#16: Your Questions Answered

"Seriously, dude, where did you get enough money to leave your career?" (Part 2)

Unfortunately, I didn’t earn much money at my first career job. Becoming a journalist was a calling for me, not a road to getting rich.

When I started as a Virginia newspaper reporter in the mid-80s, my pay was $360 a week - $18,720 a year (in today’s dollars, just over $55,000). [Note to self: Write Substack column about my journalism adventures, which included briefly being considered by police as a murder suspect.]

I mention this because for most of us, the beginning is the hardest part of saving for the future. Most of us don’t start our careers in a $100,000-a-year position (even in 2025!) with stock options.

Even so, it’s possible to reach your financial goals, with discipline, consistency and a little luck. But we’ll get to that.

My next career job, two years later in California as a publicist, paid a whopping $24,000 a year. The “go west young man” bug had bit me after visiting S…