The mortgage is definitely part of the status anxiety I mentioned. People need a house because they’re surrounded by peers buying houses. Let go of all that and life opens up for you.

Backpacking through Europe is cheap. Backpacking through Southeast Asia even cheaper. Incredible food awaits and it’s very very cheap.

OK I will let it go, but what will my wife and kids say when they are evicted from the apartment and I'm nowhere to be found because I have no signal in Southeast Asia? Maybe some people buy houses because of peer pressure, but most just like to have a roof over their head when it is cold or rains outside. I know I do.

So it isn’t really about wages, it’s about kids. You chose to start a family and accept the responsibility that comes with that. It’s not forever though. When the kids move out you and your wife could sell the house and hit the road, if you wanted to.

Why wouldn't your wife and kid be backpacking with you? Kids are small, they fit in the overhead compartment.

It would be hard to explain to the school why are they missing classes. With all the appeal of the vagabond lifestyle, I'm not sure that is where their passions lie.

All of this is available and not expensive. Easy? Maybe not.

You don't want to do it? That's your choice.

Depends on how you define expensive. For starters it carries an enormous opportunity cost and associated risks. If you mean living on the street and depending on the generosity of others can be started with close to zero cash, you are absolutely right.

I think that worldly, well-rounded individuals never have to worry about how to make ends meet.

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.

Does this imply that anyone who struggles to make ends meet is not worldly and well-rounded? If so, how might they become worldly and well-rounded so that they can pay their bills? Is there an online course they can take between shifts of the part-time, minimum-wage jobs they work to keep a roof over their head? And how will the knowledge they can absorb in these less-than-ideal circumstances enable them to compete with far better-prepared people on the job market?

Easy.

They can:

- work their way up the ladder in their current job. (If not possible, look for another job where it is.) - find a job with upward mobility that doesn't take much training and is quick to start. Welding, plumbing etc. And prioritize training for it. Then transition.

When either of these are reached you can rinse and repeat. And hopefully while doing so, learn how business/life works because you are actively working to engage with it to improve yourself.