" have something in the future.

my thoughts always were - "money isn't any good when it is green" (or red & blue & orange or whatever the heck colors it is now )

I'm trying to keep my head on straight and think that I'm doing a pretty good job of it. just in that "phase" where it seems like having a house or a place to call "my own" is out of reach

 

What Charlie chops said. Dont get neck deep in debt.

EVERYONE should look into Dave Ramsey. Here is a Quote from Billy Gibbons, yes the hot rodder and rocker "Been there and back. Here is some trusty and valued input to get your mind and your money on the good foot. Dave Ramsey tells it like it is. "

Dave teaches you to live DEBT FREE. He has a website and a gret book www.daveramsey.com

Not a plug, Carla and I have been using his ideas for years w/o knowing until recently.

I am 36, I worked the "dream jobs". I managed some mountain bike shops, a hot rod shop etc.........got tired of jackass small business owners. I recently went back to work using my college education, advertising. I am selling ads for the Local CBS affiliate. A little more corporate than before, but I get to set my schedule. We have lived cheaply over the years. We bought this house when I was 28. by 34 I bought two other large acreages and am building on them. All this was done with smart money management (mostly from my wife!)

The less you owe, the more you can invest! Whether for retirement or for toys.

 

Its not how much money you earn---Its how you spend it.

Gotta have a new car every two years?

Gotta have a house thats bigger than your parents?

Think credit cards are a good idea?

Gonna marry a woman who has to have new cars and a big house?

Too bad.

Consider buying a small cheap house and paying for it in less than 3 years.

I have done it several times. Cheap houses are out there.

With a Plan.........and a woman who agrees.....

First, NEVER buy a new car.

Drive old cars that YOU can repair.

This is ENORMOUSLY cheaper than a new car.

Buy a cheap house that needs repair.

Live in it and repair it.

Sell it at a profit.

Do it again, this time, rent it out.

Do this with 4 houses, each more expensive than the previous one.

Now you have considerable income in addition to your paycheck.

You have also used up 10 years of your life.

(I hope you are smart enough to know this was not gonna happen overnite or in a year or two.)

But you have moved up to the point that you have a nice home to live in and you have no car payment, no house payment, no credit card debt. When you get your paycheck from your job, you decide what you spend it on. This is a Very Comfortable way to live.

This is something YOU can do........ (if you have a woman who will cooperate)Good luck with that. Better get her to agree BEFORE marrying her.

This plan has worked for me and others. My garage is 40' by 130'. I own 60 acres in the country/ I have 6 Model As and a lot of other cars and Harleys.

I also have no debt, all my houses have been paid for, for years and***gasp*** I even have a credit card now! I use it ONLY to order things long distance. I am 55 years old and I got many of these ideas when I was 20 years old. i read a book titled, "How We Made a Million Dollars in Real Estate."

I recommend that you read the book. and follow their directions

 

Well I ain't rich but I ain't poor. I like what I have. I like what I do for the most part and who I'm doing it for. I had the independance and freedom of my own gig for nearly 20 years. YEAH RIGHT!!! It will fuckin own you if you're not careful. My story is long and I don't feel like telling it again. Having a job in today's world is not a bad place to be. My buisness? Restoration and race cars. I learned to hate both. I love snowmobiles...real fast ones. I like my old truck, my old (?) 91 Bronco, and my 1200 sqft shop behind my house. I still have all of the essentials need to construct nearly anything from the ground up, not to mention the skills. I now have a paying project (56 Chevy HT) that will feed my jones for toys. And having a regular job means I can "cherry pick" the ones I wanna do. No car pmts, normal (?) house pmt, reasonable health ins cost for me and my lil woman. What I do for my employer gives me access to the bigger things needed to fab, paint, etc. ( I supervise and work in their paint/body shop), and they're pretty liberal if you "earn it"...the "it" part of that being their respect. In my humble and honest opinion means begin with self respect. I have opportunities here and a clear sense to go on with the things I've always done, and the peace of mind to accell as I see fit both in my shop and theirs.

So how did i get here? I never EVER lost sight of what I wanted and what I was willing to do to get it. I always wanted a nice rural home with a modest but adequate shop to play and earn in. I'm in it now for the last 3 1/2 years and looking forward to staying here from now on. Is that wealth? Yup. But I'll say this too...I still buy a fuckin lottery ticket now and then

 

chrisntx,
Great advice.

