[snotbubble]

I am in college and am still trying to figure out my freakin major! It's very frustrating. One of the decisive aspects are how much I will end up making each year, unfortunately everything I want to do doesn't make much and someone without a bachelors could make the same salary. The degrees I have looked into all start around 30,000 and end up around 50,000.

Now my experience on the lifestyles an income will give:
My mom makes 23,000 and she raised my sister and I on her own. We were homeless for a year and sometimes we'd have biscuits and ketchup with a glass of water for dinner. Now that really sucked!
My dad makes 50,000 and I recently moved in with him. It's hard to tell if he lives comfortably with that. We live in the ghetto where I've been shot at twice and woken up three times to gunfire, when I lived with my mom I didn't know what a gun sounded like because she lived a few blocks away, in a better neighborhood where I grew up. My dad parties every weekend and he's in tons of debt from all his ex wives. I think my dad doesn't know how to budget and my mom did the best with what she had. So if I made 50,000 would I still be stuck in the ghetto or is my dad a dumb and not know how to manage his money?

In high school my goal was to just make more than my mom because I knew that sucked. Everyone is telling me to aim higher to have a worry free life, salary wise.

All I want is to not have to worry about paying bills, having a car that does what it's supposed to, be able to have fun occasionally, maybe a vacation every few years... just living comfortably but not wanting the latest and greatest of all material things. I want two kids also- I know those are expensive. I also plan on having a husband that is religious enough to not believe in devorce, so I won't have to worry about doing everything on my own like my mom had to.

So... my question: how much should I aim for to have the lifestyle I want? Can some of you tell me what your income is and what type of lifestyle you have?

[ChihuahuaMomma]

Have the career that you want. The amount of money that you make doing that should not be the deciding factor. Because if it is you may end up hating your job.

To live how you want, there are other ways to do this--budget--save--invest.

With continued education classes, experience, seniority, and good references you can always negotiate a higher salary.

Do what makes you happy, not what makes you rich.

[danielnoahsmommy]

Follow what chihuahuamomma says. Do what makes you happy. There is no amount of money that will make you happy

[Fr_Chuck]

If you do a job merely for the money, you will never be happy, and no matter how much you make it will never be enough, you will always just want more.

Do a career that you will like, and learn to live within that budget.

[Always_helping]

Here's my take with some of what you mentioned:

"All i want is to not have to worry about paying bills..." Learn to manage debt. In college, my economics teacher once said, "There are only two things in life that you should take out a loan for: an education and a house."

"...having a car that does what it's supposed to..." In general, cars are more reliable these days and, therefore, you can find some great used cars that are 3-4 years old that have a lot of life in them and still look good. I recommend you check out Consumer Reports for vehicle reliability.

"...be able to have fun occasionally...maybe a vacation every few years" Yes, always have as much fun as possible and take vacations to recharge and/or reset.

"...just living comfortably but not wanting the latest and greatest of all material things." Very noble goal.

"I want two kids also- i know those are expensive." Have a spending plan, set long and short term financial goals, and plan your pregnancy.

"so...my question: how much should i aim for to have the lifestyle i want?" How you manage your money is by far more important than how much money you make.

Best wishes.

[ISneezeFunny]

$50k a year is more than enough for one person to make it... all you need is a decent budget and a good spending habit.

[Clough]

Very fine answers that you have already received!

Just to add to for what to think about, I would like to add the following, hopefully without repeating what someone else has already stated.

I do a number of things to make a living. You could choose to do just one thing in order to make a living. Most of the time, when people are going to college or to a university, they are aiming to do just one thing to make a living and maybe some additional things on the side to make a little extra money.

I am a college graduate. I have used my degree to help me to obtain my major employment. Doing that kind of thing worked for me for many years. Having a degree still does help me in getting employment. But, in my own life, I have found that for me to be the happiest, that I need to be doing a variety of things in order to make a living. Even when I had one, main job, I still sought out other things to do in order to make money.

Most of the ways that I make a living now involve being involved directly with people in providing different kinds of services for them. I am also involved in a number of organizations. Because of being involved with customers as well as colleagues in the different types of organizations, I am able to network and gain other customers for the types of services that I provide.

In my life, I have always been service oriented in the types of things that I like to do. I like to repair, perform, assist, help, manage, direct, teach, collect, sell, barter, er, arrange and compose music, advertise, and a number of other things. All of those things are what I do in order to make money.

Do I have a "life" and able spend time with family as well as friends so that it is satisfying enough for me as well as them? Yes.

So, I'm just a little bit different from the norm of 9 to 5, come home after work, enjoy family, relax and don't work. I really like to work, I am one of those kinds of persons, but it needs to be really fulfilling for me and also involve being around and working with or for people.

What I am basically saying is, what is it that you would like to do that would make you happy and fulfilled as an individual and also be able to make a living doing? There are many, many ways to do that. But, how to do it, would depend on what you would really like to do.

Please let us know a little about the things that you really feel "drawn" to do because you know that you truly would like to do them.

What would really "trip your trigger" as far as employment, please?

I really do like what ChihuahuaMomma said

Do what makes you happy, not what makes you rich.

I would like to add to that as an additional though, in order to be "rich", it may not be the amount of money that you make or the things that you have, but the satisfaction that you are able to feed your family, maintain a roof over you and those precious to you and be able to make enough so that you are able to go beyond just providing for you and yours and afford some enjoyable free time outside of going to work and coming home to sleep and to get up to work again.

We live in a world where having a job is no guarantee that you will have it even the next day. It's also the kind of world where changes courses and directions in life a number of times as far as careers has almost become the accepted norm. But, you know what? Some of the most successful and prosperous people in this world have changed their careers a number of times.

Everyone is different... You will find what you want to major and maybe also minor in as soon as you find who you are and what you want to be.

Thanks!