That is great for you, I am happy. This is not the time nor place nor room enough for all of it, so I will give you a "nutshell" version. Graduated HS on friday, went to work monday. Got a car, paid for it, went to school again- Arab oil embargo, jobs went phut, had to pay for things and live, back to square one. Year later found another job- factory, about 50% more than minimum wage to start. Beggars cant be choosers. Three years later I had a car, a motorcycle, and a bank account. I met a woman that really connected with me (we are still connected 36 years later) and we got married. She had a child and elderly parents, and a few debts, but nothing big. We bought a place. Remember Jimmie Carter ? Interest went from 7.8% to 21% in just over a year. The banks could "adjust" their income, I could not. Ever try to sell property that has an infinitely adjustable loan? SO, back to square 1. Then there was my employer, one of those wonderful "small business" types that took our money for insurance, and when our first child was born we found out that we had been lied to about coverage, and I wound up paying 75% of the bill , not the 20%. Sue them? For what, and with what? They sold the company the next year, and when they left they returned my "retirement fund" minus their contributions to the match and 100% of any interest or profit. Don't you just love small business men? Good thing I did not have an address. SO, now in debt, no property, no job. Wife, two kids, blind father in law. Went back to school. Further in debt. When I got out I took the first job I found, with the state, guard in a medium security prison, 1200$ a month. GOOD INSURANCE. They paid ALL retirement. Vacation. Sick leave. The same year the stock market crashed.
All the while guys guys "recovered and invested" I plugged along, through the deaths of my parents and inlaws, my wife being injured, once again, one of those wonderful "small business" employers without insurance, and when she could not go back to work after surgery of COURSE they kept on paying her. They now own a marvelous fancy restaurant and antique boutique by the way, drive Mercedes, and winter in the Bahamas. That was followed by breast cancer, then a hip replacement after a car wreck. Some states don't REQUIRE auto liability insurance. Ever try to sue someone out of state on their home turf? WELL, then came the bankruptcy. Square ONE.
Now, I am a year away from retirement. I have Social Security, and I have a state pension that will kick in. After 43 years of work and paying out. And all I hear is how guys like me are breaking the country. Meanwhile, all those years those who are crying now have been driving their Lincoln, going on vacation, nice house. I have just kept my head down and trudged forward. I will be damned if I will now put up with their whining. Welcome to MY side of the tracks. The least you can do is stand up and take it like a man. All those bankers who adjusted rates, those business men who passed on their costs, those salesmen who sold crap then disappeared into the fog when their products went south, they want to tell ME how sad it is. I think you can guess where they can stick it. You can call it whatever you want. I did not go crying to them then. Don't come crying to me now. Just bend over and smile. After it is over, come talk to me , we will have something in common then. Was it as good for you ??