<prompt> Human: me: 38 year old male. I just wrapped up an OIC with the IRS 48k in 5 months. That will remove the judgements that were on my credit report. I have 2 credit cards right now. One for 1500 bucks. The other for 750. Im not carrying a balance on them. I depleted my savings taking care of the OIC and all of my other debt. Im basically starting with a clean slate with an incredibly high income to debt ratio.I make 150k per year. No kids. No bills beside basic living expenses phone, dish network, internet, car insurance, etc. Girlfriend 39 years old makes 120k per year. She carries about 15k in credit card debt We will get to that in a moment. No kids- basic living expenses, same as above.. Car is paid for. Our current rent is 3,500 a month. We want to purchase a house and clearly dont have the money down to purchase one right now. BUT- Im a vet with an RE-1 discharge and want to use my VA Loan at some point up to 1,050,00 in financing with 2.5 down - no PMI required since its a VA Loan. We are more than willing to get married if that will help our situation for a bank or lending institution to approve us..GFs credit card debt - we will have all of that paid off in full by June. That will give us around 270k per year gross income. Ive always lived off of cash and have had a pretty awesome life so far. Cash is king. BUT Ive come to the realization that if I ever want my own boat and a man-cave I will have to purchase. That entails going the credit route and getting a goddamn loan.. As far as retirement goes - Im a software engineer and have been since the late 90s, and never plan to retire. Retirement is for cops and firefighters. And old people. Reddit: Where do I start.  <response>: As far as retirement goes - Im a software engineer and have been since the late 90s, and never plan to retire. Retirement is for cops and firefighters. And old people.Youre in for a rude awakening. Look around your office and tell me how many 80 year old developers you see. 