Way back yonder, I discovered the IRS form "Schedule C". I worked 8-5 for somebody else, and 5-midnight for me as a sole proprietor. An amazing number of things became tax deductible. My race cars were advertising for my engine-building, and were depreciable in one year. My race expenses were deductible--entry fees, fuel, motels, etc.
I moved to the old family ranch. Even better! Add cows to race cars and get more deductions. Then I bought a junky old rent house and fixed it up myself. Whee! And I had the occasional gunshow table and coinshow table. Bought old sports cars with bad motors, rebuilt them, drove them a while and then sold them--at a profit.
I spent about ten years doing this stuff; by age 45 my outside work paid as much as my inside work so I dropped out of the organized world. My kid was grown, my wife decided I was superfluous, and I've been smiling ever since. Ol' Acid Toungue and I get along just fine, now, which aggravates her present husband, but that's his problem. He's not a shooter, so who cares?
Anyway, my advice for after you get sorta stabilized as to no debt and some decent savings is to go to a generally-depressed area somewhere in the western states. It costs less to "buy in" to the local game.
And learn all the manual skills you can, while you're building your "independence stash". Carpentry, plumbing, wiring, automechanics, all that stuff. Money goes farther for do-it-yourselfers. Wanna see my house? $33/sq-ft on 14 acres, including water system in the desert, and garage/workshop. Wall-to-wall carpet, glorious view, privacy, big-and-little dish TV, bench rest on the front porch--and a max electric bill of $50 a month.
But the harder I worked, the luckier I got.
, Art