 

Recently someone wrote in to Dave Ramsey and said that they were losing their goodpaying job and what should they do about the expensive house they were living in?

Ramsey told them to sell it and move into a cheaper house.

WRONG!

Rent out the expensive house (because the renter pays the house note, the insurance and the taxes.)

You go live in the less expensive house that you can afford. Meanwhile the renter is paying for your expensive house and you are living cheap. When your finances get better you can move back to the better house and rent out the cheaper one. Its a win-win.

All down thru history one of the best paths to wealth has been to rent out a room, a floor, a basement or a house.

Again, the rent covers the house note, the insurance and the taxes.

If you are renting, you will get by cheaper if you buy your own place to live.

 

We are digressing, you are partially right, IF you can keep the house rented and not get behind the Mortgage. IF YOU CAN keep it rented, wait for appreciation and SELL THE FUCKER FOR A LARGER PROFIT! But those arent a given. Deve has a system and it works. When we bought this current house, we kept renters in the downstairs apartment for 3 years to cover the payment. Only reason we quit was for lack of space (small house), so I see what you are getting at man!

 

If you got the best advice in the world, would you have the sense to recognize it, and would you have the drive to put it in place.
I was offered the best advice in the world and ignored it for years.
The advice was, "if you are looking for something to make you rich, you are standing on it."

Today, I bought a waterfall. My old car is immaculate and paid for. My home that I live in is paid for. I spend my retirement making ridiculous offers.
When I work on my car, my real estate is appreciating.

Buy a house cheap, fix it, sell it.
Repeat.

The equity in a home is the estate of most elderly americans.

Or you can give your skills to someone else for the lowest level that you will accept.

Smart ass old fart that I am, feel free to ignore me.

 

Wow, great replies here. This has been on my mind often recently.

1. Goals. It may be depressing mapping out the next 5-10-20 years, but sit down and write a timeline of where you want to be. If you find it depressing, raise your goals.

When I was 23 years old, I was living in an abandoned house, recovering from the loss of use of my right hand (was right-handed), and living as a beggar. I had no college education, and my work experience was as a level one mechanic(hack), a tow truck driver, a repoman, and a 'loan collection agent'. That year I was on the phone with my father and told him I planned to make 100K a year before I was 30 from a corporate salary. He didn't laugh, but I could hear his forced optimism. I made my goal before I was 28.

It was hard work. I worked and studied with all of my time. I had no car for 3 years. Being a gearhead all of my life, this was the hardest part. I also hurt some people. This is America. If you aren't born with a silverspoon, you have to do that.

I'm 32 now, and I only step over people who deserve it. Like MercMan, I'm known as a curmudgeon. I work a corporate job. I do good work, and I'm the best at what I do.

Working on cars at nights and weekends allows me to have the peace to go to my corporate job. When I'm under my car, or at the drill press, there is no politics, no backstabbing, no stuffed-suits. There is just metal, and usually too much rust

Today I take care of my family, I'm generous with my friends, and fair to my co-workers (sometimes that means having the lazy or evil ones fired!).

2. You have to ask yourself where you can sacrifice your time. I live 10 miles from Mom, but haven't seen her in two months. On the other hand, I've sent her on a cruise, and helped with bills. I have a sister that lives with her, and is there for her. If I had to be that person, I wouldn't do what I do.

3. This is America! There are limitless opportunities. Look at the recent immigrants starting their own businesses and getting rich in ten years. If cash is your goal, start a business.


I love my career, but hate my current job. Mostly because I have a short attention span(My resume is in 2-year blocks ). I've had the most money when I was working for myself. I have a mortgage now, and I take care of my 72 year-old father, who has no money, and just lost his wife. I have a hot rod, and an old pick up truck -he drives a Lincoln I bought for him. I just bought a $400K house so I would have room for Pops and me.

4 . If you're single, and have no plans for children/wife until well after 30, the sky is the limit. Save a few bucks and take a vacation to eastern europe, or southeast asia -it's cheap! Talk to people there and you will get a different perspective on life's opportunties in America!

