[GH85Carrera]

There needs to be a second part of the question "Are you free of debt" and that is do you have the assets needed to live comfortably.

When I left home to go out in the world and find my way in life I was free of debt. I only had a paid for 914 and a killer stereo system as my olny assets. Just moving to Oklahoma and paying the utility deposits and establishing residence in a crappy apartment put a few hundred bucks on my credit card and emptied my savings. A few year later I had enough saved to buy a house. That put me in debt for many years. I can remember the bad old days of wondering how I can pay a utility bill and still eat. I made a promise to myself to be debt free by 40. I did not make that on my birthday, but before I turned 41 I was debt free and had a decent house.

Now many years later I have a cool toy car, my wife has a nice car, I have a cool classic daily driver car. We live in a house I could never have dreamed of owning when I was younger. My wife is retired and I work at a fun job that is hardly a "job" compared to most people with jobs. I wear shorts and a t-shirt to work all summer and everyone I work with is great.

Being at a point in life where I have the "stuff" I want and no debt whatsoever and money in the bank is growing is a lucky place to be. It took me over 40 years of work to get here.