Seems as good a place as any.

So I consider myself pretty successful economically, even though I'm nowhere near rich. To be honest, I have no idea how more people aren't economically stable, but that's another thread, I suppose.

So, I've owned my own house for five years now and am about to put myself through college. I have no debt other than my house (and I have plenty of equity at this point). Additionally, I have five children and a sixth on the way.

I know very little about economic theory, but I feel I can safely attribute my success to simple frugality. I'm still able to afford expensive things (such as Ableton 8 Suite ), though it does take a while to save up (I've been upgrading that program about once a year for about five years).

I do get some family support, which helps, though it only really amounts to a couple hundred dollars per birthday/Christmas, and of course I spend more than that on the kids and a decent (though not stellar) loan when I bought my house.)

It's nice to be here. Thank you.

Welcome. Glad you're here.

Yes, welcome!

I hope you are well insured and have a very large emergency fund. With 6 kids you are just asking for an unexpected medical expense or something like that.

And what about college? How much are you saving for their college?

Oh, I don't live in one of those silly countries where I have to worry about medical expenses.

The kids can pay for their own college.

Then you do have it covered!

Indeed.

Perhaps I should start a new thread, but have you guys read "The Cartoon Introduction to Economics" by any chance? It just came out last year, but it's doing a fantastic job of putting words to many ideas which I intuitively understand, from marginal analysis to different auction type to dominant strategy. Of course, my understanding is not in-depth at all, but it has been helpful. My familiarity with Game Theory is also proving beneficial.