A Tale of Two Income Brackets

Today I came across and article in the Daily Journal of Commerce, which I read often looking for real estate news that is important for myself and my colleagues, that left me with a sense of urgency and despair and yet still no direction.

Apparently the middle class is shrinking. In fact, the article said that duet to disappearing jobs and rising health care costs, "from 1980 to 2003, the number of households with middle-class incomes declined 7 percent; during the same time, poverty rates inched upward, with more than 1.1 million additional people living below the poverty level in 2004, according to the US Census Bureau." All I could think about was senior year in high school, Honors English, reading A Tale of Two Cities--"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way...."

I've been thinking of matters of finance for some time now. I've been trying to decide if I want to pursue a career with more money or a passion. Preferably, I would like a career which does both. My current position is comfortable, but I'm afraid I may not be able to afford to do all the things I want to do if I stay here, such as buy a house, travel, etc. Further, the fiance does not want to stay where he is forever. I will need to make more money at some point to make up for his loss of income when he changes careers until he can catch up again. Hmm...kinda makes me wish I were still in high school just reading about this stuff.