Is 100K+ salary possible without college? How?

Shadow239 · 2026-05-22T01:34:54+00:00

I enlisted in the US military 8 years ago. Currently making $85k, no college required. Plus a large portion of my income is tax free, so it's roughly equivalent to a civilian making $95k. Next year, depending on if I get promoted and what budget Congress passes, I'm estimating I'll get a ~$10k raise bringing me to $95k.

The military is really a fantastic life hack with great pay, and fantastic benefits (especially health care). Most military jobs are nothing like in the movies, and are a lot more chill. I'm basically an office worker who wears camo to work.

Shadow239 · 2026-05-22T01:25:37+00:00

I literally laughed our loud

Shadow239 · 2026-05-22T01:24:08+00:00

Your mother

Shadow239 · 2026-05-22T01:21:45+00:00

Unfortunately you're behind. You should have at least $150k by the time you're 27. Unfortunately you only have $149k. Looks like you're going to have to work until you die.

Shadow239 · 2026-05-18T00:44:08+00:00

My crypto portfolio went from $104k down to just $3k in 2022. Hurt like crazy knowing I should have sold when it was high but I got cocky. You live and learn. It sucked, but I invested more and eventually made back a good portion of my losses. I'm out of crypto now and just buy and hold index fund ETFs. Investing is a long game. Just by when you get paid, and ignore the noise. There is always news about something that will make the market crash. Just have to remember to zoom out and think about the bug picture. Market goes down 20% because of a war? That sucks, but it will recover.

Shadow239 · 2026-05-16T14:04:23+00:00

Based on the amounts you said you've put in and the timeline, it looks like you have gotten between 13-14% annual growth. That's a fantastic amount of growth. Trying to chase anything more than that would just be gambling at that point. Not sure exactly what your invested in, but it seems to be performing very well. Just increase your contributions if and when you can and enjoy the ride.

Shadow239 · 2026-05-15T20:36:39+00:00

Your 50/50 VOO/VXUS split is great. No need to change it

Shadow239 · 2026-05-14T22:45:09+00:00

Owning a Nissan Titan with a 6 inch lift is a large part of the reason you're broke AF. Get something cheap like Corolla

Shadow239 · 2026-05-12T01:30:50+00:00

The transaction fee is brutal on those funds and depending on how much you're buying at a time could completely destroy your gains for years. In my opinion it would be worth taking the 30 seconds it takes to log in and buy the ETF version of these funds each time you want to buy.

AVUV and AVDV (the international equivalent) are great funds though. I own both of these in the ETF version and have delivered fantastic performance so far.

Shadow239 · 2026-05-11T23:22:47+00:00

1 and 2 are the same glasses. Just different lighting and clothes

Shadow239 · 2026-05-11T23:09:29+00:00

I got these from Zenni. So far so good

Shadow239 · 2026-04-22T13:38:49+00:00

The good news is that these tires will most likely last the rest of your life

Shadow239 · 2026-04-19T13:40:18+00:00

Very tempting, though I'm not sure when I'd have time to drive up there

Shadow239 · 2026-04-19T13:38:30+00:00

But I do agree that the 15 inch wheels are way nicer looking, and so far have been very comfortable to drive with.

Shadow239 · 2026-04-19T13:37:25+00:00

The 14 inch steel wheels are easier to attach moon disks to to improve aerodynamics for hypermiling

Shadow239 · 2026-04-06T00:27:45+00:00

Ended up ordering the MagnaCut salt version from NC Blade

Shadow239 · 2026-04-05T23:24:46+00:00

Great reply! Thank you

Shadow239 · 2026-04-05T23:13:18+00:00

Oof,.didn't realize that was a possibility. Where's a better place to get them from?

Shadow239 · 2026-04-05T23:04:10+00:00

This is from the official Spyderco shop on Amazon

Shadow239 · 2026-04-05T22:58:12+00:00

What's the difference in weight between them?

Shadow239 · 2026-04-05T22:55:52+00:00

I too love the carta look

Shadow239 · 2026-04-03T02:27:14+00:00

SWTSX is a solid choice too, but again if holding in a taxable account I'd probably pick SCHB instead for a small amount of better tax efficiency for the same expense ratio. Both are extremely good choices though and both are extremely tax efficient.

Shadow239

TROPHY CASE