My loss

One place that I wound up reading about this, with lots of specific statistics quoted, was The Price of Motherhood. (That source had an obvious axe to grind. But including lots of citations from actual research, and that is the part I'd trust here.)

Depending on how you define said net worth, possibly. But you have to define it very carefully. So that's probably not a good way to look at things.

The yearly earnings of the breadwinner shouldn't matter, they both squandered that while married, right?, if they didn't well let's split it then, as that is fair?

The problem is that the yearly earnings of the breadwinner are often affected by the support of the partner. If a woman puts her husband through med school, his expected future income is an asset that she had some role in providing him. Does she deserve to be compensated for that? If so, then how much?

Going the other way, suppose that she compromised her career for him. Sure, she can go back in the working world, but initial differences in income levels tend to permanently affect your future income. Does she deserve compensation for her likely permanent reduction in potential earnings? Speaking of which, how can you try to quantify that?

And then the million dollar question. Suppose that she is left with a permanent economic liability, aka kids. (When men contest custody, they get the kids 70% of time, but men seldom contest custody.) How do you fairly divide the cost of raising said kids?

Nothing is simple about the economics of what constitutes a fair divorce. And there are enough vague, open-ended questions there for both parties to come out feeling legitimately hard done by.

Once you're 25 years old, the government no longer expects your parents to contribute to your education, so you will become eligible for a lot more financial aid. I got $12k of free money in my last year because of this.

I think you should go to college and get some work experience before trying to make a startup. I tried developing my own fax server product when I was 20. The product worked, but I made some poor business decisions and gave up. Then I went to community college, transferred to university, studied abroad, graduated, got a software engineering job in Amazon Web Services, learned and saved money for a few years, and then left to start my business. Now I am in a much better position to build a product and company. You can be in my position in 6-7 years.

Thank you for commenting.

Seriously, I hadn't been able to figure this bit of it out, and I've never thought of it that way. As I have been taught to believe that those who are afraid of the big picture are weak in some way.

Thank you.

I really can't tell you how I feel right now. It's as if someone has told shown me the hint of a new beginning.

I was about to say, I just hope I remember this, but now I realize that I can remember it by writing it down and reminding myself of the possibilities that exist whenever I am down. I don't have to worry about the end. It's too far away. I don't have to worry for today, because it is now and if I hinder it shall be the past. I have a bad past, but I can forget it by one little step at a time.

You are right.It's all about one step at a time.

>>>Yeah, that's classical deterministic thinking right there. The ability to "actually make it work" doesn't come from being "smart enough/hard-working enough" - making it work isn't an inborn inability, it comes from regular, incremental training. Definitely check out Waitzkin's Art of Learning. It'll do wonders for you. It's a light, easy, pleasant read too.A lot of it derives from the fact that since I was a kid I was told that I was "gifted", and all that crap. After a few events in my life that spiraled me down into that suffocating abyss that exists in our minds. I started flunking stuff. I flunked maths and other exams, and somehow I became convinced that I couldn't figure out a way out of my problems, because I wasn't smart enough to do so. So it became this cycle of self hatred that ate me away.

I am so happy right now that I can start anew. In fact, I even found a theme song for myself through mixest (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1482928)! I kid you not. Listen to this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgEfYGzojcA). It just brings a smile to my face every time I listen to it.

By the way, I'll read it when I'll be able to buy it/find it. I couldn't find it on any of the torrent networks. So, in a day or two I'll go to one of those British Council Libraries and stage a systematic invasion.

Thank you for everything.

Oh and can I bug you through email every now and then?