Your Career

Based on my personal experience, this is my opinion:

If you are like most people, you will really only have twenty years of peak earning during your career.  You might extend it to thirty years, but twenty years is the average.

This is why a home mortgage is traditionally 15 years long.  Until recently the banks actually wanted you to pay off the mortgage, instead of just fleecing you for all your available cash and savings.  Based on statistical data, they knew that the typical person only had twenty "good years" of earning potential and as a result a mortgage should be only fifteen years long to ensure successful completion.

If you are a young person and planning the arc of your life and career, let this be a signpost from the future for you.  You will only have about twenty years of peak earning capacity and that is all.  Despite your self confidence at your invincibility and endurance, it is likely that something will happen, illness, accident, economic downturn, personality conflict, and so on.  If you are like the majority of people, you most likely will not escape and the second half of your life will be spent at a lower level of economic vitality than the first half.  If you have not paid off your mortgage by this time, you will lose the house.

Take it from me.  At one time I was constantly working as a high paid VFX artist, but then age, illness, market changes, industry changes, professional misunderstandings all combined to eliminate this source of income for myself.  Even though I was just as competent and economically efficient at performing the task of rotoscoping, I was not offered very much work.  I had to sell my condo.

Presently I am a background actor.  I love it, but the pay is low and the hours are irregular.  The reason I took this work is because nobody else would hire me for any other work whatsoever even though I have a Masters Degree, Good Credit, and no criminal record.  The fact of the matter must be that I was just "too old" AND "a white man" AND "WHO REALLY KNOWS WHY???"

Most likely, this same thing will happen to you, in the future of this economy.  Just wait and see.

So, if you are planning your own economic future from the vantage point of early in life -- assume that you will only have twenty years of peak earning and only buy a Mortgage if you project that you can afford a fifteen year Mortgage.  Trust me.  Live small.  Last long.


copyright (c) 2016
William Schaeffer