True, money can not buy happiness but poverty sure can afford misery.


Perhaps each society's richer people are also happier because happiness comes not from absolute wealth but from relative wealth--recall H.L. Mencken's

http://www.forbes.com/2006/02/11/tim...14harford.html

Another good article.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/money...2225/index.htm

It takes a huge amount of money to be able to afford modern life. I am not talking new H2's or beach houses. If someone has a wife and children it takes a small fortune to be able to properly fund, retirements, college funds and to pay for the necessities like food, shelter and safe reliable transportation. In Seattle the price of the average middle class home hit 400K last fall.

Now take into consideration the total cost of a typical pilots training, education and experience building and most start out at least 150 to 200K in the hole. Some have $1100 in student loan payments to look forward to for the next decade or two.

Its true that money can not buy happiness but if one has dreams of enjoying a full and responsibly funded life then it is essential that a career choice be able to pay for at least a middle class lifestyle and to afford the price of its own training and education expenses. In most cases aviation falls short and promises to sink even further down on the ability to provide a real income.

SkyHigh