What do/did you do for a living?

I'm a surgeon, retired for nearly 20 years now. I entered passable HiFi with a Sony integrated, KLH bookshelf speakers, a Garrard turntable, and a TEAC cassette player  --around 1971-- and went from there. Unfortunately I had more money over the years than technical savvy. But I still love great music played realistically and LOUD!  What is bandied about here is 'WAY beyond me!!... Best to all, Sam

What a great question. I now have a much better understanding of my audiophile cohorts. 75, retired at 70. 25 yrs in scientific instrument mfg. Wound down with 10 yrs working in R&D unit of an old line US company.  Always in operations and mgt. I have been hocked on audio, since the night my dad hooked up his old crystal set and put the headphones on me. It was magic and it never went away. My dad had worked in radio before WWll- think I caught the bug from him. When a was a teenager I built Heathkits and Eico stuff.  Built my own less than perfect speakers and never had enough money to do any better. It didn’t matter. I wanted to hear the music. I have to say, that as much as I would love to spend 100k for a system, I just can’t see it.  Every time I look thru the Stereophile recommenced equipment issue I am blown out the water. It’s crazy.   But regardless of the prices it is so cool to see such an amazing supply of beautifully designed and built audio gear. It thought my hobby was going to just rust away. Man I’m glad I was wrong.  As someone who has been around for awhile, spend your money the way you want, enjoy audio. But, leave enough in the bank for dog food 

Retired manuals translator (Japanese-to-English), technical writer.

I’ve worked steady since I was 12. I used to sell tickets to movies that I rented for free from the public library. I would play the movies in my garage and sell popcorn candy and drinks to all of the neighborhood kids.  From there I moved to mowing lawns and had regular customers. I also sold greeting cards door-to-door. During my adult years I had a career in GM and was part of a start up company towards the end of my GM days. 20 years later we ended up selling that company to a life science company and I’m still working for them but planning on retirement soon. My system now is head and shoulders above what I could afford when I was with GM. Only thing is that my hearings not as good haha!

I'm exploring options....   

COVID-19 has provided me an opportunity to rekindle my appreciation of music.

When it comes to 'stuff' there's always something 'to chase' and my goal is to be able to enjoy and share my enjoyment of things with my friends. 

I've spent money I've saved for vacation on equipment recently because I am enjoying listening sessions almost daily.

Stay well, take care of others if you can.