This is just one of many reasons why my current job is likely to be my last. I feel like so much of modern life is just irredeemably broken right now.
Learn to play a cheap instrument, garden vegetables, paint miniatures, volunteer at pet shelters, or travel to odd destinations. Play the long game, and remember to have fun.
You owe corporate nothing outside what they paid for... and not a cent more. =3
Yes, it would be great to be free of debt, but for me it would have to mean moving away to somewhere real estate prices are not only low, but dropping for all too understandable reasons. And also a huge distance away from friends and family. There's a reason people mostly don't do this, and it's not that they feel a moral obligation to corporate.
I think many assume it is some sort of zero-sum-game. This simply isn't how most unique successful product and service based niche businesses operate.
Most firms that directly try to hyper-scale their way into market dominance simply fail within a few years. The smarter bros often cash-out after the IPO these days.
Some people do feel entitled to others free time, and post-unknown-risk capital investments. Those folks can't help anyone succeed at anything except bankruptcy. =3
Sounds great. So how exactly do you get started with that, then?
While not a personal preference, most acquire revenue properties as they build equity over time. Assets secure lower loan rates, qualify mortgage fixed-payment schedules on investments, and require good management-companies to handle leases.
Generally, mitigating tax exposures by investing in small businesses is still popular. Sometimes they work, and sometimes they don't... but it is money people will lose anyway if they do nothing. Specifically, my first business investment was a few vending machine locations as a teenager, after a summer dropping hardwood floors.
Everyone starts somewhere, but blindly cloning what others do is usually unwise. ymmv =3
Others spend their lives making decisions out of impulsive narcissism. Unless you are a trust-fund kid, life can have very real consequences if things go sideways.
Most will learn the hard way... only lawyers and politicians get paid for excuses in life. =3
Sometimes folks have help, sometimes its all debt, and sometimes it pays off eventually.
However, living beyond ones means is almost always unwise. =3