<prompt> Human: Hi I am new to this subreddit, in short I am seeing how much everyone claims to be making annually and everyone makes more money than I do. Here is some background information, I am 24 years old and I am a medical laboratory scientist, I live in South next to Mexico South Texas, and I am getting paid 21hr 48hrswk, no wife or kids. I feel like I am making a decent amount of money given I just started my career and cost of living is really cheap in my area, but after coming to this subreddit I am questioning whether I went into the right line of work. I am starting to get the feeling that I get paid crap and feel like I wasted 5 years of my life earning 2 degrees.Assistant: Are you happy? Can you pay for what you need and squirrel some away for the future? If you want to compare your life to others, youre likely doing better than 99 of the global population. I made less than that when I was your age. My life has been fucking awesome, so dont really use that as your gauge. Human: I am happy, I love what I do. I still live with my parents and have managed to be able to put away 800 a month and live very comfortably off the remainder of my income, I just worry that when it comes time to move out that I wont make it financially.  <response>: 21hr 48hrs a week and no rent. You should be able to put away more than 800 a month. Way more. Make a budget. 