What do/did you do for a living?

I used to work at Bendix Aerospace in South Bend. In the early 80s there were a few engineers at or just over 70 years of age still working. They had worked at Studebaker. They said that they showed up for work one morning at Studebaker in 1962 or 1963, can’t remember the year exactly and found the gates were locked. The security guards told them to go home and turn on their radios. They said that the nightmare unfolded over the next few days learning that the company had gone bankrupt, all assets being sold off and the company had used upped all of the pension fund trying to keep the company afloat. They learned that they had no jobs, no pensions, nothing. It was a sober lessen for me in my twenties at the time to take responsibility for my own future and save. Good thing as most pensions were frozen in 2008 and by 2009 most companies did away with their pension plans- of course existing employees were protected but only to the extent of the freeze date.

Custom cabinet maker with niche business working for uber big shots. Never made much because I hold the title, “World’s Worst Businessman”. Everything went to private schools for the kids, so we never had anything to spend on fancy audio. But I had built Heathkits and bought a used Thorens and JBL L150s before the kids arrived so we enjoyed music in our home for hours every day. Drove ghetto cars, wife dressed in her sisters’ hand-me-downs, kids’ fashion shopping was done at thrift stores, and I fixed every auto and appliance so we didn’t have to buy much. Turns out, those were great habits to cultivate - if you don’t spend much, you don’t have to make much. After the kids left for college with generous scholarships, we suddenly found ourselves with surplus income, including selling our home for 16X what we paid for it. We still live the same lifestyle but now have multiple systems throughout the house, almost everything bought used. The Thorens is still in use (after completing rebuild by Vinyl Nirvana), and we still have the JBL L150s. Fourteen pairs of speakers are set up inside and outside the house. Electronics from Heathkit, Onkyo, Dynaco, Luxman, Oppo, Denon, Lyngdorf, Elekit, McIntosh. Speakers from JBL, Altec, Dynaudio, Tannoy, Revel, BMR, Ascend Acoustics, and Heathkit. Closest neighbor is a half mile away so we play music throughout the house, inside and outside (courtesy of Bluesound Nodes), and so we are immersed in music as we go through the days, doing chores, reading, preparing meals, hosting kids and grandkids and nieces and nephews. It continues to be an extremely satisfying hobby/passion.

Risk/ control manager in a global bank. 

Unsuccessful real estate investor, but I am blessed with a supporting wife and a smart kid. i have been in the hobby since early 90s, and went from $2K system to current one which I am very happy with.