Comment sounds like you're on a good track (Score 2) 459
It sounds like you're doing the things that will get you where you want to be, the same things my parents did.
I never said anyone would be on a Lear jet at 26. I said that working hard, no matter what, and education will get you far and that's what you're doing. I bet you'll really enjoy the payoff in a few years if you stick to it. You've even recognized that the consumer debt is something you want to avoid as much as possible.
I actually did talk about myself a couple of times in this thread. The short version is that when I started college at 16, did dumb things and ended up living under a tarp behind KMart, then worked hard, stopped doing some of the dumb, and got a place and built a business. Sold the business, didn't use the money to finish school and that was dumb. Struggled with no degree, started wising up, bought a house, took a great class on money, now finishing school twenty years after I started.