[mshalen]

Bernie I just had to respond:

I don't believe that investing $30,000 in my childrens education could be considered a "high consumption" lifestyle. I am thankfull that my parents were able to invest in my education and I would do whatever it takes to give my children a good start in life. I drive a 4 year old Honda and live a suburb of New York City where the property taxes on my house are in excess of $14,000 (and I live in what I would consider to be a tyical middle class dwelling). I believe, from reading many of the posts here, that many posters are young and without a true understanding of personal finances. When I was 23 I too had no real concept of what size of income I would need to support a family and would have thought that $30,000 - $50,000 would be more than adequate. My frustration has nothing to do with my personal finances - I would be happy to match my personal balance sheet and income statement against anyones.

My point, which I admit was poorly written, relates to expectations. As Dr. Schoonmaker discusses in "The Psychology of Poker" playing poker for a living is an incredibly bad idea where at best you could expect to earn a lower middle class lifestyle. While a handfull of professional poker players do gross in excess of $100,000 this is a very small percentage of all players and once you factor in overhead, liefstyle, family and so on playing poker become a lonely, low paying existance. Over my career I have have hired a number of young people to work for me and I explain going in that if they are not earning at least $100,000 within two to three years then I will suggest that they move on to a different career. I guess the point that I am trying to get across is that if you have the dedication and intelligence to earn $100,000 playing poker then you should be able to apply yourself and earn significantly more in business.