Ouch, 26 was a good year for me. Things have started to go to hell since then despite just a good start. It is a shame looking back.
Job: Senior Systems Analyst
Significant Relationship: Married less than one year
Income: $85,000 single and $160,000 combined. This was during the height of the dot.com boom and I was getting crazy bonuses. My wife was doing Ok as well.
Social life: Tons. We lived in the Brighton area of Boston were there is plenty of social activity within walking distance. Money was not an issue so we could do anything we wanted including weekend trips to Europe and other exotic travel.
Health: I was in the best shape of my life although the lifestyle was already taking its toll and that is when some early problems started showing up.
I was a first-year associate at a law firm making $115k. Married with cats, no house, good social life, health OK but had some law school weight to lose (which I’ve lost since).
26 had its ups and downs, but overall it was a pretty good year.
Job: Army. I was in Korea for a lot of it, which I loved, and when I turned 26, I’d been teaching myself the language for a couple of months and hanging with a couple of the army linguists and KATUSAs to pick up what I could. The rest of that year, I was in Ft. Campbell, which truly sucked.
Significant Relationship: My girlfriend (now my wife of over ten years), although later on, we had to carry on that relationship long distance.
Income:LOW
Social Life: Not too bad. I hung out with some of the older NCO’s who had their own quiet little bar with no juicy girls or dance floor. We’d get plastered and sing country music and Offspring songs at the top of our lungs and then make the Korean bartenders join in. If I had to pick the one thing from my 20’s which I truly miss the most nowadays, it would be those Friday and Saturday nights.
Health: Good. I was still months away from the knee injury that would signal the end of my fitness regimen for the next 10 years or so. I worked out on my own when I could and made an effort to watch what I ate. I actually ate a quite a few meals at Korean restaurants, which helped.
Job: Went back to college at 25 so I was in my second or third year, depending on how you looked at it. (I had a year under my belt before going back.) Significant Relationship: I was seeing someone, but it didn’t last. Income: Negative - paying for college is costly. Social Life: College - even when you are older than most of the students - is a lot of fun. Health: OK. Probably better than I am now at 47.
Relationship: Married with a son. Still married, still have the son though he has his own house now.
Income: Diddly. Probably under $10k. But on the other hand our house payment was $50 a month. Car payment was probably a little more.
Social life: Did a lot of rock climbing and caving with friends made during a short stint at Ohio University. Actual social life was pretty good but it was mostly limited to my wife’s family which had its pluses and minuses.
Job- Got laid off at the end of 2001, and was temping. Not great money, but I was getting by. Barely.
Relationship: My first marriage had imploded, and I was now exploring the relationship with the woman who is now my wife of 5 years. I missed the whole “open” thing, but was happier with the monogomous woman I would later marry.
Income: Not much, due to temping. And about 1/3 of my income went to my ex, for the children.
Social Life: Took a big hit when I started temping graves. Didn’t see my friends as much as I would have liked at all. Lost a few around that time too.
Health: Weight Gain had just gotten noticeable, due to no longer doing SCA fighting or Martial Arts. Beyond that an Sacramento Allergies, I was alright. Which was good, as I had no insurance.
Job: Accounting Clerk
Significant Relationship: Engaged, but unhappy on a level that I was not yet ready to deal with.
Income: 20,000/yr (in 1996)
Social Life: our roommates were another couple and we hung out with a third couple that had also moved from NY to NC at the time.
Health: Overweight with a bad case of ulcerative colitis that left me hospitalized for a week and out of work for 8 weeks.
Other: Once the fiancee dumped me ON CHRISTMAS DAY because he wanted to “be alone for a while”, I moved back to NY 3 months later and finally met my husband at age 28. I’m happily married at 38 with a 2 and 1/2 year old and making more money as an accounting manager. I lost weight and the colitis hasn’t been an issue for over 5 years.
Job: General IT dude (3 person shop)
Significant Relationship: Nothing
Income: 45000 / yr (in 1998)
Social Life: Not much- some casual church friends, but not much else.
Health: Great
I turn 26 in March 2009, but I’m close enough that I’m just going to answer anyway.
Job: Pampered housewife (according to my husband anyway. Him: “your job is to be happy”)
Significant Relationship: Recently married, been together 8+ years. My husband just turned 26.
Income: $0 ($20,000ish if you count the investment property, but that’s neutrally geared and I don’t see any of that money).
Social Life: I’m naturally a bit of a hermit and could probably be happy with just my husband for company. But I have two gym buddies that I see a couple of times a week, I talk to my friends online almost every day, and I get together with a group of friends once or twice a month.
Health: Excellent. I’m finding that I have to work a little bit harder to keep as slim as I was in my teens but I’m actually more fit and toned than I was back then. I go to the gym several times a week, eat well, drink lots of water, don’t smoke and very rarely drink alcohol. Annoyingly I have a weak immune system and seem to pick up every cold that goes around.