That said, you don't need to spend 50K a year on your car/garage. Plowboy is a hero here on the HAMB. He doesn't make a ton of money, he just works his ass off in the garage, and is creative. Want toys like his? -get in the garage and work! Why don't I have cool cars like him? I spend too much time chasing skirts. So, since my goal is naked women, my car isn't so shiney. If I liked fat, hairy men, maybe I could be more like Plowboy!

Summary: WORK HARDER, WORK SMARTER, KICK ASS!

One thing that hasn't been said clearly here; Nobody that has lived a fulfilling life ever followed the plan given by their boss or family. Again, set your own own goals, make your own life. Otherwise, become another cog in a machine engineered by a real man.

 

I've read this whole post. Some very interesting points. I'm getting real close to that 50 age group. One thing for sure, I sure am not rich, I don't have any money and am deeper in debt then I was at 35. The life I now live is not at all what I had envisioned and was prepairing for at 25. Life sometimes gets in the way of the best plans.

Though I don't have any money, I do have several things that I greatly love. Up front is my life partner and wife of 30 years this May. I have two grown children that are doing OK and a grandson and another grandchild on the way. Every day I can get out of bed is a great day. My wife and I enjoy going places and doing things together and sometimes we take our little dog along. The new hot rod is a heap, but it hopefully it will be as reliable as the old heap I sold to buy this one was.

I only have a high school edicutation. I always wanted to be a machanic. All through school I worked towards that end. Everything I did was auto related. While in school I landed a job at one of the best auto repair shops in town. I was able to work with three very good mechanics and my boss tought night auto mechanics classes at the local colleage. I didn't make much money, but the education at work was well worth the low pay. My wife and I bought our first house (a duplex by the way) when I was 19. A couple buddies and I ran a circle track car for several years. I worked on cars at home at night to fund the race car. I left that first job ( was fired) after 7 years. Next job was running a jack hammer and doing cement work. That lasted about 6 months. (quit that) Next was another auto mechanic job. We bought our 2nd house, our duplex was almost paid for so we refinanced it for the down payment on the 2nd house. The duplex was making both house payments. The place I was working at closed, so I went into a factory job, doing line work. About a year at the factory I went into the maintenance program there. (someone discovered my mechanical back ground) I worked there 7 years. (fired) While I was at the factory I had a night job selling life insurance. Then I did a couple year stint as a Chrysler dealership mechanic. (quit) We sold the duplex. Renter turn over, and constant minor repairs, not to mention repainting after every renter left proved to be more then I could handle. After the Chrysler dealership, I went into another factory in maintenance.

It was during this time that my world got turned upside down. One morning when I woke up, I couldn't move. Paralized. We thought I had messed up my back (had those issues before) but that proved wrong. After several months and many tests it was determined I have a very rare illiness. My body does not retain postassium. (never could spell either) When the potassium drops below a certain level I become temperarily and particially parilized and can not move or have limited movement that sometimes would only last for a few hours or could last a couple days. I am on medication now, but it took a while to get the dosage right and there were and still are some bad days. Long hours (meaning if I get tired) compounds the problem. Anyway it was not good for my place of employment. They came up with some stupid excuse and fired me.

Then I decided it would be cool to haul cars across country. (think BenD) That was my first hard lesson at running my own bussiness. Worked out fair, but was inconsistant. When I wasn't busy hauling cars I worked at a little welding shop for a guy. When the motor blew in my truck, I needed to find a real job. I found another maintenance job at a place that worked 4 ten hour days. That worked ok for my health issues, but the job and the pay sucked. I left there after a couple months. My next job was at a large welding shop. They understood my health condition and actually paid quite well. After a couple of years I was growing tired of the BS. I opened my own welding shop at night and worked at the big place days. More long hours. Problem was, I was busy at my shop and the real job was pretty slow for a few months. I quit the real job and went full time at my shop. That was 12 years ago.

Down through the years, the first two factory maintenance jobs paid consistantly the best. The maintenance jobs also carried with them the most BS and were the jobs I hated the most. I liked doing the machanic jobs, but they consistantly were the lowest paying jobs I've had. I've nearly always had a part time job to pay for toys. There have been a few years while self employed that paid better then anything, but there were some years that have paid very poorly.

