Job: Project Engineer at Nuclear Power Plants
Significant Relationship: Just met the love of my life. Income: something like 50k Social Life: starting to click. I had been moving around, and didn’t have a lot of friends, but settled in the place I live now (DC area). Health: Good
Other: Funny you should pick this age, because looking back, it seems to be the age at which a lot of things came together for me. I came to the end of a period of moving around and got a girlfriend, a band, and generally began to assemble my feces.
Job / income- I was a 3d year law student at the time, so I worked part-time at the law library and clerked part-time for an attorney. I probably made something like $10,000 all together that year, plus student loans.
Social life- I had just gotten divorced, and I was making up for lost time. I was, if I say so myself, pretty hot way back then. So, darn good :D.
Health- very good.
Other- I had an opportunity when I was 26 to move back to my hometown. I often regret not doing it. Back then, it never occurred to me that there would be a time that I wouldn’t be able to visit my family whenever I wanted to, and that they wouldn’t be around forever. When I have one of those “If I could do it all over again” moments, that’s the big regret I have.
Job: Writer/SEO Writer/TA/Teacher (I wear many hats every week!)
Significant Relationship: Married (for 7 years)
Income: I don’t know. 20k, maybe.
Social Life: I don’t have one, but I don’t want one.
Health: Not bad, I guess.
I feel like I’m still waiting to be an adult. I’ve had some very minor success as a writer, and actually found a way to make some money, but it’s basically peanuts (though peanuts I’m grateful for at the end of every quarter!). I hate writing SEO (search engine optimizing) content so, so much. It’s a big pointless waste of time, and my boss does not pay me enough (he knows he pays below the market value of this work). But it’s mostly a steady check. My TA gig is like 20 hours a week and the pay is even worse. And the teaching job has the potential of being better, but right now it’s 1 class for 1 quarter for $800. I can’t even afford my student loan payments right now. And yet, I’m strangely happy. I’m home all day every day, which gives me a chance to write, and I’m learning how to cook and bake, and I can run my errands and shop during the day, and we are making ends meet (I can pay 1/2 my student loans, the other half is on deferment right now). Still, it’s frustrating because I basically work 60 hours a week and…well…maybe I make 20k.
If things continue like this, I might go back to school for my Masters in Education. Start teaching full time. I don’t really want to though.
At 26 I was a Captain in the Army, stationed at that garden spot of the mid-west, Fort Leonard Wood, MO, and getting ready to go to Southeast Asia. I had been married for three or four years, no children yet. I was pulling down the magnificent salary of something like $800 a month take home. Fortunately living on post was cheap and Mrs G was teaching in the Waynesville/FLW school. Equally fortunately my orders were changed and I got a three year accompanied tour in Germany, where our first child was born two years later.
First off This has been very interesting to read and has me thinking about how I will reflect on this year in the future.
I am currently 26.
Job: Ad Sales rep for local shopper, job is not very secure. I am also picking up as many milking shifts at my in-law’s farms.
Relationship: Newlywed.
Income: 25K if I am lucky, this is a large decrease over the past couple years.
Social Life: OK, we are homebodies for the most part but both of us would like to increase our circle of friends. We are also involved in many different clubs and organizations.
Health: Mentally doing pretty good, I am at my highest weight ever and I am hoping to turn the ship around.
Living Situation: We bought a small farm 2.5 years ago.
Car: I have a 03 Aztek that we make payments on, my husband has a 93 F150 that is in rough shape but is paid for.
Overall: Happy with life as a whole but trying to figure out what the future will hold for us. We are currently contemplating if our future will include taking over the in-law’s dairy farm. We also have started talking about kids, which if you knew us would cause your jaw to hit the floor, as we have been very anti-kid for a very long time. This is also the year that the drama with my mother finally came to an end, at least as far as the courts are concerned. I won in court but have had a lot of emotional turmoil in my life. I think I am at an age where I can say that I am finally getting my life together.
Job: Daily newspaper reporter
Salary: $16,000 (and it was worse than it sounds!)
Relationship: Married ~3 years to my first husband
Health: Excellent, although I think that was the year I had my wisdom teeth pulled/removed. Ow.
Car: 1987 Nissan Sentra. Tiny, but purchased new!
Social life: A little raucous. My husband and I went out a lot in those years.
Later that year I accepted a job where I work now, in public television, so I guess it was a pretty monumental year for me, too — although I didn’t know when I took the job that I’d still be here, nearly 20 years later!
There was still quite a lot in my future, then. I had just lost my father, which was devastating, but it wasn’t the worst thing that has happened to me. Fortunately, I’m very happy now!
Then
Job: Research & Promotions Coordinator
Income: 32,000 USD/year
Significant Relationship: Living with my fiance, soon to be husband
Social Life: Starting a mild downward slide - most of my friends were getting married and were very involved with their spouses to the exclusion of everything else. Kind of a honeymoon phase. But I still saw them fairly frequently and liked the people they married, so it didn’t matter that I rarely saw any of them by themselves.
Health: OK - hadn’t had a seizure in a year, so that was good.
Now
Job: Product Manager
Income: 80,000 USD/year
Significant Relationship: Married with one kid
Social Life: Could be better - now it’s me that needs to make more of an effort to connect with friends. I’m a terrible planner.
Health: Not as good as it was then - I had a seizure recently, though they’re controlled now, and I’m about 20 pounds heavier, but that’s being taken care of since I’ve started to make my health a priority again.
Other: I used to be professional writer. I do a lot of writing in my current profession, but not the type I used to do. I’d like to do that more. And now that we have a house, I want to make it into a nice house. For some reason, it feels like I’m living in college to have our place messy and not have better decor. So I’ve started working on it. That’s one extremely positive thing thatm akes me not worry so much about the negative stuff - all the things I don’t like, I’m changing. It’s very slow, but I’m making progress, one baby step at a time.