Job: Cognitive neuroscientist/software developer/applying to grad school
Significant Relationship: free porn on the internets
Income: 30,000
Social Life: Introverts seek social contact?
Health: Great
Job: I was in my junior/senior year at UCLA. I transferred when I was 25. Late bloomer etc.
Significant Relationship: Married for 3 years to a guy I was living with since I was 19. Yep, still married.
Income: Scholarship money, good looks.
Social Life: As is usual for me, a few close friends that I keep in contact with and a wide dispersal of acquaintances and colleagues. Just how I like it!
Health: Starting to get the “Danger Will Robinson!” from the Doc, due to my commuter/fast food lifestyle. And which I’m now correcting. I’m looking forward to my next lipids panel. /flex
Job: Medical Student
Significant Relationship: It’s complicated.
Income: negative $35,000-$45000 a year
Social Life: minimal; when I’m not in class, lab, or small group meeting I’m studying. I avoid hanging out with other med-students, but have a small group of friends that I usually get around to seeing at a party or concert once every 3-4 weeks.
Health: Going to the Endocrinologist and Neurosurgeon on Wednesday about a pituitary tumor. I’ve had hormonal deficiencies since I was born, and the tumor has been there for quite some time so I’m not concerned about metastatic potential. It just recently occurred to me, after two years of med-school, that I owe it to myself to have a full work up at a large university hospital.
Living Situation: Back in the dorms and hating it.
Car: Just recently stopped getting tickets on a car I sold over a year ago.
Overall Satisfaction: At the very least it can only go up from here.
Job: Munitions Squadron Maintenance Officer - Capt USAF. Imagine being 26 years old and being in charge of 465 men! There are opportunities in the military that just don’t exist in civilian life.
Significant Relationship: Married, with one child.
Income: In the neighborhood of 10K, but this was in the very late sixties
Social Life: Great for what little time I had to socialize.
Health: Great, but there were things that would catch up with me in the future…deafness, high blood pressure, etc…that started while I was in the service.
Note: The great responsibilities that I had at 26 were more a product of the times than of my maturity. And the OP should know that I went on to be a high school teacher for 30 years - and the responsibilities were once again huge, although different.
Job: Deliveries, shipping, reception for a small company
Significant Relationship: none or dating a really nice guy who was all wrong for me
Income: I don’t remember. Above minimum wage, but going nowhere. Poor health insurance. No savings whatsoever.
Social Life: low key
Health: very good
Living Situation: In my own apartment with no roommates, whooo
Car: My mom’s old car, a bottom-of-the-line Datsun
Overall Satisfaction: fine for the time, but no good prospects, despite the college degree and being bilingual. Two years later I joined the Army and everything improved.
Job: Creative Associate for a brand consulting firm. My job was creating names for new products and companies. Burned out really fast. This was also my first ‘office’ job, after spending about 3 years teaching.
Relationship: Long-distance relationship with my now-wife.
Income: 3.6 million yen, which at the time was only about US$25,000. At current exchange rates it would be worth $40,000.
Social life: Not bad, but not very active. I wasn’t looking for a girlfriend and my best nearby friend was married, so most of my socializing was low-key. Made some good friends at the office, although they were also married.
Health: I was functioning just fine, but headed for a mess. I wasn’t getting any exercise, and was eating and drinking heavily (and enjoying all of it). It’s also very likely that the cancer I was diagnosed with five years later (a very slow-developing one) had already appeared and was beginning to grow.
Living situation: My own apartment, about an hour’s train ride from my office. The neighborhood was very nice.
Car: None. Wasn’t needed, and maintaining a place to keep it would have outweighed the cost of the car itself within a short time. Still don’t have or particularly want one.
Overall satisfaction: Not a lot. My job was kind of interesting, but turned into a frustrating dead-end slog (and not a high-paying one) fast. Still, in retrospect, 26 was a hell of a lot better than 27, 28 and 29.
And my big accomplishment for 2008: My 10,000th post!
Job: Manager of a garden center Relationship: Girlfriend & baby. Income: Beats me. I’d guess around 30k? Social Life: Good enough. Had friends. Did things. Health: Smoked but was in good shape. Working in the garden center had me in the best physical shape of my life. Living Situation: Rented apartment Car: Owned a '93 Altima. So it was ~4yrs old Overall: Meh. Not bad. The girlfriend thing turned out to be a hot mess but that was down the road. I was feeling all right about the world though.
Still working for the same company (but in a different capacity), quit smoking, own a home, have custody of my kid and am married to a much better lady.
Job: traffic coordinator local TV (I hated my job)
Significant Relationship: married 2 years
Income: maybe around $30k
Social Life:
Health: great
We had a used car that was paid for (we carpooled), we had owned our home for just over a year. I was about to make a huge career change that would make my life much more pleasant and exciting.