I was in my early 30s when my illiness reared its ugly head. They tell me it was likely inherated, but they don't know for sure. (only about 3% of the population has been identified with this condition, they have some $100 word for it.) It was a life changing event for me. Suddenly I couldn't do most of what I knew how to do and might not ever be able to do them again. Lets face it, at 30 you still think you can do anything, and I found out I might not be able to do anything. Talk about re-evaluateing everything. What used to be important wasn't so important any more, and things you never noticed became important. For me, aquirring things isn't as important as spending time with my wife, our friends, and our hot rod. I could probably make a lot more money if I worked more hours, but if I can't move after all the work is done, what was I working for?

When I open my little welding shop, the only money I owed was for my house. Through the process of starting a new bussiness from scratch my debt level is higher now, but other then the morgage on the house we bought 4 years ago, the total debt level is less then the annual income from my shop. Probably 1/4 of my current debt level has come from the last year or so. Times are hard in our area right now, my shop income is about 1/2 of what it was 3 years ago, but I think things are picking up ever so slowly. I love doing what I do for a living, as long as it pays the bills.

Bottom line is you have to deside what is important to you, then you need to do whatever you need to do the get the job done. Gene

 

So.....you have a high paying job, where you do so little that you are bored to death, a company car and all the fringe benefits..... So, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU BITCHIN' ABOUT? Sounds like you can't see the forest for the trees. Since you have all this time on your hands, start planning a build. Like the other guys said, set goals like: What kind of car(start looking), drivetrain, budget(very important so start saving your money), and you have to do this in conjunction with the rest of your life. We were all in your shoes, probably 20-30 years ago, so be patient. The most important thing you said was that you had dreams. As long as you have dreams, you'll pursue them. Good luck.

 

I'm just 33 & don't know much but I can offer this....

I've never wanted to do anything in life (professionally at least) but work on hot rods. Taking this route would most likely leave me 1/2 broke, uninsured, burnt out, & living pay check to pay check.

I don't want or need much but I do want to be able to provide insurance for my family. I want a house with level floors, a good roof, and a nice yard in a good part of town. I want to take a vacation each year with the family and attend a handful of big rod runs/swap meets with my friends. $15/hr. beating dents out of old cars wouldn't allow that to happen so I bit the bullet, invested in an education, & got a desk job. It is no dream job but my family is taken care of and we have fun together when I'm off. I have a neat old car & I'm already buying parts for my next project.

My wife will get out of school in just over a year. When she does we're going to attack some debt. Five years from now I hope to be making $15/hr for one of the local shops here in East TN. I don't want my own shop. I don't need a website or my own T-shirts. I have no desire to be "somebody". I just want to work on hot rods.

We (ALWAYS consider the family first) have a plan & we'll get there, together, sooner than later.

JH

 

I'm 24 and am at the 'crossroads' of my life too. I have a manual job, which I do like, but only pays around £14K a year ($20?). I live with the parents, as I couldn't even afford to rent a flat round here(houses are over £200K)
I don't owe any money, have no credit cards, but am just ticking over with no real savings.
I do have a new van, but it's all paid off and should last me a good 10yrs.
All I want from life it to be comfortable and have a small house with room for a hot rod, that's it, no high tech rubbish, DVD, plasma etc.
I really don't know whether to try something high dollar like IT, which I wouldn't really enjoy every day all day, and would have to train at expense of my job etc, or to try and stay in the same industry and work my way up. (Horticulture is the trade I've become stuck in).
Loads of scary dicisions I guess!

 

One thing that I has not been explicitly mentioned yet is maintaining good credit. This goes along with staying out of debt, paying of CC and living within your means. Make sure your credit is good and you stay on top of it. I royally screwed myself in college by living out of a credit card and letting things slip and not taking care of things when I was back on my feet. I have paid this for the last 6 years thru higher mortgage rates, high loan interest rates and so on. I make a fair amount of money now, but it still seems like I am broke cause I am paying a ton in interest.

I can offer one other piece of advise on working from home. Setup time boundaries within your work day and stick to them. For the first 2 years of my career I worked offsite and out of my house, where I would commonly work from 7:00am straight thru to midnight or later. I never had time to do anything but work until setup a quiting time when I would close up the computer and pack everything into the briefcase for the day... outta sight outta mind... This started openning up my day and life. Just remember.. In work there is always tomorrow, unless they are paying you overtime.

my 2 cents