Job: Tech writer/PR writer
Significant Relationship: With my ex, unmarried
Income: $20K
Social Life: Meh. Problems with my ex were already starting to crop up
Health: Good
It wasn’t the best year of my life. I recall a lot of fighting: with my parents, who didn’t like my ex; with my ex, who didn’t much like my parents; and with my workplace, over some issues I won’t bother getting into. (Where’s an “idiot boss” thread when you need one? :)) However, I’m pleased to say that things improved on the employment front, and I managed to buy a new car that year too, so while it may not have been the best year of my life, it certainly wasn’t the worst.
Job: Software Engineer
SR: Living with my SO who would become my wife the following year.
Income: hmmm… $55k-ish? I remember I got a big step up to $66k-ish the following year.
Social Life: Are you kidding? I was a software nerd! Seriously, I’d just moved from IL to CA the previous fall, and didn’t know that many people where I now lived.
Health: Good.
Other: looking back, this was a very happy time for me. I was a programmer who’d just moved to Silicon Valley, the mecca for that sort of thing. I was in love with a wonderful lady. I was writing software I loved, did home recording as a hobby and loved that. I was young and healthy and just having a great time at home and in my career.
That depends on you. Is the “prime time for adventure and excitement” getting drunk every weekend with a bunch of 19 year olds? How much adventure and excitment can you really have with no money?
Job: environmental non-profit marketing Significant Relationship: none Income: low-mid 20s, I think Social Life: at the time, I thought it was ok Health: very good
Other: I was living by myself in Providence, in an apartment I rented from my parents (though not in their house). Things were starting to get a little stagnant, socially. The next year, I moved to NYC, which was one of the best decisions I ever made. I only lived there for three years, but those were great years.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. OK, maybe not the best.
Job: Bank Teller
Significant Relationship: Painful. She was… distant.
Income: 25000
Social Life: A little odd, as I had just moved to a place that my friends thought was remoter than Timbuktu. But I had the best friends of my life.
Health: Decent
Oh, man, to be 26 again. Probably the best year of my life. 1988, no debts…
Job - First accounting job
$$ - about $32,000 (1988 dollars)
Relationship - just ending one, starting to play the field for the first time
Debts - none!
Social Life - best ever. Involved in theatre, festivals planning, etc.
Health - excellent
Hair - great! Still mostly blonde, long & wavy.
Living in SoCal with a decent income, good friends, no debts. I don’t know why everyone gets so down on the '80’s. I had a fabulous time.
I’m 43 now. I’ve only recently started to out earn you.
So, let’s see – age 26, 1991:
Job: Shipping clerk/computer operator – can’t quite remember when I went from one to the other.
Significant Relationship: Nothing steady, but a few one month stands.
Income: $25,000-ish
Social Life: Rip-roaring.
Health: Not-bad. I let myself go a little after college, but never horribly so.
Other: I was still finding myself. My job was not a career. My apartment was a fun place to be as I had some great roommates. What age 26 brings up for me is that it was just about the cusp to where I really had to think about getting my shit together. Not to say I didn’t continue to screw things up for the next decade, but at least I was giving it some thought.
Long time ago…that poor kid would be totally freaked out if he knew how life would turn out.
Job: My main job was night operator for the university’s computer systems; I was in my second year at college. I also did some tutoring for cash in addition to the volunteer stuff and I did mass data entry for other students on occasion. I’d been a clerk for a while before college, so I could get $10 for entering stuff in an hour that would take them five or six hours to do and everybody was happy with the deal.
Significant Relationship: I thought there was one, but I was mistaken.
Income: 5000
Social Life: I went out on dates, I was in the ACM and KME and had a couple friends to hang around with, but I was working to support myself (I only managed to get a single $300 student loan the whole time) and carrying an overload every semester.
Health: seemed fine at the time
Car: I had a 5-year-old Corolla that I’d bought new: I drove it till I was 34.
Job: Corporate Customer Support Rep for a wireless company
Significant Relationship: None… enjoying a few insignificant ones, though.
Income: $32K
Social Life: Fabulous
Health: Great
Other: I’d ditched my no-good slacker BF, started doing yoga and pilates regularly, rediscovered the joy of dancing my ass off at the local alternative bar, and lost about 10lbs in the process. I went on my first big overseas trip paid for entirely by myself, to reconnect with my family’s roots in Portugal. I also met and started dating The Boy shortly before my 27th birthday. Basically, the only thing that I wasn’t hugely keen on at that stage was my job, but that took a couple years more to get on track.
Actually, 26 was a damn good year for me.
The year was 1967
I’d been married for 3 years
Had a sprog of 1½
Worked for the NCB as a time and wages office manager
Earnings around bugger all (I forget, but it wasn’t a lot)
Had a beat up old wreck of a car
Lived in rented accomodation
Was as happy as a dog with 2 dicks
Played football, badminton and squash
Was as fit as a fiddle.
“Those were the days my friend, we thought they’d never end”
Job: Newspaper editor. Significant Relationship: Married, three kids. Income: 35000 USD Social Life: Busy, mainly with parents of kids’ friends. Socialized a lot with new neighbors, as we bought our first house that year, in a weird little small town in western Pennsylvania. Health: I didn’t have to worry about it yet.
It’s now twelve years later and my wife’s still with me – God bless her – I have four kids, better social life, much better health thanks to a powerful commitment to exercise, and I make quite a bit more money and live in the country in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Job: IT Manager / Generalist for a homebuilding company Significant Relationship: married 4 years, no kids Income: $US 27,000 (roughly $US 55,000 in today’s dollars) Social Life: occasional drinks with friends, not much else Health: first diagnosed with asthma that year, otherwise fine
