Here's what preparing for life looks like

My 26 year old boy is a heavy equipment operator.  During the winter, he only gets about 30 hours per week of work from his primary job.  He will also do several side jobs during the winter months to supplement his income.  Beginning about a month ago, the weather has been better and he's been putting in about 60 hours per week.  About six weeks ago, he took a side job, as he's quite skilled in many trades.  He and a friend are almost done rebuilding a long walkway and large dock at a guy's lake house.  My boy has been working 10 hours almost every Sunday at the lake, taking his weekly hours to 70.  He's the same guy who bought a 1400 square foot house at the age of 22 and renovated the entire interior.  New or refinished hard wood floors, plenty of electrical and plumming repairs, shored up trusses in the attic, several new windows, all new floors (including the replacing the rotted studs) in the bathroom and laundry room, all new dry wall in those rooms, new tube, new toilet, hundreds of mud work repairs in the balance of the house, repaired and recoated kithen cabinets, and a fully new interior paint job.  That was all one summer while workining his regulary job.  The next year he put a new metal roof on the house, and a new metal roof on his 900 square foot garage.  He next move was a full landscaping project.  He bought the place for $72,000 and can now sell it for twice that.  Some of that was general appreciation, but most of the appreciation was from his blood, sweat and tears.  None of these projects were contracted out.

Preparing for life is an odd thing to some, but I'm proud that my boys know how to do it. He's talking about buying a used excavator, and doing more side jobs.   My boy's the sort of guy who many on this site dispise once they're 50 years of age and worth five million dollars.

Oh, and I almost forgot to add that he lives in the country some 30 miles east of town.  He owns just short of two acreas, and he shoots many of his 20 guns in his back yard.

American dream, owning your own home! Good for him.

Anybody who owns twenty guns is an idiot.

An idiot? Not necessarily.

Terrified of the world? Obviously.

I taught my boys from a young age to save hard early.  My boy has a net worth of $100,000.  Assuming his current assets grow at 7% over the inflation rate, at the age of 66 he will be worth $1.4 million (in today's dollars mind you) without saving another penny.  Of course he will save many more pennies and dollars.  Work hard, save early, save hard, and you'll prepare for life.

Many on this site will dispise my son when he's worth $5 million in todays dollars when he hits 60 years of age.  All for working his ass of, saving young and saving hard.

And being lucky.

Well, most people don't need TWENTY substitute penises....

That's the problem.  Many believe that success comes from luck, while my boy understands that success comes from sacrifice and hard work.  He's lucky that he works hard, moving more dirt and more accurately than most other operators.  He's lucky that he's willing to work more hours than most of other guys.  He's lucky that he's confident enough to think on the job and make good decisions, respectfully challenging management at times.  He's lucky that someone appreciates his lucky work and offers him good insurance.  He's lucky that he's fully funding his 401K.  He's lucky that the company recognizes his lucky confidence to make decisions, and will be promoting him to a field manager position within a few months.  He is lucky that the promotion comes with a nice company truck.  Once my boy spends the money and elbow grease to replace the vinyl siding on his house this summer with nice Hardie Board, he will be lucky that his house will be more valuable.  He's lucky that he worked hard to learn how to do all of these things.  When he finally has his house in order this summer, after four years of improvements that luckily turned out well, he will be lucky enough to begin investing the maximum allowable IRA contribution.

The boy sure is lucky.

No serious accidents, no getting sick, no economic downturns that would have affected his livelihood, no natural disasters, growing up in an intact family, no mental disorders, no problems in the sector where he works that might have gotten him laid off or fired. Growing up in a country with free public education. Not having to march off to fight in a war during the prime of life. And so far, I assume, not having contracted Covid-19.

Not lucky at all. No siree Bob.

Nope, he's not lucky.  In another decade, he will be prepared fully.  By the way, he's 26 years old and has no reason to worry about getting corona.  If he gets it, he will be fine.