How the fuck...

Well, I don't know if I should feel insulted or not by the whole 'working retail at 25' comment.

I could have rushed into a career in banking or something else like some of my friends did, but at the moment, while I figure things out, I'm working at the bookstore and doing freelance writing on the side. In any case, I am saving as well. I started my 401k recently, a fact I'm apparently proud enough of to brag about on a porn site. And within the next year I'm looking for an internship of some kind, so I'm saving for that as well. I guess I do agree that everyone's situation and priorities are different.

Here's a "trick" I'm working on it's called living within your means, now it doesn't always work out but I also don't need a new car, an i-pad, multiple items of new clothes... riding my bike to work saves quite a bit on transit fare, drink/eat at home mostly too.

If you want some less than cutting edge (or maybe even some new stuff) hit a pawn shop and thrift shop. Sometimes the people who buy that stuff need the money later and have to sell it.

Yeah, a bit. I know a number of people my age who are legitimately making six figure incomes. These are folks who through luck or talent landed the kinds of jobs most kids dream about when they wonder why they're going to college. I'm a relatively new addition to the middle class, so that kinda lifestyle is a little foreign to me, too.

...And some of those people pulling six figures are also managing to live paycheck-to-paycheck, which astounds me.

-ReAct
"Is still poor enough to talk about winning the lottery."

Don't feel bad, so you cannot get a new ipod or the latest cell phone, the superficiality of our world is growing with each new generation. Somehow we have been tricked into believing that making money is what life is all about and it is not. Unfortunately unless you are born into it , or decide to work outside the law in order to attain it money will always be a necessity. I want a big house and success as well... but I have my art and maybe that is better than anything else.

I didn't mean it as an insult (well, okay, maybe I was insulting the fact that you asked the question at all since the answer seems fairly simple to me). You asked how people your age were able to live a lifestyle that involved spending far more money than you could imagine spending; I offered the suggestion that it's not at all unreasonable to assume that they could have jobs that pay a bit more than yours does.

Congrats on taking the time to figure out the life path you want to take. A lot of people never bother.

everywhere... there they... everyone... werd 2 yer mutha...

You should accept credit cards. Get more impulse shoppers.

or just do it by an ATM machine.

I'm with Shalome here, I was doing really well, but then I quit my job and decided to travel the world.. I mean keep in mind I have plenty of friends who are lawyers at that age. It's quite possible to get a decent salary, it just depends on what you want to do.

Everyone's situation is different, but in general, we live in an affluent society that continues to place a low priority on debt management. I'm sure there are lots of people living within their means as they keep themselves entertained with the latest toys; but statistically, most of them are up past their great-grandkids' eyeballs in bills they're paying the minimum balance on.