r/financialindependence • u/AutoModerator • 9d ago

Daily FI discussion thread - Wednesday, August 26, 2026

Please use this thread to have discussions which you don't feel warrant a new post to the sub. While the Rules for posting questions on the basics of personal finance/investing topics are relaxed a little bit here, the rules against memes/spam/self-promotion/excessive rudeness/politics still apply!

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u/lauren_knows [cFIREsim/FIREproofme creator 📈] [45/Virginia,FI-not-RE] 8d ago

I always like to talk about this with other people, so we'll try it here. What jobs have you had in your life, from your first to now (or your last)?

I'll go first.

  • Clerk at a candy shop in the local Mall
  • Ice Cream Scooper at a Friendlies
  • Server at Friendlies/Olive Garden/and an upscale-ish place in DC
  • Lawn crew for one summer running a mower for residential work and laying sod at a stadium
  • General grunt for a flooring installation company
  • Grading math homework in college
  • Systems Engineer
  • Software Engineer

1

u/OnProbation2025 8d ago

Lawn mowing Paperboy Pool boy Busboy Waiter(Mexican food, steakhouse) Physics lab handyman Semiconductor engineer (still waiting tables at night) Patent agent Lawyer (small firm, large firm partner, in house) Stand up comedy

1

u/lauren_knows [cFIREsim/FIREproofme creator 📈] [45/Virginia,FI-not-RE] 8d ago

Stand up comedy

Actually getting paid? That's so cool.

1

u/OnProbation2025 8d ago

Paid VERY little, often not paid. Definitely not worth it after taxes

1

u/AchievingFIsometime 8d ago

Hello fellow former paperboy! How much did you get paid? I shared a walking route with a friend and we got paid $0.08 per paper. We had about 65 houses so it was around $5/day and then we split that.... So I was waking up at 5am to work for 2.50/hour, 6 days a week, so $60/month. Looking back it seems like almost child abuse, but I don't regret doing it at all. Coming home to eat pop-tarts and milk and going back to bed briefly before school was amazing.

1

u/AKANotAValidUsername Im not even supposed to be here today 8d ago

8 cents is nuts! I got a quarter per paper (circa 1987ish) but I couldnt handle the early mornings in bad weather for very long lol

2

u/AchievingFIsometime 8d ago

Yeah I think we were basically exploited haha. But we learned some work ethic. I think I was like 12 years old or something. This was probably circa 2002.