When I was 18, a lot of adults I respected highly told me I was too intelligent not to go to college. It was difficult to respond to their comments diplomatically, because they had kids or grandkids my age, and they could not imagine those kids failing to get into a good college.
I didn’t want to waste four years, or get exposed to political indoctrination and drunkards, so I went to work. Started with minimum wage. Before my 19th birthday I took parental advice about real estate, flipped some properties. Got not a single dollar of help from anyone.
Barring war, famine or pestilence I’m set for life already, in my mid-twenties. No mortgages, no debts, nice house. It wasn’t even difficult.
I still work, just in case. :) Maybe someday I’ll need a diploma! (Hundred-thousand dollar wall art.)
Nice work, Buttons. Congrats on your success and foresigthedness. Keep up the hard work and praise God.